The Holy Bible

Translated from the Latin Vulgate

Diligently Compared with the Hebrew, Greek, and Other Divers Languages

The Old Testament

First Published by the English College at Douay, A.D. 1609

and

The New Testament

First Published by the English College at Rheims, A.D. 1582

The Whole Revised and Diligently Compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner, A.D. 1749–1752

Old Testament

The Book of Genesis

This book is so called from its treating of the Generation, that is, of the Creation and the beginning of the world. The Hebrews call it Beresith, from the word with which it begins. It contains not only the History of the Creation of the World, but also an account of its progress during the space of 2369 years, that is, until the death of Joseph.

Chapter 1

¹In the beginning God created heaven, and earth. ²And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters. ³And God said: Be light made. And light was made. ⁴And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness. ⁵And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night; and there was evening and morning one day. ⁶And God said: Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters: and let it divide the waters from the waters. ⁷And God made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament, from those that were above the firmament, and it was so. ⁸And God called the firmament, Heaven; and the evening and morning were the second day. ⁹God also said: Let the waters that are under the heaven, be gathered together into one place: and let the dry land appear. And it was so done. ¹⁰And God called the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. ¹¹And he said: Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth. And it was so done. ¹²And the earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit having seed each one according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³And the evening and the morning were the third day. ¹⁴And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years: ¹⁵To shine in the firmament of heaven, and to give light upon the earth. And it was so done. ¹⁶And God made two great lights: a greater light to rule the day; and a lesser light to rule the night: and the stars. ¹⁷And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth. ¹⁸And to rule the day and the night, and to divide the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And the evening and morning were the fourth day. ²⁰God also said: Let the waters bring forth the creeping creature having life, and the fowl that may fly over the earth under the firmament of heaven. ²¹And God created the great whales, and every living and moving creature, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²²And he blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea: and let the birds be multiplied upon the earth. ²³And the evening and morning were the fifth day. ²⁴And God said: Let the earth bring forth the living creature in its kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, according to their kinds. And it was so done. ²⁵And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and cattle, and every thing that creepeth on the earth after its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²⁶And he said: Let us make man to our image and likeness: and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth. ²⁷And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them. ²⁸And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth. ²⁹And God said: Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed upon the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind, to be your meat: ³⁰And to all the beasts of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to all that move upon the earth, and wherein there is life, that they may have to feed upon. And it was so done. ³¹And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good. And the evening and morning were the sixth day.

Chapter 2

¹So the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the furniture of them. ²And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. ³And he blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. ⁴These are the generations of the heaven and the earth, when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the heaven and the earth: ⁵And every plant of the field before it spring up in the earth, and every herb of the ground before it grew: for the Lord God had not rained upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the earth. ⁶But a spring rose out the earth, watering all the surface of the earth. ⁷And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul. ⁸And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed. ⁹And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. ¹⁰And a river went out the place of pleasure to water paradise, which from thence is divided into four heads. ¹¹The name of the one is Phison: that is it which compasseth all the land of Hevilath, where gold groweth. ¹²And the gold of that land is very good: there is found bdellium, and the onyx stone. ¹³And the name of the second river is Gehon: the same is it that compasseth all the land of Ethiopia ¹⁴And the name of the third river is Tigris: the same passeth along by the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates. ¹⁵And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise for pleasure, to dress it, and keep it. ¹⁶And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat: ¹⁷But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. for in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death. ¹⁸And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself. ¹⁹And the Lord God having formed out of the ground all the beasts of the earth, and all the fowls of the air, brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: for whatsoever Adam called any living creature the same is its name. ²⁰And Adam called all the beasts by their names, and all the fowls of the air, and all the cattle of the field: but for Adam there was not found a helper like himself. ²¹Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it. ²²And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam. ²³And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. ²⁴Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh. ²⁵And they were both naked: to wit, Adam and his wife: and were not ashamed.

Chapter 3

¹Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise? ²And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat: ³But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die. ⁴And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death. ⁵For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil. ⁶And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat. ⁷And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons. ⁸And when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God, amidst the trees of paradise. ⁹And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where art thou? ¹⁰And he said: I heard thy voice in paradise; and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. ¹¹And he said to him: And who hath told thee that thou wast naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? ¹²And Adam said: The woman, whom thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat. ¹³And the Lord God said to the woman: Why hast thou done this? And she answered: The serpent deceived me, and I did eat. ¹⁴And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and the beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. ¹⁵I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel. ¹⁶To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee. ¹⁷And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. ¹⁸Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou eat the herbs of the earth. ¹⁹In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return. ²⁰And Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the mother of all the living. ²¹And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife, garments of skins, and clothed them. ²²And he said: Behold Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil: now, therefore, lest perhaps he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. ²³And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken. ²⁴And he cast out Adam; and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Chapter 4

¹And Adam knew Eve his wife: who conceived and brought forth Cain, saying: I have gotten a man through God. ²And again she brought forth his brother Abel. And Abel was a shepherd, and Cain a husbandman. ³And it came to pass after many days, that Cain offered, of the fruits of the earth, gifts to the Lord. ⁴Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings. ⁵But to Cain and his offerings he had no respect: and Cain was exceedingly angry, and his countenance fell. ⁶And the Lord said to him: Why art thou angry? and why is thy countenance fallen? ⁷If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? but if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door? but the lust thereof shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it. ⁸And Cain said to Abel his brother: Let us go forth abroad. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and slew him. ⁹And the Lord said to Cain: Where is thy brother Abel? And he answered, I know not: am I my brother's keeper? ¹⁰And he said to him: What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth. ¹¹Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand, ¹²When thou shalt till it, it shall not yield to thee its fruit: a fugitive and vagabond shalt thou be upon the earth. ¹³And Cain said to the Lord: My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon. ¹⁴Behold thou dost cast me out this day from the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from thy face, and I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth: everyone, therefore, that findeth me, shall kill me. ¹⁵And the Lord said to him: No, it shall not be so: but whosoever shall kill Cain, shall be punished sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, that whosoever found him should not kill him. ¹⁶And Cain went out from the face of the Lord, and dwelt as a fugitive on the earth, at the east side of Eden. ¹⁷And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and brought forth Henoch: and he built a city, and called the name thereof by the name of his son Henoch. ¹⁸And Henoch begot Irad, and Irad begot Maviael, and Maviael begot Mathusael, and Mathusael begot Lamech: ¹⁹Who took two wives: the name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other was Sella. ²⁰And Ada brought forth Jabel: who was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of herdsmen. ²¹And his brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of them that play upon the harp and the organs. ²²Sella also brought forth Tubalcain, who was a hammerer and artificer in every work of brass and iron. And the sister of Tubalcain was Noema. ²³And Lamech said to his wives Ada and Sell: Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech: for I have slain a man to the wounding of myself, and a stripling to my own bruising. ²⁴Sevenfold vengeance shall be taken for Cain: but for Lamech seventy times sevenfold. ²⁵Adam also knew his wife again: and she brought forth a son, and called his name Seth, saying: God hath given me another seed, for Abel whom Cain slew. ²⁶But to Seth also was born a son, whom he called Enos; this man began to call upon the name of the Lord.

Chapter 5

¹This is the book of the generation of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him to the likeness of God. ²He created them male and female; and blessed them: and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. ³And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son to his own image and likeness, and called his name Seth. ⁴And the days of Adam, after he begot Seth, were eight hundred years: and he begot sons and daughters. ⁵And all the time that Adam lived came to nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. ⁶Seth also lived a hundred and five years, and begot Enos. ⁷And Seth lived after he begot Enos, eight hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters. ⁸And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died. ⁹And Enos lived ninety years, and begot Cainan. ¹⁰After whose birth he lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and begot sons and daughters. ¹¹And the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years, and he died. ¹²And Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Malaleel. ¹³And Cainan lived after he begot Malaleel, eight hundred forty years, and begot sons and daughters. ¹⁴And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died. ¹⁵And Malaleel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared. ¹⁶And Malaleel lived after he begot Jared, eight hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters. ¹⁷And all the days of Malaleel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died. ¹⁸And Jared lived a hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Henoch. ¹⁹And Jared lived after he begot Henoch, eight hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. ²⁰And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died. ²¹And Henoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Mathusala. ²²And Henoch walked with God: and lived after he begot Mathusala, three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. ²³And all the days of Henoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. ²⁴And he walked with God, and was seen no more: because God took him. ²⁵And Mathusala lived a hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. ²⁶And Mathusala lived after he begot Lamech, seven hundred and eighty-two years, and begot sons and daughters. ²⁷And all the days of Mathusala were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died. ²⁸And Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years, and begot a son. ²⁹And he called his name Noe, saying: This same shall comfort us from the works and labours of our hands on the earth which the Lord hath cursed. ³⁰And Lamech lived after he begot Noe, five hundred and ninety-five years, and he begot sons and daughters. ³¹And all the days of Lamech came to seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died. And Noe, when he was five hundred years old, begot Sem, Cham, and Japheth.

Chapter 6

¹And after that men began to be multiplied upon the earth, and daughters were born to them. ²The sons of God seeing the daughters of men, that they were fair, took themselves wives of all which they chose. ³And God said: My spirit shall not remain in man for ever, because he is flesh, and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. ⁴Now giants were upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of God went in to the daughters of men and they brought forth children, these are the mighty men of old, men of renown. ⁵And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, ⁶It repented him that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, ⁷He said: I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. ⁸But Noe found grace before the Lord. ⁹These are the generations of Noe: Noe was a just and perfect man in his generations, he walked with God. ¹⁰And he begot three sons, Sem, Cham, and Japheth. ¹¹And the earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity. ¹²And when God had seen that the earth was corrupted (for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth,) ¹³He said to Noe: The end of all flesh is come before me, the earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the earth. ¹⁴Make thee an ark of timber planks: thou shalt make little rooms in the ark, and thou shalt pitch it within and without. ¹⁵And thus shalt thou make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits: the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. ¹⁶Thou shalt make a window in the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish the top of it: and the door of the ark thou shalt set in the side: with lower, middle chambers, and third stories shalt thou make it. ¹⁷Behold I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, under heaven. All things that are in the earth shall be consumed. ¹⁸And I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou shalt enter into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and the wives of thy sons with thee. ¹⁹And of every living creature of all flesh, thou shalt bring two of each sort into the ark, that they may live with thee: of the male sex, and the female. ²⁰Of fowls according to their kind, and of beasts in their kind, and of every thing that creepeth on earth according to its kind; two of every sort shall go in with thee, that they may live. ²¹Thou shalt take unto thee of all food that may be eaten, and thou shalt lay it up with thee: and it shall be food for thee and them. ²²And Noe did all things which God commanded him.

Chapter 7

¹And the Lord said to him: Go in thou and all thy house into the ark: for thee I have seen just before me in this generation. ²Of all clean beasts take seven and seven, the male and female. ³But of the beasts that are unclean two and two, the male and female. Of the fowls also of the air seven and seven, the male and the female: that seed may be saved upon the face of the whole earth. ⁴For yet a while, and after seven days, I will rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy every substance that I have made, from the face of the earth. ⁵And Noe did all things which the Lord had commanded him. ⁶And he was six hundred years old, when the waters of the flood overflowed the earth. ⁷And Noe went in and his sons, his wife and the wives of his sons with him into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. ⁸And of the beasts clean and unclean, and of fowls, and of every thing that moveth upon the earth, ⁹Two and two went in to Noe into the ark, male and female, as the Lord had commanded Noe. ¹⁰And after seven days were passed, the waters of the flood overflowed the earth. ¹¹In the six hundreth year of the life of Noe in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the flood gates of heaven were open: ¹²And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. ¹³In the selfsame day Noe, and Sem, and Cham, and Japheth his sons: his wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, went into the ark: ¹⁴They and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle in their kind, and every thing that moveth upon the earth according to its kind, and every fowl according to its kind, and every fowl according to its kind, all birds, and all that fly. ¹⁵Went in to Noe into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein was the breath of life. ¹⁶And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in on the outside. ¹⁷And the flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters increased, and lifted up the ark on high from earth. ¹⁸For they overflowed exceedingly: and filled all on the face of the earth: and the ark was carried upon the waters. ¹⁹And the waters prevailed beyond measure upon the earth: and all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. ²⁰The water was fifteen cubits higher than the mountains which it covered. ²¹And all flesh was destroyed that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beasts, and of all creeping things that creep upon the earth: and all men. ²²And all things wherein there is the breath of life on the earth, died. ²³And he destroyed all the substance that was upon the earth, from man to beast, and the creeping things and fowls of the air: and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noe only remained, and they that were with him in the ark. ²⁴And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.

Chapter 8

¹And God remembered Noe, and all the living creatures, and all the cattle which were with him in the ark, and brought a wind upon the earth, and the waters were abated. ²The fountains also of the deep, and the flood gates of heaven were shut up, and the rain from heaven was restrained. ³And the waters returned from off the earth going and coming: and they began to be abated after a hundred and fifty days. ⁴And the ark rested in the seventh month, the seven and twentieth day of the month, upon the mountains of Armenia. ⁵And the waters were going and decreasing until the tenth month: for in the tenth month, the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared. ⁶And after that forty days were passed, Noe, opening the window of the ark which he had made, sent forth a raven: ⁷Which went forth and did not return, till the waters were dried up upon the earth. ⁸He sent forth also a dove after him, to see if the waters had now ceased upon the face of the earth. ⁹But she, not finding where her foot might rest, returned to him into the ark: for the waters were upon the whole earth: and he put forth his hand, and caught her, and brought her into the ark. ¹⁰And having waited yet seven other days, he again sent forth the dove out of the ark. ¹¹And she came to him in the evening, carrying a bough of an olive tree, with green leaves, in her mouth. Noe therefore understood that the waters were ceased upon the earth. ¹²And he stayed yet other seven days: and he sent forth the dove, which returned not any more unto him. ¹³Therefore in the six hundreth and first year, the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were lessened upon the earth, and Noe opening the covering of the ark, looked, and saw that the face of the earth was dried. ¹⁴In the second month, the seven and twentieth day of the month, the earth was dried. ¹⁵And God spoke to Noe, saying: ¹⁶Go out of the ark, thou and thy wife, thy sons, and the wives of thy sons with thee. ¹⁷All livings things that are with thee of all flesh, as well in fowls as in beasts, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, bring out with thee, and go ye upon the earth: increased and multiply upon it. ¹⁸So Noe went out, he and his sons: his wife, and the wives of his sons with him. ¹⁹And all living things, and cattle, and creeping things that creep upon the earth, according to their kinds, went out of the ark. ²⁰And Noe built an altar unto the Lord: and taking of all cattle and fowls that were clean, offered holocausts upon the altar. ²¹And the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and said: I will no more curse the earth for the sake of man: for the imagination and thought of man's heart are prone to evil from his youth: therefore I will no more destroy every living soul as I have done. ²²All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, shall not cease.

Chapter 9

¹And God blessed Noe and his sons. And he said to them: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth. ²And let the fear and dread of you be upon all the beasts of the earth, and upon all the fowls of the air, and all that move upon the earth: all the fishes of the sea are delivered into your hand. ³And every thing that moveth and liveth shall be meat for you: even as the green herbs have I delivered them all to you: ⁴Saving that flesh with blood you shall not eat. ⁵For I will require the blood of your lives at the hand of every beast, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man, and of his brother, will I require the life of man. ⁶Whosoever shall shed man's blood, his blood shall be shed: for man was made to the image of God. ⁷But increase you and multiply, and go upon the earth, and fill it. ⁸This also said God to Noe, and to his sons with him, ⁹Behold I will establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you: ¹⁰And with every living soul that is with you, as well in all birds as in cattle and beasts of the earth, that are come forth out of the ark, and in all the beasts of the earth. ¹¹I will establish my covenant with you, and all flesh shall be no more destroyed with the waters of a flood, neither shall there be from henceforth a flood to waste the earth. ¹²And God said: This is the sign of the covenant which I will give between me and you, and to every living soul that is with you, for perpetual generations. ¹³I will set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be the sign of a covenant between me, and between the earth. ¹⁴And when I shall cover the sky with clouds, my bow shall appear in the clouds: ¹⁵And I will remember my covenant with you, and with every living soul that beareth flesh: and there shall no more be waters of a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶And the bow shall be in the clouds, and I shall see it, and shall remember the everlasting covenant, that was made between God and every living soul of all flesh which is upon the earth. ¹⁷And God said to Noe: This shall be the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh upon the earth. ¹⁸And the sons of Noe who came out of the ark, were Sem, Cham, and Japheth: and Cham is the father of Chanaan. ¹⁹These three are the sons of Noe: and from these was all mankind spread over the whole earth. ²⁰And Noe, a husbandman, began to till the ground, and planted a vineyard. ²¹And drinking of the wine was made drunk, and was uncovered in his tent. ²²Which when Cham the father of Chaanan had seen, to wit, that his father's nakedness was uncovered, he told it to his two brethren without. ²³But Sem and Japheth put a cloak upon their shoulders, and going backward, covered the nakedness of their father: and their faces were turned away, and they saw not their father's nakedness. ²⁴And Noe awaking from the wine, when he had learned what his younger son had done to him, ²⁵He said: Cursed be Chaanan, a servant of servants, shall he be unto his brethren. ²⁶And he said: Blessed be the Lord God of Sem, be Chanaan his servant. ²⁷May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Sem, and Chanaan be his servant. ²⁸And Noe lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years: ²⁹And all his days were in the whole nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

Chapter 10

¹These are the generations of the sons of Noe: Sem, Cham, and Japheth: and unto them sons were born after the flood. ²The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Thubal, and Mosoch, and Thiras. ³And the sons of Gomer: Ascenez and Riphath and Thogorma. ⁴And the sons of Javan: Elisa and Tharsis, Cetthim, and Dodanim. ⁵By these were divided the islands of the Gentiles in their lands, every one according to his tongue and their families in their nations. ⁶And the sons of Cham: Chus, and Mesram, and Phuth, and Chanaan. ⁷And the sons of Chus: Saba and Hevila, and Sabatha, and Regma, and Sabatacha. The sons of Regma: Saba and Dadan. ⁸Now Chus begot Nemrod: he began to be mighty on earth. ⁹And he was a stout hunter before the Lord. Hence came a proverb: Even as Nemrod the stout hunter before the Lord. ¹⁰And the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, and Arach, and Achad, and Chalanne in the land of Sennaar. ¹¹Out of that land came forth Assur, and built Ninive, and the streets of the city, and Chale. ¹²Resen also between Ninive and Chale: this is the great city. ¹³And Mesraim begot Ludim, and Anamim, and Laabim, Nepthuim, ¹⁴And Phetrusim, and Chasluim; of whom came forth the Philistines, and the Capthorim. ¹⁵And Chanaan begot Sidon, his firstborn, the Hethite, ¹⁶And the Jebusite, and the Amorrhite, and the Gergesite, ¹⁷The Hevite and the Aracite: the Sinite, ¹⁸And the Aradian, the Samarite, and the Hamathite: and afterwards the families of the Chanaanites were spread abroad. ¹⁹And the limits of Chanaan were from Sidon as one comes to Gerara even to Gaza, until thou enter Sodom and Gomorrha, and Adama, and Seboim even to Lesa. ²⁰These are the children of Cham in their kindreds, and tongues, and generations, and lands, and nations. ²¹Of Sem also, the father of all children of Heber, the elder brother of Japheth, sons were born. ²²The sons of Sem: Elam and Assur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. ²³The sons of Aram: Us and Hull, and Gether: and Mess. ²⁴But Arphaxad begot Sale, of whom was born Heber. ²⁵And to Heber were born two sons: the name of the one was Phaleg, because in his days the earth was divided: and his brother's name Jectan. ²⁶Which Jectan begot Elmodad, and Saleph, and Asarmoth, Jare, ²⁷And Anduram, and Uzal, and Decla, ²⁸And Ebal, and Abimael, Saba, ²⁹And Ophir, and Hevila, and Jobab. ³⁰And their dwelling was from Messa as we go on as far as Sephar, a mountain in the east. ³¹These are the children of Sem according to their kindreds and tongues, and countries in their nations. ³²These are the families of Noe, according to their peoples and nations. By these were the nations divided on the earth after the flood.

Chapter 11

¹And the earth was of one tongue, and of the same speech. ²And when they removed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Sennaar, and dwelt in it. ³And each one said to his neighbour: Come, let us make brick, and bake them of stones, and slime instead of mortar. ⁴And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven: and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands. ⁵And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of Adam were building. ⁶And he said: Behold, it is one people, and all have one tongue: and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their designs, till they accomplish them in deed. ⁷Come ye, therefore, let us go down, and there may not understand one another's speech. ⁸And so the Lord scattered them from that place into all lands, and they ceased to build the city. ⁹And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, because there the language of the whole earth was confounded: and from thence the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all countries. ¹⁰These are the generations of Sem: Sem was a hundred years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years after the flood. ¹¹And Sem lived after he begot Arphaxad, five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. ¹²And Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Sale. ¹³And Arphaxad lived after he begot Sale, three hundred and three years; and begot sons and daughters. ¹⁴Sale also lived thirty years, and begot Heber. ¹⁵And Sale lived after he begot Heber, four hundred and three years; and begot sons and daughters. ¹⁶And Heber lived thirty-four years, and begot Phaleg. ¹⁷And Heber lived after he begot Phaleg, four hundred and thirty years: and begot sons and daughters. ¹⁸Phaleg also lived thirty years, and begot Reu. ¹⁹And Phaleg lived after he begot Reu, two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters. ²⁰And Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Sarug. ²¹And Reu lived after he begot Sarug, two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters. ²²And Sarug lived thirty years, and begot Nachor. ²³And Sarug lived after he begot Nachor, two hundred years: and begot sons and daughters. ²⁴And Nachor lived nine and twenty years, and begot Thare. ²⁵And Nachor lived after he begot Thare, a hundred and nineteen years: and begot sons and daughters. ²⁶And Thare lived seventy years, and begot Abram, and Nachor, and Aran. ²⁷And these are the generations of Thare: Thare begot Abram, Nachor, and Aran. And Aran begot Lot. ²⁸And Aran died before Thare his father, in the land of his nativity in Ur of the Chaldees. ²⁹And Abram and Nachor married wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai: and the name of Nachor's wife, Melcha, the daughter of Aran, father of Melcha, and father of Jescha. ³⁰And Sarai was barren, and had no children. ³¹And Thare took Abram, his son, and Lot the son of Aran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, the wife of Abram his son, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Chanaan: and they came as far as Haran, and dwelt there. ³²And the days of Thare were tow hundred and five years, and he died in Haran.

Chapter 12

¹And the Lord said to Abram: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of they father's house, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. ²And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed. ³I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee, and IN THEE shall all the kindred of the earth be blessed: ⁴So Abram went out as the Lord had commanded him, and Lot went with him: Abram was seventy-five years old when he went forth from Haran. ⁵And he took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all the substance which they had gathered, and the souls which they had gotten in Haran: and they went out to go into the land of Chanaan. And when they were come into it, ⁶Abram passed through the country into the place of Sichem, as far as the noble vale: now the Chanaanite was at that time in the land. ⁷And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him: To thy seed will I give this land. And he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸And passing on from thence to a mountain, that was on the east side of Bethel, he there pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east; he built there also an altar to the Lord, and called upon his name. ⁹And Abram went forward, going, and proceeding on to the south. ¹⁰And there came a famine in the country; and Abram went down into Egypt, to sojourn there: for the famine was very grievous in the land. ¹¹And when he was near to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife: I know that thou art a beautiful woman: ¹²And that when the Egyptians shall see thee, they will say: She is his wife: and they will kill me, and keep thee. ¹³Say, therefore, I pray thee, that thou art my sister: that I may be well used for thee, and that my soul may live for thy sake. ¹⁴And when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman that she was very beautiful. ¹⁵And the princes told Pharao, and praised her before him: and the woman was taken into the house of Pharao. ¹⁶And they used Abram well for her sake. And he had sheep and oxen, and he asses, and menservants and maidservants, and she asses, and camels. ¹⁷But the Lord scourged Pharao and his house with most grievous stripes for Sarai, Abram's wife. ¹⁸And Pharao called Abram, and said to him: What is this that thou hast done to me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife. ¹⁹For what cause didst thou say, she was thy sister, that I might take her to my wife? Now therefore, there is thy wife, take her, and go thy way. ²⁰And Pharao gave his men orders concerning Abram: and they led him away, 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 he was very rich in possession of gold and silver. ³And he returned by the way that he came, from the south to Bethel, to the place where before he had pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai: ⁴In the place of the altar which he had made before; and there he called upon the name of the Lord. ⁵But Lot also, who was with Abram, had flocks of sheep, and herds of beasts, and tents. ⁶Neither was the land able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, and they could not dwell together. ⁷Whereupon also there arose a strife between the herdsmen of Abram and of Lot. And at that time the Chanaanite and the Pherezite dwelled in that country. ⁸Abram therefore said to Lot: Let there be no quarrel, I beseech thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen: for we are brethren. ⁹Behold the whole land is before thee: depart from me I pray thee: if thou wilt go to the left hand, I will take the right: if thou choose the right hand, I will pass to the left. ¹⁰And Lot, lifting up his eyes, saw all the country about the Jordan, which was watered throughout, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, as the paradise of the Lord, and like Egypt as one comes to Segor. ¹¹And Lot chose to himself the country about the Jordan, and he departed from the east: and they were separated one brother from the other. ¹²Abram dwelt in the land of Chanaan; and Lot abode in the towns that were about the Jordan, and dwelt in Sodom. ¹³And the men of Sodom were very wicked, and sinners before the face of the Lord, beyond measure. ¹⁴And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him: Lift up thy eyes, and look from the place wherein thou now art, to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west. ¹⁵All the land which thou seest, I will give to thee, and to thy seed for ever. ¹⁶And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: if any man be able to number the dust of the earth, he shall be able to number thy seed also. ¹⁷Arise and walk through the land in the length, and in the breadth thereof: for I will give it to thee. ¹⁸So Abram removing his tent came and dwelt by the vale of Mambre, which is in Hebron: and he built there an altar to the Lord.

Chapter 14

¹And it came to pass at that time, that Amraphel king of Sennaar, and Arioch king of Pontus, and Chodorlahomor king of the Elamites, and Thadal king of nations, ²Made war against Bara king of Sodom, and against Bersa king of Gomorrha, and against Sennaab king of Adama, and against Semeber king of Seboim, and against the king of Bala, which is Segor. ³All these came together into the woodland vale, which now is the salt sea. ⁴For they had served Chodorlahomor twelve years, and in the thirteenth year they revolted from him. ⁵And in the fourteenth year came Chodorlahomor, and the kings that were with him: and they smote the Raphaim in Astarothcarnaim, and the Zuzim with them, and the Emim in Save of Cariathaim. ⁶And the Chorreans in the mountains of Seir, even to the plains of Pharan, which is in the wilderness. ⁷And they returned, and came to the fountain of Misphat, the same is Cades: and they smote all the country of the Amalecites, and the Amorrhean that dwelt in Asasonthamar. ⁸And the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrha, and the king of Adama, and the king of Seboim, and the king of Bala, which is Segor, went out: and they set themselves against them in battle array in the woodland vale: ⁹To wit, against Chodorlahomor king of the Elamites, and Thadal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Sennaar, and Arioch king of Pontus: four kings against five. ¹⁰Now the woodland vale had many pits of slime. And the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrha turned their backs and were overthrown there: and they that remained fled to the mountain. ¹¹And they took all the substance of the Sodomites, and Gomorrhites, and all their victuals, and went their way: ¹²And Lot also, the son of Abram's brother, who dwelt in Sodom, and his substance. ¹³And behold one that had escaped told Abram the Hebrew, who dwelt in the vale of Mambre the Amorrhite, the brother of Escol, and the brother of Aner: for these had made league with Abram. ¹⁴Which when Abram had heard, to wit, that his brother Lot was taken, he numbered of the servants born in his house, three hundred and eighteen well appointed: and pursued them to Dan. ¹⁵And dividing his company, he rushed upon them in the night: and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hoba, which is on the left hand of Damascus. ¹⁶And he brought back all the substance, and Lot his brother, with his substance, the women also the people. ¹⁷And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after he returned from the slaughter of Chodorlahomor, and of the kings that were with him in the vale of Save, which is the king's vale. ¹⁸But Melchisedech the king of Salem, bringing forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the most high God, ¹⁹Blessed him, and said: Blessed be Abram by the most high God, who created heaven and earth. ²⁰And blessed be the most high God, by whose protection the enemies are in thy hands. And he gace him the tithes of all. ²¹And the king of Sodom said to Abram: Give me the persons, and the rest take to thyself. ²²And he answered him: I lift up my hand to the Lord God the most high, the possessor of heaven and earth, ²³That from the very woof thread unto the shoe latchet, I will not take of any things that are thine, lest thou say I have enriched Abram: ²⁴Except such things as the young men have eaten, and the shares of the men that came with me, Aner, Escol, and Mambre: these shall take their shares.

Chapter 15

¹Now when these things were done, the word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: Fear not, Abram, I am thy protector, and thy reward exceeding great. ²And Abram said: Lord God, what wilt thou give me? I shall go without children: and the son of the steward of my house is this Damascus Eliezer. ³And Abram added: But to me thou hast not given seed: and lo my servant, born in my house, shall be my heir. ⁴And immediately the word of the Lord came to him, saying: He shall not be thy heir: but he that shall come out of thy bowels, him shalt thou have for thy heir. ⁵And he thought him forth abroad, and said to him: Look up to heaven and number the stars, if thou canst. And he said to him: So shall thy seed be. ⁶Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice. ⁷And he said to him: I am the Lord who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees, to gibe thee this land, and that thou mightest possess it. ⁸But he said: Lord God, whereby may I know that I shall possess it? ⁹And the Lord answered, and said: Take me a cow of three years old, and a she goat of three years, and a ram of three years, a turtle also, and a pigeon. ¹⁰And he took all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid the two pieces of each one against the other; but the birds he divided not. ¹¹And the fowls came down upon carcasses, and Abram drove them away. ¹²And when the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great and darksome horror seized upon him. ¹³And it was said unto him: Know thou beforehand that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not their own, and they shall bring them under bondage, and afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴But I will judge the nation which they shall serve, and after this they shall come out with great substance. ¹⁵And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, and be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶But in the fourth generation they shall return hither: for as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full until this present time. ¹⁷And when the sun was set, there arose a dark mist, and there appeared a smoking furnace and a lamp of fire passing between those divisions. ¹⁸That day God made a covenant with Abram, saying: To thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates. ¹⁹The Cineans and Cenezites, the Cedmonites, ²⁰And the Hethites, and the Pherezites, the Raphaim also, ²¹And the Amorrhites, and the Chanaanits, and the Gergesites, and the Jebusites.

Chapter 16

¹Now Sarai the wife of Abram, had brought forth no children; having a handmaid, an Egyptian, named Agar, ²She said to her husband: Behold, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: go in unto my handmaid, it may be I may have children of her at least. And when he agreed to her request, ³She took Agar the Egyptian her handmaid, ten years after they first dwelt in the land of Chanaan, and gave her to her husband to wife. ⁴And he went in to her. But she, perceiving that she was with child, despised her mistress. ⁵And Sarai said to Abram: Thou dost unjustly with me: I gave my handmaid into thy bosom, and she perceiving herself to be with child, despiseth me. The Lord judge between me and thee. ⁶And Abram made answer, and said to her: Behold thy handmaid is in thy own hand, use her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai afflicted her, she ran away. ⁷And the angel of the Lord having found her, by a fountain of water in the wilderness, which is in the way to Sur in the desert, ⁸He said to her: Agar, handmaid of Sarai, whence comest thou? and whither goest thou? And she answered: I flee from the face of Sarai, my mistress. ⁹And the angel of the Lord said to her: Return to thy mistress, and humble thyself under her hand. ¹⁰And again he said: I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, and it shall not be numbered for multitude. ¹¹And again: Behold, said he, thou art with child, and thou shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Ismael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. ¹²He shall be a wild man: his hand will be against all men, and all men's hands against him: and he shall pitch his tents over against all his brethren. ¹³And she called the name of the Lord that spoke unto her: Thou the God who hast seen me. For she said: Verily here have I seen the hinder parts of him that seeth me. ¹⁴Therefore she called that well, The well of him that liveth and seeth me. The same is between Cades and Bared. ¹⁵And Agar brought forth a son to Abram: who called his name Ismael. ¹⁶Abram was fourscore and six years old when Agar brought him forth Ismael.

Chapter 17

¹And after he began to be ninety and nine years old, the Lord appeared to him: and said unto him: I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be perfect. ²And I will make my covenant between me and thee: and I will multiply thee exceedingly. ³Abram tell flat on his face. ⁴And God said to him: I AM, and my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. ⁵Neither shall thy name be called any more Abram: but thou shalt be called Abraham: because I have made thee a father of many nations. ⁶And I will make thee increase, exceedingly, 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 between thy sad after thee in their generations, by a perpetual covenant: to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee. ⁸And I will give to thee, and to thy seed, the land of thy sojournment, all the land of Chanaan for a perpetual possession, and I will be their God. ⁹Again God said to Abraham: And thou therefore shalt keep my covenant, and thy seed after thee in their generations. ¹⁰This is my covenant which you shall observe, between me and you, and thy seed after thee: All the male kind of you shall be circumcised: ¹¹And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, that it may be for a h sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹²An infant of eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations: he that is born in the house, as well as the bought servant shall be circumcised, and whosoever is not of your stock: ¹³And my covenant shall be in your flesh for a perpetual covenant. ¹⁴The male, whose dash of his foreskin shall not be circumcised, that soul shall be destroyed out of his people: because he hath broken my covenant. ¹⁵God said also to Abraham: Sarai thy wife thou shalt not call Sarai, but Sara. ¹⁶And I will bless her, and of her I will give thee a son, whom I will bless, and he shell become nations, and kings of people shall spring from him. ¹⁷Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, saying in his heart: Shall a son, thinkest thou, be born to him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sara that is ninety years old bring forth? ¹⁸And he said to God: O that Ismael may live before thee. ¹⁹And God said to Abraham: Sara thy wife shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for a perpetual covenant, and with his seed after him. ²⁰And as for Ismael I have also heard thee. Behold, I will bless him, and increase, and multiply him exceedingly: he shall beget twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sara shall bring forth to thee at this time in the next year. ²²And when he had left oil speaking with him, God went up from Abraham. ²³And Abraham took Ismael his son, and all that were born in his house: and all whom he had bought, every male among the men of his house: and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin forthwith the very same day, as God had commanded him. ²⁴Abraham was ninety and nine years old, when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵And Ismael his son was full thirteen years old at the time of his circumcision. ²⁷And all the men of his house, as well they that were born in his house, as the bought servants and strangers were circumcised with him. ²⁸The selfsame day was Abraham circumcised and Ismael his son.

Chapter 18

¹And the Lord appeared to him in the vale of Mambre as he was sitting at the door of his tent, in the very heat of the day. ²And when he had lifted up his eyes, there appeared to him three men standing near him: and as soon as he saw them he ran to meet them from the door of his tent, and adored down to the ground. ³And he said: Lord, if I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away from thy servant: ⁴But I will fetch a little water, and wash ye your feet, and rest ye under the tree. ⁵And I will set a morsel of bread, and strengthen ye your heart, afterwards you shall pass on: for therefore are you come aside to your servant. And they said: Do as thou hast spoken. ⁶Abraham made haste into the tent to Sera, and said to her: Make haste, temper together three measures of flour, and make cakes upon the hearth. ⁷And he himself ran to the herd, and took from thence a calf very tender and very good, and gave it to a young man: who made haste and boiled it. ⁸He took also butter and milk, and the calf which he had boiled, and set before them: but he stood by them under the tree. ⁹And when they had eaten, they said to him: Where is Sara thy wife? He answered: Lo, she is in the tent. ¹⁰And he said to him: I will return and come to thee at this time, life accompanying and Sara thy wife shall have a son. Which when Sara heard, she laughed behind the door of the tent. ¹¹Now they were both old, and far advanced in years, and it had ceased to be with Sara after the manner of women. ¹²And she laughed secretly, saying: After I am grown old and my lord is an old man, shall I give myself to pleasure? ¹³And the Lord said to Abraham: Why did Sera laugh, saying: Shall I who am an old woman bear a child indeed ? ¹⁴Is there any thing hard to God? according to appointment I will return to thee at this same time, life accompanying, and Sara shall have a son. ¹⁵Sara denied, saying: I did not laugh: for she was afraid. But the Lord said, Nay: but thou didst laugh: ¹⁶And when the men rose up from thence, they turned their eyes towards Sodom: and Abraham walked with them, bringing them on the way. ¹⁷And the Lord said: Can I hide from Abraham what I am about to do: ¹⁸"Seeing he shall become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed? ¹⁹For I know that he will command his children, and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord, and do judgment and justice: that for Abraham's sake the Lord may bring to effect all the things he hath spoken unto him. ²⁰And the Lord said: The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is multiplied, and their sin is become exceedingly grievous. ²¹I will go down and see whether they have done according to the cry that is come to me: or whether it be not so, that I may know. ²²And they turned themselves from thence, and went their way to Sodom: but Abraham as yet stood before the Lord. ²³And drawing nigh he said: Wilt thou destroy the just with the wicked? ²⁴If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish withal? and wilt thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just, if they be therein? ²⁵Far be it from thee to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in like case as the wicked, this is not beseeming thee: thou who judgest all the earth, wilt not make this judgment. ²⁶And the Lord said to him: If I And in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake. ²⁷And Abraham answered, and said: Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes. ²⁸What if there be five less than fifty just persons? wilt thou for five and forty destroy the whole city? And he said: I will not destroy it, if I find five and forty. ²⁹And again he said to him: But if forty be found there, what wilt thou do? He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of forty. ³⁰Lord, saith he, be not angry, I beseech thee, if I speak: What if thirty shall be found there? He answered: I will not do it, if I And thirty there. ³¹Seeing, saith he, I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord. What if twenty be found there? He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty. ³²I beseech thee, saith he, be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more: What if tell should be found there ? And he said: I will not destroy it for the sake of ten. ³³And the Lord departed, after he had left speaking to Abraham: and Abraham returned to his place.

Chapter 19

¹And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city. And seeing them, he rose up and went to meet them: and worshipped prostrate to the ground, ²And said: I beseech you, my lords, turn in to the house of your servant, and lodge there: wash your feet, and in the morning you shall go on your way. And they said: No, but we will abide in the street. ³He pressed them very much to turn in unto him: and when they were come in to his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread and they ate: ⁴But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house both young and old, all the people together. ⁵And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came in to thee at night? bring them out hither that we may know them: ⁶Lot went out to them, and shut the door after him, and said: ⁷no not so, I beseech you, my brethren, do not commit this evil. ⁸I have two daughters who as yet have not known man : I will bring them out to you, and abuse you them as it shall please you, so that you do no evil to these men, because they are come in under the shadow of my roof. ⁹But they said: Get thee back thither. And again: Thou camest in, said they, as a, stranger, was it to be a judge? therefore we will afflict thee more than them. And they pressed very violently upon Lot: and they were even at the point of breaking open the doors. ¹⁰And behold the men put out their hand, and drew in Lot unto them, and shut the door: ¹¹And them that were without, they struck with blindness from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door. ¹²And they said to Lot: Hast thou here ally of thine? son in law, or sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city: ¹³For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them. ¹⁴So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons in law that were to have his daughters, and said : Arise : get you out of this place, because the Lord will destroy this city. And he seemed to them to speak as it were in jest. ¹⁵And when it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying: Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters which thou hast: lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city. ¹⁶And as he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him. ¹⁷And they brought him forth, and set him without the city: and there they spoke to him, saying : Save thy life : look not back, neither stay thou in all the country about: but save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed. ¹⁸And Lot said to them: I beseech thee my Lord, ¹⁹Because thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewn to me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die : ²⁰There is this city here at hand, to which I may flee, it is a little one, and I shall be saved in it: is it not a little one, and my soul shall live? ²¹And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken. ²²Make haste and be saved there, because I cannot do any thing till thou go in thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Segor. ²³The sun was risen upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor. ²⁴And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. ²⁵And he destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth. ²⁶And his wife looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt. ²⁷And Abraham got up early in the morning and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord, ²⁸He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country: and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace. ²⁹Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt. ³⁰And Lot went up out of Segor, and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, (for he was afraid to stay in Segor,) and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him. ³¹And the elder said to the younger Our father is old, and there is no man left on the earth, to come in unto us after the manner of the whole earth. ³²Come, let us make him drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. ³³And they made their father drink wine that night: and the elder went in and lay with her father : but he perceived not neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up. ³⁴And the next day the elder said to the younger : Behold I lay last night with my father, let us make him drink wine also to night, and thou shalt lie with him, that we may save seed of our father. ³⁵They made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in, and lay with him: and neither then did he perceive when she lay down, nor when she rose up. ³⁶the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father. ³⁷And the elder bore a son, and called his name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites unto this day. ³⁸The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ammon, that is, the son of my people: he is the father of the Ammonites unto this day.

Chapter 20

¹Abraham removed from thence to the south country, and dwelt between Cedes and Sur, and sojourned in Gerara. ²And he said of Sara his wife: She is my sister. So Abimelech the king of Oerara sent, and took her. ³And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and he said to him: Lo thou shalt die for the woman thou hast taken: for she hath a husband. ⁴Now Abimelech had not touched her, and he said : Lord, wilt thou slay a nation, that is ignorant and just? ⁵Did not he say to me : She is my sister: and she say, He is my brother? in the simplicity of my heart, and cleanness of my hands have I done this. ⁶And God said to him: And I know that thou didst it with a sincere heart: and therefore I withheld thee from sinning against me, and I suffered thee not to touch her. ⁷Now therefore restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet: and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: but if thou wilt not restore her, know that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine. ⁸And Abimelech forthwith rising up in the night, called all his servants: and spoke all these words in their hearing, and all the men were exceedingly afraid. ⁹And Abimelech called also for Abraham, and said to him: What hast thou done to us? what have we offended thee in, that thou hast brought upon me and upon my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done to us what thou oughtest not to do. ¹⁰And again he expostulated with him, and said, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this? ¹¹Abraham answered: I thought with myself, saying: Perhaps there is not the fear of God in this place: and they will kill me for the sake of my wife: ¹²Howbeit, otherwise also she is truly my sister, the daughter of my father, and not the daughter of my mother, and I took her to wife. ¹³And after God brought me out of my father's house, I said to her: I Thou shalt do me this kindness: In every place, to which we shall come, thou shalt say that I am thy brother. ¹⁴And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and servants and handmaids, and gave to Abraham: and restored to him Sara, his wife. ¹⁵And said: The land is before you, dwell wheresoever it shall please thee. ¹⁶And to Sara he said: Behold I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: this shall serve thee for a covering of thy eyes to all that are with thee, and whithersoever thou shalt go: and remember thou wast taken. ¹⁷And when Abraham prayed, God healed Abimelech and his wife, and his handmaids, and they bore children: ¹⁸For the Lord had closed up every womb of the house of Abimelech on account of Sara, Abraham's wife.

Chapter 21

¹And the Lord visited Sara, as he had promised: and fulfilled what he had spoken. ²And she conceived and bore a son in her old age, at the time that God had foretold her. ³And Abraham called the name of his son, whom Sara bore him, Isaac. ⁴And he circumcised him the eighth day, as God had commanded him, ⁵When he was a hundred years old: for at this age of his father was Isaac born. ⁶And Sara said: God hath made a laughter for me: whosoever shall hear of it will laugh with me. ⁷And again she said: Who would believe that Abraham should hear that Sara gave suck to a son, whom she bore to him in his old age. ⁸And the child grew and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast on the day of his weaning. ⁹And when Sara had seen the son of Agar the Egyptian playing with Isaac her son, she said to Abraham: ¹⁰Cast out this bondwoman, and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac. ¹¹Abraham took this grievously for his son. ¹²And God said to him: Let it not seem grievous to thee for the boy, and for thy bondwoman: in all that Sara hath said to thee, hearken to her voice: for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. ¹³But I will make the son also of the bondwoman a great nation, because he is thy seed. ¹⁴So Abraham rose up in the morning, and taking bread and a bottle of water, put it upon her shoulder, and delivered the boy, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Bersabee. ¹⁵And when the water in the bottle was spent, she cast the boy under one of the trees that were there. ¹⁶And she went her way, and sat over against him a great way off as far as a bow can carry, for she said: I will not see the boy die: and sitting over against, she lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷And God heard the voice of the boy: and an angel of God called to Agar from heaven, saying: What art thou doing, Agar? fear not: for God hath heard the voice of the boy, from the place wherein he is. ¹⁸Arise, take up the boy, and hold him by the hand: for I will make him a great nation. ¹⁹And God opened her eyes: and she saw a well of water, and went and filled the bottle, and gave the boy to drink. ²⁰And God was with him: and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became a young man, an archer. ²¹And he dwelt in the wilderness of Pharan, and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt. ²²At the same time Abimelech, and Phicol the general of his army said to Abraham: God is with thee in all that thou dost. ²³Swear therefore by God, that thou wilt not hurt me, nor my posterity, nor my stock: but according to the kindness that I have done to thee, thou shalt do to me, and to the land wherein thou hast lived a stranger. ²⁴And Abraham said: I will swear. ²⁵And he reproved Abimelech for a well of water, which his servants had taken away by force. ²⁶And Abimelech answered: I knew not who did this thing: and thou didst not tell me, and I heard not of it till today. ²⁷And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech: and both of them made a league. ²⁸And Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock. ²⁹And Abimelech said to him: What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set apart? ³⁰But he said: Thou shalt take seven ewe lambs at my hand: that they may be a testimony for me, that I dug this well. ³¹Therefore that place was called Bersabee: because both of them did swear. ³²And they made a league for the well of oath. ³³And Abimelech, and Phicol the general of his army arose and returned to the land of the Palestines. But Abraham planted a grove in Bersabee, and there called upon the name of the Lord God eternal. ³⁴And he was a sojourner in the land of the Palestines many days.

Chapter 22

¹After these things, God tempted Abraham, and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am. ²He said to him: Take thy only begotten son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of vision: and there thou shalt offer him for a holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will show thee. ³So Abraham rising up in the night, saddled his ass: and took with him two young men, and Isaac his son: and when he had cut wood for the holocaust he went his way to the place which God had commanded him. ⁴And on the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar off. ⁵And he said to his young men: Stay you here with the ass: I and the boy will go with speed as far as yonder, and after we have worshipped, will return to you. ⁶And he took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son: and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword. And as they two went on together, ⁷Isaac said to his father: My father. And he answered: What wilt thou, son? Behold, saith he, fire and wood: where is the victim for the holocaust? ⁸And Abraham said: God will provide himself a victim for an holocaust, my son. So they went on together. ⁹And they came to the place which God had shown him, where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it: and when he had bound Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood. ¹⁰And he put forth his hand and took the sword, to sacrifice his son. ¹¹And behold an angel of the Lord from heaven called to him, saying: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am. ¹²And he said to him: Lay not thy hand upon the boy, neither do thou any thing to him: now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake. ¹³Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram amongst the briers sticking fast by the horns, which he took and offered for a holocaust instead of his son. ¹⁴And he called the name of that place, The Lord seeth. Whereupon even to this day it is said: In the mountain the Lord will see. ¹⁵And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, saying: ¹⁶By my own self have I sworn, saith the Lord: because thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake: ¹⁷I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the seashore: thy seed shall possess the gates of their enemies. ¹⁸And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. ¹⁹Abraham returned to his young men, and they went to Bersabee together, and he dwelt there. ²⁰After these things, it was told Abraham that Melcha also had borne children to Nachor his brother. ²¹Hus the firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Camuel the father of the Syrians, ²²And Cased, and Azau, and Pheldas, and Jedlaph, ²³And Bathuel, of whom was born Rebecca: These eight did Melcha bear to Nachor Abraham's brother. ²⁴And his concubine, named Roma, bore Tabee, and Gaham, and Tahas, and Maacha.

Chapter 23

¹And Sara lived a hundred and twenty-seven years. ²And she died in the city of Arbee which is Hebron, in the land of Chanaan: and Abraham came to mourn and weep for her. ³And after he rose up from the funeral obsequies, he spoke to the children of Heth, saying: ⁴I am a stranger and sojourner among you: give me the right of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead. ⁵The children of Heth answered, saying: ⁶My Lord, hear us, thou art a prince of God among us: bury thy dead in our principle sepulchers: and no man shall have power to hinder thee from burying thy dead in his sepulcher. ⁷Abraham rose up, and bowed down to the people of the land, to wit the children of Heth: ⁸And said to them: If it please your soul that I should bury my dead, hear me, and intercede for me to Ephron the son of Seor. ⁹That he may give me the double cave, which he hath in the end of his field: for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me before you, for a possession of a buryingplace. ¹⁰Now Ephron dwelt in the midst of the children of Heth. And Ephron made answer to Abraham in the hearing of all that went in at the gate of the city, saying: ¹¹Let it not be so, my lord, but do thou rather hearken to what I say: The field I deliver to thee, and the cave that is therein, in the presence of the children of my people, bury thy dead. ¹²Abraham bowed down before the people of the land, ¹³And he spoke to Ephron, in the presence of the people: I beseech thee to hear me: I will give money for the field: take it, and so I will bury my dead in it. ¹⁴And Ephron answered: ¹⁵My lord, hear me. The ground which thou desirest, is worth four hundred sicles of silver: this is the price between me and thee: but what is this? bury thy dead. ¹⁶And when Abraham had heard this, he weighed out the money that Ephron had asked, in the hearing of the children of Heth, four hundred sicles of silver of common current money. ¹⁷And the field that before was Ephron's, wherein was the double cave, looking towards Mambre, both it and the cave, and all the trees thereof in all its limits round about, ¹⁸Was made sure to Abraham for a possession, in the sight of the children of Heth, and of all that went in at the gate of his city. ¹⁹And so Abraham buried Sara his wife, in a double cave of the field, that looked towards Mambre, this is Hebron in the land of Chanaan. ²⁰And the field was made sure to Abraham, and the cave that was in it, for a possession to bury in, by the children of Heth.

Chapter 24

¹Now Abraham was old; and advanced in age: and the Lord had blessed him in all things. ²And he said to the elder servant of his house, who was ruler over all he had: Put thy hand under my thigh, ³That I may make thee swear by the Lord the God of heaven and earth, that thou take not a wife for my son, of the daughters of the Chanaanites, among whom I dwell: ⁴But that thou go to my own country and kindred, and take a wife from thence for my son Isaac. ⁵The servant answered: If the woman will not come with me into this land, must I bring thy son back again to the place, from whence thou camest out? ⁶And Abraham said: Beware thou never bring my son back again thither. ⁷The Lord God of heaven, who took me out of my father's house, and out of my native country, who spoke to me, and swore to me, saying: To thy seed will I give this land: he will send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take from thence a wife for my son. ⁸But if the woman will not follow thee, thou shalt not be bound by the oath; only bring not my son back thither again. ⁹The servant therefore put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his lord, and swore to him upon this word. ¹⁰And he took ten camels of his master's herd, and departed, carrying something of all his goods with him, and he set forth and went on to Mesopotamia to the city of Nachor. ¹¹And when he had made the camels lie down without the town near a well of water in Evening, at the time when women were wont to come out to draw water, he said: ¹²O Lord the God of my master Abraham, meet me today, I beseech thee, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³Behold I stand nigh the spring of water, and the daughters of the inhabitants of this city will come out to draw water. ¹⁴Now, therefore, the maid to whom I shall say: Let down thy pitcher that I may drink: and she shall answer, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let it be the same whom thou hast provided for thy servant Isaac: and by this I shall understand, that thou hast shown kindness to my master. ¹⁵he had not yet ended these words within himself, and behold Rebecca came out, the daughter of Bathuel, son of Melcha, wife to Nachor the brother of Abraham, having a pitcher on her shoulder: ¹⁶An exceedingly comely maid, and a most beautiful virgin, and not known to man: and she went down to the spring, and filled her pitcher and was coming back. ¹⁷And the servant ran to meet her, and said: Give me a little water to drink of thy pitcher. ¹⁸And she answered: Drink, my lord. And quickly she let down the pitcher upon her arm, and gave him drink. ¹⁹And when he had drunk, she said: I will draw water for thy camels also, till they all drink. ²⁰And pouring out the pitcher into the troughs, she ran back to the well to draw water: and having drawn she gave to all the camels. ²¹But he musing beheld her with silence, desirous to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not. ²²And after that the camels had drunk, the man took out golden earrings, weighing two sicles: and as many bracelets of ten sicles weight. ²³And he said to her: Whose daughter art thou? tell me: is there any place in thy father's house to lodge? ²⁴And she answered: I am the daughter of Bathuel, the son of Melcha, whom she bore to Nachor. ²⁵And she said moreover to him: We have good store of both straw and hay, and a large place to lodge in. ²⁶The man bowed himself down, and adored the Lord, ²⁷Saying: Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not taken away his mercy and truth from my master, and hath brought me the straight way into the house of my master's brother. ²⁸Then the maid ran, and told in her mother's house, all that she had heard. ²⁹And Rebecca had a brother named Laban, who went out in haste to the man, to the well. ³⁰And when he had seen the earrings and bracelets in his sister's hands, and had heard all that she related, saying: Thus and thus the man spoke to me: he came to the man who stood by the camels, and near to the spring of water, ³¹And said to him: Come in, thou blessed of the Lord: why standest thou without? I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels. ³²And he brought him in into his lodging: and he unharnessed the camels and gave straw and hay, and water to wash his feet, and the feet of the men that were come with him. ³³And bread was set before him. But he said: I will not eat, till I tell my message. He answered him: Speak. ³⁴And he said: I am the servant of Abraham: ³⁵And the Lord hath blessed my master wonderfully, and he is become great: and he hath given him sheep and oxen, silver and gold, menservants and womenservants, camels and asses. ³⁶And Sara my master's wife hath borne my master a son in her old age, and he hath given him all that he had. ³⁷And my master made me swear, saying: Thou shalt not take a wife for my son of the Chanaanites, in whose land I dwell: ³⁸But thou shalt go to my father's house, and shalt take a wife of my own kindred for my son: ³⁹But I answered my master: What if the woman will not come with me? ⁴⁰The Lord, said he, in whose sight I walk, will send his angel with thee, and will direct thy way: and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my own kindred, and of my father's house. ⁴¹But thou shalt be clear from my curse, when thou shalt come to my kindred, if they will not give thee one. ⁴²And I came today to the well of water, and said: O Lord God of my master Abraham, if thou hast prospered my way, wherein I now walk, ⁴³Behold I stand by the well of water, and the virgin, that shall come out to draw water, who shall hear me say: Give me a little water to drink of thy pitcher: ⁴⁴And shall say to me: Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman, whom the Lord hath prepared for my master's son. ⁴⁵And whilst I pondered these things secretly with myself, Rebecca appeared coming with a pitcher, which she carried on her shoulder: and she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her: Give me a little to drink. ⁴⁶And she speedily let down the pitcher from her shoulder, and said to me: Both drink thou, and to thy camels I will give drink. I drank, and she watered the camels. ⁴⁷And I asked her, and said: Whose daughter art thou? And she answered: I am the daughter of Bathuel, the son of Nachor, whom Melcha bore to him. So I put earrings on her to adorn her face, and I put bracelets on her hands. ⁴⁸And falling down I adored the Lord, blessing the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath brought me the straight way to take the daughter of my master's brother for his son. ⁴⁹Wherefore if you do according to mercy and truth with my master, tell me: but if it please you otherwise, tell me that also, that I may go to the right hand, or to the left. ⁵⁰And Laban and Bathuel answered: The word hath proceeded from the Lord, we cannot speak any other thing to thee but his pleasure. ⁵¹Behold Rebecca is before thee, take her and go thy way, and let her be the wife of thy master's son, as the Lord hath spoken. ⁵²WHich when Abraham's servant heard, falling down to the ground he adored the Lord. ⁵³And bringing forth vessels of silver and gold, and garments, he gave them to Rebecca for a present. He offered gifts also to her brothers, and to her mother. ⁵⁴And a banquet was made, and they ate and drank together, and lodged there. And in the morning, the servant arose, and said: Let me depart, that I may go to my master. ⁵⁵And her brother and mother answered: Let the maid stay at least ten days with us, and afterwards she shall depart. ⁵⁶Stay me not, said he, because the Lord hath prospered my way: send me away, that I may go to my master. ⁵⁷And they said: Let us call the maid, and ask her will. ⁵⁸And they called her, and when she was come, they asked: Wilt thou go with this man? She said: I will go. ⁵⁹So they sent her away, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his company, ⁶⁰Wishing prosperity to their sister, and saying: Thou art our sister, mayst thou increase to thousands of thousands, and may thy seed possess the gates of their enemies. ⁶¹So Rebecca and her maids, being set upon camels, followed the man: who with speed returned to his master. ⁶²At the same time Isaac was walking along the way to the well which is called Of the living and the seeing: for he dwelt in the south country. ⁶³And he was gone forth to meditate in the field, the day being now well spent: and when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw camels coming afar off. ⁶⁴Rebecca also, when she saw Isaac, lighted off the camel, ⁶⁵And said to the servant: Who is that man who cometh towards us along the field? And he said to her: That man is my master. But she quickly took her cloak, and covered herself. ⁶⁶And the servant told Isaac all that he had done. ⁶⁷Who brought her into the tent of Sara his mother, and took her to wife: and he loved her so much, that it moderated the sorrow which was occasioned by his mother's death.

Chapter 25

¹And Abraham married another wife, named Cetura: ²Who bore to him Zamran, and Jecsan, and Madan, and Madian, and Jesboc, and Sue. ³Jecsan also begot Saba and Dadan. The children of Dadan were Assurim, and Latusim, and Loomin. ⁴But of Madian was born Epha, and Opher, and Henoch, and Abida, and Eldaa: all these were the children of Cetura. ⁵And Abraham gave all his possessions to Isaac. ⁶And to the children of the concubines he gave gifts, and separated them from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, to the east country. ⁷And the days of Abraham's life were a hundred and seventy-five years. ⁸And decaying he died in a good old age, and having lived a long time, and being full of days: and was gathered to his people. ⁹And Isaac and Ismael his sons buried him in the double cave, which was situated in the field of Ephron the son of Seor the Hethite, over against Mambre; ¹⁰Which he had bought of the children of Heth: there was he buried, and Sara his wife. ¹¹And after his death, God blessed Isaac his son, who dwelt by the well named Of the living and seeing. ¹²These are the generations of Ismael the son of Abraham, whom Agar the Egyptian, Sara's servant, bore unto him: ¹³And these are the names of his children according to their calling and generations. The firstborn of Ismael was Nabajoth, then Cedar, and Adbeel, and Mabsam. ¹⁴And Masma, and Duma, and Massa, ¹⁵Hadar, and Thema, and Jethur, and Naphis, and Cedma. ¹⁶These are the sons of Ismael: and these are their names by their castles and towns, twelve princes of their tribes. ¹⁷And the years of Ismael's life were a hundred and thirty-seven, and decaying he died, and was gathered unto his people. ¹⁸And he dwelt from Hevila as far as Sur, which looketh towards Egypt, to them that go towards the Assyrians. He died in the presence of all his brethren. ¹⁹These also are the generations of Isaac the son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac: ²⁰Who when he was forty years old, took to wife Rebecca the daughter of Bathuel the Syrian of Mesopotamia, sister to Laban. ²¹And Isaac besought the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and he heard him, and made Rebecca to conceive. ²²But the children struggled in her womb: and she said: If it were to be so with me, what need was there to conceive? And she went to consult the Lord. ²³And he answering said: Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be divided out of thy womb, and one people shall overcome the other, and the elder shall serve the younger. ²⁴And when her time was come to be delivered, behold twins were found in her womb. ²⁵He that came forth first was red, and hairy like a skin: and his name was called Esau. Immediately the other coming forth, held his brother's foot in his hand, and therefore he was called Jacob. ²⁶Isaac was threescore years old when the children were born unto him. ²⁷And when they were grown up, Esau became a skillful hunter, and a husbandman, but Jacob a plain man dwelt in tents. ²⁸Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his hunting: and Rebecca loved Jacob. ²⁹And Jacob boiled Pottage: to whom Esau, coming faint out of the field, ³⁰Said: Give me of this red pottage, for I am exceeding faint. For which reason his name was called Edom. ³¹And Jacob said to him: Sell me thy first birthright. ³²He answered: Lo I die, what will the first birthright avail me. ³³Jacob said: Swear therefore to me. Esau swore to him, and sold his first birthright. ³⁴And so taking bread and the pottage of lentils, he ate, and drank, and went his way; making little account of having sold his first birthright.

Chapter 26

¹And when a famine came in the land, after that barrenness which had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Palestines to Gerara. ²And the Lord appeared to him and said: Go not down into Egypt, but stay in the land that I shall tell thee. ³And sojourn in it, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee: for to thee and to thy seed I will give all these countries, to fulfill the oath which I swore to Abraham thy father. ⁴And I will multiply thy seed like the stars of heaven: and I will give to thy posterity all these countries: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. ⁵Because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts and commandments, and observed my ceremonies and laws. ⁶So Isaac abode in Gerara. ⁷And when he was asked by the men of that place, concerning his wife, he answered: She is my sister; for he was afraid to confess that she was his wife, thinking lest perhaps they would like him because of her beauty. ⁸And when very many days were passed, and he abode there, Abimelech king of the Palestines looking out through a window, saw him playing with Rebecca his wife. ⁹And calling for him, he said: It is evident she is thy wife: why didst thou feign her to be thy sister? He answered: I feared lest I should die for her sake. ¹⁰And Abimelech said: Why hadst thou deceived us? Some man of the people might have lain with thy wife, and thou hadst brought upon us a great sin. And he commanded all the people, saying: ¹¹He that shall touch this man's wife, shall surely be put to death. ¹²And Isaac sowed in that land, and he found that same year a hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him. ¹³And the man was enriched, and he went on prospering and increasing, till he became exceeding great: ¹⁴And he had possessions of sheep and of herds, and a very great family. Wherefore the Palestines envying him, ¹⁵Stopped up at that time all the wells, that the servants of his father Abraham had digged, filling them up with earth: ¹⁶Insomuch that Abimelech himself said to Isaac: Depart from us, for thou art become much mightier than we. ¹⁷So he departed and came to the torrent of Gerara, to dwell there: ¹⁸And he digged again other wells, which the servants of his father Abraham had digged, and which, after his death, the Palestines had of old stopped up: and he called them by the same names by which his father before had called them. ¹⁹And they digged in the torrent, and found living water. ²⁰But there also the herdsmen of Gerara strove against the herdsmen of Isaac, saying: It is our water. Wherefore he called the name of the well, on occasion of that which had happened, Calumny. ²¹And they digged also another; and for that they quarreled likewise, and he called the name of it, Enmity. ²²Going forward from thence, he digged another well, for which they contended not: therefore he called the name thereof, Latitude, saying: Now hath the Lord given us room, and made us to increase upon the earth. ²³And he went up from that place to Bersabee, ²⁴Where the Lord appeared to him that same might, saying: I am the God of Abraham thy father; do not fear, for I am with thee: I will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. ²⁵And he built there an altar: and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent: and commanded his servants to dig a well. ²⁶To which place when Abimelech, and Ochozath his friend, and Phicol chief captain of his soldiers came from Gerara, ²⁷Isaac said to them: Why are ye come to me, a man whom you hate, and have thrust out from you? ²⁸And they answered: We saw that the Lord is with thee, and therefore we said: Let there be an oath between us, and let us make a covenant, ²⁹That thou do us no harm, as we on our part have touched nothing of thine, nor have done any thing to hurt thee: but with peace have sent thee away increased with the blessing of the Lord. ³⁰And he made them a feast, and after they had eaten and drunk: ³¹Arising in the morning, they swore one to another: and Isaac sent them away peaceably to their own home. ³²And behold the same day the servants of Isaac came, telling him of a well which they had digged, and saying: We have found water. ³³Whereupon he called it Abundance: and the name of the city was called Bersabee, even to this day. ³⁴And Esau being forty years old, married wives, Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hethite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon of the same place. ³⁵And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebecca.

Chapter 27

¹Now Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, and he could not see: and he called Esau, his elder son, and said to him: My son? And he answered: Here I am. ²And his father said to him: Thou seest that I am old, and know not the day of my death. ³Take thy arms, thy quiver, and bow, and go abroad: and when thou hast taken some thing by hunting, ⁴Make me savoury meat thereof, as thou knowest I like, and bring it, that I may eat: and my soul may bless thee before I die. ⁵And when Rebecca had heard this, and he was gone into the field to fulfill his father's commandment, ⁶She said to her son Jacob: I heard thy father talking with Esau thy brother, and saying to him: ⁷Bring me of thy hunting, and make me meats that I may eat, and bless thee in the sight of the Lord, before I die. ⁸Now, therefore, my son, follow my counsel: ⁹And go thy way to the flock, bring me two kids of the best, that I may make of them meat for thy father, such as he gladly eateth: ¹⁰Which when thou hast brought in, and he hath eaten, he may bless thee before he die. ¹¹And he answered her: Thou knowest that Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am smooth. ¹²If my father shall feel me, and perceive it, I fear lest he will think I would have mocked him, and I shall bring upon me a curse instead of a blessing. ¹³And his mother said to him: Upon me be this curse, my son: only hear thou my voice, and go, fetch me the things which I have said. ¹⁴He went, and brought, and gave them to his mother. She dressed meats, such as she knew his father liked. ¹⁵And she put on him very good garments of Esau, which she had at home with her: ¹⁶And the little skins of the kids she put about his hands, and covered the bare of his neck. ¹⁷And she gave him the savoury meat, and delivered him bread that she had baked. ¹⁸Which when he had carried in, he said: My father? But he answered: I hear. Who art thou, my son? ¹⁹And Jacob said: I am Esau thy firstborn: I have done as thou didst command me: arise, sit, and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. ²⁰And Isaac said to his son: How couldst thou find it so quickly, my son? ²¹And Isaac said: Come hither, that I may feel thee, my son, and may prove whether thou be my son Esau, or not. ²²He came near to his father, and when he had felt him, Isaac said: The voice indeed is the voice of Jacob; but the hands are the hands of Esau. ²³He said: Art thou my son Esau? He answered: I am. ²⁵Then he said: Bring me the meats of thy hunting, my son, that my soul may bless thee. And when they were brought, and he had eaten, he offered him wine also, which after he had drunk, ²⁶He said to him: Come near me, and give me a kiss, my son. ²⁷He came near, and kissed him. And immediately as he smelled the fragrant smell of his garments, blessing him, he said: Behold the smell of my son is as the smell of a plentiful field, which Lord hath blessed. ²⁸God give thee the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, abundance of corn and wine. ²⁹And let peoples serve thee, and tribes worship thee: be thou lord of thy brethren, and let they mother's children bow down before thee. Cursed be he that curseth thee: and let him that blesseth thee be filled with blessings. ³⁰Isaac had scarce ended his words, when Jacob being now gone out abroad, Esau came, ³¹And brought in to his father meats made of what he had taken in hunting, saying: Arise, my father, and eat of thy son's venison; that thy soul may bless me. ³²And Isaac said to him: Why! who art thou? He answered: I am thy firstborn son Esau. ³³Isaac was struck with fear, and astonished exceedingly: and wondering beyond what can be believed, said Who is he then the even now brought me venison that he had taken, and I ate of all before thou camest? and I have blessed him, and he shall be blessed. ³⁴Esau having heard his father's words, roared out with a great cry: and being in a great consternation, said: Bless me also, my father. ³⁵And he said: Thy brother came deceitfully and got thy blessing. ³⁶But he said again: Rightly is his name called Jacob; for he hath supplanted me lo this second time: my first birthright he took away before, and now this second time he hath stolen away my blessing. And again he said to his father: Hast thou not reserved me also a blessing? ³⁷Isaac answered: I have appointed him thy lord, and have made all his brethren his servants: I have established him with corn and wine, and after this, what shall I do more for thee, my son? ³⁸And Esac said to him: Hast thou only one blessing, father? I beseech thee bless me also. And when he wept with a loud cry, ³⁹Isaac being moved, said to him: In the fat of the earth, and in the dew of heaven from above, ⁴⁰Shall thy blessing be. Thou shalt live by the sword and shalt serve thy brother: and the time shall come, when thou shalt shake off and loose his yoke from thy neck. ⁴¹Esau therefore always hated Jacob for the blessing wherewith his father had blessed him: and he said in his heart: The days will come of the mourning of my father, and I will kill my brother Jacob. ⁴²These things were told to Rebecca: and she sent and called Jacob her son, and said to him: Behold Esau thy brother threateneth to kill thee. ⁴³Now therefore, my son, hear my voice: arise and flee to Laban my brother to Haran: ⁴⁴And thou shalt dwell with him a few days, till wrath of thy brother be assuaged, ⁴⁵And his indignation cease, and he forget the things thou hast done to him: afterwards I will send, and bring thee from thence hither. Why shall I be deprived of both my sons in one day? ⁴⁶And Rebecca said to Isaac: I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the stock of this land, I choose not to live.

Chapter 28

¹And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, saying: Take not a wife of the stock of Chanaan: ²But go, and take a journey to Mesopotamia of Syria, to the house of Bathuel thy mother's father, and take thee a wife thence of the daughters of Laban thy uncle. ³And God almighty bless thee, and make thee to increase, and multiply thee: that thou mayst be a multitude of people. ⁴And give the blessings of Abrabam to thee, and to thy seed after thee: that thou mayst possess the land of thy sojournment, which he promised to thy grandfather. ⁵And when Isaac had sent him away, he took his journey and went to Mesopotamia of Syria to Laban the son of Bathuel the Syrian, brother to Rebecca his mother. ⁶And Esau seeing that his father had blessed Jacob, and had sent him into Mesopotamia of Syria, to marry a wife thence; and that after the blessing he had charged him, saying: Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Chanaan: ⁷And that Jacob obeying his parents was gone into Syria: ⁸Experiencing also that his father was not well pleased with the daughters of Chanaan: ⁹He went to Ismael, and took to wife, besides them he had before, Maheleth the daughter of Ismael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nabajoth. ¹⁰But Jacob being departed from Bersabee, went on to Haran. ¹¹And when he was come to a certain place, and would rest in it after sunset, he took of the stones that lay there, and putting under his head, slept in the same place. ¹²And he saw in his sleep a ladder standing upon the earth, and the top thereof touching heaven: the angels also of God ascending and descending by it; ¹³And the Lord leaning upon the ladder, saying to him: I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land, wherein thou sleepest, I will give to thee and to thy seed. ¹⁴And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth: thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and IN THEE and thy seed all the tribes of the earth SHALL BE BLESSED. ¹⁵And I will be thy keeper whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee back into this land: neither will I leave thee, till I shall have accomplished all that I have said. ¹⁶And when Jacob awaked out of sleep, he said: Indeed the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. ¹⁷And trembling he said: How terrible is this place! this is no other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven. ¹⁸And Jacob, arising in the morning, took the stone, which he had laid under his head, and set it up for a title, pouring oil upon the top of it. ¹⁹And he called the name of the city Bethel, which before was called Luza. ²⁰And he made a vow, saying: If God shall be with me, and shall keep me in the way by which I walk, and shall give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, ²¹And I shall return prosperously to my father's house: the Lord shall be my God: ²²And this stone, which I have set up for a title, shall called the house of God: and of all things that thou shalt give to me, I will offer tithes to thee.

Chapter 29

¹Then Jacob went on in his journey, and came into the east country. ²And he saw a well in the field, and three flocks of sheep lying by it: for the beasts were watered out of it, and the mouth thereof was closed with a great stone. ³And the custom was, when all the sheep were gathered together to roll away the stone, and after the sheep were watered, to put it on the mouth of the well again. ⁴And he said to the shepherds: Brethren, whence are you? They answered: Of Haran. ⁵And he asked them, saying: Know you Laban the son of Nachor? They said: We know him. ⁶He said: Is he in health? He is in health, say they: and behold Rachel his daughter cometh with his flock. ⁷And Jacob said: There is yet much day remaining, neither is it time to bring the flocks into the folds again: first give the sheep drink, and so lead them back to feed. ⁸They answered: We cannot, till all the cattle be gathered together, and we remove the stone from the well's mouth, that we may water the flocks. ⁹They were yet speaking, and behold Rachel came with her father's sheep: for she fed the flock. ¹⁰And when Jacob saw her, and knew her to be his cousin-german, and that they were the sheep of Laban, his uncle: he removed the stone wherewith the well was closed. ¹¹And having watered the flock, he kissed her: and lifting up his voice, wept. ¹²And he told her that he was her father's brother, and the son of Rebecca: but she went in haste and told her father. ¹³Who, when he heard that Jacob his sister's son was come, ran forth to meet him; and embracing him, and heartily kissing him, brought him into his house. And when he had heard the causes of his journey, ¹⁴He answered: Thou art my bone and my flesh. And after the days of one month were expired, ¹⁵He said to him: Because thou art my brother, shalt thou serve me without wages? Tell me what wages thou wilt have. ¹⁶Now he had two daughters, the name of the elder was Lia: and the younger was called Rachel. ¹⁷But Lia was blear eyed: Rachel was well favoured, and of a beautiful countenance. ¹⁸And Jacob being in love with her, said: I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. ¹⁹Laban answered: It is better that I give her thee than to another man; stay with me. ²⁰So Jacob served seven years for Rachel: and they seemed but a few days, because of the greatness of his love. ²¹And he said to Laban: Give me my wife; for now the time is fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. ²²And he, having invited a great number of his friends to the feast, made the marriage. ²³And at night he brought in Lia his daughter to him, ²⁴Giving his daughter a handmaid, named Zalpha. Now when Jacob had gone in to her according to custom when morning was come he saw it was Lia: ²⁵And he said to his father in law: What is it that thou didst mean to do? did not I serve thee for Rachel? why hast thou deceived me? ²⁶Laban answered: It is not the custom in this place, to give the younger in marriage first. ²⁷Make up the week of days of this match: and I will give thee her also, for the service that thou shalt render me other seven years. ²⁸He yielded to his pleasure: and after the week was past, he married Rachel: ²⁹To whom her father gave Bala for her servant. ³⁰And having at length obtained the marriage he wished for, he preferred the love of the latter before the former, and served with him other seven years. ³¹And the Lord seeing that he despised Lia, opened her womb, but her sister remained barren. ³²And she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Ruben, saying: The Lord saw my affliction: now my husband will love me. ³³And again she conceived and bore a son, and said: Because the Lord heard that I was despised, he hath given this also to me: and she called his name Simeon. ³⁴And she conceived the third time, and bore another son: and said: Now also my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons: and therefore she called his name Levi. ³⁵The fourth time she conceived and bore a son, and said: now will I praise the Lord: and for this she called him Juda. And she left bearing.

Chapter 30

¹And Rachel, seeing herself without children, envied her sister, and said to her husband: Give me children, otherwise I shall die. ²And Jacob being angry with her, answered: Am I as God, who hath deprived thee of the fruit of thy womb? ³But she said: I have here my servant Bala: go in unto her, that she may bear upon my knees, and I may have children by her. ⁴And she gave him Bala in marriage: who, ⁵When her husband had gone in unto her, conceived and bore a son. ⁶And Rachel said: The Lord hath judged for me, and hath heard my voice, giving me a son, and therefore she called his name Dan. ⁷And again Bala conceived and bore another, ⁸For whom Rachel said: God hath compared me with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called him Nephtali. ⁹Lia, perceiving that she had left off bearing, gave Zelpha her handmaid to her husband. ¹⁰And when she had conceived and brought forth a son, ¹¹She said: Happily. And therefore called his name Gad. ¹²Zelpha also bore another. ¹³And Lia said: This is for my happiness: for women will call me blessed. Therefore she called him Aser. ¹⁴And Ruben, going out in the time of the wheat harvest into the field, found mandrakes: which he brought to his mother Lia. And Rachel said: Give me part of thy son's mandrakes. ¹⁵She answered: Dost thou think it a small matter, that thou hast taken my husband from me, unless thou take also my son's mandrakes? Rachel said: He shall sleep with thee this night, for thy son's mandrakes. ¹⁶And when Jacob returned at even from the field, Lia went out to meet him, and said: Thou shalt come in unto me, because I have hired thee for my son's mandrakes. And he slept with her that night. ¹⁷And God heard her prayers: and she conceived and bore the fifth son, ¹⁸And said: God hath given me a reward, because I gave my handmaid to my husband. And she called his name Issachar. ¹⁹And Lia conceived again, and bore the sixth son, ²⁰And said: God hath endowed me with a good dowry: this turn also my husband will be with me, because I have borne him six sons: and therefore she called his name Zabulon. ²¹After whom she bore a daughter, named Diana. ²²The Lord also remembering Rachel, heard her, and opened her womb. ²³And she conceived, and bore a son, saying: God hath taken my reproach. ²⁴And she called his name Joseph, saying: The Lord give me also another son. ²⁵And when Joseph was born, Jacob said to his father in law: Send me away that I may return into my country, and to my land. ²⁶Give me my wives, and my children, for whom I have served thee, that I may depart: thou knowest the service that I have rendered thee. ²⁷Laban said to him: Let me find favour in thy sight: I have learned by experience, that God hath blessed me for thy sake. ²⁸Appoint thy wages which I shall give thee. ²⁹But he answered: Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how great thy possession hath been in my hands. ³⁰Thou hadst but little before I came to thee, and now thou art become rich: and the Lord hath blessed thee at my coming. It is reasonable therefore that I should now provide also for my own house. ³¹And Laban said: What shall I give thee? But he said: I require nothing: but if thou wilt do what I demand, I will feed, and keep thy sheep again. ³²Go round through all thy flocks, and separate all the sheep of divers colours, and speckled: and all that is brown and spotted, and of divers colours, as well among the sheep, as among the goats, shall be my wages. ³³And my justice shall answer for me to morrow before thee when the time of the bargain shall come: and all that is not of divers colours, and spotted, and brown, as well among the sheep as among the goats, shall accuse me of theft. ³⁴And Laban said: I like well what thou demandest. ³⁵And he separated the name day the she goats, and the sheep, and the he goats, and the rams of divers colours, and spotted: and all the flock of one colour, that is, of white and black fleece, he delivered into the hands of his sons. ³⁶And he set the space of three days' journey betwixt himself and his son in law, who fed the rest of his flock. ³⁷And Jacob took green rods of poplar, and of almond, and of place trees, and pilled them in part: so when the bark was taken off, in the parts that were pilled, there appeared whiteness: but the parts that were whole remained green: and by this means the colour was divers. ³⁸And he put them in the troughs, where the water was poured out: that when the flocks should come to drink, they might have the rods before their eyes, and in the sight of them might conceive. ³⁹And it came to pass that in the very heat of coition, the sheep beheld the rods, and brought forth spotted, and of divers colours, and speckled. ⁴⁰And Jacob separated the flock, and put the rods in the troughs before the eyes of the rams: and all the white and the black were Laban's: and the rest were Jacob's, when the flocks were separated one from the other. ⁴¹So when the ewes went first to ram, Jacob put the rods in the roughs of water before the eyes of the rams, and of the ewes, that they might conceive while they were looking upon them: ⁴²But when the latter coming was, and the last conceiving, he did not put them. And those that were late ward, become Laban's: and they of the first time, Jacob's. ⁴³And the man was enriched exceedingly, and he had many flocks, maid servants and men servants, camels and asses.

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¹But after that he heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying: Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's, and being enriched by his substance is become great: ²And perceiving also that Laban's countenance was not towards him as yesterday and the other day, ³Especially the Lord saying to him: Return into the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee. ⁴He sent, and called Rachel and Lia into the field, where he fed the flocks, ⁵And said to them: I see your father's countenance is not towards me as yesterday and the other day: but the God of my father hath been with me. ⁶And you know that I have served your father to the utmost of my power. ⁷Yea, your father also hath overreached me, and hath changes my wages ten times: and yet God hath not suffered him to hurt me. ⁸If at any time he said: The speckled shall be thy wages: all the sheep brought forth speckled: but when he said on the contrary: Thou shalt take all the white ones for thy wages: all the flocks brought forth white ones. ⁹And God hath taken your father's substance, and given it to me. ¹⁰For after that time came of the ewes conceiving, I lifted up my eyes, and saw in my sleep that the males which leaped upon the females were of diverse colors, and spotted, and speckled. ¹¹And the angel of God said to me in my sleep: Jacob? And I answered: Here I am. ¹²And he said: Lift up thy eyes, and see that all the males leaping upon the females, are of divers colors, spotted, and speckled. For I have seen all that Laban hath done to thee. ¹³I am the God of Bethel, where thou didst anoint the stone, and make a vow to me. Now therefore arise, and go out of this land, and return into thy native country. ¹⁴And Rachel and Lia answered: Have we anything left among the goods and inheritance of our father's house? ¹⁵Hath he not counted us as strangers and sold us, and eaten up the price of us? ¹⁶But God hath taken our father's riches, and delivered them to us, and to our children: wherefore do all that God hath commanded thee. ¹⁷Then Jacob rose up, and having set his children and wives upon camels, went his way. ¹⁸And he took all his substance, and flocks, and whatsoever he had gotten in Mesopotamia, and went forward to Isaac his father to the land of Chanaan. ¹⁹At that time Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole away her father's idols. ²⁰And Jacob would not confess to his father in law that he was flying away. ²¹And when he was gone, together with all that belonged to him, and having passed the river, was going on towards mount Galaad, ²²It was told Laban on the third day that Jacob fled. ²³And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days; and overtook him in the mount of Galaad. ²⁴And he saw in a dream God saying to him: Take heed thou speak not any thing harshly against Jacob. ²⁵Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain: and when he with his brethren had overtaken him, he pitched his tent in the same mount of Galaad. ²⁶And he said to Jacob: Why hast thou done thus, to carry away, without my knowledge, my daughters, as captives taken with the sword. ²⁷Why wouldst thou run away privately and not acquaint me, that I might have brought thee on the way with joy, and with songs, and with timbrels, and with harps? ²⁸Thou hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and daughters: thou hast done foolishly: and now, indeed, ²⁹It is in my power to return thee evil: but the God of your father said to me yesterday: Take heed thou speak not any things harshly against Jacob. ³⁰Suppose thou didst desire to go to thy friends, and hadst a longing after thy father's house: why hast thou stolen away my gods? ³¹Jacob answered: That I departed unknown to thee, it was for fear lest thou wouldst take away thy daughters by force. ³²But whereas thou chargest me with theft: with whomsoever thou shalt find thy gods, let him be slain before our brethren. Search, and if thou find any of thy things with me, take them away. Now when he said this, he knew not that Rachel had stolen the idols. ³³So Laban went into the tent of Jacob, and of Lia, and of both the handmaids, and found them not. And when he was entered into Rachel's tent, ³⁴She in haste hid the idols under the camel's furniture, and sat upon them: and when he had searched all the tent, and found nothing, ³⁵She said: Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before thee, because it has now happened to me, according to the custom of women, So his careful search was in vain. ³⁶And jacob being angry, said in a chiding manner: For what fault of mine, and for what offense on my part hast thou so hotly pursued me, ³⁷And searched all my household stuff? What hast thou found of all the substance of thy house? lay it here before my brethren, and thy brethren, and let them judge between me and thee. ³⁸Have I therefore been with thee twenty years? thy ewes and goats were not barren, the rams of thy flocks I did not eat: ³⁹Neither did I show thee that which the beast had torn, I made good all the damage: whatsoever was lost by theft, thou didst exact it of me: ⁴⁰Day and night was I parched with heat, and with frost, and sleep departed from my eyes. ⁴¹And in this manner have I served thee in thy house twenty years, fourteen for thy daughters, and six for thy flocks: thou hast changed also my wages ten times. ⁴²Unless the God of my father Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had stood by me, peradventure now thou hadst sent me away naked: God beheld my affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesterday. ⁴³Laban answered him: The daughters are mine and the children, and thy flocks, and all things that thou seest are mine: what can I do to my children, and grandchildren? ⁴⁴Come therefore, let us enter into a league: that it may be for a testimony between me and thee. ⁴⁵And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a title: ⁴⁶And he said to his brethren: Bring hither stones. And they gathering stones together, made a heap, and they ate upon it. ⁴⁷And Laban called it The witness heap: and Jacob, The hillock of testimony: each of them according to the propriety of his language. ⁴⁸And Laban said: This heap shall be a witness between me and thee this day, and therefore the name thereof was called Galaad, that is, The witness heap. ⁴⁹The Lord behold and judge between us when we shall be gone one from the other. ⁵⁰If thou afflict my daughters, and if thou bring in other wives over them: none is witness of our speech but God, who is present and beholdeth. ⁵¹And he said again to Jacob: Behold, this heap, and the stone which I have set up between me and thee, ⁵²Shall be a witness: this heap, I say, and the stone, be they for a testimony, if either I shall pass beyond it going towards thee, or thou shalt pass beyond it, thinking harm to me. ⁵³The God of Abraham, and the God of Nachor, the God of their father, judge between us. And jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴And after he had offered sacrifices in the mountain, he called his brethren to eat bread. And when they had eaten, they lodged there: ⁵⁵But Laban arose in the night, and kissed his sons, and daughters, and blessed them: and returned to his place.

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¹Jacob also went on the journey he had begun: and the angels of God met him. ²And when he saw them, he said: These are the camps of God, and he called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, Camps. ³And he sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir to the country of Edom: ⁴And he commanded them, saying: Thus shall ye speak to my lord Esau: Thus saith thy brother Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and have been with him until this day. ⁵I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and womenservants: and now I send a message to my lord, that I may find favor in thy sight. ⁶And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We came to Esau thy brother, and behold he cometh with speed to meet thee with four hundred men. ⁷Then Jacob was greatly afraid; and in his fear divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the sheep, and the oxen, and the camels, into two companies, ⁸Saying: If Esau come to one company and destroy it, the other company that is left shall escape. ⁹And Jacob said: O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who saidst to me: Return to thy land and to the place of thy birth, and I will do well for thee, ¹⁰I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of thy truth which thou hast fulfilled to thy servant. With my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I return with two companies. ¹¹Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am greatly afraid of him: lest perhaps he come, and kill the mother with the children. ¹²Thou didst say that thou wouldst do well by me, and multiply my seed like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for the multitude. ¹³And when he had slept there that night, he set apart, of the things which he had, presents for his brother Esau. ¹⁴Two hundred she goats, twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, ¹⁵Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she asses, and ten of their foals. ¹⁶And he sent them by the hands of his servants, every drove by itself, and he said to his servants: Go before me, and let there be a space between drove and drove. ¹⁷And he commanded the first, saying: If thou meet my brother Esau, and he ask thee: Whose art thou? or whither goest thou? or whose are these before thee? ¹⁸Thou shalt answer: Thy servant Jacob's: he hath sent them as a present to my lord Esau: and he cometh after us. ¹⁹In like manner he commanded the second and the third, and all that followed with the droves, saying: Speak ye the same words to Esau, when ye find him. ²⁰And ye shall add: thy servant Jacob himself also followeth after us: for he said: I will appease him with the presents that go before, and afterwards I will see him, perhaps he will be gracious to me. ²¹So the presents went before him, but himself lodged that night in the camp. ²²And rising early he took his two wives, and his two handmaids, with his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of Jaboc. ²³And when all things were brought over that belonged to him, ²⁴He remained alone: and behold a man wrestled with him till morning. ²⁵And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank. ²⁶And he said to him: Let me go, for it is break of day. He answered: I will not let thee go except thou bless me. ²⁷And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob. ²⁸But he said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel: for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men? ²⁹Jacob asked him, Tell me by what name art thou called? He answered: Why dost thou ask my name? And he blessed him in the same place. ³⁰And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved. ³¹And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he was past Phanuel; but he halted on his foot. ³²Therefore the children of Israel, unto this day, eat not the sinew, that shrank in Jacob's thigh: because he touched the sinew of his thigh and it shrank.

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¹And Jacob lifting up his eyes, saw Esau coming, and with him four hundred men: and he divided the children of Lia, and of Rachel, and of the two handmaids: ²And he put both the handmaids and their children foremost: and Lia and her children in the second place: and Rachel and Joseph last. ³And he went forward and bowed down with his face to the ground seven times until his brother came near. ⁴Then Esau ran to meet his brother, and embraced him: and clasping him fast about the neck, and kissing him, wept. ⁵And lifting up his eyes, he saw the women and their children, and said: What mean these? And do they belong to thee? He answered: They are the children which God hath given to me thy servant. ⁶Then the handmaids and their children came near, and bowed themselves. ⁷Lia also with her children came near, and bowed down in like manner, and last of all Joseph and Rachel bowed down. ⁸And Esau said: What are the droves that I met? He answered: That I might find favor before my lord. ⁹But he said: I have plenty, my brother, keep what is thine for thyself. ¹⁰And Jacob said: Do not so I beseech thee, but if I have found favor in thy eyes, receive a little present at my hands: for I have seen thy face, as if I should have seen the countenance of God: be gracious to me, ¹¹And take the blessing, which I have brought thee, and which God hath given me, who giveth all things. He took it with much ado at his brother's earnest pressing him, ¹²And said: Let us go on together, and I will accompany thee in thy journey. ¹³And Jacob said: My lord, thou knowest that I have with me tender children, and sheep, and kine with young: which if I should cause to be overdriven, in one day all the flocks will die. ¹⁴May it please my lord to go before his servant: and I will follow softly after him, as I shall see my children to be able, until I come to my lord in Seir. ¹⁵Esau answered: I beseech thee, that some of the people at least, who are with me, may stay to accompany thee in the way. And he said: There is no necessity: I want nothing else but only to find favor, my lord, in thy sight. ¹⁶So Esau returned, that day, the way that he came, to Seir. ¹⁷And Jacob came to Socoth: where having built a house, and pitched tents, he called the name of the place Socoth, that is, Tents. ¹⁸And he passed over to Salem, a city of the Sichemites, which is in the land of Chanaan, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria: and he dwelt by the town: ¹⁹And he bought that part of the field, in which he pitched his tents, of the children of Hemor, the father of Sichem for a hundred lambs. ²⁰And raising an altar there, he invoked upon it the most mighty God of Israel.

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¹And Dina the daughter of Lia went out to see the women of that country. ²And when Sichem the son of Hemor the Hevite, the prince of that land, saw her, he was in love with her: and took her away, and lay with her, ravishing the virgin. ³And his soul was fast knit unto her, and whereas she was sad, he comforted her with sweet words. ⁴And going to Hemor his father, he said: Get me this damsel to wife. ⁵But when Jacob had heard this, his sons being absent, and employed in feeding the cattle, he held his peace till they came back. ⁶And when Hemor the father of Sichem was come out to speak to Jacob, ⁷Behold his sons came from the field: and hearing what had passed, they were exceeding angry, because he had done a foul thing in Israel, and committed an unlawful act, in ravishing Jacob's daughter, ⁸And Hemor spoke to them: The soul of my son Sichem has a longing for your daughter: give her him to wife: ⁹And let us contract marriages one with another: give us your daughters and take you our daughters, ¹⁰And dwell with us: the land is at your command, till, trade, and possess it. ¹¹Sichem also said to her father and to her brethren: Let me find favor in your sight: and whatsoever you shall appoint I will give. ¹²Raise the dowery,, and ask gifts, and I will gladly give what you shall demand: only give me this damsel to wife. ¹³The sons of Jacob answered Sichem and his father deceitfully, being enraged at the deflowering of their sister: ¹⁴We cannot do what you demand, nor give our sister to one that is uncircumcised, which with us is unlawful and abominable. ¹⁵But in this way may we be allied with you, if you will be like us, and all the male sex among you be circumcised: ¹⁶Then will we mutually give and take your daughters, and ours: and we will dwell with you, and will be one people: ¹⁷But if you will not be circumcised, we will take our daughter and depart: ¹⁸Their offer pleased Hemor, and Sichem his son: ¹⁹And the young man made no delay, but forthwith fulfilled what was required, for he loved the damsel exceedingly, and he was the greatest man in all his father's house. ²⁰And going into the gate of the city they spoke to the people: ²¹These men are peaceable and willing to dwell with us: let them trade in the land, and till it, which being large and wide wanteth men to till it: we shall take their daughters for wives, and we will give them ours. ²²One thing there is for which so great a good is deferred: We must circumcise every male among us, following the manner of the nation. ²³And their substance, and cattle, and all that they possess, shall be ours: only in this let us condescend, and by dwelling together, we shall make one people. ²⁴And they all agreed, and circumcised all the males. ²⁵And behold the third day, when the pain of the wound was greatest, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, the brothers of Dina, taking their swords, entered boldly into the city, and slew all the men: ²⁶And they killed also Hemor and Sichem, and took away their sister Dina, out of Sichem's house. ²⁷And when they were gone out, the other sons of Jacob came upon the slain; and plundered the city in revenge of the rape. ²⁸And they took their sheep and their herds and their asses, wasting all they had in their houses and in the fields. ²⁹and their children and wives they took captive, ³⁰And when they had boldly perpetrated these things, Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: You have troubled me, and made me hateful to the Chanaanites and Pherezites, the inhabitants of this land: we are few: they will gather themselves together and kill me; and both I, and my house, shall be destroyed. ³¹They answered: Should they abuse our sister as a strumpet?

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¹In the meantime God said to Jacob: Arise, and go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar to God, who appeared to thee when thou didst flee from Esau thy brother. ²And Jacob having called together all his household, said: Cast away the strange gods that are among you, and be cleansed and change your garments. ³Arise, and let us go up to Bethel, that we may make there an altar to God: who heard me in the day of my affliction, and accompanied me in my journey. ⁴So they gave him all the strange gods they had, and the earrings which were in their ears: and he buried them under the turpentine tree, that is behind the city of Sichem. ⁵And when they were departed, the terror of God fell upon all the cities round about, and they durst not pursue after them as they went away. ⁶And Jacob came to Luza, which is in the land of Chanaan, surnamed Bethel: he and all the people that were with him. ⁷And he built there an altar, and called the name of that place, The house of God: for there God appeared to him when he fled from his brother. ⁸At the same time Debora the nurse of Rebecca died, and was buried at the foot of Bethel under an oak: and the name of that place was called, The oak of weeping. ⁹And God appeared again to Jacob, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria, and he blessed him, ¹⁰Saying: Thou shalt not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called him Israel. ¹¹And said to him: I am God Almighty, increase thou and be multiplied. Nations and peoples of nations shall be from thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins. ¹²And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to thee, and to thy seed after thee. ¹³And he departed from him. ¹⁴But he set up a monument of stone, in the place where God had spoken to him: pouring drink offerings upon it, and pouring oil thereon: ¹⁵And calling the name of that place Bethel. ¹⁶And going forth from thence, he came in the springtime to the land which leadeth to Ephrata: wherein when Rachel was in travail, ¹⁷By reason of her hard labor she began to be in danger, and the midwife said to her: Fear not, for thou shalt have this son also. ¹⁸And when her soul was departing for pain, and death was now at hand, she called the name of her son Benoni, that is, The son of my pain: but his father called him Benjamin, that is, The son of the right hand. ¹⁹So Rachel died, and was buried in the highway that leadeth to Ephrata, that is Bethlehem. ²⁰And Jacob erected a pillar over her sepulcher: this is the pillar of Rachel's monument, to this day. ²¹Departing thence, he pitched his tent beyond the Flock tower. ²²And when he dwelt in that country, Ruben went, and slept with Bala, the concubine of his father: which he was not ignorant of. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. ²³The sons of Lia: Ruben the firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Juda, and Issachar, and Zebulon. ²⁴The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵The sons of Bala, Rachel's handmaid: Dan and Naphthali. ²⁶The sons of Zelpha, Lia's handmaid: Gad and Aser: these are the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Mesopotamia of Syria. ²⁷And he came to Isaac his father in Mambre, the city of Arbee, this is Hebron: Wherein Abraham and Isaac sojourned. ²⁸And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years. ²⁹And being spent with age he died, and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Chapter 36

¹And these are the generations of Esau, the same is Edom. ²Esau took wives of the daughters of Chanaan: Ada the daughter of Elon the Hethite, and Oolibama the daughter of Ana, the daughter of Sebeon the Hevite: ³And Basemath the daughter of Ismael, sister of Nabajoth. ⁴And Ada bore Eliphaz: Basemath bore Rahuel: ⁵Oolibama bore Jehus and Ihelon and Core. These are the sons of Esau, that were born to him in the land of Chanaan. ⁶And Esau took his wives and his sons and daughters, and every soul of his house, and his substance, and cattle, and all that he was able to acquire in the land of Chanaan: and went into another country, and departed from his brother Jacob. ⁷For they were exceeding rich, and could not dwell together: neither was the land in which they sojourned able to bear them, for the multitude of their flocks. ⁸And Esau dwelt in mount Seir: he is Edom. ⁹And these are the generations of Esau the father of Edom in mount Seir, ¹⁰And these the names of his sons: Eliphaz the son of Ada the wife of Esau: and Rahnel the son of Basemath his wife. ¹¹And Eliphaz had sons: Theman, Omar, Sepho, and Gatham, and Cenee. ¹²And Thamna was the concubine of Eliphaz the son of Esau: and she bore him Amalech. These are the sons of Ada the wife of Esau. ¹³And the sons of Rahuel were Nahath and Zara, Samma and Meza. These were the sons of Basemath the wife of Esau. ¹⁴And these were the sons of Oolibama, the daughter of Ana, the daughter of Sebeon, the wife of Esau, whom she bore to him, Jehus, and Ihelon, and Core. ¹⁵These were dukes of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: duke Theman, duke Omar, duke Sepho, duke Cenez, ¹⁶Duke Core, duke Gatham, duke Amalech: these are the sons of Eliphaz, in the land of Edom, and these the Bone of Ada. ¹⁷And these were the sons of Rahuel, the son of Esau: duke Nahath, duke Zara, duke Samma, duke Meza. And these are the dukes of Rahuel, in the land of Edom: these the sons of Basemath the wife of Esau. ¹⁸And these the sons of Oolibama the wife of Esau: duke Jehus, duke Ihelon, duke Core. These are the dukes of Oolibama, the daughter of Ana, and wife of Esau. ¹⁹These are the sons of Esau, and these the dukes of them: the same is Edom. ²⁰These are the sons of Seir the Horrite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, and Sobal, and Sebeon, and Ana, ²¹And Dison, and Eser, and Disan. These are dukes of the Horrites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. ²²And Lotan had sons: Hori and Heman. And the sister of Lotan was Thamna. ²³And these the sons of Sobal: Alvan and Manahat, and Ebal, and Sepho, and Oman. ²⁴And these the sons of Sebeon: Aia and Ana. This is Ana that found the hot waters in the wilderness, when he fed the asses of Sebeon his father: ²⁵And he had a son Dison, and a daughter Oolibama. ²⁶And these were the sons of Dison: Hamdan, and Eseban, and Jethram, and Charan. ²⁷These also were the sons of Eser: Balaan, and Zavan, and Acan. ²⁸And Disan had sons : Hus, and Aram. ²⁹These were dukes of the Horrites: duke Lotan, duke Sobal, duke Sebeon, duke Ana, ³⁰Duke Dison, duke Eser, duke Disan: these were dukes of the Horrites that ruled in the land of Seir. ³¹And the kings that ruled in the land of Edom, before the children of Israel had a king were these: ³²Bela the son of Beer, and the name of his city Denaba. ³³And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zara of Bosra reigned in his stead. ³⁴And when Jobab was dead, Husam of the land of the Themanites reigned in his stead. ³⁵And after his death, Adad the son of Badad reigned in his stead, who defeated the Madianites in the country of Moab: and the name of his city was Avith. ³⁶And when Adad was dead, there reigned in his stead, Semla of Masreca. ³⁷And he being dead, Saul of the river Rohoboth, reigned in his stead. ³⁸And when he also was dead, Balanan the son of Achobor succeeded to the kingdom. ³⁹This man also being dead, Adar reigned in his place, and the name of his city was Phau: and his wife was called Meetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezaab. ⁴⁰And these are the names of the dukes of Esau in their kindreds, and places, and callings: duke Thamna, duke Alva, duke Jetheth, ⁴¹Duke Oolibama, duke Ela, duke Phinon, ⁴²Duke Cenez, duke Theman, duke Mabsar, ⁴³Duke Magdiel, duke Hiram: these are the dukes of Edom dwelling in the land of their government; the same is Esau the father of the Edomites.

Chapter 37

¹And Jacob dwelt in the land of Chanaan wherein his father sojourned. ²And these are his generations: Joseph, when he was sixteen years old, was feeding the dock with his brethren, being but a boy: and he was with the sons of and of Zelpha his father's wives : and he accused his brethren to his father of a most wicked crime. ³Now Israel loved Joseph above all his sons, because he had him in his old age: and he made him a coat of divers colours. ⁴And his brethren seeing that he was loved by his father, more than all his sons, hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. ⁵Now it fell out also that he told his brethren a dream, that he had dreamed: which occasioned them to hate him the more. ⁶And he said to them: Hear my dream which I dreamed. ⁷I thought we were binding sheaves in the field: and my sheaf arose as it were, end stood, and your sheaves standing about, bowed down before my sheaf. ⁸His brethren answered : Shalt thou be our king? or shall we be subject to thy dominion? Therefore this matter of his dreams and words ministered nourishment to their envy and hatred. ⁹He dreamed also another dream, which he told his brethren, saying: I saw in a dream, as it were the sun, and the moon, and eleven stars worshipping me. ¹⁰And when he had told this to his father and brethren, his father rebuked him, and said: What meaneth this dream that thou hast dreamed? shall I and thy mother, and thy brethren worship thee upon the earth? ¹¹His brethren therefore envied him: but his father considered the thing with himself. ¹²And when his brethren abode in Sichem feeding their father's docks, ¹³Israel said to him : Thy brethren feed the sheep in Sichem: come, I will send thee to them. And when he answered: ¹⁴I am ready: he said to him: Go, and see if all things be well with thy brethren, and the cattle: and bring me word again what is doing. So being sent from the vale of Hebron, he came to Sichem: ¹⁵And a man found him there wandering in the field, and asked what he sought. ¹⁶But he answered: I seek my brethren; tell me where they feed the docks. ¹⁷And the man said to him: They are departed from this place: for I heard them say: Let us go to Dothain. And Joseph went forward after his brethren, and found them in Dothain. ¹⁸And when they saw him afar off, before he came nigh them, they thought to kill him. ¹⁹And said one to another: Behold the dreamer cometh. ²⁰Come, let us kill him, and cast him into some old pit : and we will say : Some evil beast hath devoured him: and then it shall appear what his dreams avail him : ²¹And Ruben hearing this, endeavoured to deliver him out of their hands, end said: ²²Do not take away his life, nor shed his blood: but cast him into this pit, that is in the wilderness, and keep your hands harmless: now he said this, being desirous to deliver him out of their hands and to restore him to his father. ²³And as soon as he came to his brethren, they forthwith stript him of his outside coat, that was of divers colours: ²⁴And cast him into an old pit, where there was no water. ²⁵And sitting down to eat bread, they saw some Ismaelites on their way coming from Calaad, with their camels, carrying spices, and balm, and myrrh to Egypt. ²⁶And Juda said to his brethren: What will it profit us to kill our brother, and conceal his blood? ²⁷It is better that he be sold to the Ismaelites, and that our hands be not defiled: for he is our brother and our flesh. His brethren agreed to his words. ²⁸And when the Madianite merchants passed by, they drew him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ismaelites, for twenty pieces of silver: and they led him into Egypt. ²⁹And Ruben, returning to the pit, found not the boy: ³⁰And rending his garments he went to his brethren, and said: The boy doth not appear and whither shall I go? ³¹And they took his coat, and dipped it in the blood of a kid, which they had killed : ³²Sending some to carry it to their father, and to say: This we have found: see whether it be thy son's coat, or not. ³³And the father acknowledging it, said: It is my son's coat, an evil wild beast hath eaten him, a beast hath devoured Joseph. ³⁴And tearing his garments, he put an sackcloth, mourning for his son a long time. ³⁵And alibis children being gathered together to comfort their father in his sorrow, he would not receive comfort, but said: I will go down to my son into hell, mourning. And whilst he continued weeping, ³⁶The Madianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Putiphar, an eunuch of Pharao, captain of the soldiers.

Chapter 38

¹At that time Juda went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Odollamite, named Hiras. ²And he saw there the daughter of a man of Chanaan, called Sue: and taking her to wife, he went in unto her. ³And she conceived, and bore a son, and called his name Her. ⁴And conceiving again, she bore a son, and called him Onan. ⁵She bore also a third: whom she called Sela. after whose birth, she ceased to bear any more. ⁶And Juda took a wife for Her his firstborn, whose name was Thamar. ⁷And Her, the firstborn of Juda, was wicked in the sight of the Lord: and was slain by him. ⁸Juda, therefore add to Onan his son: Go in to thy brother's wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother. ⁹He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother's wife, spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name. ¹⁰And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing. ¹¹Wherefore Juda said to Thamar his daughter in law: Remain a widow in thy father's house, till Sela my son grow up: for he was afraid lest he also might die, as his brethren did. She went her way and dwelt in her father's house. ¹²And after many days were past, the daughter of Sue the wife of Juda died: and when he had taken comfort after his mourning, he went up to Thamnas, to the shearers of his sheep, he and Hiras the Odollamite the shepherd of his flock. ¹³And it was told Thamar that her father in law was come up to Thamnas to shear his sheep. ¹⁴And she put off the garments of her widowhood, and took a veil: and changing her dress, sat in the cross way, that leadeth to Thamnas: because Sela was grown up, and she had not been married to him. ¹⁵When Juda saw her, he thought she was a harlot: for she had covered her face, lest she should be known. ¹⁶And going to her, he said: Suffer me to lie with thee: for he knew her not to be his daughter in law. And she answered: What wilt thou give me to en joy my company? ¹⁷He said: I will send thee a kid out of the flock. And when she said again: I will suffer what thou wilt, if thou give a pledge, till thou send what thou promisest, ¹⁸Juda said: What wilt thou have for a pledge ? She answered: Thy ring and bracelet, and the staff which thou holdest in thy hand. The woman therefore at one copulation conceived. ¹⁹And she arose and went her way: and putting off the apparel which she had taken, put on the garments of her widowhood. ²⁰And Juda sent a kid by his shepherd, the Odollamite, that he might receive the pledge again, which he had given to the woman: but he, not finding her, ²¹asked the men of that place : Where is the woman that sat in the cross way? And when they all made answer: There was no harlot in this place, ²²He returned to Juda, and said to him: I have not found her; moreover the men of that place said to me, that there never sat a harlot there. ²³Juda said : Let her take it to herself ; surely she cannot charge us with a lie: I sent the kid which I promised: and thou didst not find her. ²⁴And behold after three months they told a lie, saying: Thamar, thy daughter in law hath played the harlot, and she appeareth to have a big belly. And Juda said : Bring her out that she may be burnt. ²⁵But when she was led to execution, she sent to her father in law, saying: By the man, to whom these things belong, I am with child. See whose ring, and bracelet, and staff this is. ²⁶But he acknowledging the gifts, said: She is juster than I: because I did not give her to Sela, my son. However, he knew her no more. ²⁷And when she was ready to be brought to bed, there appeared twins in her womb: and in the very delivery of the infants, one put forth a hand, whereon the midwife tied a scarlet thread, saying: ²⁸This shall come forth the first. ²⁹But he drawing back his hand, the other came forth: and the woman said: Why is the partition divided for thee? and therefore called his name Phares. ³⁰Afterwards his brother came out, on whose hand was the scarlet thread: and she called him Zara.

Chapter 39

¹And Joseph was brought into Egypt, and Putiphar an eunuch of Pharao, chief captain of the army, an Egyptian, bought him of the Ismaelites, by whom he was brought. ²And the Lord was with him, and he was a prosperous man in all things: and he dwelt in his master's house, ³Who knew very well that the Lord was with him, and made all that he did to prosper in his hand. ⁴And Joseph found favour in the sight of his master, and ministered to him: and being set over all by him, he governed the house committed to him, and all things that were delivered to him: ⁵And the Lord blessed the house of the Egyptian for Joseph's sake, and multiplied all his substance, both at home, and in the fields. ⁶Neither knew he any other thing, but the bread which he ate. And Joseph was of a beautiful countenance, and comely to behold. ⁷h And after many days his mistress 'cast her eyes on Joseph, and said: Lie with me. ⁸But he, in no wise consenting to that wicked act, said to her: Behold, my master hath delivered all things to me, and knoweth not what he hath in his own house: ⁹Neither is there any thing which is hot in my power, or that he hath not delivered to me, but thee, who art his wife : how then can I do this wicked thing, and I sin against my God? ¹⁰With such words as these day by day, both the woman was importunate with the young man, and he refused the adultery. ¹¹Now it happened on it certain day, that Joseph went into the house, and was doing some business without any, man with him: ¹²And she catching the skirt of his garment, said: Lie with me. But he leaving the garment in her hand, fled, and went out. ¹³And when the woman saw the garment in her hands, and herself disregarded, ¹⁴She called to her the men of her house, and said to them: See, he hath brought in a Hebrew, to abuse us: he came in to me, to lie with me : and when I cried out, ¹⁵And he heard my voice, he left the garment that I held, and got him out. ¹⁶For a proof therefore of her fidelity, she kept the garment, and shewed it to her husband when he returned home: ¹⁷And said: The Hebrew servant, whom thou best brought, came to me to abuse me. ¹⁸And when he heard me cry, he left the garment which I held, and fled out. ¹⁹His master hearing these things, and giving too much credit to his wife's words, was very angry. ²⁰And cast Joseph into the prison, where the king's prisoners were kept, and he was there shut up. ²¹But the Lord was with Joseph and having mercy upon him gave him favour in the sight of the chief keeper of the prison: ²²Who delivered into his hand all the prisoners that were kept in custody: and whatsoever was done was under him. ²³Neither did he himself know any thing, having committed all things to him: for the Lord was with him, and made all that he did to prosper.

Chapter 40

¹After this, it came to pass, that two eunuchs, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, offended their lord. ²And Pharao being angry with them (now the one was chief butler, the other chief baker) ³He sent them to the prison of the commander of the soldiers, in which Joseph also was prisoner, ⁴But the keeper of the prison delivered them to Joseph, and he served them. Some little time passed, and they were kept in custody. ⁵And they both dreamed a dream the same night, according to the interpretation agreeing to themselves: ⁶And when Joseph was come in to them in the morning, and saw them sad, ⁷He asked them, saying: Why is your oountenance sadder to day than usual? ⁸They answered: We have dreamed a dream, and there is nobody to interpret it to us. And Joseph said to them: Doth not interpretation belong to God? Tell me what you have dreamed. ⁹ The chief butler first told his dream: I saw before me a vine, ¹⁰On which were three branches, which by little and little sent out buds, and after the blossoms brought forth ripe grapes : ¹¹And the cup of Pharao was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into the cup which I held, and I gave the cup to Pharao. ¹²Joseph answered: This is the interpretation of the dream: The three branches are yet three days: ¹³After which Pharao will remember thy service, and will restore thee to thy former place: and thou shalt present him the cup according to thy office, as before thou wast wont to do. ¹⁴Only remember me, when it shall be well with thee, and do me this kindness: to put Pharao in mind to take me out of this prison: ¹⁵For I was stolen away out of the land I of the Hebrews, and here without any fault was cast into the dungeon. ¹⁶The chief baker seeing that he had wisely interpreted the dream, said: I also dreamed a dream, That I had three baskets of meal upon my head: ¹⁷And that in one basket which was uppermost, I carried all meats that are made by the art of baking, and that the birds ate out of it. ¹⁸Joseph answered: This is the interpretation of the dream: The three baskets are yet three days: ¹⁹After which Pharao will take thy hand from thee, and hang thee on a cross, and the birds shall tear thy flesh. ²⁰The third day after this was the birthday of Pharao: and he made a. great feast for his servants, and at the banquet remembered the chief butler, and the chief baker. ²¹And he restored the one to his place to present him the cup: ²²The other he hanged on a gibbet, that the truth of the interpreter might be shewn. ²³But the chief butler, when things prospered with him, forgot his interpreter.

Chapter 41

¹After two years Pharao had a dream. He thought he stood by the river, ²Out of which came up seven kine, very beautiful and fat: and they fed in marshy places. ³Other seven also came up out of the river, ill favoured, and leanfleshed: and they fed on the very bank of the river, in green places: ⁴And they devoured them, whose bodies were very beautiful and well conditioned. So Pharao awoke. ⁵He slept again, and dreamed another dream: Seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk full and fair: ⁶Then seven other ears sprung up thin and blasted, ⁷And devoured all the beauty of the former. Pharao awaked after his rest: ⁸And when morning was come, being struck with fear, he sent to all the interpreters of Egypt, and to all the wise men: and they being called for, he told them his dream, and there was not any one that could interpret it. ⁹Then at length the chief butler remembering, said: I confess my sin: ¹⁰The king being angry with his servants, commanded me and the chief baker to be cast into the prison of the captain of the soldiers: ¹¹Where in one night both of us dreamed a dream foreboding things to come. ¹²There was there a young man a Hebrew, servant to the same captain of the soldiers: to whom we told our dreams, ¹³And we heard what afterwards the event of the thing proved to be so. For I was restored to my office: and he was hanged upon a gibbet. ¹⁴Forthwith at the king's command, Joseph was brought out of the prison, and they shaved him, and changing his apparel, brought him in to him. ¹⁵And he said to him: I have dreamed dreams, and there is no one that can expound them: Now I have heard that thou art very wise at interpreting them. ¹⁶Joseph answered: Without me, God shall give Pharao a prosperous answer. ¹⁷So Pharao told what he had dreamed: Methought I stood upon the bank of the river, ¹⁸And seven kine came up out of the river exceeding beautiful and full of flesh: and they grazed on green places in a marshy pasture. ¹⁹And behold, there followed these, other seven kine, so very ill favoured and lean, that I never saw the like in the land of Egypt: ²⁰And the devoured and consumed the former, ²¹And yet gave no mark of their being full: but were as lean and ill favoured as before. I awoke, and then fell asleep again, ²²And dreamed a dream: Seven ears of corn grew upon one stalk, full and very fair. ²³Other seven also thin and blasted, sprung of the stock: ²⁴And they devoured the beauty of the former: I told this dream to the conjecturers, and there is no man that can expound it. ²⁵Joseph answered: The king's dream is one: God hath shewn to Pharao what he is about to do. ²⁶The seven beautiful kine, and the seven full ears, are seven years of plenty: and both contain the same meaning of the dream. ²⁷And the seven lean and thin kine that came up after them, and the seven thin ears that were blasted with the burning wind, are seven years of famine to come: ²⁸Which shall be fulfilled in this order: ²⁹Behold, there shall come seven years of great plenty in the whole land of Egypt: ³⁰After which shall follow other seven years of so great scacity, that all the abundance before shall be forgotten: for the famine shall consume all the land, ³¹And the greatness of the scarcity shall destroy the greatness of the plenty. ³²And for that thou didst see the second time a dream pertaining to the same thing: it is a token of the certainty, and that the word of God cometh to pass, and is fulfilled speedily. ³³Now therefore let the king provide a wise and industrious man, and make him ruler over the land of Egypt: ³⁴That he may appoint overseers over all the countries: and gather into barns the fifth part of the fruits, during the seven fruitful years, ³⁵That shall now presently ensue: and let all the corn be laid up under Pharao's hands and be reserved in the cities. ³⁶And let it be in readiness, against the famine of seven years to come, which shall oppress Egypt, and the land shall not consumed with scarcity. ³⁷The counsel pleased Pharao and all his servants. ³⁸And he said to them: Can we find such another man, that is full of the spirit of God? ³⁹He said therefore to Joseph: Seeing God hath shewn thee all that thou hast said, can I find one wiser and one like unto thee? ⁴⁰Thou shalt be over my house, and at the commandment of thy mouth all the people shall obey: only in the kingly throne will I be above thee. ⁴¹And again Pharao said to Joseph: Behold, I have appointed thee over the whole land of Egypt. ⁴²And he took his ring from his own hand, and gave it into his hand: and he put upon him a robe of silk, and put a chain of gold about his neck. ⁴³And he made him go up into his second chariot, the crier proclaiming that all should bow their knee before him, and that they should know he was made govenor over the whole land of Egypt. ⁴⁴And the king said to Joseph: I am Pharao; without thy commandment no man shall move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁵And he turned his name, and called him in the Eyyptian tounge, The saviour of the world. And he gave him to wife Asenth the daughter of Putiphare priest of Heliopolis. Then Joseph went out to the land of Egypt: ⁴⁶(Now he was thirty years old when he stood before king Pharao) and he went round all the countries of Egypt. ⁴⁷And the fruitfulness of the seven years came: and the corm being bound up into sheaves was gathered together into the barns of Egypt. ⁴⁸And all the abundance of grain was laid up in every city. ⁴⁹And there was so great abundance of wheat, that it was equal to the sand of the sea, and the plenty exceeded measure. ⁵⁰And before the famine came, Joseph had two sons born: whom Aseneth the daughter of Putiphare priest of Heliopolis bore unto him. ⁵¹And he called the name of the first born Manasses, saying: God hath made me to forget all my labours, and my father's house. ⁵²And he named the second Epharaim, saying: God hath made me to grow in the land of my poverty. ⁵³Now when the seven years of the plenty that had been in Egypt were past: ⁵⁴The seven years of scarcity, which Joseph had foretold, began to come: and the famine prevailed in the whole world, but there was bread in all the land of Egypt. ⁵⁵And when there also they began to be famished, the people cried to Pharao for food. And he said to them: Go to Joseph: and do all that he shall say to you. ⁵⁶And the famine increased daily in all the land: and Joseph opened all the barns, and sold to the Egyptians: for the famine had oppressed them also. ⁵⁷And all provinces came into Egypt, to buy food, and to seek some relief of their want.

Chapter 42

¹And Jacob hearing that food was sold in Egypt, said to his sons: Why are ye careless? ²I have heard that wheat is sold in Egypt: go ye down, and buy us necessaries, that we may live, and not be consumed with want. ³So the ten brethren of Joseph went down, to buy corn in Egypt: ⁴Whilst Benjamin was kept at home by Jacob, who said to his brethren: Lest perhaps he take any harm in the journey. ⁵And they entered into the land of Egypt with others that went to buy. For the famine was in the land of Chanaan. ⁶And Joseph was governor in the land of Egypt, and corn was sold by his direction to the people. And when his brethren had bowed down to him, ⁷And he knew them, he spoke as it were to strangers somewhat roughly, asking them: Whence came you? They answered: From the land of Chanaan, to buy necessaries of life. ⁸And though he knew his brethren, he was not known by them. ⁹And remembering the dreams, which formerly he had dreamed, he said to them: You are spies. You are come to view the weaker parts of the land. ¹⁰But they said: It is not so, my lord, but thy servants are come to buy food. ¹¹We are all the sons of one man: we are come as peaceable men, neither do thy servants go about any evil. ¹²And he answered them: It is otherwise: you are come to consider the unfenced parts of this land. ¹³But they said: We thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Chanaan: the youngest is with our father, the other is not living. ¹⁴He saith: This is it that I said: You are spies. ¹⁵I shall now presently try what you are: by the health of Pharao you shall not depart hence, until your youngest brother come. ¹⁶Send one of you to fetch him: and you shall be in prison, till what you have said be proved, whether it be true or false: or else by the health of Pharao you are spies. ¹⁷So he put them in prison three days. ¹⁸And the third day he brought them out of prison, and said: Do as I have said, and you shall live: for I fear God. ¹⁹If you be peaceable men, let one of your brethren be bound in prison: and go ye your ways and carry the corn that you have bought, unto your houses. ²⁰And bring your youngest brother to me, that I may find your words to be true, and you may not die. They did as he had said. ²¹And they talked one to another: We deserve to suffer these things, because we have sinned against our brother, seeing the anguished of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear: therefore is this affliction come upon us. ²²And Ruben one of them, said: Did not I say to you: Do not sin against the boy: and you would not hear me? Behold his blood is required. ²³And they knew not that Joseph understood, because he spoke to them by an interpreter. ²⁴And he turned himself away a little while, and wept: and returning he spoke to them. ²⁵And taking Simeon, and binking him in their presence, he commanded his servants to fill their sacks with wheat, and to put every man's money again in their sacks, and to give them besides provisions for the way: and they did so. ²⁶But they having loaded their asses with the corn, went their way. ²⁷And one of them opening his sack, to give his beast provender in the inn, saw the money in the sack's mouth; ²⁸And said to his brethren: My money is given me again, hehold it is in the sack. And thye were astonished, and troubled, and said to one another: What is this that God hath done unto us? ²⁹And they came to Jacob their father in the land of Chanaan, and they told him all things that had befallen them, saying: ³⁰The lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us to be spies of the country. ³¹And we answered him: We are peaceable men, and we mean no plot. ³²We are twelve brethren born of one father: one is not living, the youngest is with our father in the land of Chanaan. ³³And he said to us: Hereby shall I know that you are peaceable men: Leave one of your brethren with me, and take ye necessary provision for your houses, and go your ways. ³⁴And bring your youngest brother to me, that I may know you are not spies: and you may receive this man again, that is kept in prison: and afterwards may have leave to buy what you will. ³⁵When they had told this, they poured out their corn and every man found his money tied in the mouth of his sack: and all being astonished together, ³⁶Their father Jacob said: You have made me to be without children: Joseph is not living, Simeon is kept in bonds, and Benjamin you will take away: all these evils are fallen upon me. ³⁷And Ruben answered him: Kill my two sons if I bring him not again to thee: deliver him unto my hand, and I will restore him to thee. ³⁸But he said: My son shall not go down with you: his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if any mischief befall him in the land to which you go, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to hell.

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¹In the mean time the famine was heavy upon all the land. ²And when they had eaten up all the corn, which they had brought out of Egypt, Jacob said to his sons: Go again and buy us a little food. ³Juda answered: The man declared unto us with the atteststion of an oath, saying: You shall not see my face, unless you bring your youngest brother with you. ⁴If therefore thou wilt send him with us, we will set out together, and will buy necessaries for thee. ⁵But if thou wilt not, we will not go: for the man, as we have often said, declared unto us, saying: You shall not see my face without your youngest brother. ⁶Israel said to them: You have done this for my misery in that you told him you had also another brother. ⁷But they answered: The man asked us in order concerning our kindred: if our father lived: if we had a brother: and we answered him regularly, according to what he demanded: Bring hither your brother with you? ⁸And Juda said to his father: Send the bou with me, that we may set forward, and may live: lest both we and our children perish. ⁹I take the boy upon me, require him at my hand: unless I bring him again, and restore him to thee, I will be guilty of sin against thee for ever. ¹⁰If delay had not been made, we had been here again the second time. ¹¹Then Israel said to them: If it must needs be so, do what you will: take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels, and carry down presents to the man, a little balm, and honey, and storax, myrrh, turpentine, and almonds. ¹²And take with you double money, and carry back what you found in your sacks, lest perhaps it was done by mistake. ¹³And take also your brother, and go to the man. ¹⁴And may my almighty Bod make him favourable to you; and send back with you your brother, whom he keepeth, and this Benjamin: and as for me I shall be desolate without children. ¹⁵So the men took the presents, and double money, and Benjamin: and went down into Egypt, and stood before Joseph. ¹⁶And when he had seen them, and Benjamin with them, he commanded the steward of his house, saying: Bring in the men into the house, and kill victims, and prepare a feast: because they shall eat with me at noon. ¹⁷He did as he was commanded, and brought the men into the house. ¹⁸And they being much afraid, said there one to another: Because of the money, which we carried back the first time in our sacks, we are brought in: that he may bring upon us a false accusation, and by violence make slaves of us and our asses. ¹⁹Wherefore going up to the steward of the house, at the door, ²⁰They said: Sir, we desire thee to hear us: We came down once before to buy food: ²¹And when we had bought, and come to the inn, we opened our sacks, and found our money in the mouths of the sacks: which we have now brought again in the same weight. ²²And we have brought other money besides, to buy what we want: we cannot tell who put it in our bags. ²³But he answered: Peace be with you, fear not: your God, and the God of your Father hath given you treasure in your sacks. For the money, which you gave me, I have for good. And he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴And having brought them into the house, he fetched water, and they washed their feet, and he gave provender to their asses. ²⁵But they made ready the presents, against Joseph came at noon: for they had heard that they should eat bread there. ²⁶Then Joseph came into his house, and they offered him the presents holding them in their hands, and they bowed down with their face to the ground. ²⁷But he, courteously saluting them again, asked them, saying: Is the old man your father in health, of whom uou told me? Is he yet living? ²⁸And they answered: Thy servant our father is in health, he is yet living. And bowing themselves they made obeisance to him. ²⁹And Joseph lifting up his eyes, saw Benjamin his brother, by the same mother, and said: Is this your young brother, of whom you told me? And he said: God be gracious to thee, my son. ³⁰And he made haste becouse his heart was moved upon his brother, and tears gushed out: And going into his chamber he wept. ³¹And when he had washed his face, coming out again, he refrained himself, and said: Set bread on the table. ³²And when it was set on, for Joseph apart, and for his brethren apart, for the Egyptians also that ate with him, apart, (for it is unlawful for the Egyptians to eat with the Hebrews, and they think such a feast profane:) ³³They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his age. And they wondered very much: ³⁴Taking the messes which they received of him: and the greater mess came to Benjamin, so that it exceeded by five parts. And they drank, and were merry with him.

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¹And Joseph commanded the steward of his house, saying: Fill their sacks with corn, as much as they can hold: and put the money of every one in the top of his sack. ²And in the mouth of the younger's sack put my silver cup, and the price which he gave for the wheat. And it was so done. ³And when the morning arose, they were sent away with their asses. ⁴And when they were now departed out of the city, and had gone forward a little way; Joseph sendingfor the steward of his house, said: Arise, and pursue after the men: and when thou hast overtaken them, say to them: Why have you returned evil for good? ⁵The cup which you have stolen is that in which my lord drinketh, and in which he is wont to divine: you have done a very evil thing. ⁶He did as he had commanded him. And having overtaken them, he spoke to them the same words. ⁷And they answered: Why doth our lord speak so, as though thy servants had committed so heinous a fact? ⁸The money, that we found in the top of our sacks, we brought back to thee from the land of Chanaan: how then should it be that we should steal out of thy lord's house, gold or silver? ⁹With whomsoever of thy servants shall be found that which thou seekest, let him die, and we will be the bondmen of my lord. ¹⁰And he said to them: Let it be according to your sentence: with whomsoever it shall be found, let him be my servant, and you shall be blameless. ¹¹Them they speedily took down their sacks to the ground, and every man opened his sack. ¹²Which when he had searched, beginning at the eldest and ending at the youngest, he found the cup in Benjamin's sack. ¹³Then they rent their garments, and loading their asses again, returned into the town. ¹⁴And Juda at the head of his brethren went in to Joseph, (for he was not yet gone out of the place, ) and they altogether fell down before him on the ground. ¹⁵And he said to them: Why would you do so? know you not that there is no one like me in the science of divining. ¹⁶And Juda said to him: What shall we answer my lord? or what shall we say, or be able justly to allege? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are all bondmen to my lord, both we, and he with whom the cup was found. ¹⁷Joseph answered: God forbid that should do so: he that stole the cup, he shall be my bondman: and go you away free to your father. ¹⁸Then Juda coming hearer, said boldly: I beseech thee, my lord, let thy servant speak a word in thy ears, and be not angry with thy servant: for after Pharao thou art, ¹⁹My lord. Thou didst ask thy servants the first time: Have you a father or a brother? ²⁰And we answered thee, my lord: We have a father an old man, and a young boy, that was born in his old age; whose brother by the mother is dead: and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him tenderly. ²¹And thou saidst to thy servants: Bring him hither to me, and I will set my eyes on him. ²²We suggested to my lord: The boy cannot leave his father: for if he leave him, he will die. ²³And thou saidst to thy servants: Except your youngest brother come with you, you shall see my face no more. ²⁴Therefore when we were gone up to thy servant our father, we told him all that my lord had said. ²⁵And our father said: Go again, and buy us a little wheat. ²⁶And we said to him: We cannot go: if our youngest brother go down with us, we will set out together: otherwise, without him we dare not see the man's face. ²⁷Whereunto he answered: You know that my wife bore two. ²⁸One went out, and you said: A beast devoured him: and hitherto he appeareth not. ²⁹If you take this also, and any thing befall him in the way you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow unto hell. ³⁰30Therefore if I shall go to thy servant our father, and the boy be wanting, (whereas his life dependeth upon the life of him,) ³¹And he shall see that he is not with us, he will die, and thy servants shall bring down his gray hairs with sorrow unto hell. ³²Let me be tht proper servant, who took him into my trust, and promised, saying: If I bring him not again, I will be guilty of sin against my father for ever. ³³Therefore I thy servant will stay instead of the boy in the service of my lord, and let the boy go up with his brethren. ³⁴For I cannot return to my father without the boy, lest I be a witness of the calamity that will oppress my father.

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¹Joseph could no longer refrain himself before many that stood by: whereupon he commanded that all should go out, and no stranger be present at their knowing one another. ²And he lifted up his voice with weeping, which the Egyptians and all the house of Pharao heard. \ ³And he said to his brethren: I am Joseph: is my father yet living? His brethren could no answer him, being struck with exceeding great fear. ⁴And he said mildly to them: Come nearer to me. And when they were come near him, he said: I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵Be not afraid, and let it not seem to you a hard case that you sold me into these countries: for God sent me before you into Egypt for your preservation. ⁶For it is two years since the famine began to be upon the land, and five years more remain, wherein there can be neither ploughing nor reaping. ⁷And God sent me before, that you may be preserved upon the earth, and may have food to live. ⁸Not by your counsel was I sent hither, but by the will of God: who hath made me as it were a father to Pharao, and lord of his whold house, and governor in all the land of Egypt. ⁹Make haste, and go ye up to my father, and say to him: Thus saith thy son Joseph: God hath made me lord of the whole land of Egypt: come down to me, linger not. ¹⁰And thou shalt dwell in the land of Gessen: and thou shalt be near me, thou and thy sons, and thy son's sons, thy sheep, and thy gerds, and all things that thou hast. ¹¹And there I will feed thee, (for there are yet five years of famine remaining,) lest both thou perish, and thy house, and all things that thou hast. ¹²Behold, your eyes, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that speaketh to you. ¹³You shall tell my father of all my glory, and all things that you have seen in Egypt: make haste and bring him to me. ¹⁴And falling upon the neck of his brother Benjamin, he embraced him and wept: and Benjamin in like manner wept also on his neck. ¹⁵And Joseph kissed all his brethren, and wept upon every one of them: after which they were emboldened to speak to him. ¹⁶And it was heard, and the fame was abroad in the king's court: The brethren of Joseph are come: and Pharao with all his family was glad. ¹⁷And he spoke to Joseph that he should give orders to his brethren, saying : Load your beasts, and go into the land of Chanaan. ¹⁸And bring away from thence your father and kindred, and come to me: and I will give you all the good things of Egypt, that you may eat the marrow of the land. ¹⁹Give orders also that they take wagons out of the land of Egypt, for/ the carriage of their children and their wives: and say: Take up your father, and make haste to come with all speed: ²⁰And leave nothing of your household stuff: for all the riches of Egypt shall be yours. ²¹And the sons of Israel did as they were bid. And Joseph gave them wagons according to Pharao's commandment: and provisions for the way. ²²He ordered also to be brought out for every one of them two robes: but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver with five robes of the best: ²³Sending to his father as much money and raiment, adding besides ten he asses to carry off all the riches of Egypt, and as many she asses, carrying wheat and bread for the journey. ²⁴So he sent away his brethren, and at their departing said to them: Be not angry in the way. ²⁵And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Chanaan to their father Jacob. ²⁶And they told him, saying: Joseph thy son is living: and he is ruler in all the land of Egypt. Which when Jacob heard, he awaked as it were out of a deep sleep, yet did not believe them. ²⁷They, on the other side, told the whole order of the thing. And when he saw the wagons and all that he had sent his spirit revived, ²⁸And he said: It is enough for me, if Joseph my son be yet living: Iwill go and see him before I die.

Chapter 46

¹And Israel taking his journey, with all that he had, came to the well of the oath, and killing victims there to the God of his father Isaac, ²He heard him by a vision in the night calling him, and saying to him: Jacob, Jacob. And he answered him: Lo, here I am. ³God said to him: I am the most mighty God of thy father: fear not, go down into Egypt, for I will make a great nation of thee there. ⁴I will go down with thee thither, and will bring thee back again from thence: Joseph also shall put his hands upon thy eyes. ⁵And Jacob rose up from the well of the oath: and his sons took him up, with their children and wives in the wagons, which Pharao had sent to carry the old man, ⁶And all that he had in the land of Chanaan, and he came into Egypt with all his seed: ⁷His sons, and grandsons, daughters, and all his offspring together. ⁸And these are the names of the children of Israel, that entered into Egypt, he and his children. His firstborn Ruben, ⁹The sons of Ruben: Henoch and Phallu, and Hesron and Charmi. ¹⁰The sons of Simeon: Jamuel and Jamin and Ahod, and Jachin and Sohar, and Saul the son of a woman of Chanaan. ¹¹The sons of Levi: Gerson and Caath and Merari. ¹²The sons of Juda: Her and Onan and Sela and Phares and Zara. And Her and Onan died in the land of Chanaan. And sons were born to Phares: Hesron and Hamul. ¹³The sons of Issachar: Thola and Phua and Job and Semron. ¹⁴The sons of Zabulon: Sared and Elo and Jahelel. ¹⁵These are the sons of Lia, whom she bore in Mesopotamia of Syria, with Dina his daughter. All the souls of her sons and daughters, thirty-three. ¹⁶The sons of Cad: Sephian and Haggi and Suni and Esebon and Heri and Arodi and Areli. ¹⁷The sons of Beer: Jamne and Jesua and Jessuri and Beria, and Sara their sister. The sons of Beria: Heber and Melchiel. ¹⁸These are the sons of Zelpha, whom Laban gave to Lia his daughter. And these she bore to Jacob, sixteen souls. ¹⁹The sons of Rachel Jacob's wife: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰And sons were born to Joseph, in the land of Egypt, whom Aseneth the daughter of Putiphare priest of Heliopolis bore him: Manasses and Ephraim. ²¹The sons of Benjamin: Bela and Bechor and Asbel and Gera and Naaman and Echi and Ros and Mophim and Ophim and Ared. ²²These are the sons of Rachel, whom she bore to Jacob: all the souls, fourteen. ²³The sons of Dan: Husim. ²⁴The sons of Nephtali: Jaziel and Guni and Jeser and Sallem. ²⁵These are the sons of Bala, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter: and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls, seven. ²⁶All the souls that went with Jacob into Egypt, and that came out of his thigh, besides his sons' wives, sixty-six. ²⁷And the sons of Joseph, that were born to him in the land of Egypt, two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, that entered into Egypt, were seventy. ²⁸And he sent Juda before him to Joseph, to tell him; and that he should meet him in Gessen. ²⁹And when he was come thither, Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet his father, in the same place: and seeing him, he fell upon his neck, and embracing him wept. ³⁰And the father said to Joseph: Now shall I die with joy, because I have seen thy face, and leave thee alive. ³¹And Joseph said to his brethren, and to all his father's house: I will go up, and will tell Pharao, and will say to him: My brethren and my father's house, that were in the land of Chanaan, are come to me: ³²And the men are shepherds, and their occupation is to feed cattle: their flocks and herds, and all they have, they have brought with them. ³³And when he shall call you, and shall say: What is your occupation? ³⁴You shall answer: We thy servants are shepherds, from our infancy until now, both we and our fathers. And this you shall say, that you may dwell in the land of Gessen, because the Egyptians have all shepherds in abomination.

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¹Then Joseph went in and told Pharao, saying: My father and brethren, their sheep and their herds, and all that they possess, are come out of the land of Chanaan: and behold they stay in the land of Gessen. ²Five men also the last of his brethren, he presented before the king: ³And he asked them: What is your occupation? They answered: We thy servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers. ⁴We are come to sojourn in thy land, because there is no grass for the flocks of thy servants, the famine being very grievous in the land of Chanaan: and we pray thee to give orders that we thy servants may be in the land of Gessen. ⁵The king therefore said to Joseph: Thy father and thy brethren are come to thee. ⁶The land of Egypt is before thee: make them dwell in the best place, and give them the land of Gessen. And if thou knowest that there are industrious men among them, make them rulers over my cattle. ⁷After this Joseph brought in his father to the king, and presented him before him: and he blessed him. ⁸And being asked by him: How many are the days of the years of thy life? ⁹He answered: The days of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years, few, and evil, and they are not come up to the days of the pilgrimage of my fathers. ¹⁰And blessing the king, he went out. ¹¹But Joseph gave a possession to his father and his brethren in Egypt, in the best place of the land, in Ramesses, as Pharao had commanded. ¹²And he nourished them, and all his father's house, allowing food to every one. ¹³For in the whole world there was want of bread, and a famine had oppressed the land: more especially of Egypt and Chanaan. ¹⁴Out of which he gathered up all the money for the corn which they bought, and brought it into the king's treasure. ¹⁵And when the buyers wanted money, all Egypt came to Joseph, saying: Give us bread: why should we die in thy presence, having now net money. ¹⁶And he answered them: Bring your cattle, and for them I will give you food, if you have no money. ¹⁷And when they had brought them, he gave them food in exchange for their horses, and sheep, and oxen, end asses and he maintained them that year for the exchange of their cattle. ¹⁸And they came the second year, and said to him: We will not hide from our lord, how that our money is spent, and our cattle also are gone: neither art thou ignorant that we have nothing now left but our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹Why therefore shall we die before thy eyes? we will be thine, both we and our lands: buy us to be the king's servants, and give us seed, lest for want of tillers the land be turned into a wilderness. ²⁰So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt, every man selling his possessions, because of the greatness of the famine. And he brought it into Pharao's hands: ²¹And all its people from one end of the borders of Egypt, even to the other end thereof, ²²Except the land of the priests, which had been given them by the king: to whom also a certain allowance of food was given out of the public stores, and therefore they were not forced to sell their possessions. ²³Then Joseph said to the people : Behold as you see, both you and your lands belong to Pharao: take seed and sow the fields, ²⁴That you may have corn. The fifth part you shall give to the king: the other four you shall have for seed, and for food for your families and children. ²⁵And they answered: Our life is in thy hand: only let my lord look favourably upon us, and we will gladly serve the king. ²⁶From that time unto this day, in the whole land of Egypt, the fifth part is paid to the king, and it is become as a law, except the land of the priests, which was free from this covenant. ²⁷So Israel dwelt in Egypt, that is, in the land of Gessen, and possessed it: and grew, and was multiplied exceedingly. ²⁸And he lived in it seventeen years: and all the days of his life came to a hundred and forty-seven years. ²⁹And when he saw that the day of his death drew nigh, he called his son Joseph, and said to him: If I have found favour in thy sight, put thy hand under my thigh; and thou shalt shew me this kindness and truth, not to bury me in Egypt: ³⁰But I will sleep with my fathers, end thou shalt take me away out of this land, and bury me in the burying place of my ancestors. And Joseph answered him: I will do what thou hast commanded. ³¹And he said: Swear then to me. And as he was swearing, Israel adored God, turning to the bed's head.

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¹After these things, it was told Joseph that his father was sick: and he set out to go to him, taking his two sons Manasses and Ephraim. ²And it was told the old man: Behold I thy son Joseph cometh to thee. And being strengthened he sat on his bed. ³And when Joseph was come in to him, he said : God Almighty appeared to me at Lute, which is in the land of Chanaan: and he blessed me, ⁴And he said : I will cause thee to increase and multiply, and I will make of thee a multitude of people: and I will give this land to thee, and to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. ⁵So thy two sons who were born to thee in the land of Egypt before I came hither to thee, shall be mine: Ephraim and Manasses shall be reputed to me as Ruben and Simeon. ⁶But the rest whom thou shalt have after them, shall be thine, and shall be called by the name of their brethren in their possessions. ⁷For, when I came out of Mesopotamia, Rachel died from me in the land of Ohanaan in the very journey, and it was springtime: and I was going to Ephrata, and I buried her near the way of Ephrata, which by another name is called Bethlehem. ⁸Then seeing his sons, he said to him: Who are these? ⁹He answered: They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said: Bring them to me that I may bless them. ¹⁰For Israel's eyes were dim by reason of his great age, and he could not see clearly. And when they were brought to him, he kissed and embraced them. ¹¹And said to his son: I am not deprived of seeing thee: moreover God hath shewed me thy seed. ¹²And when Joseph had taken them from his father's lap, he bowed down with his face to the ground. ¹³And he set Ephraim on his right bend, that is, towards the left hand of Israel; but Manasses on his left hand, to wit, towards his father's right hand, and brought them near to him. ¹⁴But he stretching forth his right hand, put it upon the head of Ephraim the younger brother; and the left upon the head of Manasses who was the elder, changing his hands. ¹⁵And Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph, and said: God, in whose sight my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, God that feedeth me from my youth until this day; ¹⁶The angel that delivereth me from all evils, bless these boys: and let my name be called upon them, and the names of my fathers Abraham, and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth. ¹⁷And Joseph seeing that his father had put his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, was much displeased: and taking his father's hand he tried to lift it from Ephraims head, and to remove it to the head of Manasses. ¹⁸And he said to his father: It should not be so, my father: for this is the firstborn, put thy right hand upon his head. ¹⁹But he refusing, said: I know, my son, I know: and this also shall become peoples, and shall be multiplied: but this younger brother shall be greater than he: and his seed shall grow into nations. ²⁰And he blessed them at that time, saying: In thee shall Israel be blessed, and it shall be said: God do to thee as to Ephraim, and as to Manasses. And he set Ephraim before Manasses. ²¹And he said to Joseph his son: Behold I die, and God will be with you, and will bring you back into the land of your fathers. ²²I give thee a portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorrhite a with my sword and bow.

Chapter 49

¹And Jacob called his sons, and said to them: Gather yourselves together that I may tell you the things that shall befall you in the last days. ²Gather yourselves together, and hear, O ye sons of Jacob, hearken to Israel your father: ³Ruben, my firstborn, thou art my strength, and the beginning of my sorrow: excelling in gifts, greater in command. ⁴Thou art poured out as water, grow thou not: because thou wentest up to thy father's bed, and didst defile his couch. ⁵Simeon and Levi brethren: vessels of iniquity, waging war. ⁶Let not my soul go into their counsel, nor my glory be in their assembly: "because in their fury they slew a man, and in their selfwill they undermined a wall. ⁷Cursed be their fury, because it was stubborn: and their wrath because it was cruel: I Will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel. ⁸Juda, thee shall thy brethren praise: thy hands shall be on the necks of thy enemies: the sons of thy father shall bow down to thee. ⁹Juda is a lion's whelp: to the prey, my son, thou art gone up: resting thou hast couched as a lion, and as a lioness, who shall rouse him? ¹⁰The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations. ¹¹11Tying his foal to the vineyard, and his ass, my son, to the vine. He shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape. ¹²His eyes are more beautiful than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. ¹³Zabulon shall dwell on the sea shore, and in the road of ships, reaching as far as Sidon. ¹⁴Issachar shall be a strong ass lying down between the borders. ¹⁵He saw rest that it was good: and the land that it was excellent: and he bowed his shoulder to carry, and became a servant under tribute. ¹⁶Dan shall judge his people like any other tribe in Israel. ¹⁷Let Dan be a snake in the way, a serpent in the path, that biteth the horse's heels that his rider may fall backward. ¹⁸I will look for thy salvation, Lord. ¹⁹Gad, being girded, shall fight before him: and he himself shall be girded backward. ²⁰Aser, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield dainties to kings. ²¹Nephtali, a hart let loose, and giving words of beauty. ²²Joseph is a growing son, a growing son and comely to behold; the daughters run to and fro upon the wall. ²³But they that held darts provoked him, and quarrelled with him, and envied him. ²⁴His bow rested upon the strong, and the bands of his arms and his hands were loosed, by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob: thence he came forth a pastor, the stone of Israel. ²⁵The God of thy father shall be thy helper, and the Almighty shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven above, with the blessings of the deep that lieth beneath, with the blessings of the breasts and of the womb. ²⁶The blessings of thy father are strengthened with the blessings of his fathers: until the desire of the everlasting hills should come; may they be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren. ²⁷Benjamin a ravenous wolf, in the morning shall eat the prey, and in the evening shall divide the spoil. ²⁸All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: these things their father spoke to them, and he blessed every one, with their proper blessings. ²⁹And he charged them, saying: I am now going to be gathered to my people : bury me with my fathers in the double cave, which is in the field of Ephron the Hethite, ³⁰Over against Mambre in the land of Chanaan, which Abraham bought together with the field of Ephron the Hethite for a possession to bury in. ³¹There they buried him, and Sara his wife: there was Isaac buried with Rebecca his wife: there also Lia doth lie buried. ³²And when he had ended the commandments, wherewith he instructed his sons, he drew up his feet upon the bed, and died: and he was gathered to his people."

Chapter 50

¹And when Joseph saw this, he fell upon his father's face weeping and kissing him. ²And he commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. ³And while they were fulfilling his commands, there passed forty days: for this was the manner with bodies that were embalmed, and Egypt mounted for him seventy days. ⁴And the time of the mourning being expired, Joseph spoke to the family of Pharao: If I have found favour in your sight, speak in the ears of Pharao: ⁵For my father made me swear to him, saying: Behold I die: thou shalt bury me in my sepulchre which I have digged for myself in the land of Chanaan. So I will go up and bury my father, and return. ⁶And Pharao said to him: Go up and bury thy father according as he made thee swear. ⁷So he went up, and there went with him all the ancients of Pharao's house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸And the house of Joseph with his brethren, except their children, and their flocks and herds, which they left in the land of Gessen. ⁹He had also in his train chariots and horsemen: and it was it great company. ¹⁰And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is situated beyond the Jordan: where celebrating the exequies with a great and vehement lamentation, they spent full seven days. ¹¹And when the inhabitants of Chanaan saw this, they said: This is a great mourning to the Egyptians. And therefore the name of that place was called, The mourning of Egypt. ¹²So the sons of Jacob did as he had commanded them. ¹³And carrying him into the land of Chanaan, they buried him in the double cave which Abraham had bought together with the held for a possession of a buryingplace, of Ephron the Hethite over against Mambre. ¹⁴And Joseph returned into Egypt with his brethren, and all that were in his company, after he had buried his father. ¹⁵Now he being dead, his brethren were afraid, and talked one with another : Lest perhaps he should remember the wrong he suffered, and requite us all the evil that we did to him. ¹⁶And they sent a message to him, saying: Thy father commanded us before he died, ¹⁷That we should say thus much to thee from him: I beseech thee to forget the wickedness of thy brethren, and the sin and malice they practiced against thee: we also pray thee, to forgive the servants of the God of thy father this wickedness. And when Joseph heard this, he wept. ¹⁸And his brethren came to him: and worshipping prostrate on the ground they said: We are thy servants. ¹⁹And he answered them: Fear not: can we resist the will of God? ²⁰You thought evil against me: but God turned it into good, that he might exalt me, as at present you see, and might save many people. ²¹Fear not: I will feed you and your children. And he comforted them, and spoke gently and mildly. ²²And he dwelt in Egypt with all his father's house: and lived a hundred and ten years. And he saw the children of Ephraim to the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Ma-nasses were born on Joseph's knees. ²³After which he told his brethren: God will visit you after my death, and will make you go up out of this land, to the land which he swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁴And he made them swear to him, saying: God will visit you, Carry my bones with you out of this place: ²⁵And he died being a hundred and ten years old. And being embalmed he was laid in a coffin in Egypt.

The Book of Exodus

The Second Book of Moses is called EXODUS, from the Greek word ἐξοδός, which signifies going out: because it contains the history of the going out of the children of Israel out of Egypt. The Hebrews, from the words with which it begins, call it VEELLE SEMOTH: These are the names. It contains transactions for 145 years; that is, from the death of Joseph to the erecting of the tabernacle.

Chapter 1

¹These are the names of the children of Israel, that went into Egypt with Jacob: they went in, every man with his household: ²Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Juda, ³Issachar, Zabulon, and Benjamin, ⁴Dan, and Nephtali, Gad and Aser. ⁵And all the souls that came out of Jacob's thigh, were seventy: but Joseph was in Egypt. ⁶After he was dead, and all his brethren, and all that generation, ⁷The children of Israel increased, and sprung up into multitudes, and growing exceedingly strong they filled the land. ⁸In the mean time there arose a new king over Egypt, that knew not Joseph: ⁹And he said to his people: Behold the people of the children of Israel are numerous and stronger than we. ¹⁰Come, let us wisely oppress them, lest they multiply: and if any war shall rise against us, join with our enemies, and having overcome us, depart out of the land. ¹¹Therefore he set over them masters of the works, to afflict them with burdens, and they built for Pharao cities of tabernacles, Phithom and Ramesses. ¹²But the more they oppressed them, the more they were multiplied, and increased: ¹³And the Egyptians hated the children of Israel, and afflicted them and mocked them: ¹⁴And they made their life bitter with hard works in clay, and brick, and with all manner of service, wherewith they were overcharged in the works of the earth. ¹⁵And the king of Egypt spoke to the midwives of the Hebrews: of whom one was called Sephora, the other Phua, ¹⁶Commanding them: When you shall do the office of midwives to the Hebrew women, and the time of delivery is come: if it be a man child, kill it: if a woman, keep it alive. ¹⁷But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded, but saved the men children. ¹⁸And the king called for them and said: What is that you meant to do, that you would save the men children ? ¹⁹They answered: The Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women: for they themselves are skillful in the office of a midwife; and they are delivered before we come to them. ²⁰Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied and grew exceedingly strong. ²¹And because the midwives feared God, he built them houses. ²²Pharao therefore charged all his people, saying: Whatsoever shall be born of the male sex, ye shall cast into the river: whatsoever of the female, ye shall save alive.

Chapter 2

¹After this there went a man of the house of Levi; and took a wife of his own kindred. ²And she conceived, and bore a son; and seeing him a goodly child hid him three months. ³And when she could hide him no longer, she took a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and pitch: and put the little babe therein, and laid him in the sedges by the river's brink, ⁴His sister standing afar off, and taking notice what would be done. ⁵And behold the daughter of Pharao came down to wash herself in the river: and her maids walked by the river's brink. And when she saw the basket in the sedges, she sent one of her maids for it: and when it was brought, ⁶She opened it and seeing within it an infant crying, having compassion on it she said: This is one of the babes of the Hebrews. ⁷And the child's sister said to her Shall I go and call to thee a Hebrew woman, to nurse the babe ? ⁸She answered: Go. The maid went and called her mother. ⁹And Pharao's daughter said to her. Take this child and nurse him for me: I will give thee thy wages. The woman took, and nursed the child: and when he was grown up, she delivered him to Pharao's daughter. ¹⁰And she adopted him for a son, and called him Moses, saying: Because I took him out of the water. ¹¹In those days after Moses was grown up, he went out to his brethren: and saw their affliction, and an Egyptian striking one of the Hebrews his brethren. ¹²And when he had looked about this way and that way, and saw no one there, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³And going out the next day, he saw two Hebrews quarreling: and he said to him that did the wrong: Why strikest thou thy neighbour? ¹⁴But he answered: Who hath appointed thee prince and judge over us: wilt thou kill me, as thou didst yesterday kill the Egyptian? Moses feared, and said: How is this come to be known ? ¹⁵And Pharao heard of this word and sought to kill Moses: but he fled from his sight, and abode in the land of Madian, and he sat down by a well. ¹⁶And the priest of Madian had seven daughters, who came to draw water: and when the troughs were filled, desired to water their father's flocks. ¹⁷And the shepherds came and drove them away: and Moses arose, and defending the maids, watered their sheep. ¹⁸And when they returned to Raguel their father, he said to them: Why are ye come sooner than usual? ¹⁹They answered: A man of Egypt delivered us from the hands of the shepherds: and he drew water also with us, and gave the sheep to drink. ²⁰But he said: Where is he? why have you let the man go? call him that he may eat bread. ²¹And Moses swore that he would dwell with him. And he took Sephora his daughter to wife: ²²And she bore him a son, whom he called Gersam, saying: I have been a stranger in a foreign country. And she bore another, whom he called Eliezer, saying: For the God of my father, my helper hath delivered me out of the hand of Pharao. ²³Now after a long time the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel groaning, cried out because of the works: and their cry went up unto God from the works. ²⁴And he heard their groaning, and remembered the covenant which he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁵And the Lord looked upon the children of Israel, and he knew them.

Chapter 3

¹Now Moses fed the sheep of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Madian: and he drove the flock to the inner parts of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. ²And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt. ³And Moses said: I will go and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. ⁴And when the Lord saw that he went forward to see, he called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said: Moses, Moses. And he answered: Here I am. ⁵And he said: Come not nigh hither, put off the shoes from thy feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. ⁶And he said: I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses hid his face: for he durst not look at God. ⁷And the Lord said to him: I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of the rigour of them that are over the works: ⁸And knowing their sorrow, I am come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, into a land that floweth with milk and honey, to the places of the Chanaanite, and Hethite, and Amorrhite, and Pherezite, and Hevite, and Jebusite. ⁹For the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have seen their affliction, wherewith they are oppressed by the Egyptians. ¹⁰But come, and I will send thee to Pharao, that thou mayst bring forth my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt. ¹¹And Moses said to God: Who am I that I should go to Pharao, and should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? ¹²And he said to him: I will be with thee: and this thou shalt have for a sign, that I have sent thee: When thou shalt have brought my people out of Egypt, thou shalt offer sacrifice to God upon this mountain. ¹³Moses said to God: Lo, I shall go to the children of Israel, and say to them: The God of your fathers hath sent me to you. If they should say to me: What is his name? what shall I say to them? ¹⁴God said to Moses: I AM WHO AM. He said: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: HE WHO IS, hath sent me to you. ¹⁵And God said again to Moses: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me to you: This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. ¹⁶Go, gather together the ancients of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared to me, saying: Visiting I have visited you: and I have seen all that hath befallen you in Egypt. ¹⁷And I have said the word to bring you forth out of the affliction of Egypt, into the land of the Chanaanite, the Hethite, and the Amorrhite, and Pherezite, and Hevite, and Jebusite, to a land that floweth with milk and honey. ¹⁸And they shall hear thy voice: and thou shalt go in, thou and the ancients of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and thou shalt say to him: The Lord God of the Hebrews hath called us: we will go three days' journey into the wilderness, to sacrifice unto the Lord our God. ¹⁹But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, but by a mighty hand. ²⁰For I will stretch forth my hand and will strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst of them: after these he will let you go. ²¹And I will give favour to this people, in the sight of the Egyptians: and when you go forth, you shall not depart empty: ²²But every woman shall ask of her neighbour, and of her that is in her house, vessels of silver and of gold, and raiment: and you shall put them on your sons and daughters, and shall spoil Egypt.

Chapter 4

¹Moses answered and said: They will not believe me, nor hear my voice, but they will say: The Lord hath not appeared to thee. ²Then he said to him: What is that thou holdest in thy hand? He answered: A rod. ³And the Lord said: Cast it down upon the ground. He cast it down, and it was turned into a serpent: so that Moses fled from it. ⁴And the Lord said: Put out thy hand and take it by the tail. He put forth his hand, and took hold of it, and it was turned into a rod. ⁵That they may believe, saith he, that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared to thee. ⁶And the Lord said again: Put thy hand into thy bosom. And when he had put it into his bosom, he brought it forth leprous as snow. ⁷And he said: Put back thy hand into thy bosom. He put it back, and brought it out again, and it was like the other flesh. ⁸If they will not believe thee, saith he, nor hear the voice of the former sign, they will believe the word of the latter sign. ⁹But if they will not even believe these two signs, nor hear thy voice: take of the river water, and pour it out upon the dry land, and whatsoever thou drawest out of the river shall be turned into blood. ¹⁰Moses said: I beseech thee, Lord. I am not eloquent from yesterday and the day before: and since thou hast spoken to thy servant, I have more impediment and slowness of tongue. ¹¹The Lord said to him: Who made man's mouth? or who made the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? did not I? ¹²Go therefore and I will be in thy mouth: and I will teach thee what thou shalt speak. ¹³But he said: I beseech thee, Lord send whom thou wilt send. ¹⁴The Lord being angry at Moses, said Aaron the Levite is thy brother, I know that he is eloquent: behold he cometh forth to meet thee, and seeing thee shall be glad at heart. ¹⁵Speak to him, and put my words in his mouth: and I will be in thy mouth, and in his mouth, and will shew you what you must do. ¹⁶He shall speak in thy stead to the people, and shall be thy mouth: but thou shalt be to him in those things that pertain to God. ¹⁷And take this rod in thy hand, wherewith thou shalt do the signs. ¹⁸Moses went his way, and returned to Jethro his father in law and said to him: I will go and return to my brethren into Egypt, that I may see if they be yet alive. And Jethro said to him: Go in peace. ¹⁹And the Lord said to Moses, in Madian: Go, and return into Egypt: for they are all dead that sought thy life. ²⁰Moses therefore took his wife, and his sons, and set them upon an ass: and returned into Egypt, carrying the rod of God in his hand. ²¹And the Lord said to him as he was returning into Egypt: See that thou do all the wonders before Pharao, which I have put in thy hand: I shall harden his heart, and he will not let the people go. ²²And thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Israel is my son, my firstborn. ²³I have said to thee: Let my son go, that he may serve me, and thou wouldst not let him go: behold I will kill thy son, thy firstborn. ²⁴And when he was in his journey, in the inn, the Lord met him, and would have killed him. ²⁵Immediately Sephora took a very sharp stone, and circumcised the fore skin of her son, and touched his feet and said: A bloody spouse art thou to me. ²⁶And he let him go after she had said A bloody spouse art thou to me, because of the circumcision. ²⁷And the Lord said to Aaron: Go into the desert to meet Moses. And he went forth to meet him in the mountain of God, and kissed him. ²⁸And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord, by which he had sent him, and the signs that he had commanded. ²⁹And they came together, and they assembled all the ancients of the children of Israel. ³⁰And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had said to Moses: and he wrought the signs before the people, ³¹And the people believed. And they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel: and that he had looked upon their affliction: and falling down they adored.

Chapter 5

¹After these things Moses and Aaron went in, and said to Pharao: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Let my people go that they may sacrifice to me in the desert. ²But he answered: Who is the Lord, that I should hear his voice, and let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. ³And they said: The God of the Hebrews hath called us, to go three days' journey into the wilderness and to sacrifice to the Lord our God: lest a pestilence or the sword fall upon us. ⁴The king of Egypt said to them: Why do you Moses and Aaron draw off the people from their works? Get you gone to your burdens. ⁵And Pharao said: The people of the land is numerous: you see that the multitude is increased: how much more if you give them rest from their works? ⁶Therefore he commanded the same day the overseers of the works, and the taskmasters of the people, saying: ⁷You shall give straw no more to the people to make brick, as before: but let them go and gather straw. ⁸And you shall lay upon them the task of bricks, which they did before, neither shall you diminish any thing thereof: for they are idle, and therefore they cry, saying: Let us go and sacrifice to our God. ⁹Let them be oppressed, with works, and let them fulfill them: that they may not regard lying words. ¹⁰And the overseers of the works and the taskmasters went out and said to the people: Thus saith Pharao, I allow you no straw: ¹¹Go, and gather it where you can find it: neither shall any thing of your work be diminished. ¹²And the people was scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather straw. ¹³And the overseers of the works pressed them, saying: Fulfill your work every day as before you were wont to do when straw was given you. ¹⁴And they that were over the works of the children of Israel were scourged by Pharao's taskmasters, saying: Why have you not made up the task of bricks both yesterday and to day as before? ¹⁵And the officers of the children of Israel came, and cried out to Pharao, saying: Why dealest thou so with thy servants? ¹⁶Straw is not given us, and bricks are required of us as before: behold we thy servants are beaten with whips, and thy people is unjustly dealt withal. ¹⁷And he said: You are idle, and therefore you say: Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord. ¹⁸Go therefore, and work: straw shall not be given you, and you shall deliver the accustomed number of bricks. ¹⁹And the officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in evil case, because it was said to them: There shall not a whit be diminished of the bricks for every day. ²⁰And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood over against them as they came out from Pharao: ²¹And they said to them: The Lord see and judge, because you have made our savour to stink before Pharao and his servants, and you have given him a sword to kill us. ²²And Moses returned to the Lord, and said: Lord, why hast thou afflicted this people? wherefore hast thou sent me? ²³For since the time that I went in to Pharao to speak in thy name, he hath afflicted thy people: and thou hast not delivered them.

Chapter 6

¹And the Lord said to Moses: Now thou shalt see what I will do to Pharao: for by a mighty hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he cast them out of his land. ²And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: I am the Lord, ³That appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; and my name ADONAI I did not shew them. ⁴And I made a covenant with them, to give them the land of Chanaan, the land of their pilgrimage wherein they were strangers. ⁵I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, wherewith the Egyptians have oppressed them: and I have remembered my covenant. ⁶Therefore say to the children of Israel: I am the Lord who will bring you out from the work prison of the Egyptians, and will deliver you from bondage: and redeem you with a high arm, and great judgments. ⁷And I will take you to myself for my people, I will be your God: and you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the work prison of the Egyptians. ⁸And brought you into the land, concerning which I lifted up my hand to give it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and I will give it you to possess, I am the Lord. ⁹And Moses told all this to the children of Israel: but they did not hearken to him, for anguish of spirit, and most painful work. ¹⁰And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying ¹¹Go in, and speak to Pharao king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. ¹²Moses answered before the Lord Behold the children of Israel do no hearken to me; and how will Pharao hear me, especially as I am of uncircumcised lips? ¹³And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and he gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharao the king of Egypt, that they should bring forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁴These are the heads of their house by their families. The sons of Rubel the firstborn of Israel: Henoch and Phallu, Hesron and Charmi. ¹⁵These are the kindreds of Ruben. The sons of Simeon: Jamuel, and Jamin and Ahod, and Jachin, and Soar, and Saul the son of a chanaanitess: these are the families of Simeon. ¹⁶And these are the names of the sons of Levi by their kindreds: Gerson, and Caath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were a hundred and thirty seven. ¹⁷The sons of Gerson: Lobni and Semei, by their kindreds. ¹⁸The sons of Caath: Amram, and Isaar, and EIebron, and Oziel. And the years of Caath's life were a hundred and thirty-three. ¹⁹The sons of Merari: Moholi and Musi. These are the kindreds of Levi by their families. ²⁰And Amram took to wife Jochabed his aunt by the father's side: and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of Amram's life were a hundred and thirty-seven. ²¹The sons also of Isaar: Core, and Nepheg, and Zechri. ²²The sons also of Oziel: Mizael, and Elizaphan, and Sethri. ²³And Aaron took to wife Elizabeth the daughter of Aminadab, sister of Nahason, who bore him Nadab, and Abiu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar. ²⁴The sons also of Core: Aser, and Elcana, and Abiasaph. These are the kindreds of the Corites. ²⁵But Eleazar the son of Aaron took a wife of the daughters of Phutiel: and she bore him Phinees. These are the heads of the Levitical families by their kindreds. ²⁶These are Aaron and Moses, whom the Lord commanded to bring forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their companies. ²⁷These are they that speak to Pharao king of Egypt, in order to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron ²⁸In the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt. ²⁹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: I am the Lord: speak thou to Pharao king of Egypt all that I say to thee. ³⁰And Moses said before the Lord: Lo I am of uncircumcised lips, how will Pharao hear me?

Chapter 7

¹And the Lord said to Moses: Behold I have appointed thee the God of Pharao: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. ²Thou shalt speak to him all that I command thee; and he shall speak to Pharao, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. ³But I shall harden his heart, and shall multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, ⁴And he will not hear you: and I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and will bring forth my army and my people the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, by very great judgments. ⁵And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, who have stretched forth my hand upon Egypt, and have brought forth the children of Israel out of the midst of them. ⁶And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded: so did they. ⁷And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharao. ⁸And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ⁹When Pharao shall say to you, Shew signs: thou shalt say to Aaron: Take thy rod, and cast it down before Pharao, and it shall be turned into a serpent. ¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharao, and did as the Lord had commanded. And Aaron took the rod before Pharao, and his servants, and it was turned into a serpent. ¹¹And Pharao called the wise men and the magicians: and they also by Egyptian enchantments and certain secrets did in like manner. ¹²And they every one cast down their rods, and they were turned into serpents: but Aaron's rod devoured their rods. ¹³And Pharao's heart was hardened, and he did not hearken to them, as the Lord had commanded. ¹⁴And the Lord said to Moses: Pharao's heart is hardened, he will not let the people go. ¹⁵Go to him in the morning, behold he will go out to the waters: and thou shalt stand to meet him on the bank of the river: and thou shalt take in thy hand the rod that was turned into a serpent. ¹⁶And thou shalt say to him: The Lord God of the Hebrews sent me to thee saying: Let my people go to sacrifice to me in the desert: and hitherto thou wouldst not hear. ¹⁷Thus therefore saith the Lord: In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord: behold I will strike with the rods that is in my hand, the water of the river, and it shall be turned into blood. ¹⁸And the fishes that are in the river shall die, and the waters shall be corrupted, and the Egyptians shall be afflicted when they drink the water of the river. ¹⁹The Lord also said to Moses: Say to Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand upon the waters of Egypt, and upon their rivers, and streams and pools, and all the ponds of waters, that they may be turned into blood: and let blood be in all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and of stone. ²⁰And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded: and lifting up the rod he struck the water of the river before Pharao and his servants: and it was turned into blood. ²¹And the fishes that were in the river died: and the river corrupted, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river, and there was blood in all the land of Egypt. ²²And the magicians of the Egyptians with their enchantments did in like manner: and Pharao's heart was hardened, neither did he hear them, as the Lord had commanded. ²³And he turned himself away and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to it this time also. 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 fully ended, after that the Lord struck the river.

Chapter 8

¹And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao, and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Let my people go to sacrifice to me. ²But if thou wilt not let them go behold I will strike all thy coasts with frogs. ³And the river shall bring forth an abundance of frogs: which shall come up, and enter into thy house, and thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and in the houses of thy servants, and to thy people, and into thy ovens, and into the remains of thy meats; ⁴And the frogs shall come in to thee and to thy people, and to all thy servants. ⁵And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thy hand upon the streams and upon the rivers and the pools, and bring forth frogs upon the land of Egypt. ⁶And Aaron stretched forth his hand upon the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. ⁷And the magicians also by their enchantments did in like manner, and the brought forth frogs upon all the land of Egypt ⁸But Pharao called Moses and Aaron and said to them: Pray ye to the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. ⁹And Moses said to Pharao: Set me a time when I shall pray for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the frogs may be driven away from thee and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people: and may remain only in the river. ¹⁰And he answered: Tomorrow. But he said: I will do according to thy word; that thou mayst know that there is none like to the Lord our God. ¹¹And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people; and shall remain only in the river. ¹²And Moses and Aaron went forth from Pharao: and Moses cried to the Lord for the promise, which he had made to Pharao concerning the frogs. ¹³And the Lord did according to the word of Moses: and the frogs died out of the houses, and out of the villages, and out of the fields: ¹⁴And they gathered them together into immense heaps, and the land was corrupted. ¹⁵And Pharao seeing that rest was given, hardened his own heart, and did not hear them, as the Lord had commanded. ¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thy rod, and strike the dust of the earth: and may there be sciniphs in all the land of Egypt. ¹⁷And they did so. And Aaron stretched forth his hand, holding the rod: and he struck the dust of the earth, and there came sciniphs on men and on beasts: all the dust of the earth was turned into sciniphs through all the land of Egypt. ¹⁸And the magicians with their enchantments practiced in like manner, to bring forth sciniphs, and they could not and there were sciniphs as well on men as on beasts. ¹⁹And the magicians said to Pharao This is the finger of God. And Pharao heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had commanded. ²⁰The Lord also said to Moses: Arise early, and stand before Pharao: for he will go forth to the waters: and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Let my people go to sacrifice to me. ²¹But if thou wilt not let them go, behold I will send in upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy houses all kind of flies: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with flies of divers kinds, and the whole land wherein they shall be. ²²And I will make the land of Gessen wherein my people is, wonderful in that lay, so that flies shall not be there: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. ²³And I will put a division between my people and thy people: tomorrow shall this sign be. ²⁴And the Lord did so. And there came a very grievous swarm of flies into he houses of Pharao and of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt: and the land was corrupted by this kind of flies. ²⁵And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Go, and sacrifice to your God in this land. ²⁶And Moses said: It cannot be so: for we shall sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: now if we kill those things which the Egyptians worship, in their presence, they will stone us. ²⁷We will go three days' journey into the wilderness: and we will sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us. ²⁸And Pharao said: I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness: but go no farther: pray for me. ²⁹And Moses said: I will go out from thee, and will pray to the Lord: and the flies shall depart from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people tomorrow: but do not deceive any more, in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. ³⁰So Moses went out from Pharao, and prayed to the Lord. ³¹And he did according to his word: and he took away the flies from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people: there was not left so much as one. ³²And Pharao's heart was hardened, so that neither this time would he let the people go.

Chapter 9

¹And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao, and speak to him: Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to sacrifice to me. ²But if thou refuse, and withhold them still: ³Behold my hand shall be upon thy fields: and a very grievous murrain upon thy horses, and asses, and camels, and oxen, and sheep. ⁴And the Lord will make a wonderful difference between the possessions of Israel and the possessions of the Egyptians, that nothing at all shall die of those things that belong to the children of Israel. ⁵And the Lord appointed a time, saying: Tomorrow will the Lord do this thing in the land. ⁶The Lord therefore did this thing the next day: and all the beasts of the Egyptians died, but of the beasts of the children of Israel there died not one. ⁷And Pharao sent to see: and there was not any thing dead of that which Israel possessed. And Pharao's heart was hardened, and he did not let the people go. ⁸And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Take to you handfuls of ashes out of the chimney, and let Moses sprinkle it in the air in the presence of Pharao. ⁹And be there dust upon all the land of Egypt: for there shall be boils and swelling blains both in men and beasts in the whole land of Egypt. ¹⁰And they took ashes out of the chimney, and stood before Pharao, and Moses sprinkled it in the air: and there came boils with swelling blains in men and beasts. ¹¹Neither could the magicians stand before Moses for the boils that were upon them, and in all the land of Egypt. ¹²And the Lord hardened Pharao's heart, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses. ¹³And the Lord said to Moses: Arise in the morning, and stand before Pharao, and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to sacrifice to me. ¹⁴For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thy heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people: that thou mayst know there is none like me in all the earth. ¹⁵For now I will stretch out my hand to strike thee, and thy people with pestilence, and thou shalt perish from the earth. ¹⁶And therefore have I raised thee, that I may shew my power in thee, and my name may be spoken of throughout all the earth. ¹⁷Dost thou yet hold back my people: and wilt thou not let them go? ¹⁸Behold I will cause it to rain to morrow at this same hour, an exceeding great hail: such as hath not been in Egypt from the day that it was founded, until this present time. ¹⁹Send therefore now presently, and gather together thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field: for men and beasts, and all things that shall be found abroad, and not gathered together out of the fields, which the hail shall fall upon, shall die. ²⁰He that feared the word of the Lord among Pharao's servants, made his servants and his cattle flee into houses: ²¹And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth thy hand towards heaven, that there may be hail in the whole land of Egypt, upon men, and upon beasts, and upon every herb of the field in the land of Egypt. ²²And Moses stretched forth his rod towards heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning running along the ground: and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. ²⁴And the hail and fire mixed with it drove on together: and it was of so great bigness, as never before was seen in the whole land of Egypt since that nation was founded. ²⁵And the hail destroyed through all the land of Egypt all things that were in the fields, both man and beast: and the hail smote every herb of the field, and it broke every tree of the country. ²⁶Only in the land of Gessen, where the children of Israel were, the hail fell not. ²⁷And Pharao sent and called Moses and Aaron, saying to them: I have sinned this time also; the Lord is just: I and my people are wicked. ²⁸Pray ye to the Lord, that the thunderings of God and the hail may cease: that I may let you go, and that you may stay here no longer. ²⁹Moses said: As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will stretch forth my hands to the Lord, and the thunders shall cease, and the hail shall be no more: that thou mayst know that the earth is the Lord's. ³⁰But I know that neither thou, nor thy servants do yet fear the Lord God. ³¹The flax therefore and the barley were hurt, because the barley was green, and the flax was now boiled: ³²But the wheat, and other winter corn were not hurt, because they were lateward. ³³And when Moses was gone from Pharao out of the city, he stretched forth his hands to the Lord: and the thunders and the hail ceased, neither did there drop any more rain upon the earth. ³⁴And Pharao seeing that the rain and the hail, and the thunders were ceased, increased his sin. ³⁵And his heart was hardened, and the heart of his servants, and it was made exceeding hard: neither did he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses.

Chapter 10

¹And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao; for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants: that I may work these my signs in him. ²And thou mayest tell in the ears of thy sons, and of they grandsons, how often I have plagued the Egyptians, and wrought my signs amongst them: and you may know that I am the Lord: ³Therefore Moses and Aaron went in to Pharao, and said to him: Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews: How long refusest thou to submit to me? let my people go, to sacrifice to me. ⁴But if thou resist, and wilt not let them go, behold I will bring in to morrow the locust into thy coasts: ⁵To cover the face of the earth that nothing thereof may appear, but that which the hail hath left may be eaten: for they shall feed upon all the trees that spring in the fields. ⁶And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of thy servants, and of all the Egyptians: such a number as thy fathers have not seen, nor thy grandfathers, from the time they were first upon the earth, until this present day. And he turned himself away, and went forth from Pharao. ⁷And Pharao's servants said to him: How long shall we endure this scandal? let the men go to sacrifice to the Lord their God. Dost thou not see that Egypt is undone? ⁸And they called back Moses and Aaron to Pharao: and he said to them: Go, sacrifice to the Lord your God: who are they that shall go? ⁹Moses said: We will go with our young and old, with our sons and daughters, with our sheep and herds: for it is the solemnity of the Lord our God. ¹⁰And Pharao answered: So be the Lord with you, as I shall let you and your children go: who can doubt but that you intend some great evil? ¹¹It shall not be so: but go ye men only, and sacrifice to the Lord: for this yourselves also desired. And immediately they were cast out from Pharao's presence. ¹²And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth thy hand upon the land of Egypt unto the locust, that it may come upon it, and devour every herb that is left after the hail. ¹³And Moses stretched forth his rod upon the land of Egypt: and the Lord brought a burning wind all that day, and night: and when it was morning, the burning wind raised the locusts: ¹⁴And they came up over the whole land of Egypt: and rested in all the coasts of the Egyptians innumerable, the like as had not been before that time, nor shall be hereafter. ¹⁵And they covered the whole face of the earth, wasting all things. And the grass of the earth was devoured, and what fruits soever were on the trees, which the hail had left: and there remained not any thing that was green on the trees, or in the herbs of the earth in all Egypt. ¹⁶Wherefore Pharao in haste called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. ¹⁷But now forgive me my sin this time also, and pray to the Lord your God, that he take away from me this death. ¹⁸And Moses going forth from the presence of Pharao, prayed to the Lord. ¹⁹And he made a very strong wind to blow from the west, and it took the locusts and cast them into the Red Sea: there remained not so much as one in all the coasts of Egypt. ²⁰And the Lord hardened Pharao's heart, neither did he let the children of Israel go. ²¹And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch out they hand towards heaven: and may there be darkness upon the land of Egypt, so thick that it may be felt. ²²And Moses stretch forth his hand towards heaven: and there came horrible darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. ²³No man saw his brother, nor moved himself out of the place where he was: but wheresoever the children of Israel dwelt there was light. ²⁴And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Go sacrifice to the Lord: let your sheep only, and herds remain; let your children go with you. ²⁵Moses said: Thou shalt give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, to the Lord our God. ²⁶All the flocks shall go with us: there shall not a hoof remain of them: for they are necessary for the service of the Lord our God: especially as we know not what must be offered, till we come to the very place. ²⁷And the Lord hardened Pharao's heart, and he would not let them go. ²⁸And Pharao said to Moses: Get thee from me, and beware thou see not my face any more: in what day soever thou shalt come in my sight, thou shalt die. ²⁹Moses answered: So shall it be as thou hast spoken, I will not see thy face any more.

Chapter 11

¹And the Lord said to Moses: Yet one plague more will I bring upon Pharao and Egypt, and after that he shall let you go and thrust you out. ²Therefore thou shalt tell all the people that every man ask of his friend, and every woman of her neighbour, vessels of silver, and of gold. ³And the Lord will give favour to his people in the sight of the Egyptians. And Moses was a very great man in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharao's servants, and of all the people. ⁴And he said: Thus said the Lord: At midnight I will enter into Egypt. ⁵And every firstborn in the land of the Egyptians shall die, from the firstborn of Pharao who sitteth on his throne, even to the first born of the handmaid that is at the mill, and all the firstborn of beasts. ⁶And there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as neither hath been before, nor shall be hereafter. ⁷But with all the children of Israel there shall not a dog make the least noise, from man even to beast: that you may know how wonderful a difference the Lord maketh between the Egyptians and Israel. ⁸And all these thy servants shall come down to me, and shall worship me, saying: Go forth thou, and all the people that is under thee: after that we will go out. ⁹And he went out from Pharao exceeding angry. But the Lord said to Moses: Pharao will not hear you, that many signs may be done in the land of Egypt. ¹⁰And Moses and Aaron did all the wonders that are written, before Pharao. And the Lord hardened Pharao's heart, neither did he let the children of Israel go out of his land.

Chapter 12

¹And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ²This month shall be to you the beginning of months: it shall be the first in the months of the year. ³Speak ye to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, and say to them: On the tenth day of this month let every man take a lamb by their families and houses. ⁴But if the number be less than may suffice to eat the lamb, he shall take unto him his neighbour that joineth to his house, according to the number of souls which may be enough to eat the lamb. ⁵And it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, of one year: according to which rite also you shall take a kid. ⁶And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month: and the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening. ⁷And they shall take of the blood thereof, and put it upon both the side posts, and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. ⁸And they shall eat the flesh that night roasted at the fire, and unleavened bread with wild lettuce. ⁹You shall not eat thereof any thing raw, nor boiled in water, but only roasted at the fire: you shall eat the head with the feet and entrails thereof. ¹⁰Neither shall there remain any thing of it until morning. If there be any thing left, you shall burn it with fire. ¹¹And thus you shall eat it: you shall gird your reins, and you shall have shoes on your feet, holding staves in your hands, and you shall eat in haste: for it is the Phase (that is the Passage) of the Lord. ¹²And I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. ¹³And the blood shall be unto you for a sign in the houses where you shall be: and I shall see the blood, and shall pass over you: and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I shall strike the land of Egypt. ¹⁴And this day shall be for a memorial to you: and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord in your generations with an everlasting observance. ¹⁵Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread: in the first day there shall be no leaven in your houses: whosoever shall eat any thing leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall perish out of Israel. ¹⁶The first day shall be holy and solemn, and the seventh day shall be kept with the like solemnity: you shall do no work in them, except those things that belong to eating. ¹⁷And you shall observe the feast of the unleavened bread: for in this same day I will bring forth your army out of the land of Egypt, and you shall keep this day in your generations by a perpetual observance. ¹⁸The first month, the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the same month in the evening. ¹⁹Seven days there shall not be found any leaven in your houses: he that shall eat leavened bread, his soul shall perish out of the assembly of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land. ²⁰You shall not eat any thing leavened: in all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread. ²¹And Moses called all the ancients of the children of Israel, and said to them: Go take a lamb by your families, and sacrifice the Phase. ²²And dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood that is at the door, and sprinkle the transom of the door therewith, and both the door cheeks: let none of you go out of the door of his house till morning. ²³For the Lord will pass through striking the Egyptians: and when he shall see the blood on the transom, and on both the posts, he will pass over the door of the house, and not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses and to hurt you. ²⁴Thou shalt keep this thing as a law for thee and thy children for ever. ²⁵And when you have entered into the land which the Lord will give you as he hath promised, you shall observe these ceremonies. ²⁶And when your children shall say to you: What is the meaning of this service? ²⁷You shall say to them: It is the victim of the passage of the Lord, when he passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, striking the Egyptians, and saving our houses. And the people bowing themselves, adored. ²⁸And the children of Israel going forth did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. ²⁹And it came to pass at midnight, the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharao, who sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive woman that was in the prison, and all the firstborn of cattle. ³⁰And Pharao arose in the night, and all his servants, and all Egypt: for there was not a house wherein there lay not one dead. ³¹And Pharao calling Moses and Aaron, in the night, said: Arise and go forth from among my people, you and the children of Israel: go, sacrifice to the Lord as you say. ³²Your sheep and herds take along with you, as you demanded, and departing, bless me. ³³And the Egyptians pressed the people to go forth out of the land speedily, saying: We shall all die. ³⁴The people therefore took dough before it was leavened: and tying it in their cloaks, put it on their shoulders. ³⁵And the children of Israel did as Moses had commanded: and they asked of the Egyptians vessels of silver and gold, and very much raiment. ³⁶And the Lord gave favour to the people in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them: and they stripped the Egyptians. ³⁷And the children of Israel set forward from Ramesse to Socoth, being about six hundred thousand men on foot, beside children. ³⁸And a mixed multitude without number went up also with them, sheep and herds and beasts of divers kinds, exceeding many. ³⁹And they baked the meal, which a little before they had brought out of Egypt, in dough: and they made earth cakes unleavened: for it could not be leavened, the Egyptians pressing them to depart, and not suffering them to make any stay: neither did they think of preparing any meat. ⁴⁰And the abode of the children of Israel that they made in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. ⁴¹Which being expired, the same day all the army of the Lord went forth out of the land of Egypt. ⁴²This is the observable night of the Lord, when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: this night all the children of Israel must observe in their generations. ⁴³And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: This is the service of the Phase: No foreigner shall eat of it. ⁴⁴But every bought servant shall be circumcised, and so shall eat. ⁴⁵The stranger and the hireling shall not eat thereof. ⁴⁶In one house shall it be eaten, neither shall you carry forth of the flesh thereof out of the house, neither shall you break a bone thereof. ⁴⁷All the assembly of the children of Israel shall keep it. ⁴⁸And if any stranger be willing to dwell among you, and to keep the Phase of the Lord, all his males shall first be circumcised, and then shall he celebrate it according to the manner: and he shall be as he that is born in the land: but if any man be uncircumcised, he shall not eat thereof. ⁴⁹The same law shall be to him that is born in the land, and to the proselyte that sojourneth with you. ⁵⁰And all the children of Israel did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹And the same day the Lord brought forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their companies.

Chapter 13

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Sanctify unto me every firstborn that openeth the womb among the children of Israel, as well of men as of beasts: for they are all mine. ³And Moses said to the people: Remember this day in which you came forth out of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage, for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought you forth out of this place: that you eat no leavened bread. ⁴This day you go forth in the month of new corn. ⁵And when the Lord shall have brought thee into the land of the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, and the Amorrhite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, which he swore to thy fathers that he would give thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey, thou shalt celebrate this manner of sacred rites in this month. ⁶Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be the solemnity of the Lord. ⁷Unleavened bread shall you eat seven days: there shall not be seen any thing leavened with thee, nor in all thy coasts. ⁸And thou shalt tell thy son in that day, saying: This is what the Lord did to me when I came forth out of Egypt. ⁹And it shall be as a sign in thy hand, and as a memorial before thy eyes: and that the law of the Lord be always in thy mouth, for with a strong hand the Lord hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰Thou shalt keep this observance at the set time from days to days. ¹¹And when the Lord shall have brought thee into the land of the Chanaanite, as he swore to thee and thy fathers, and shall give it thee: ¹²Thou shalt set apart all that openeth the womb for the Lord, and all that is first brought forth of thy cattle: whatsoever thou shalt have of the male sex, thou shalt consecrate to the Lord. ¹³The firstborn of an ass thou shalt change for a sheep: and if thou do not redeem it, thou shalt kill it. And every firstborn of men thou shalt redeem with a price. ¹⁴And when thy son shall ask thee to morrow, saying: What is this? thou shalt answer him: With a strong hand did the Lord bring us forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ¹⁵For when Pharao was hardened, and would not let us go, the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of man to the firstborn of beasts: therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the womb of the male sex, and all the firstborn of my sons I redeem. ¹⁶And it shall be as a sign in thy hand, and as a thing hung between thy eyes, for a remembrance: because the Lord hath brought us forth out of Egypt by a strong hand. ¹⁷And when Pharao had sent out the people, the Lord led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines which is near: thinking lest perhaps they would repent, if they should see wars arise against them, and would return into Egypt. ¹⁸But he led them about by the way of the desert, which is by the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁹And Moses took Joseph's bones with him: because he had adjured the children of Israel, saying: God shall visit you, carry out my bones from hence with you. ²⁰And marching from Socoth they encamped in Etham in the utmost coasts of the wilderness. ²¹And the Lord went before them to shew the way by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire: that he might be the guide of their journey at both times. ²²There never failed the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, before the people.

Chapter 14

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to the children of Israel: Let them turn and encamp over against Phihahiroth which is between Magdal and the sea over against Beelsephon: you shall encamp before it upon the sea. ³And Pharao will say of the children of Israel: They are straitened in the land, the desert hath shut them in. ⁴And I shall harden his heart, and he will pursue you: and I shall be glorified in Pharao, and in all his army: and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so. ⁵And it was told the king of the Egyptians that the people was fled: and the heart of Pharao and of his servants was changed with regard to the people, and they said: What meant we to do, that we let Israel go from serving us? ⁶So he made ready his chariot, and took all his people with him. ⁷And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots that were in Egypt: and the captains of the whole army. ⁸And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharao king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel: but they were gone forth in a mighty hand. ⁹And when the Egyptians followed the steps of them who were gone before, they found them encamped at the sea side: all Pharao's horse and chariots, and the whole army were in Phihahiroth before Beelsephon. ¹⁰And when Pharao drew near, the children of Israel, lifting up their eyes, saw the Egyptians behind them: and they feared exceedingly, and cried to the Lord. ¹¹And they said to Moses: Perhaps there were no graves in Egypt, therefore thou hast brought us to die in the wilderness: why wouldst thou do this, to lead us out of Egypt? ¹²Is not this the word that we spoke to thee in Egypt, saying: Depart from us that we may serve the Egyptians? for it was much better to serve them, than to die in the wilderness. ¹³And Moses said to the people: Fear not: stand and see the great wonders of the Lord, which he will do this day: for the Egyptians, whom you see now, you shall see no more for ever. ¹⁴The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. ¹⁵And the Lord said to Moses: Why criest thou to me? Speak to the children of Israel to go forward. ¹⁶But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand over the sea, and divide it: that the children of Israel may go through the midst of the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷And I will harden the heart of the Egyptians to pursue you: and I will be glorified in Pharao, and in all his host, and in his chariots, and in his horsemen. ¹⁸And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall be glorified in Pharao, and in his chariots and in his horsemen. ¹⁹And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removing, went behind them: and together with him the pillar of the cloud, leaving the forepart, ²⁰Stood behind, between the Egyptians' camp and the camp of Israel: and it was a dark cloud, and enlightening the night, so that they could not come at one another all the night. ²¹And when Moses had stretched forth his hand over the sea, the Lord took it away by a strong and burning wind blowing all the night, and turned it into dry ground: and the water was divided. ²²And the children of Israel went in through the midst of the sea dried up: for the water was as a wall on their right hand and on their left. ²³And the Egyptians pursuing went in after them, and all Pharao's horses, his chariots and horsemen through the midst of the sea, ²⁴And now the morning watch was come, and behold the Lord looking upon the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, slew their host. ²⁵And overthrew the wheels of the chariots, and they were carried into the deep. And the Egyptians said: Let us flee from Israel: for the Lord fighteth for them against us. ²⁶And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth they hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and horsemen. ²⁷And when Moses had stretched forth his hand towards the sea, it returned at the first break of day to the former place: and as the Egyptians were fleeing away, the waters came upon them, and the Lord shut them up in the middle of the waves. ²⁸And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharao, who had come into the sea after them, neither did there so much as one of them remain. ²⁹But the children of Israel marched through the midst of the sea upon dry land, and the waters were to them as a wall on the right hand and on the left: ³⁰And the Lord delivered Israel on that day out of the hands of the Egyptians. ³¹And they saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore, and the mighty hand that the Lord had used against them: and the people feared the Lord, and they believed the Lord, and Moses his servant.

Chapter 15

¹Then Moses and the children of Israel sung this canticle to the Lord: and said: Let us sing to the Lord: for he is gloriously magnified, the horse and the rider he hath thrown into the sea. ²The Lord is my strength and my praise, and he is become salvation to me: he is my God and I will glorify him: the God of my father, and I will exalt him. ³The Lord is as a man of war, Almighty is his name. ⁴Pharao's chariots and his army he hath cast into the sea: his chosen captains are drowned in the Red Sea. ⁵The depths have covered them, they are sunk to the bottom like a stone. ⁶Thy right hand, O Lord, is magnified in strength: thy right hand, O Lord, hath slain the enemy. ⁷And in the multitude of they glory thou hast put down thy adversaries: thou hast sent thy wrath, which hath devoured them like stubble. ⁸And with the blast of thy anger the waters were gathered together: the flowing water stood, the depth were gathered together in the midst of the sea. ⁹The enemy said: I will pursue and overtake, I will divide the spoils, my soul shall have its fill: I will draw my sword, my hand shall slay them. ¹⁰Thy wind blew and the sea covered them: they sunk as lead in the mighty waters. ¹¹Who is like to thee, among the strong, O Lord? who is like to thee, glorious in holiness, terrible and praiseworthy, doing wonders? ¹²Thou stretchedst forth thy hand, and the earth swallowed them. ¹³In thy mercy thou hast been a leader to the people which thou hast redeemed: and in thy strength thou hast carried them to thy holy habitation. ¹⁴Nations rose up, and were angry: sorrows took hold on the inhabitants of Philisthiim. ¹⁵Then were the princes of Edom troubled, trembling seized on the stout men of Moab: all the inhabitants of Chanaan became stiff. ¹⁶Let fear and dread fall upon them, in the greatness of thy arm: let them become unmoveable as a stone, until thy people, O Lord, pass by: until this thy people pass by, which thou hast possessed. ¹⁷Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thy inheritance, in thy most firm habitation which thou hast made, O Lord; thy sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. ¹⁸The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. ¹⁹For Pharao went in on horseback with his chariots and horsemen into the sea: and the Lord brought back upon them the waters of the sea: but the children of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst thereof. ²⁰So Mary the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand: and all the women went forth after her with timbrels and with dances: ²¹And she began the song to them, saying: Let us sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously magnified, the horse and his rider he hath thrown into the sea. ²²And Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went forth into the wilderness of Sur: and they marched three days through the wilderness, and found no water. ²³And they came into Mara, and they could not drink the waters of Mara, because they were bitter: whereupon he gave a name also agreeable to the place, calling it Mara, that is, bitterness. ²⁴And the people murmured against Moses, saying: What shall we drink? ²⁵But he cried to the Lord, and he shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, they were turned into sweetness. There he appointed him ordinances, and judgments, and there he proved him, ²⁶Saying: If thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and do what is right before him, and obey his commandments, and keep all his precepts, none of the evils that I laid upon Egypt, will I bring upon thee: for I am the Lord thy healer. ²⁷And the children of Israel came into Elim, where there were twelve fountains of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped by the waters.

Chapter 16

¹And they set forward from Elim, and all the multitude of the children of Israel came into the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai: the fifteenth day of the second month, after they came out of the land of Egypt. ²And all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. ³And the children of Israel said to them: Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat over the flesh pots, and ate bread to the full. Why have you brought us into this desert, that you might destroy all the multitude with famine? ⁴And the Lord said to Moses: Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you: let the people go forth, and gather what is sufficient for every day: that I may prove them whether they will walk in my law, or not. ⁵But the sixth day let them provide for to bring in: and let it be double to that they were wont to gather every day. ⁶And Moses and Aaron said to the children of Israel: In the evening you shall know that the Lord hath brought you forth out of the land of Egypt: ⁷And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord: for he hath heard your murmuring against the Lord: but as for us, what are we, that you mutter against us? ⁸And Moses said: In the evening the Lord will give you flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full: for he hath heard your murmurings, with which you have murmured against him, for what are we? your murmuring is not against us, but against the Lord. ⁹Moses also said to Aaron: Say to the whole congregation of the children of Israel: Come before the Lord: for he hath heard your murmuring. ¹⁰And when Aaron spoke to all the assembly of the children of Israel, they looked towards the wilderness: and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud. ¹¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹²I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel: say to them: In the evening you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread: and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. ¹³So it came to pass in the evening, that quails coming up, covered the camp: and in the morning, a dew lay round about the camp. ¹⁴And when it had covered the face of the earth, it appeared in the wilderness small, and as it were beaten with a pestle, like unto the hoar frost on the ground. ¹⁵And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another: Manhu! which signifieth: What is this! for they knew not what it was. And Moses said to them: This is the bread, which the Lord hath given you to eat. ¹⁶This is the word, that the Lord hath commanded: Let every one gather of it as much as is enough to eat: a gomor for every man, according to the number of your souls that dwell in a tent, so shall you take of it. ¹⁷And the children of Israel did so: and they gathered, one more, another less. ¹⁸And they measured by the measure of a gomor: neither had he more that had gathered more: nor did he find less that had provided less: but every one had gathered, according to what they were able to eat. ¹⁹And Moses said to them: Let no man leave thereof till the morning. ²⁰And they hearkened not to him, but some of them left until the morning, and it began to be full of worms, an it putrefied, and Moses was angry with them. ²¹Now every one of them gathered in the morning, as much as might suffice to eat: and after the sun grew hot, it melted. ²²But on the sixth day they gathered twice as much, that is, two gomors every man: and all the rulers of the multitude came, and told Moses. ²³And he said to them: This is what the Lord hath spoken: To morrow is the rest of the sabbath sanctified to the Lord. Whatsoever work is to be done, do it: and the meats that are to be dressed, dress them: and whatsoever shall remain, lay it up until the morning. ²⁴And they did so as Moses had commanded, and it did not putrefy, neither was there worm found in it. ²⁵And Moses said: Eat it to day, because it is the sabbath of the Lord: to day it shall not be found in the field. ²⁶Gather it six days: but on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord, therefore it shall not be found. ²⁷And the seventh day came: and some of the people going forth to gather, found none. ²⁸And the Lord said to Moses: How long will you refuse to keep my commandments, and my law? ²⁹See that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, and for this reason on the sixth day he giveth you a double provision: let each man stay at home, and let none go forth out of his place the seventh day. ³⁰And the people kept the sabbath on the seventh day. ³¹And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed white, and the taste thereof like to flour with honey. ³²And Moses said: This is the word, which the Lord hath commanded: Fill a gomor of it, and let it be kept unto generations to come hereafter, that they may know the bread, wherewith I fed you in the wilderness, when you were brought forth out of the land of Egypt. ³³And Moses said to Aaron: Take a vessel, and put manna into it, as much as a gomor can hold: and lay it up before the Lord to keep unto your generations, ³⁴As the Lord commanded Moses. And Aaron put it in the tabernacle to be kept. ³⁵And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land: with this meat were they fed, until they reached the borders of the land of Chanaan. ³⁶Now a gomor is the tenth part of an ephi.

Chapter 17

¹Then all the multitude of the children of Israel setting forward from the desert of Sin, by their mansions, according to the word of the Lord, encamped in Raphidim, where there was no water for the people to drink. ²And they chode with Moses, and said: Give us water, that we may drink. And Moses answered them: Why chide you with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord? ³So the people were thirsty there for want of water, and murmured against Moses, saying: Why didst thou make us go forth out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our beasts with thirst? ⁴And Moses cried to the Lord, saying: What shall I do to this people? Yet a little more and they will stone me. ⁵And the Lord said to Moses: God before the people, and take with thee of the ancients of Israel: and take in thy hand the rod wherewith thou didst strike the river, and go. ⁶Behold I will stand there before thee, upon the rock Horeb: and thou shalt strike the rock, and water shall come out of it that the people may drink. Moses did so before the ancients of Israel: ⁷And he called the name of that place Temptation, because the chiding of the children of Israel, and for that they tempted the Lord, saying: Is the Lord amongst us or not? ⁸And Amalec came, and fought against Israel in Raphidim. ⁹And Moses said to Josue: Choose out men: and go out and fight against Amalec: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill having the rod of God in my hand. ¹⁰Josue did as Moses had spoken, and he fought against Amalec; but Moses, and Aaron, and Hur went up upon the top of the hill. ¹¹And when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel overcame: but if he let them down a little, Amalec overcame. ¹²And Moses' hands were heavy: so they took a stone, and put under him, and he sat on it: and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands on both sides. And it came to pass that his hands were not weary until sunset. ¹³And Josue put Amalec and his people to flight, by the edge of the sword. ¹⁴And the Lord said to Moses: Write this for a memorial in a book, and deliver it to the ears of Josue: for I will destroy the memory of Amalec from under heaven. ¹⁵And Moses built an altar: and called the name thereof, The Lord my exaltation, saying: ¹⁶Because the hand of the throne of the Lord, and the war of the Lord shall be against Amalec, from generation to generation.

Chapter 18

¹And when Jethro the priest of Madian, the kinsman of Moses, had heard all the things that God had done to Moses, and to Israel his people, and that the Lord had brought forth Israel out of Egypt, ²He took Sephora the wife of Moses whom he had sent back: ³And her two sons, of whom one was called Gersam, his father saying: I have been a stranger in a foreign country. ⁴And the other Eliezer: For the God of my father, said he, is my helper, and hath delivered me from the sword of Pharao. ⁵And Jethro the kinsman of Moses came with his sons and his wife, to Moses into the desert, where he was camped by the mountain of God. ⁶And he sent word to Moses, saying: I Jethro thy kinsman come to thee, and thy wife, and thy two sons with her. ⁷And he went out to meet his kinsman, and worshipped and kissed him: and they saluted one another with words of peace. And when he was come into the tent, ⁸Moses told his kinsman all that the Lord had done to Pharao, and the Egyptians, in favour of Israel: and all the labour which had befallen them in the journey, and that the Lord had delivered them. ⁹And Jethro rejoiced for all the good things that the Lord had done to Israel, because he had delivered them out of the hands of the Egyptians. ¹⁰And he said: Blessed is the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of Pharao, and out of the hand of the Egyptians, who hath delivered his people out of the hand of Egypt. ¹¹Now I know that the Lord is great above all gods: because they dealt proudly against them. ¹²So Jethro the kinsman of Moses offered holocausts and sacrifices to God: and Aaron and all the ancients of Israel came, to eat bread with them before God. ¹³And the next day Moses sat, to judge the people, who stood by Moses from morning until night. ¹⁴And when his kinsman had seen all things that he did among the people, he said: What is it that thou dost among the people? Why sittest thou alone, and all the people wait from morning till night. ¹⁵And Moses answered him: The people come to me to seek the judgment of God. ¹⁶And when any controversy falleth out among them, they come to me to judge between them, and to shew the precepts of God, and his laws. ¹⁷But he said: The thing thou dost is not good. ¹⁸Thou are spent with foolish labour, both thou and this people that is with thee: the business is above thy strength, thou alone canst not bear it. ¹⁹But hear my words and counsels, and God shall be with thee. Be thou to the people in those things that pertain to God, to bring their words to him: ²⁰And to shew the people the ceremonies and the manner of worshipping, and the way wherein they ought to walk, and the work that they ought to do. ²¹And provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, in whom there is truth, and that hate avarice, and appoint of them rulers of thousands, and of hundreds, and of fifties, and of tens. ²²Who may judge the people at all times: and when any great matter soever shall fall out, let them refer it to thee, and let them judge the lesser matters only: that so it may be lighter for thee, the burden being shared out unto others. ²³If thou dost this, thou shalt fulfil the commandment of God, and shalt be able to bear his precepts: and all this people shall return to their places with peace. ²⁴And when Moses heard this, he did all things that he had suggested unto him. ²⁵And choosing able men out of all Israel, he appointed them rulers of the people, rulers over thousands, and over hundreds, and over fifties, and over tens. ²⁶And they judged the people at all times: and whatsoever was of greater difficulty they referred to him, and they judged the easier cases only. ²⁷And he let his kinsman depart: and he returned and went into his own country.

Chapter 19

¹In the third month of the departure of Israel out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai: ²For departing out of Raphidim, and coming to the desert of Sinai, they camped in the same place, and there Israel pitched their tents over against the mountain. ³And Moses went up to God: and the Lord called unto him from the mountain, and said: Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: ⁴You have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, how I have carried you upon the wings of eagles, and have taken you to myself. ⁵If therefore you will hear my voice, and keep my covenant, you shall be my peculiar possession above all people: for all the earth is mine. ⁶And you shall be to me a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation. Those are the words thou shalt speak to the children of Israel. ⁷Moses came, and calling together the elders of the people, he declared all the words which the Lord had commanded. ⁸And all the people answered together: All that the Lord hath spoken, we will do. And when Moses had related the people's words to the Lord, ⁹The Lord said to him: Lo, now will I come to thee in the darkness of a cloud, that the people may hear me speaking to thee, and may believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. ¹⁰And he said to him: Go to the people, and sanctify them to day, and to morrow, and let them wash their garments. ¹¹And let them be ready against the third day: for on the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. ¹²And thou shalt appoint certain limits to the people round about, and thou shalt say to them: Take heed you go not up into the mount, and that ye touch not the borders thereof: every one that toucheth the mount dying he shall die. ¹³No hands shall touch him, but he shall be stoned to death, or shall be shot through with arrows: whether it be beast, or man, he shall not live. When the trumpet shall begin to sound, then let them go up into the mount. ¹⁴And Moses came down from the mount to the people, and sanctified them. And when they had washed their garments, ¹⁵He said to them: Be ready against the third day, and come not near your wives. ¹⁶And now the third day was come, and the morning appeared: and behold thunders began to be heard, and lightning to flash, and a very thick cloud to cover the mount, and the noise of the trumpet sounded exceeding loud, and the people that was in the camp, feared. ¹⁷And when Moses had brought them forth to meet God from the place of the camp, they stood at the bottom of the mount. ¹⁸And all mount Sinai was on a smoke: because the Lord was come down upon it in fire, and the smoke arose from it as out of a furnace: and all the mount was terrible. ¹⁹And the sound of the trumpet grew by degrees louder and louder, and was drawn out to a greater length: Moses spoke, and God answered him. ²⁰And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, in the very top of the mount, and he called Moses unto the top thereof. And when he was gone up thither, ²¹He said unto him: Go down, and charge the people: lest they should have a mind to pass the limits to see the Lord, and a very great multitude of them should perish. ²²The priests also that come to the Lord, let them be sanctified, lest he strike them. ²³And Moses said to the Lord: The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou did charge, and command, saying: Set limits about the mount, and sanctify it. ²⁴And the Lord said to him: Go, get thee down: and thou shalt come up, thou and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people pass the limits, nor come up to the Lord, lest he kill them. ²⁵And Moses went down to the people and told them all.

Chapter 20

¹And the Lord spoke all these words: ²I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ³Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. ⁴Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. ⁵Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them: I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me: ⁶And shewing mercy unto thousands to them that love me, and keep my commandments. ⁷Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain. ⁸Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day. ⁹Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works. ¹⁰But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates. ¹¹For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. ¹²Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be longlived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give thee. ¹³Thou shalt not kill. ¹⁴Thou shalt not commit adultery. ¹⁵Thou shalt not steal. ¹⁶Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. ¹⁷Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house: neither shalt thou desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his. ¹⁸And all the people saw the voices and the flames, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mount smoking: and being terrified and struck with fear, they stood afar off, ¹⁹Saying to Moses: Speak thou to us, and we will hear: let not the Lord speak to us, lest we die. ²⁰And Moses said to the people: Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that the dread of him might be in you, and you should not sin. ²¹And the people stood afar off. But Moses went to the dark cloud wherein God was. ²²And the Lord said to Moses: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. ²³You shall not make gods of silver, nor shall you make to yourselves gods of gold. ²⁴You shall make an altar of earth unto me, and you shall offer upon it your holocausts and peace offerings, your sheep and oxen, in every place where the memory of my name shall be: I will come to thee, and will bless thee. ²⁵And if thou make an altar of stone unto me, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones: for if thou lift up a tool upon it, it shall be defiled. ²⁶Thou shalt not go up by steps unto my altar, lest thy nakedness be discovered.

Chapter 21

¹These are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. ²If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve thee: in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. ³With what raiment he came in, with the like let him go out: if having a wife, his wife also shall go out with him. ⁴But if his master gave him a wife, and she hath borne sons and daughters: the woman and her children shall be her master's: but he himself shall go out with his raiment. ⁵And if the servant shall say: I love my master and my wife and children, I will not go out free: ⁶His master shall bring him to the gods, and he shall be set to the door and the posts, and he shall bore his ear through with an awl: and he shall be his servant for ever. ⁷If any man sell his daughter to be a servant, she shall not go out as bondwomen are wont to go out. ⁸If she displease the eyes of her master to whom she was delivered, he shall let her go: but he shall have no power to sell her to a foreign nation, if he despise her. ⁹But if he have betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. ¹⁰And if he take another wife for him, he shall provide her a marriage, and raiment, neither shall he refuse the price of her chastity. ¹¹If he do not these three things, she shall go out free without money. ¹²He that striketh a man with a will to kill him, shall be put to death. ¹³But he that did not lie in wait for him, but God delivered him into his hands: I will appoint thee a place to which he must flee. ¹⁴If a man kill his neighbour on set purpose and by lying in wait for him: thou shalt take him away from my altar, that he may die. ¹⁵He that striketh his father or mother, shall be put to death. ¹⁶He that shall steal a man, and sell him, being convicted of guilt, shall be put to death. ¹⁷He that curseth his father, or mother, shall die the death. ¹⁸If men quarrel, and the one strike his neighbour with a stone or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed: ¹⁹If he rise again and walk abroad upon his staff, he that struck him shall be quit, yet so that he make restitution for his work, and for his expenses upon the physicians. ²⁰He that striketh his bondman or bondwoman with a rod, and they die under his hands, shall be guilty of the crime. ²¹But if the party remain alive a day or two, he shall not be subject to the punishment, because it is his money. ²²If men quarrel, and one strike a woman with child, and she miscarry indeed, but live herself: he shall be answerable for so much damage as the woman's husband shall require, and as arbiters shall award. ²³But if her death ensue thereupon, he shall render life for life. ²⁴Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. ²⁶If any man strike the eye of his manservant or maidservant, and leave them but one eye, he shall let them go free for the eye which he put out. ²⁷Also if he strike out a tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he shall in like manner make them free. ²⁸If an ox gore a man or a woman, and they die, he shall be stoned: and his flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be quit. ²⁹But if the ox was wont to push with his horn yesterday and the day before, and they warned his master, and he did not shut him up, and he shall kill a man or a woman: then the ox shall be stoned, an his owner also shall be put to death. ³⁰And if they set a price upon him, he shall give for his life whatsoever is laid upon him. ³¹If he have gored a son, or a daughter, he shall fall under the like sentence. ³²If he assault a bondman or a bond woman, he shall give thirty sicles of silver to their master, and the ox shall be stoned. ³³If a man open a pit, and dig one, and cover it not, and an ox or an ass fall into it, ³⁴The owner of the pit shall pay the price of the beasts: and that which is dead shall be his own. ³⁵If one man's ox gore another man's ox, and he die: they shall sell the live ox, and shall divide the price, and the carcass of that which died they shall part between them: ³⁶But if he knew that his ox was wont to push yesterday and the day before, and his master did not keep him in: he shall pay ox for ox, and shall take the whole carcass.

Chapter 22

¹If any man steal an ox or a sheep, and kill or sell it: he shall restore five oxen for one ox, and four sheep for one sheep. ²If a thief be found breaking open a house or undermining it, and be wounded so as to die: he that slew him shall not be guilty of blood. ³But if he did this when the sun is risen, he hath committed murder, and he shall die. If he have not wherewith to make restitution for the theft, he shall be sold. ⁴If that which he stole be found with him, alive, either ox, or ass, or sheep: he shall restore double. ⁵If any man hurt a field or a vineyard, and put in his beast to feed upon that which is other men's: he shall restore the best of whatsoever he hath in his own field, or in his vineyard, according to the estimation of the damage. ⁶If a fire breaking out light upon thorns, and catch stacks of corn, or corn standing in the fields, he that kindled the fire shall make good the loss. ⁷If a man deliver money, or any vessel unto his friend to keep, and they be stolen away from him that received them: if the thief be found he shall restore double: ⁸If the thief be not known, the master of the house shall be brought to the gods, and shall swear that he did not lay his hand upon his neighbour's goods, ⁹To do any fraud, either in ox, or in ass, or sheep, or raiment, or any thing that may bring damage: the cause of both parties shall come to the gods: and if they give judgment, he shall restore double to his neighbour. ¹⁰If a man deliver ass, ox, sheep, or any beast, to his neighbour's custody, and it die, or be hurt, or be taken by enemies, and no man saw it: ¹¹There shall be an oath between them, that he did not put forth his hand to his neighbour's goods: and the owner shall accept of the oath; and he shall not be compelled to make restitution. ¹²But if it were taken away by stealth, he shall make the loss good to the owner. ¹³If it were eaten by a beast, let him bring to him that which was slain, and he shall not make restitution. ¹⁴If a man borrow of his neighbour any of these things, and it be hurt or die, the owner not being present, he shall be obliged to make restitution. ¹⁵But if the owner be present, he shall not make restitution, especially if it were hired and came for the hire of his work. ¹⁶If a man seduce a virgin not yet espoused, and lie with her: he shall endow her, and have her to wife. ¹⁷If the maid's father will not give her to him, he shall give money according to the dowry, which virgins are wont to receive. ¹⁸Wizards thou shalt not suffer to live. ¹⁹Whosoever copulateth with a beast shall be put to death. ²⁰He that sacrificeth to gods, shall be put to death, save only to the Lord. ²¹Thou shalt not molest a stranger, nor afflict him: for yourselves also were strangers in the land of Egypt. ²²You shall not hurt a widow or an orphan. ²³If you hurt them they will cry out to me, and I will hear their cry: ²⁴And my rage shall be enkindled, and I will strike you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. ²⁵If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor, that dwelleth with thee, thou shalt not be hard upon them as an extortioner, nor oppress them with usuries. ²⁶If thou take of thy neighbour a garment in pledge, thou shalt give it him again before sunset. ²⁷For that same is the only thing wherewith he is covered, the clothing of his body, neither hath he any other to sleep in: if he cry to me, I will hear him, because I am compassionate. ²⁸Thou shalt not speak ill of the gods, and the prince of thy people thou shalt not curse. ²⁹Thou shalt not delay to pay thy tithes and thy firstfruits: thou shalt give the firstborn of thy sons to me. ³⁰Thou shalt do the same with the firstborn of thy oxen also and sheep: seven days let it be with its dam, the eighth day thou shalt give it to me. ³¹You shall be holy men to me: the flesh that beasts have tasted of before, you shall not eat, but shall cast it to the dogs.

Chapter 23

¹Thou shalt not receive the voice of a lie: neither shalt thou join thy hand to bear false witness for a wicked person. ²Thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil: neither shalt thou yield in judgment, to the opinion of the most part, to stray from the truth. ³Neither shalt thou favour a poor man in judgment. ⁴If thou meet thy enemy's ox or ass going astray, bring it back to him. ⁵If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lie underneath his burden, thou shalt not pass by, but shalt lift him up with him. ⁶Thou shalt not go aside in the poor man's judgment. ⁷Thou shalt fly lying. The innocent and just person thou shalt not put to death: because I abhor the wicked. ⁸Neither shalt thou take bribes, which even blind the wise, and pervert the words of the just. ⁹Thou shalt not molest a stranger, for you know the hearts of strangers: for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt. ¹⁰Six years thou shalt sow thy ground, and shalt gather the corn thereof. ¹¹But the seventh year thou shalt let it alone, and suffer it to rest, that the poor of thy people may eat, and whatsoever shall be left, let the beasts of the field eat it: so shalt thou do with thy vineyard and thy oliveyard. ¹²Six days thou shalt work: the seventh day thou shalt cease, that thy ox and thy ass may rest: and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed. ¹³Keep all things that I have said to you. And by the name of strange gods you shall not swear, neither shall it be heard out of your mouth. ¹⁴Three times every year you shall celebrate feasts to me. ¹⁵Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month of new corn, when thou didst come forth out of Egypt: thou shalt not appear empty before me. ¹⁶And the feast of the harvest of the firstfruits of thy work, whatsoever thou hast sown in the field. The feast also in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in all thy corn out of the field. ¹⁷Thrice a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God. ¹⁸Thou shalt not sacrifice the blood of my victim upon leaven, neither shall the fat of my solemnity remain until the morning. ¹⁹Thou shalt carry the firstfruits of the corn of thy ground to the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam. ²⁰Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared. ²¹Take notice of him, and hear his voice, and do not think him one to be contemned: for he will not forgive when thou hast sinned, and my name is in him. ²²But if thou wilt hear his voice, and do all that I speak, I will be an enemy to thy enemies, and will afflict them that afflict thee. ²³And my angel shall go before thee, and shall bring thee in unto the Amorrhite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, whom I will destroy. ²⁴Thou shalt not adore their gods, nor serve them. Thou shalt not do their works, but shalt destroy them, and break their statues. ²⁵And you shall serve the Lord your God, that I may bless your bread and your waters, and may take away sickness from the midst of thee. ²⁶There shall not be one fruitless nor barren in thy land: I will fill the number of thy days. ²⁷I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come: and will turn the backs of all thy enemies before thee. ²⁸Sending out hornets before, that shall drive away the Hevite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, before thou come in. ²⁹I will not cast them out from thy face in one year: lest the land be brought into a wilderness, and the beasts multiply against thee. ³⁰By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, till thou be increased, and dost possess the land. ³¹And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea to the sea of the Palestines, and from the desert to the river: I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and will drive them out from before you. ³²Thou shalt not enter into league with them, nor with their gods. ³³Let them not dwell in thy land, lest perhaps thy make thee sin against me, if thou serve their god: which undoubtedly will be a scandal to thee.

Chapter 24

¹And he said to Moses: Come up to the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel, and you shall adore afar off. ²And Moses alone shall come up to the Lord, but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people come up with him. ³So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice: We will do all the words of the Lord, which he hath spoken. ⁴And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord: and rising in the morning he built an altar at the foot of the mount, and twelve titles according to the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵And he sent young men of the children of Israel, and they offered holocausts, and sacrificed pacific victims of calves to the Lord. ⁶Then Moses took half of the blood, and put it into bowls: and the rest he poured upon the altar. ⁷And taking the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people: and they said: All things that the Lord hath spoken we will do, we will be obedient. ⁸And he took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said: This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words. ⁹Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel went up: ¹⁰And they saw the God of Israel: and under his feet as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as the heaven, when clear. ¹¹Neither did he lay his hand upon those of the children of Israel, that retired afar off, and they saw God, and they did eat and drink. ¹²And the Lord said to Moses: Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and the law, and the commandments which I have written: that thou mayst teach them. ¹³Moses rose up, and his minister Josue: and Moses going up into the mount of God, ¹⁴Said to the ancients: Wait ye here till we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you: if any question shall arise, you shall refer it to them. ¹⁵And when Moses was gone up, a cloud covered the mount. ¹⁶And the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Sinai, covering it with a cloud six days: and the seventh day he called him out of the midst of the cloud. ¹⁷And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire upon the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel. ¹⁸And Moses, entering into the midst of the cloud, went up into the mountain: and he was there forty days, and forty nights.

Chapter 25

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring firstfruits to me: of every man that offereth of his own accord, you shall take them. ³And these are the things you must take: gold, and silver, and brass, ⁴Violet and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine linen, and goats' hair, ⁵And rams' skins dyed red, and violet skins, and setim wood: ⁶Oil to make lights: spices for ointment, and for sweetsmelling incense: ⁷Onyx stones, and precious stones to adorn the ephod and the rational. ⁸And they shall make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell in the midst of them: ⁹According to all the likeness of the tabernacle which I will shew thee, and of all the vessels for the service thereof: and thus you shall make it: ¹⁰Frame an ark of setim wood, the length whereof shall be of two cubits and a half: the breadth, a cubit and a half: the height, likewise, a cubit and a half. ¹¹And thou shalt overlay it with the purest gold within and without: and over it thou shalt make a golden crown round about: ¹²And four golden rings, which thou shall put at the four corners of the ark: let two rings be on the one side, and two on the other. ¹³Thou shalt make bars also of setim wood, and shalt overlay them with gold. ¹⁴And thou shalt put them in through the rings that are in the sides of the ark, that it may be carried on them. ¹⁵And they shall be always in the rings, neither shall they at any time be drawn out of them. ¹⁶And thou shalt put in the ark the testimony which I will give thee. ¹⁷Thou shalt make also a propitiatory of the purest gold: the length thereof shall be two cubits and a half, and the breadth a cubit and a half. ¹⁸Thou shalt make also two cherubims of beaten gold, on the two sides of the oracle. ¹⁹Let one cherub be on the one side, and the other on the other. ²⁰Let them cover both sides of the propitiatory, spreading their wings, and covering the oracle, and let them look one towards the other, their faces being turned towards the propitiatory wherewith the ark is to be covered. ²¹In which thou shalt put the testimony that I will give thee. ²²Thence will I give orders, and will speak to thee over the propitiatory, and from the midst of the two cherubims, which shall be upon the ark of the testimony, all things which I will command the children of Israel by thee. ²³Thou shalt make a table also of setim wood, of two cubits in length, and a cubit in breadth, and a cubit and half in height. ²⁴And thou shalt overlay it with the purest gold: and thou shalt make to it a golden ledge round about. ²⁵And to the ledge itself a polished crown, four inches high: and over the same another little golden crown. ²⁶Thou shalt prepare also four golden rings, and shalt put them in the four corners of the same table over each foot. ²⁷Under the crown shall the golden rings be, that the bars may be put through them, and the table may be carried. ²⁸The bars also themselves thou shalt make of setim wood, and shalt overlay them with gold to bear up the table. ²⁹Thou shalt prepare also dishes, and bowls, censers, and cups, wherein the libations are to be offered of the purest gold. ³⁰And thou shalt set upon the table loaves of proposition in my sight always. ³¹Thou shalt make also a candlestick of beaten work of the finest gold, the shaft thereof, and the branches, the cups, and the bowls, and the lilies going forth from it. ³²Six branches shall come out of the sides, three out of the one side, and three out of the other. ³³Three cups as it were nuts to every branch, and a bowl withal, and a lily; and three cups, likewise of the fashion of nuts in the other branch, and a bowl withal, and a lily. Such shall be the work of the six branches, that are to come out from the shaft: ³⁴And in the candlestick itself shall be four cups in the manner of a nut, and at every one, bowls and lilies. ³⁵Bowls under two branches in three places, which together make six coming forth out of one shaft. ³⁶And both the bowls and the branches shall be of the same beaten work of the purest gold. ³⁷Thou shalt make also seven lamps, and shalt set them upon the candlestick, to give light over against. ³⁸The snuffers also and where the snuffings shall be put out, shall be made of the purest gold. ³⁹The whole weight of the candlestick with all the furniture thereof shall be a talent of the purest gold. ⁴⁰Look and make it according to the pattern, that was shewn thee in the mount.

Chapter 26

¹And thou shalt make the tabernacle in this manner: Thou shalt make ten curtains of fine twisted linen, and violet and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, diversified with embroidery. ²The length of one curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, the breadth shall be four cubits. All the curtains shall be of one measure. ³Five curtains shall be joined one to another, and the other five shall be coupled together in like manner. ⁴Thou shalt make loops of violet in the sides and tops of the curtains, that they may be joined one to another. ⁵Every curtain shall have fifty loops on both sides, so set on, that one loop may be against another loop, and one may be fitted to the other. ⁶Thou shalt make also fifty rings of gold wherewith the veils of the curtains are to be joined, that it may be made one tabernacle. ⁷Thou shalt make also eleven curtains of goats' hair, to cover the top of the tabernacle. ⁸The length of one hair curtain shall be thirty cubits: and the breadth four: the measure of all the curtains shall be equal. ⁹Five of which thou shalt couple by themselves, and the six others thou shalt couple one to another, so as to double the sixth curtain in the front of the roof. ¹⁰Thou shalt make also fifty loops in the edge of one curtain, that it may be joined with the other: and fifty loops in the edge of the other curtain, that it may be coupled with its fellow. ¹¹Thou shalt make also fifty buckles of brass, wherewith the loops may be joined, that of all there may be made one covering. ¹²And that which shall remain of the curtains, that are prepared for the roof, to wit, one curtain that is over and above, with the half thereof thou shalt cover the back parts of the tabernacle. ¹³And there shall hang down a cubit on the one side, and another on the other side, which is over and above in the length of the curtains, fencing both sides of the tabernacle. ¹⁴Thou shalt make also another cover to the roof, of rams' skins dyed red; and over that again another cover of violet coloured skins. ¹⁵Thou shalt make also the boards of the tabernacle standing upright of setim wood. ¹⁶Let every one of them be ten cubits in length, and in breadth on cubit and a half. ¹⁷In the sides of the boards shall be made two mortises, whereby one board may be joined to another board: and after this manner shall all the boards be prepared. ¹⁸Of which twenty shall be in the south side southward. ¹⁹For which thou shalt cast forty sockets of silver, that under every board may be put two sockets at the two corners. ²⁰In the second side also the tabernacle that looketh to the north, there shall be twenty boards, ²¹Having forty sockets of silver, two sockets shall be put under each board. ²²But on the west side of the tabernacle thou shalt make six boards. ²³And again other two which shall be erected in the corners at the back of the tabernacle. ²⁴And they shall be joined together from beneath unto the top, and one joint shall hold them all. The like joining shall be observed for the two boards also that are to be put in the corners. ²⁵And they shall be in all eight boards, and their silver sockets sixteen, reckoning two sockets for each board. ²⁶Thou shalt make also five bars of setim wood, to hold together the boards on one side of the tabernacle. ²⁷And five others on the other side, and as many at the west side: ²⁸And they shall be put along by the midst of the boards from one end to the other. ²⁹The boards also themselves thou shalt overlay with gold, and shall cast rings of gold to be set upon them, for places for the bars to hold together boardwork: which bars thou shalt cover with plates of gold. ³⁰And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the pattern that was shewn thee in the mount. ³¹Thou shalt make also a veil of violet and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen, wrought with embroidered work, and goodly variety: ³²And thou shalt hang it up before four pillars of setim wood, which themselves also shall be overlaid with gold, and shall have heads of gold, but sockets of silver. ³³And the veils shall be hanged on with rings, and within it thou shalt put the ark of the testimony, and the sanctuary, and the holy of holies shall be divided with it. ³⁴And thou shalt set the propitiatory upon the ark of the testimony in the holy of holies. ³⁵And the table without the veil: and over against the table the candlestick in the south side of the tabernacle; for the table shall stand in the north side. ³⁶Thou shalt make also a hanging in the entrance of the tabernacle of violet and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen with embroidered work. ³⁷And thou shalt overlay with gold five pillars of setim wood, before which the hanging shall be drawn: their heads shall be of gold, and the sockets of brass.

Chapter 27

¹Thou shalt make also an altar of setim wood, which shall be five cubits long and as many broad, that is, foursquare, and three cubits high. ²And there shall be horns at the four corners of the same: and thou shalt cover it with brass. ³And thou shalt make for the uses thereof pans to receive the ashes, and tongs and fleshhooks, and firepans: all its vessels thou shalt make of brass. ⁴And a grate of brass in manner of a net: at the four corners of which shall be four rings of brass, ⁵Which thou shalt put under the hearth of the altar: and the grate shall be even to the midst of the altar. ⁶Thou shalt make also two bars for the altar of setim wood, which thou shalt cover with plates of brass: ⁷And thou shalt draw them through rings, and they shall be on both sides of the altar to carry it. ⁸Thou shalt not make it solid, but empty and hollow in the inside, as it was shewn thee in the mount. ⁹Thou shalt make also the court of the tabernacle, in the south side whereof southward there shall be hangings of fine twisted linen of a hundred cubits long for one side. ¹⁰And twenty pillars with as many sockets of brass, the heads of which with their engraving of silver. ¹¹In like manner also on the north side there shall be hangings of a hundred cubits long, twenty pillars, and as many sockets of brass, and their heads with their engraving of silver. ¹²But in the breadth of the court, that looketh to the west, there shall be hangings of fifty cubits, and ten pillars, and as many sockets. ¹³In that breadth also of the court, which looketh to the east, there shall be fifty cubits. ¹⁴In which there shall be for one side hangings of fifteen cubits, and three pillars and as many sockets. ¹⁵And in the other side there shall be hangings of fifteen cubits, with three pillars and as many sockets. ¹⁶And in the entrance of the court there shall be made a hanging of twenty cubits of violet and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen, with embroidered work: it shall have four pillars with as many sockets. ¹⁷All the pillars of the court round about shall be garnished with plates of silver, silver heads and sockets of brass. ¹⁸In length the court shall take up a hundred cubits, in breadth fifty, the height shall be of five cubits, and it shall be made of fine twisted linen, and shall have sockets of brass. ¹⁹All the vessels of the tabernacle for all uses and ceremonies, and the pins both of it, and of the court, thou shalt make of brass. ²⁰Command the children of Israel that they bring thee the purest oil of the olives, and beaten with a pestle: that a lamp may burn always, ²¹In the tabernacle of the testimony without the veil that hangs before the testimony. And Aaron and his sons shall order it, that it may give light before the Lord until the morning. It shall be a perpetual observance throughout their successions among the children of Israel.

Chapter 28

¹Take unto thee also Aaron thy brother with his sons, from among the children of Israel, that they may minister to me in the priest's office: Aaron, Nadab, and Abiu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ²And thou shalt make a holy vesture for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. ³And thou shalt speak to all the wise of heart, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's vestments, in which he being consecrated may minister to me. ⁴And these shall be the vestments that they shall make: A rational and an ephod, a tunick and a strait linen garment, a mitre and a girdle. They shall make the holy vestments for thy brother Aaron and his sons, that they may do the office of priesthood unto me. ⁵And they shall take gold, and violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine linen. ⁶And they shall make the ephod of gold, and violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen, embroidered with divers colours. ⁷It shall have the two edges joined in the top on both sides, that they may be closed together. ⁸The very workmanship also and all the variety of the work shall be of gold, and violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen. ⁹And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and shalt grave on them the names of the children of Israel: ¹⁰Six names on one stone, and the other six on the other, according to the order of their birth. ¹¹With the work of an engraver and the graving of a jeweller, thou shalt engrave them with the names of the children of Israel, set in gold and compassed about: ¹²And thou shalt put them in both sides of the ephod, a memorial for the children of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon both shoulders, for a remembrance. ¹³Thou shalt make also hooks of gold. ¹⁴And two little chains of the purest gold linked one to another, which thou shalt put into the hooks. ¹⁵And thou shalt make the rational of judgment with embroidered work of divers colours, according to the workmanship of the ephod, of gold, violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen. ¹⁶It shall be foursquare and doubled: it shall be the measure of a span both in length and in breadth. ¹⁷And thou shalt set in it four rows of stones: in the first row shall be a sardius stone, and a topaz, and an emerald: ¹⁸In the second a carbuncle, a sapphire and a jasper. ¹⁹In the third a ligurius, an agate, and an amethyst: ²⁰In the fourth a chrysolite, an onyx, and a beryl. They shall be set in gold by their rows. ²¹And they shall have the names of the children of Israel: with twelve names shall they be engraved, each stone with the name of one according to the twelve tribes. ²²And thou shalt make on the rational chains linked one to another of the purest gold: ²³And two rings of gold, which thou shalt put in the two ends at the top of the rational. ²⁴And the golden chains thou shalt join to the rings, that are in the ends thereof: ²⁵And the ends of the chains themselves thou shalt join together with two hooks on both sides of the ephod, which is towards the rational. ²⁶Thou shalt make also two rings of gold which thou shalt put in the top parts of the rational, in the borders that are over against the ephod, and look towards the back parts thereof. ²⁷Moreover also other two rings of gold, which are to be set on each side of the ephod beneath, that looketh towards the nether joining, that the rational may be fitted with the ephod, ²⁸And may be fastened by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a violet fillet, that the joining artificially wrought may continue, and the rational and the ephod may not be loosed one from the other. ²⁹And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the rational of judgement upon his breast, when he shall enter into the sanctuary, a memorial before the Lord for ever. ³⁰And thou shalt put in the rational of judgment doctrine and truth, which shall be on Aaron's breast, when he shall go in before the Lord: and he shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel on his breast, in the sight of the Lord always. ³¹And thou shalt make the tunick of the ephod all of violet, ³²In the midst whereof above shall be a hole for the head, and a border round about it woven, as is wont to be made in the outmost parts of garments, that it may not easily be broken. ³³And beneath at the feet of the same tunick round about, thou shalt make as it were pomegranates, of violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, with little bells set between: ³⁴So that there shall be a golden bell and a pomegranate, and again another golden bell and a pomegranate. ³⁵And Aaron shall be vested with it in the office of his ministry, that the sound may be heard, when he goeth in and cometh out of the sanctuary, in the sight of the Lord, and that he may not die. ³⁶Thou shalt make also a plate of the purest gold: wherein thou shalt grave with engraver's work, Holy to the Lord. ³⁷And thou shalt tie it with a violet fillet, and it shall be upon the mitre, ³⁸Hanging over the forehead of the high priest. And Aaron shall bear the iniquities of those things, which the children of Israel have offered and sanctified, in all their gifts and offerings. And the plate shall be always on his forehead, that the Lord may be well pleased with them. ³⁹And thou shalt gird the tunick with fine linen, and thou shalt make a fine linen mitre, and a girdle of embroidered work. ⁴⁰Moreover for the sons of Aaron thou shalt prepare linen tunicks, and girdles and mitres for glory and beauty: ⁴¹And with all these things thou shalt vest Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him. And thou shalt consecrate the hands of them all, and shalt sanctify them, that they may do the office of priesthood unto me. ⁴²Thou shalt make also linen breeches, to cover the flesh of their nakedness from the reins to the thighs: ⁴³And Aaron and his sons shall use them when they shall go in to the tabernacle of the testimony, or when they approach the altar to minister in the sanctuary, lest being guilty of iniquity they die. It shall be a law for ever to Aaron, and to his seed after him.

Chapter 29

¹And thou shalt also do this, that they may be consecrated to me in priesthood. Take a calf from the herd, and two rams without blemish, ²And unleavened bread, and a cake without leaven, tempered with oil, wafers also unleavened anointed with oil: thou shalt make them all of wheaten flour. ³And thou shalt put them in a basket and offer them: and the calf and the two rams. ⁴And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony. And when thou hast washed the father and his sons with water, ⁵Thou shalt clothe Aaron with his vestments, that is, with the linen garment and the tunick, and the ephod and the rational, which thou shalt gird with the girdle. ⁶And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and the holy plate upon the mitre, ⁷And thou shalt pour the oil of unction upon his head: and by this rite shall he be consecrated. ⁸Thou shalt bring his sons also and shalt put on them the linen tunicks, and gird them with a girdle: ⁹To wit, Aaron and his children, and thou shalt put mitres upon them: and they shall be priests to me by a perpetual ordinance. After thou shalt have consecrated their hands, ¹⁰Thou shalt present also the calf before the tabernacle of the testimony. And Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon his head, ¹¹And thou shalt kill him in the sight of the Lord, beside the door of the tabernacle of the testimony. ¹²And taking some of the blood of the calf, thou shalt put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and the rest of the blood thou shalt pour at the bottom thereof. ¹³Thou shalt take also all the fat that covereth the entrails, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and shalt offer a burnt offering upon the altar: ¹⁴But the flesh of the calf and the hide and the dung, thou shalt burn abroad, without the camp, because it is for sin. ¹⁵Thou shalt take also one ram upon the head whereof Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands. ¹⁶And when thou hast killed him, thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and pour round about the altar: ¹⁷And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and having washed his entrails and feet, thou shalt put them upon the flesh that is cut in pieces, and upon his head. ¹⁸And thou shalt offer the whole ram for a burnt offering upon the altar: it is an oblation to the Lord, a most sweet savour of the victim of the Lord. ¹⁹Thou shalt take also the other ram, upon whose head Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands. ²⁰And when thou hast sacrificed him, thou shalt take of his blood, and put upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron and of his sons, and upon the thumbs and great toes of their right hand and foot, and thou shalt pour the blood upon the altar round about. ²¹And when thou hast taken of the blood, that is upon the altar, and of the oil of unction, thou shalt sprinkle Aaron and his vesture, his sons and their vestments. And after they and their vestments are consecrated, ²²Thou shalt take the fat of the ram, and the rump, and the fat that covereth the lungs, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder, because it is the ram of consecration. ²³And one roll of bread, a cake tempered with oil, a wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread, which is set in the sight of the Lord. ²⁴And thou shalt put all upon the hands of Aaron and of his sons, and shalt sanctify them elevating before the Lord. ²⁵And thou shalt take all from their hands, and shalt burn them upon the altar for a holocaust, a most sweet savour in the sight of the Lord, because it is his oblation. ²⁶Thou shalt take also the breast of the ram, wherewith Aaron was consecrated, and elevating it thou shalt sanctify it before the Lord, and it shall fall to thy share. ²⁷And thou shalt sanctify both the consecrated breast, and the shoulder that thou didst separate of the ram, ²⁸Wherewith Aaron was consecrated and his sons, and they shall fall to Aarons share and his sons' by a perpetual right from the children of Israel: because they are the choicest and the beginnings of their peace victims which they offer to the Lord. ²⁹And the holy vesture, which Aaron shall use, his sons shall have after him, that they may be anointed, and their hands consecrated to it. ³⁰He of his sons that shall be appointed high priest in his stead, and that shall enter into the tabernacle of the testimony to minister in the sanctuary, shall wear it seven days. ³¹And thou shalt take the ram of the consecration, and shalt boil the flesh thereof in the holy place: ³²And Aaron and his sons shall eat it. The loaves also, that are in the basket, they shall eat in the entry of the tabernacle of the testimony, ³³That it may be an atoning sacrifice, and the hands of the offerers may be sanctified. A stranger shall not eat of them, because they are holy. ³⁴And if there remain of the consecrated flash, or of the bread till the morning, thou shalt burn the remainder with fire: they shall not be eaten, because they are sanctified. ³⁵All that I have commanded thee, thou shalt do unto Aaron and his sons. Seven days shalt thou consecrate their hands: ³⁶And thou shalt offer a calf for sin every day for expiation. And thou shalt cleanse the altar when thou hast offered the victim of expiation, and shalt anoint it to sanctify it. ³⁷Seven days shalt thou expiate the altar and sanctify it, and it shall be most holy. Every one that shall touch it shall be holy. ³⁸This is what thou shalt sacrifice upon the altar: Two lambs of a year old every day continually. ³⁹One lamb in the morning and another in the evening. ⁴⁰With one lamb a tenth part of flour tempered with beaten oil, of the fourth part of a hin, and wine for libation of the same measure. ⁴¹And the other lamb thou shalt offer in the evening, according to the rite of the morning oblation, and according to what we have said, for a savour of sweetness: ⁴²It is a sacrifice to the Lord, by perpetual oblation unto your generations, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony before the Lord, where I will appoint to speak unto thee. ⁴³And there will I command the children of Israel, and the altar shall be sanctified by my glory. ⁴⁴I will sanctify also the tabernacle of the testimony with the altar, and Aaron with his sons, to do the office of priesthood unto me. ⁴⁵And I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel, and will be their God: ⁴⁶And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who have brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might abide among them, I the Lord their God.

Chapter 30

¹Thou shalt make also an altar to burn incense, of setim wood. ²It shall be a cubit in length, and another in breadth, that is, foursquare, and two in height. Horns shall go out of the same. ³And thou shalt overlay it with the purest gold, as well as the grate thereof, as the walls round about and the horns. And thou shalt make to it a crown of gold round about, ⁴And two golden rings under the crown on either side, that the bars may be put into them, and the altar be carried. ⁵And thou shalt make the bars also of setim wood, and shalt overlay them with gold. ⁶And thou shalt set the altar over against the veil, that hangeth before the ark of the testimony before the propitiatory wherewith the testimony is covered, where I will speak to thee. ⁷And Aaron shall burn sweet smelling incense upon it in the morning. When he shall dress the lamps, he shall burn it: ⁸And when he shall place them in the evening, he shall burn an everlasting incense before the Lord throughout your generations. ⁹You shall not offer upon it incense of another composition nor oblation, and victim, neither shall you offer libations. ¹⁰And Aaron shall pray upon the horns thereof once a year, with the blood of that which was offered for sin, and shall make atonement upon it in your generations. It shall be most holy to the Lord. ¹¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹²When thou shalt take the sum of the children of Israel according to their number, every one of them shall give a price for their souls to the Lord, and there shall be no scourge among them, when they shall be reckoned. ¹³And this shall every one give that passeth at the naming, half a sicle according to the standard of the temple. A sicle hath twenty obols. Half a sicle shall be offered to the Lord. ¹⁴He that is counted in the number from twenty years and upwards, shall give the price. ¹⁵The rich man shall not add to half a sicle, and the poor man shall diminish nothing. ¹⁶And the money received which was contributed by the children of Israel, thou shalt deliver unto the uses of the tabernacle of the testimony, that it may be a memorial of them before the Lord, and he may be merciful to their souls. ¹⁷And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁸Thou shalt make also a brazen laver with its foot, to wash in: and thou shalt set it between the tabernacle of the testimony and the altar. And water being put into it, ¹⁹Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and feet in it: ²⁰When they are going into the tabernacle of the testimony, and when they are to come to the altar, to offer on it incense to the Lord, ²¹Lest perhaps they die. It shall be an everlasting law to him, and to his seed by successions. ²²And the Lord spoke to Moses, ²³Saying: Take spices, of principal and chosen myrrh five hundred sicles, and of cinnamon half so much, that is, two hundred and fifty sicles, of calamus in like manner two hundred and fifty. ²⁴And of cassia five hundred sicles by the weight of the sanctuary, of oil of olives the measure hin: ²⁵And thou shalt make the holy oil of unction, an ointment compounded after the art of the perfumer, ²⁶And therewith thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the testimony, and the ark of the testament, ²⁷And the table with the vessels thereof, the candlestick and furniture thereof, the altars of incense, ²⁸And of holocaust, and all the furniture that belongeth to the service of them. ²⁹And thou shalt sanctify all, and they shall be most holy: he that shall touch them shall be sanctified. ³⁰Thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and shalt sanctify them, that they may do the office of priesthood unto me. ³¹And thou shalt say to the children of Israel: This oil of unction shall be holy unto me throughout your generations. ³²The flesh of man shall not be anointed therewith, and you shall make none other of the same composition, because it is sanctified, and shall be holy unto you. ³³What man soever shall compound such, and shall give thereof to a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people. ³⁴And the Lord said to Moses: Take unto thee spices, stacte, and onycha, galbanum of sweet savour, and the clearest frankincense, all shall be of equal weight. ³⁵And thou shalt make incense compounded by the work of the perfumer, well tempered together, and pure, and most worthy of sanctification. ³⁶And when thou has beaten all into very small powder, thou shalt set of it before the tabernacle of the testimony, in the place where I will appear to thee. Most holy shall this incense be to you. ³⁷You shall not make such a composition for your own uses, because it is holy to the Lord. ³⁸What man soever shall make the like, to enjoy the smell thereof, he shall perish out of his people.

Chapter 31

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Behold, I have called by name Beseleel the son of Uri the son of Hur of the tribe of Juda, ³And I have filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom and understanding, and knowledge in all manner of work. ⁴To devise whatsoever may be artificially made of gold, and silver, and brass, ⁵Of marble, and precious stones, and variety of wood. ⁶And I have given him for his companion Ooliab the son of Achisamech of the tribe of Dan. And I have put wisdom in the heart of every skilful man, that they may make all things which I have commanded thee, ⁷The tabernacle of the covenant, and the ark of the testimony, and the propitiatory that is over it, and all the vessels of the tabernacle, ⁸And the table and the vessels thereof, the most pure candlestick with the vessels thereof, and the altars of incense, ⁹And of holocaust, and all their vessels, the laver with its foot, ¹⁰The holy vestments in the ministry for Aaron the priest, and for his sons, that they may execute their office about the sacred things: ¹¹The oil of unction, and the incense of spices in the sanctuary, all things which I have commanded thee, shall they make. ¹²And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹³Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: See that thou keep my sabbath: because it is a sign between me and you in your generations: that you may know that I am the Lord, who sanctify you. ¹⁴Keep you my sabbath: for it is holy unto you: he that shall profane it, shall be put to death: he that shall do my work in it, his soul shall perish out of the midst of his people. ¹⁵Six days shall you do work: in the seventh day is the sabbath, the rest holy to the Lord. Every one that shall do any work on this day, shall die. ¹⁶Let the children of Israel keep the sabbath, and celebrate it in their generations. It is an everlasting covenant ¹⁷Between me and the children of Israel, and a perpetual sign. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and in the seventh he ceased from work. ¹⁸And the Lord, when he had ended these words in mount Sinai, gave to Moses two stone tables of testimony, written with the finger of God.

Chapter 32

¹And the people seeing that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, gathering together against Aaron, said: Arise, make us gods, that may go before us: for as to this Moses, the man that brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has befallen him. ²And Aaron said to them: Take the golden earrings from the ears of your wives, and your sons and daughters, and bring them to me. ³And the people did what he had commanded, bringing the earrings to Aaron. ⁴And when he had received them, he fashioned them by founders' work, and made of them a molten calf. And they said: These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. ⁵And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and made proclamation by a crier's voice, saying: To morrow is the solemnity of the Lord. ⁶And rising in the morning, they offered holocausts, and peace victims, and the people sat down to eat, and drink, and they rose up to play. ⁷And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Go, get thee down: thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, hath sinned. ⁸They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst shew them: and they have made to themselves a molten calf, and have adored it, and sacrificing victims to it, have said: These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. ⁹And again the Lord said to Moses: See that this people is stiffnecked: ¹⁰Let me alone, that my wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation. ¹¹But Moses besought the Lord his God, saying: Why, O Lord, is thy indignation kindled against thy people, whom thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, with great power, and with a mighty hand? ¹²Let not the Egyptians say, I beseech thee: He craftily brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains, and destroy them from the earth: let thy anger cease, and be appeased upon the wickedness of thy people. ¹³Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou sworest by thy own self, saying: I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven: and this whole land that I have spoken of, I will give to you seed, and you shall possess it for ever. ¹⁴And the Lord was appeased from doing the evil which he had spoken against his people. ¹⁵And Moses returned from the mount, carrying the two tables of the testimony in his hand, written on both sides, ¹⁶And made by the work of God: the writing also of God was graven in the tables. ¹⁷And Josue hearing the noise of the people shouting, said to Moses: The noise of battle is heard in the camp. ¹⁸But he answered: It is not the cry of men encouraging to fight, nor the shout of men compelling to flee: but I hear the voice of singers. ¹⁹And when he came nigh to the camp, he saw the calf, and the dances: and being very angry, he threw the tables out of his hand, and broke them at the foot of the mount: ²⁰And laying hold of the calf which they had made, he burnt it, and beat it to powder, which he strowed into water, and gave thereof to the children of Israel to drink. ²¹And he said to Aaron: What has this people done to thee, that thou shouldst bring upon them a most heinous sin? ²²And he answered him: Let not my lord be offended: for thou knowest this people, that they are prone to evil. ²³They said to me: Make us gods, that may go before us: for as to this Moses, who brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is befallen him. ²⁴And I said to them: Which of you hath any gold? and they took and brought it to me: and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out. ²⁵And when Moses saw that the people were naked, (for Aaron had stripped them by occasion of the shame of the filth, and had set them naked among their enemies,) ²⁶Then standing in the gate of the camp, he said: If any man be on the Lord's side let him join with me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him: ²⁷And he said to them: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Put every man his sword upon his thigh: go, and return from gate to gate through the midst of the camp, and let every man kill his brother, and friend, and neighbour. ²⁸And the sons of Levi did according to the words of Moses, and there were slain that day about three and twenty thousand men. ²⁹And Moses said: You have consecrated your hands this day to the Lord, every man in his son and in his brother, that a blessing may be given to you. ³⁰And when the next day was come, Moses spoke to the people: You have sinned a very great sin: I will go up to the Lord, if by any means I may be able to entreat him for your crime. ³¹And returning to the Lord, he said: I beseech thee: this people hath sinned a heinous sin, and they have made to themselves gods of gold: either forgive them this trespass, ³²Or if thou do not, strike me out of the book that thou hast written. ³³And the Lord answered him: He that hath sinned against me, him will I strike out of my book: ³⁴But go thou, and lead this people whither I have told thee: my angel shall go before thee. And I in the day of revenge will visit this sin also of theirs. ³⁵The Lord therefore struck the people for the guilt on occasion of the calf which Aaron had made.

Chapter 33

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: God, get thee up from this place, thou and thy people which thou has brought out of the land of Egypt, into the land concerning which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: To thy seed I will give it. ²And I will send an angel before thee, that I may cast out the Chanaanite, and the Amorrhite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite. ³That thou mayst enter into the land that floweth with milk and honey. For I will not go up with thee, because thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I destroy thee in the way. ⁴And the people hearing these very bad tidings, mourned: and no man put on his ornaments according to custom. ⁵And the Lord said to Moses: Say to the children of Israel: Thou are a stiffnecked people; once I shall come up in the midst of thee, and shall destroy thee. Now presently lay aside thy ornaments, that I may know what to do with thee. ⁶So the children of Israel laid aside their ornaments by mount Horeb. ⁷Moses also taking the tabernacle, pitched it without the camp afar off, and called the name thereof, The tabernacle of the covenant. And all the people that had any question, went forth to the tabernacle of the covenant, without the camp. ⁸And when Moses went forth to the tabernacle, all the people rose up, and every one stood in the door of his pavilion, and they beheld the back of Moses, till he went into the tabernacle. ⁹And when he was gone into the tabernacle of the covenant, the pillar of the cloud came down, and stood at the door, and he spoke with Moses. ¹⁰And all saw that the pillar of the cloud stood at the door of the tabernacle. And they stood, and worshipped at the doors of their tents. ¹¹And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend. And when he returned into the camp, his servant Josue the son of Nun, a young man, departed not from the tabernacle. ¹²And Moses said to the Lord; Thou commandest me to lead forth this people: and thou dost not let me know whom thou wilt send with me, especially whereas thou hast said: I know thee by name, and thou hast found favour in my sight. ¹³If therefore I have found favour in thy sight, show me thy face, that I may know thee, and may find grace before thy eyes: look upon thy people this nation. ¹⁴And the Lord said: My face shall go before thee, and I will give thee rest. ¹⁵And Moses said: If thou thyself dost not go before, bring us not out of this place. ¹⁶For how shall we be able to know, I and thy people, that we have found grace in thy sight, unless thou walk with us, that we may be glorified by all people that dwell upon the earth? ¹⁷And the Lord said to Moses: This word also, which thou hast spoken, will I do: for thou hast found grace before me, and thee I have known by name. ¹⁸And he said: Shew me thy glory. ¹⁹He answered: I will shew thee all good, and I will proclaim in the name of the Lord before thee: and I will have mercy on whom I will, and I will be merciful to whom it shall please me. ²⁰And again he said: Thou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me and live. ²¹And again he said: Behold there is a place with me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock. ²²And when my glory shall pass, I will set thee in a hole of the rock, and protect thee with my right hand, till I pass: ²³And I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face thou canst not see.

Chapter 34

¹And after this he said: Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the former, and I will write upon them the words which were in the tables, which thou brokest. ²Be ready in the morning, that thou mayst forthwith go up into mount Sinai, and thou shalt stand with me upon the top of the mount. ³Let no man go up with thee: and let not any man be seen throughout all the mount: neither let the oxen nor the sheep feed over against it. ⁴Then he cut out two tables of stone, such as had been before: and rising very early he went up into the mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, carrying with him the tables. ⁵And when the Lord was come down in a cloud, Moses stood with him, calling upon the name of the Lord. ⁶And when he passed before him, he said: O the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, patient and of much compassion, and true, ⁷Who keepest mercy unto thousands: who takest away iniquity, and wickedness, and sin, and no man of himself is innocent before thee. Who renderest the iniquity of the fathers to the children, and to the grandchildren, unto the third and fourth generation. ⁸And Moses making haste, bowed down prostrate unto the earth, and adoring, ⁹Said: If I have found grace in thy sight: O Lord, I beseech thee, that thou wilt go with us, (for it is a stiffnecked people,) and take away our iniquities and sin, and possess us. ¹⁰The Lord answered: I will make a covenant in the sight of all. I will do signs such as were never seen upon the earth, nor in any nation: that this people, in the midst of whom thou art, may see the terrible work of the Lord which I will do. ¹¹Observe all things which this day I command thee: I myself will drive out before thy face the Amorrhite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite. ¹²Beware thou never join in friendship with the inhabitants of that land, which may be thy ruin: ¹³But destroy their altars, break their statues, and cut down their groves: ¹⁴Adore not any strange god. The Lord his name is Jealous, he is a jealous God. ¹⁵Make no covenant with the men of those countries lest, when they have committed fornication with their gods, and have adored their idols, some one call thee to eat of the things sacrificed. ¹⁶Neither shalt thou take of their daughters a wife for thy son, lest after they themselves have committed fornication, they make thy sons also to commit fornication with their gods. ¹⁷Thou shalt not make to thyself any molten gods. ¹⁸Thou shalt keep the feast of the unleavened bread. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee in the time of the month of the new corn: for in the month of the springtime thou camest out from Egypt. ¹⁹All of the male kind, that openeth the womb, shall be mine. Of all beasts, both of oxen and of sheep, it shall be mine. ²⁰The firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a sheep: but if thou wilt not give a price for it, it shall be slain. The firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem: neither shalt thou appear before me empty. ²¹Six days shalt thou work, the seventh day thou shalt cease to plough, and to reap. ²²Thou shalt keep the feast of weeks with the firstfruits of the corn of thy wheat harvest, and the feast when the time of the year returneth that all things are laid in. ²³Three times in a year all thy males shall appear in the sight of the Almighty Lord the God of Israel. ²⁴For when I shall have taken away the nations from thy face, and shall have enlarged thy borders, no man shall lie in wait against thy land when thou shalt go up, and appear in the sight of the Lord thy God thrice in a year. ²⁵Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice upon leaven: neither shall there remain in the morning any thing of the victim of the solemnity of the Lord. ²⁶The first of the fruits of thy ground thou shalt offer in the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam. ²⁷And the Lord said to Moses: Write these words by which I have made a covenant both with thee and with Israel. ²⁸And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights: he neither ate bread nor drank water, and he wrote upon the tables the ten words of the covenant. ²⁹And when Moses came down from the mount Sinai, he held the two tables of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord. ³⁰And Aaron and the children of Israel seeing the face of Moses horned, were afraid to come near. ³¹And being called by him, they returned, both Aaron and the rulers of the congregation. And after that he spoke to them. ³²And all the children of Israel came to him: and he gave them in commandment all that he had heard of the Lord in mount Sinai. ³³And having done speaking, he put a veil upon his face. ³⁴But when he went in to the Lord, and spoke with him, he took it away until he came forth, and then he spoke to the children of Israel all things that had been commanded him. ³⁵And they saw that the face of Moses when he came out was horned, but he covered his face again, if at any time he spoke to them.

Chapter 35

¹And all the multitude of the children of Israel being gathered together, he said to them: These are the things which the Lord hath commanded to be done. ²Six days you shall do work: the seventh day shall be holy unto you, the sabbath, and the rest of the Lord: he that shall do any work on it, shall be put to death. ³You shall kindle no fire in any of your habitations on the sabbath day. ⁴And Moses said to all the assembly of the children of Israel: This is the word the Lord hath commanded, saying: ⁵Set aside with you firstfuits to the Lord. Let every one that is willing and hath a ready heart, offer them to the Lord: gold, and silver, and brass, ⁶Violet and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine linen, goats' hair, ⁷And rams' skins dyed red, and violet coloured skins, setim wood, ⁸And oil to maintain lights, and to make ointment, and most sweet incense. ⁹Onyx stones, and precious stones, for the adorning of the ephod and the rational. ¹⁰Whosoever of you is wise, let him come, and make that which the Lord hath commanded: ¹¹To wit, the tabernacle and the roof thereof, and the cover, the rings, and the board work with the oars, the pillars, and the sockets: ¹²The ark and the staves, the propitiatory, and the veil that is drawn before it: ¹³The table with the bars and the vessels, and the loaves of proposition: ¹⁴The candlestick to bear up the lights, the vessels thereof and the lamps, and the oil for the nourishing of fires: ¹⁵The altar of incense, and the bars, and the oil of unction and the incense of spices: the hanging at the door of the tabernacle: ¹⁶The altar of holocaust, and its grate of brass, with the bars and vessels thereof: the laver and its foot: ¹⁷The curtains of the court with the pillars and the sockets, the hanging in the doors of the entry, ¹⁸The pins of the tabernacle and of the court with their little cords: ¹⁹The vestments that are to be used in the ministry of the sanctuary, the vesture of Aaron the high priest, and of his sons, to do the office of priesthood to me. ²⁰And all the multitude of the children of Israel going out from the presence of Moses, ²¹Offered firstfruits to the Lord with a most ready and devout mind, to make the work of the tabernacle of the testimony. Whatsoever was necessary to the service, and to the holy vestments, ²²Both men and women gave bracelets and earrings, rings and tablets: every vessel of gold was set aside to be offered to the Lord. ²³If any man had violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, fine linen and goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, and violet coloured skins, ²⁴Metal of silver and brass, they offered it to the Lord, and setim wood for divers uses. ²⁵The skilful women also gave such things as they had spun, violet, purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, ²⁶And goats' hair, giving all of their own accord. ²⁷But the princes offered onyx stone, and precious stones, for the ephod and the rational, ²⁸And spices and oil for the lights, and for the preparing of ointment, and to make the incense of most sweet savour. ²⁹All both men and women with devout mind offered gifts, that the works might be done which the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses. All the children of Israel dedicated voluntary offerings to the Lord. ³⁰And Moses said to the children of Israel: Behold the Lord hath called by name Beseleel the son of Uri the son of Hur of the tribe of Juda. ³¹And hath filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom and understanding and knowledge and all learning. ³²To devise and to work in gold and silver and brass, ³³And in engraving stones, and in carpenters' work. Whatsoever can be devised artificially, ³⁴He hath given in his heart: Ooliab also the son of Achisamech of the tribe of Dan: ³⁵Both of them hath he instructed with wisdom, to do carpenters' work and tapestry, and embroidery in blue and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine linen, and to weave all things, and to invent all new things.

Chapter 36

¹Beseleel, therefore, and Ooliab, and every wise man, to whom the Lord gave wisdom and understanding, to know how to work artificially, made the things that are necessary for the uses of the sanctuary, and which the Lord commanded. ²And when Moses had called them, and every skilful man, to whom the Lord had given wisdom, and such as of their own accord had offered themselves to the making of the work, ³He delivered all the offerings of the children of Israel unto them. And while they were earnest about the work, the people daily in the morning offered their vows. ⁴Whereupon the workmen being constrained to come, ⁵Said to Moses: The people offereth more than is necessary. ⁶Moses therefore commanded proclamation to be made by the crier's voice: Let neither man nor woman offer any more for the work of the sanctuary. And so they ceased from offering gifts, ⁷Because the things that were offered did suffice, and were too much. ⁸And all the men that were wise of heart, to accomplish the work of the tabernacle, made ten curtains of twisted fine linen, and violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, with varied work, and the art of embroidering: ⁹The length of one curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth four: all the curtains were of the same size. ¹⁰And he joined five curtains, one to another, and the other five he coupled one to another. ¹¹He made also loops of violet in the edge of the curtain on both sides, and in the edge of the other curtain in like manner, ¹²That the loops might meet on against another, and might be joined each with the other. ¹³Whereupon also he cast fifty rings of gold, that might catch the loops of the curtains, and they might be made one tabernacle. ¹⁴He made also eleven curtains of goats' hair, to cover the roof of the tabernacle: ¹⁵One curtain was thirty cubits long and four cubits broad: all the curtains were of one measure. ¹⁶Five of which he joined apart, and the other six apart. ¹⁷And he made fifty loops in the edge of one curtain, and fifty in the edge of another curtain, that they might be joined one to another. ¹⁸And fifty buckles of brass wherewith the roof might be knit together, that of all the curtains there might be made one covering. ¹⁹He made also a cover for the tabernacle of rams' skins dyed red: and another cover over that of violet skins. ²⁰He made also the boards of the tabernacle of setim wood standing. ²¹The length of one board was ten cubits: and the breadth was one cubit and a half. ²²There were two mortises throughout every board, that one might be joined to the other. And in this manner he made for all the boards of the tabernacle. ²³Of which twenty were at the south side southward, ²⁴With forty sockets of silver, two sockets were put under one board on the two sides of the corners, where the mortises of the sides end in the corners. ²⁵At that side also of the tabernacle, that looketh toward the north, he made twenty boards. ²⁶With forty sockets of silver, two sockets for every board. ²⁷But against the west, to wit, at that side of the tabernacle, which looketh to the sea, he made six boards, ²⁸And two others at each corner of the tabernacle behind: ²⁹Which were also joined from beneath unto the top, and went together into one joint. Thus he did on both sides at the corners: ³⁰So there were in all eight boards and they had sixteen sockets of silver, to wit, two sockets under every board. ³¹He made also bars of setim wood, five to hold together the boards of one side of the tabernacle, ³²And five others to join together the boards of the other side: and besides these, five other bars at the west side of the tabernacle towards the sea. ³³He made also another bar, that might come by the midst of the boards from corner to corner. ³⁴And the board works themselves he overlaid with gold, casting for them sockets of silver. And their rings he made of gold, through which the bars might be drawn: and he covered the bars themselves with plates of gold. ³⁵He made also a veil of violet, and purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen, varied and distinguished with embroidery: ³⁶And four pillars of setim wood, which with their heads be overlaid with gold, casting for them sockets of silver. ³⁷He made also a hanging in the entry of the tabernacle of violet, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen, with the work of an embroiderer. ³⁸And five pillars with their heads, which he covered with gold, and their sockets he cast of brass.

Chapter 37

¹And Beseleel made also the ark of setim wood: it was two cubits and a half in length, and a cubit and a half in breadth, and the height was of one cubit and a half: and he overlaid it with the purest gold within and without. ²And he made to it a crown of gold round about, ³Casting four rings of gold at the four corners thereof: two rings in one side, and two in the other. ⁴And he made bars of setim wood, which he overlaid with gold, ⁵And he put them into the rings that were at the sides of the ark to carry it. ⁶He made also the propitiatory, that is, the oracle, of the purest gold, two cubits and a half in length, and a cubit and a half in breadth. ⁷Two cherubims also of beaten gold, which he set on the two sides of the propitiatory: ⁸One cherub in the top of one side, and the other cherub in the top of the other side: two cherubims at the two ends of the propitiatory, ⁹Spreading their wings, and covering the propitiatory, and looking one towards the other, and towards it. ¹⁰He made also the table of setim wood, in length two cubits, and in breadth one cubit, and in height it was a cubit and a half. ¹¹And he overlaid it with the finest gold, and he made to it a golden ledge round about. ¹²And to the ledge itself he made a polished crown of gold, of four fingers' breadth, and upon the same another golden crown. ¹³And he cast four rings of gold, which he put in the four corners at each foot of the table, ¹⁴Over against the crown: and he put the bars into them, that the table might be carried. ¹⁵And the bars also themselves he made of setim wood, and overlaid them with gold, ¹⁶And the vessels for the divers uses of the table, dishes, bowls, and cups, and censers of pure gold, wherein the libations are to be offered. ¹⁷He made also the candlestick of beaten work of the finest gold. From the shaft whereof its branches, its cups, and bowls, and lilies came out: ¹⁸Six on the two sides: three branches on one side, and three on the other. ¹⁹Three cups in manner of a nut on each branch, and bowls withal and lilies; and three cups of the fashion of a nut in another branch, and bowls withal and lilies. The work of the six branches that went out from the shaft of the candlestick was equal. ²⁰And in the shaft itself were four cups after the manner of a nut, and bowls withal at every one, and lilies: ²¹And bowls under two branches in three places, which together make six branches going out from one shaft. ²²So both the bowls, and the branches were of the same, all beaten work of the purest gold. ²³He made also the seven lamps with their snuffers, and the vessels where the snuffings were to be put out, of the purest gold. ²⁴The candlestick with all the vessels thereof weighed a talent of gold. ²⁵He made also the altar of incense of setim wood, being a cubit on every side foursquare, and in height two cubits: from the corners of which went out horns. ²⁶And he overlaid it with the purest gold, with its grate and the sides, and the horns. ²⁷And he made to it a crown of gold round about, and two golden rings under the crown at each side, that the bars might be put into them, and the altar be carried. ²⁸And the bars themselves he made also of setim wood, and overlaid them with plates of gold. ²⁹He compounded also the oil for the ointment of sanctification, and incense of the purest spices, according to the work of a perfumer.

Chapter 38

¹He made also the altar of holocaust of setim wood, five cubits square, and three in height: ²The horns whereof went out from the corners, and he overlaid it with plates of brass. ³And for the uses thereof, he prepared divers vessels of brass, cauldrons, tongs, fleshhooks, pothooks, and firepans. ⁴And he made the grate thereof of brass, in manner of a net, and under it in the midst of the altar a hearth, ⁵Casting four rings at the four ends of the net at the top, to put in bars to carry it. ⁶And he made the bars of setim wood, and overlaid them with plates of brass: ⁷And he drew them through the rings that stood out in the sides of the altar. And the altar itself was not solid, but hollow, of boards, and empty within. ⁸He made also the laver of brass, with the foot thereof, of the mirrors of the women that watch at the door of the tabernacle. ⁹He made also the court, in the south side whereof were hangings of fine twisted linen, of a hundred cubits, ¹⁰Twenty pillars of brass with their sockets, the heads of the pillars, and the whole graving of the work, of silver. ¹¹In like manner at the north side the hangings, the pillars, and the sockets and heads of the pillars were of the same measure, and work and metal. ¹²But on that side that looketh to the west, there were hangings of fifty cubits, ten pillars of brass with their sockets, and the heads of the pillars, and all the graving of the work, of silver. ¹³Moreover towards the east he prepared hangings of fifty cubits: ¹⁴Fifteen cubits of which were on one side with three pillars, and their sockets: ¹⁵And on the other side (for between the two he made the entry of the tabernacle) there were hangings equally of fifteen cubits, and three pillars, and as many sockets. ¹⁶All the hangings of the court were woven with twisted linen. ¹⁷The sockets of the pillars were of brass, and their heads with all their gravings of silver: and he overlaid the pillars of the court also with silver. ¹⁸And he made in the entry thereof an embroidered hanging of violet, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen, that was twenty cubits long, and five cubits high according to the measure of all the hangings of the court. ¹⁹And the pillars in the entry were four with sockets of brass, and their heads and gravings of silver. ²⁰The pins also of the tabernacle and of the court round about he made of brass. ²¹These are the instruments of the tabernacle of the testimony, which were counted according to the commandment of Moses, in the ceremonies of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest: ²²Which Beseleel the son of Uri the son of Hur of the tribe of Juda had made as the Lord commanded by Moses, ²³Having for his companion Ooliab the son of Achisamech of the tribe of Dan: who also was an excellent artificer in wood, and worker in tapestry and embroidery in violet, purple, scarlet, and fine linen. ²⁴All the gold that was spent in the work of the sanctuary, and that was offered in gifts was nine and twenty talents, and seven hundred and thirty sicles according to the standard of the sanctuary. ²⁵And it was offered by them that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upwards, of six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men able to bear arms. ²⁶There were moreover a hundred talents of silver, whereof were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and of the entry where the veil hangeth. ²⁷A hundred sockets were made of a hundred talents, one talent being reckoned for every socket. ²⁸And of the thousand seven hundred and seventy-five he made the heads of the pillars, which also he overlaid with silver. ²⁹And there were offered of brass also seventy-two thousand talents, and four hundred sicles besides. ³⁰Of which were cast the sockets in the entry of the tabernacle of the testimony, and the altar of brass with the grate thereof, and all the vessels that belong to the use thereof. ³¹And the sockets of the court as well round about as in the entry thereof, and the pins of the tabernacle and of the court round about.

Chapter 39

¹And he made, of violet and purple, scarlet and fine linen, the vestments for Aaron to wear when he ministered in the holy places, as the Lord commanded Moses. ²So he made an ephod of gold, violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen. ³With embroidered work: and he cut thin plates of gold, and drew them small into threads, that they might be twisted with the woof of the aforesaid colours, ⁴And two borders coupled one to the other in the top on either side, ⁵And a girdle of the same colours, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁶He prepared also two onyx stones, fast set and closed in gold, and graven by the art of a lapidary, with the names of the children of Israel: ⁷And he set them in the sides of the ephod for a memorial of the children of Israel, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁸He made also a rational with embroidered work, according to the work of the ephod, of gold, violet, purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen, ⁹Foursquare, double, of the measure of a span. ¹⁰And he set four rows of precious stones in it. In the first row was a sardius, a topaz, and emerald. ¹¹In the second, a carbuncle, a sapphire, and a jasper. ¹²In the third, a ligurius, an agate, and an amethyst. ¹³In the fourth, a chrysolite, an onyx, and a beryl, set and enclosed in gold by their rows. ¹⁴And the twelve stones were engraved with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, each one with its several name. ¹⁵They made also in the rational little chains linked one to another of the purest gold, ¹⁶And two hooks, and as many rings of gold. And they set the rings on either side of the rational, ¹⁷On which rings the two golden chains should hang, which they put into the hooks that stood out in the corners of the ephod. ¹⁸These both before and behind so answered one another, that the ephod and the rational were bound together, ¹⁹Being fastened to the girdle and strongly coupled with rings, which a violet fillet joined, lest they should flag loose, and be moved one from the other, as the Lord commanded Moses. ²⁰They made also the tunick of the ephod all of violet, ²¹And a hole for the head in the upper part at the middle, and a woven border round about the hole: ²²And beneath at the feet pomegranates of violet, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen: ²³And little bells of the purest gold, which they put between the pomegranates at the bottom of the tunick round about: ²⁴To wit, a bell of gold, and a pomegranate, wherewith the high priest went adorned, when he discharged his ministry, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁵They made also fine linen tunicks with woven work for Aaron and his sons: ²⁶And mitres with their little crowns of fine linen: ²⁷And linen breeches of fine linen: ²⁸And a girdle of fine twisted linen, violet, purple, and scarlet twice dyed, of embroidery work, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁹They made also the plate of sacred veneration of the purest gold, and they wrote on it with the engraving of a lapidary, The Holy of the Lord: ³⁰And they fastened it to the mitre with a violet fillet, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³¹So all the work of the tabernacle and of the roof of the testimony was finished: and the children of Israel did all things which the Lord had commanded Moses. ³²And they offered the tabernacle and the roof and the whole furniture, the rings, the boards, the bars, the pillars, and their sockets, ³³The cover of rams' skins dyed red, and the other cover of violet skins, ³⁴The veil, the ark, the bars, the propitiatory, ³⁵The table, with the vessels thereof, and the loaves of proposition: ³⁶The candlestick, the lamps, and the furniture of them with the oil: ³⁷The altar of gold, and the ointment, and the incense of spices: ³⁸And the hanging in the entry of the tabernacle: ³⁹The altar of brass, the grate, the bars, and all the vessels thereof: the laver with the foot thereof: the hangings of the court, and the pillars with their sockets: ⁴⁰The hanging in the entry of the court, and the little cords, and the pins thereof. Nothing was wanting of the vessels, that were commanded to be made for the ministry of the tabernacle, and for the roof of the covenant. ⁴¹The vestments also, which the priests, to wit, Aaron and his sons, used in the sanctuary, ⁴²The children of Israel offered as the Lord had commanded. ⁴³And when Moses saw all things finished, he blessed them.

Chapter 40

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²The first month, the first day of the month, thou shalt set up the tabernacle of the testimony, ³And shalt put the ark in it, and shalt let down the veil before it: ⁴And thou shalt bring in the table, and set upon it the things that are commanded according to the rite. The candlestick shall stand with its lamps, ⁵And the altar of gold whereon the incense is burnt, before the ark of the testimony. Thou shalt put the hanging in the entry of the tabernacle, ⁶And before it the altar of holocaust: ⁷The laver between the altar and the tabernacle, and thou shalt fill it with water. ⁸And thou shalt encompass the court with hangings, and the entry thereof. ⁹And thou shalt take the oil of unction and anoint the tabernacle with its vessels, that they may be sanctified: ¹⁰The altar of holocaust and all its vessels: ¹¹The laver with its foot: thou shalt consecrate all with the oil of unction, that they may be most holy. ¹²And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and having washed them with water, ¹³Thou shalt put on them the holy vestments, that they may minister to me, and that the unction of them may prosper to an everlasting priesthood. ¹⁴And Moses did all that the Lord had commanded. ¹⁵So in the first month of the second year, the first day of the month, the tabernacle was set up. ¹⁶And Moses reared it up, and placed the boards and the sockets and the bars, and set up the pillars, ¹⁷And spread the roof over the tabernacle, putting over it a cover, as the Lord had commanded. ¹⁸And he put the testimony in the ark, thrusting bars underneath, and the oracle above. ¹⁹And when he had brought the ark into the tabernacle, he drew the veil before it to fulfil the commandment of the Lord. ²⁰And he set the table in the tabernacle of the testimony at the north side without the veil, ²¹Setting there in order the loaves of proposition, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²²He set the candlestick also in the tabernacle of the testimony over against the table on the south side, ²³Placing the lamps in order, according to the precept of the Lord. ²⁴He set also the altar of gold under the roof of the testimony over against the veil, ²⁵And burnt upon it the incense of spices, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁶And he put also the hanging in the entry of the tabernacle of the testimony, ²⁷And the altar of holocaust of the entry of the testimony, offering the holocaust, and the sacrifices upon it, as the Lord had commanded. ²⁸And he set the laver between the tabernacle of the testimony and the altar, filling it with water. ²⁹And Moses and Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and feet, ³⁰When they went into the tabernacle of the covenant, and went to the altar, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³¹He set up also the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, drawing the hanging in the entry thereof. After all things were perfected, ³²The cloud covered the tabernacle of the testimony, and the glory of the Lord filled it. ³³Neither could Moses go into the tabernacle of the covenant, the cloud covering all things and the majesty of the Lord shining, for the cloud had covered all. ³⁴If at any time the cloud removed from the tabernacle, the children of Israel went forward by their troops: ³⁵If it hung over, they remained in the same place. ³⁶For the cloud of the Lord hung over the tabernacle by day, and a fire by night, in the sight of all the children of Israel throughout all their mansions.

The Book of Leviticus

This Book is called LEVITICUS, because it treats of the Offices, Ministries, Rites and Ceremonies of the Priests and Levites. The Hebrews call it VAICRA, from the word with which it begins.

Chapter 1

¹And the Lord called Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of the testimony, saying: ²Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: The man among you that shall offer to the Lord a sacrifice of the cattle, that is, offering victims of oxen and sheep, ³If his offering be a holocaust, and of the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish, at the door of the testimony, to make the Lord favourable to him: ⁴And he shall put his hand upon the head of the victim, and it shall be acceptable, and help to its expiation. ⁵And he shall immolate the calf before the Lord, and the priests the sons of Aaron shall offer the blood thereof, pouring it round about the altar, which is before the door of the tabernacle. ⁶And when they have flayed the victim, they shall cut the joints into pieces, ⁷And shall put fire on the altar, having before laid in order a pile of wood: ⁸And they shall lay the parts that are cut out in order thereupon, to wit, the head, and all things that cleave to the liver, ⁹The entrails and feet being washed with water: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar for a holocaust, and a sweet savour to the Lord. ¹⁰And if the offering be of the hocks, a holocaust of sheep or of goats, he shall offer a male without blemish: ¹¹And he shall immolate it at the side of the altar that looketh to the north, before the Lord: but the sons of Aaron shall pour the blood thereof upon the altar round about: ¹²And they shall divide the joints, the head, and all that cleave to the liver: and shall lay them upon the wood, under which the fire is to be put: ¹³But the entrails and the feet they shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer it all and burn it all upon the altar for a holocaust, and most sweet savour to the Lord. ¹⁴But if the oblation of a holocaust to the Lord be of birds, of turtles, or of young pigeons, ¹⁵The priest shall offer it at the altar: and twisting back the neck, and breaking the place of the wound, he shall make the blood run down upon the brim of the altar. ¹⁶But the crop of the throat, and the feathers he shall cast beside the altar at the east side, in the place where the ashes are wont to be poured out, ¹⁷And he shall break the pinions thereof, and shall not cut, nor divide it with a knife, and shall burn it upon the altar, putting fire under the wood. It is a holocaust and oblation of most sweet savour to the Lord.

Chapter 2

¹When any one shall offer an oblation of sacrifice to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense, ²And shall bring it to the sons of Aaron the priests: and one of them shall take a handful of the flour and oil, and all the frankincense, and shall put it a memorial upon the altar for a most sweet savour to the Lord. ³And the remnant of the sacrifice shall be Aaron's, and his sons', holy of holies of the offerings of the Lord. ⁴But when thou offerest a sacrifice baked in the oven of flour, to wit, loaves without leaven, tempered with oil, and unleavened wafers, anointed with oil: ⁵If thy oblation be from the fryingpan, of flour tempered with oil, and without leaven, ⁶Thou shalt divide it into little pieces, and shalt pour oil upon it. ⁷And if the sacrifice be from the gridiron, in like manner the flour shall be tempered with oil: ⁸And when thou offerest it to the Lord, thou shalt deliver it to the hands of the priest. ⁹And when he hath offered it, he shall take a memorial out of the sacrifice, and burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour to the Lord. ¹⁰And whatsoever is left, shall be Aaron's, and his sons', holy of holies of the offerings of the Lord. ¹¹Every oblation that is offered to the Lord shall be made without leaven, neither shall any leaven or honey be burnt in the sacrifice to the Lord. ¹²You shall offer only the firstfruits of them and gifts: but they shall not be put upon the altar, for a savour of sweetness, ¹³Whatsoever sacrifice thou offerest, thou shalt season it with salt, neither shalt thou take away the salt of the covenant of thy God from thy sacrifice. In all thy oblations thou shalt offer salt. ¹⁴But if thou offer a gift of the firstfruits of thy corn to the Lord, of the ears yet green, thou shalt dry it at the fire, and break it small like meal, and so shalt thou offer thy firstfruits to the Lord, ¹⁵Pouring oil upon it and putting on frankincense, because it is the oblation of the Lord. ¹⁶Whereof the priest shall burn for a memorial of the gift, part of the corn broken small and of the oil, and all the frankincense.

Chapter 3

¹And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offerings, and he will offer of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer them without blemish before the Lord. ²And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his victim, which shall be slain in the entry of the tabernacle of the testimony, and the sons of Aaron the priests shall pour the blood round about upon the altar. ³And they shall offer of the sacrifice of peace offerings, for an oblation to the Lord, the fat that covereth the entrails, and all the fat that is within. ⁴The two kidneys with the fat wherewith the flanks are covered, and the caul of the liver with the two little kidneys. ⁵And they shall burn them upon the altar, for a holocaust, putting fire under the wood: for an oblation of most sweet savour to the Lord. ⁶But if his oblation and the sacrifice of peace offering be of the flock, whether he offer male or female, they shall be without blemish. ⁷If he offer a lamb before the Lord, ⁸He shall put his hand upon the head of his victim: and it shall be slain in the entry of the tabernacle of the testimony: and the sons of Aaron shall pour the blood thereof round about upon the altar. ⁹And they shall offer of the victim of peace offerings a sacrifice to the Lord: the fat and the whole rump, ¹⁰With the kidneys, and the fat that covereth the belly and all the vitals and both the little kidneys, with the fat that is about the flanks, and the caul of the liver with the little kidneys. ¹¹And the priest shall burn them upon the altar, for the food of the fire, and of the oblation of the Lord. ¹²If his offering be a goat, and he offer it to the Lord, ¹³He shall put his hand upon the head thereof: and shall immolate it in the entry of the tabernacle of the testimony. And the sons of Aaron shall pour the blood thereof round about upon the altar. ¹⁴And they shall take of it for the food of the Lord's fire, the fat that covereth the belly, and that covereth all the vital parts : ¹⁵The two little kidneys with the caul that is upon them which is by the flanks, and the fat of the liver with the little kidneys: ¹⁶And the priest shall burn them upon the altar, for the food of the fire, and of a most sweet savour. All the fat shall be the Lord's. ¹⁷By a perpetual law for your generations, and in all your habitations: neither blood nor fat shall you eat at all.

Chapter 4

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Say to the children of Israel: The soul that sinneth through ignorance, and doth any thing concerning any of the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded not to be done: ³If the priest that is anointed shall sin, making the people to offend, he shall offer to the Lord for his sin a calf without blemish. ⁴And he shall bring it to the door of the testimony before the Lord, and shall put his hand upon the head thereof, and shall sacrifice it to the Lord. ⁵He shall take also of the blood of the calf, and carry it into the tabernacle of the testimony. ⁶And having dipped his finger in the blood, he shall sprinkle with it seven times before the Lord, before the veil of the sanctuary. ⁷And he shall put some of the same blood upon the horns of the altar of the sweet incense most acceptable to the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of the testimony. And he shall pour all the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar of holocaust in the entry of the tabernacle. ⁸And he shall take off the fat of the calf for the sin offering, as well that which covereth the entrails, as all the inwards: ⁹The two little kidneys, and the caul that is upon them, which is by the hanks, and the fat of the liver with the little kidneys, ¹⁰As it is taken off from the calf of the sacrifice of peace offerings, and he shall burn them upon the altar of holocaust. ¹¹But the skin and all the flesh with the head and the feet and the bowels and the dung, ¹²And the rest of the body he shall carry forth without the camp into a clean place where the ashes are wont to be poured out, and he shall burn them upon a pile of wood, they shall be burnt in the place where the ashes are poured out. ¹³And if all the multitude of Israel shall be ignorant, and through ignorance shall do that which is against the commandment of the Lord, ¹⁴And afterwards shall understand their sin, they shall offer for their sin a calf, and shall bring it to the door of the tabernacle. ¹⁵And the ancients of the people shall put their hands upon the head thereof before the Lord. And the calf being immolated in the sight of the Lord, ¹⁶The priest that is anointed shall carry of the blood into the tabernacle of the testimony. ¹⁷And shall dip his finger in it and sprinkle it seven times before the veil. ¹⁸And he shall put of the same blood on the horns of the altar that is before the Lord, in the tabernacle of the testimony: and the rest of the blood he shall pour at the foot of the altar of holocaust, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony. ¹⁹And all the fat thereof he shall take off, and shall burn it upon the altar: ²⁰Doing so with this calf, as he did also with that before: and the priest praying for them, the Lord will be merciful unto them. ²¹But the calf itself he shall carry forth without the camp, and shall burn it as he did the former calf: because it is for the sin of the multitude. ²²If a prince shall sin, and through ignorance do any one of the things that the law of the Lord forbiddeth, ²³And afterwards shall come to know his sin, he shall offer a buck goat without blemish, a sacrifice to the Lord. ²⁴And he shall put his hand upon the head thereof: and when he hath immolated it in the place where the holocaust is wont to be slain before the Lord, because it is for sin, ²⁵The priest shall dip his finger in the blood of the victim for sin, touching therewith the horns of the altar of holocaust, and pouring out the rest at the foot thereof. ²⁶But the fat he shall burn upon it, as is wont to be done with the victims of peace offerings: and the priest shall pray for him, and for his sin, and it shall be forgiven him. ²⁷And if any one of the people of the land shall sin through ignorance, doing any of those things that by the law of the Lord are forbidden, and offending, ²⁸And shall come to know his sin, he shall offer a she goat without blemish. ²⁹And he shall put his hand upon the head of the victim that is for sin, and shall immolate it in the place of the holocaust. ³⁰And the priest shall take of the blood with his finger, and shall touch the horns of the altar of holocaust, and shall pour out the rest at the foot thereof. ³¹But taking off all the fat, as is wont to be taken away of the victims of peace offerings, he shall burn it upon the altar, for a sweet savour to the Lord: and he shall pray for him, and it shall be forgiven him. ³²But if he offer of the flock a victim for his sin, to wit, an ewe without blemish: ³³He shall put his hand upon the head thereof, and shall immolate it in the place where the victims of holocausts are wont to be slain. ³⁴And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and shall touch the horns of the altar of holocaust, and the rest he shall pour out at the foot thereof. ³⁵All the fat also he shall take off, as the fat of the ram that is offered for peace offerings is wont to be taken away: and shall burn it upon the altar, for a burnt sacrifice of the Lord: and he shall pray for him and for his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.

Chapter 5

¹If any one sin, and hear the voice of one swearing, and is a witness either because he himself hath seen, or is privy to it: if he do not utter it, he shall bear his iniquity. ²Whosoever toucheth any unclean thing, either that which hath been killed by a beast, or died of itself, or any other creeping thing: and forgetteth his uncleanness, he is guilty, and hath offended: ³And if he touch any thing of the uncleanness of man, according to any uncleanness wherewith he is wont to be defiled, and having forgotten it, come afterwards to know it, he shall be guilty of an offence. ⁴The person that sweareth, and uttereth with his lips, that he would do either evil or good, and bindeth the same with an oath, and his word, and having forgotten it afterwards understandeth his offence, ⁵Let him do penance for his sin, ⁶And offer of the flocks an ewe lamb, or a she goat, and the priest shall pray for him and for his sin: ⁷But if he be not able to offer a beast, let him offer two turtles, or two young pigeons to the Lord, one for sin, and the other for a holocaust, ⁸And he shall give them to the priest: who shall offer the first for sin, and twist back the head of it to the little pinions, so that it stick to the neck, and be not altogether broken off. ⁹And of its blood he shall sprinkle the side of the altar, and whatsoever is left, he shall let it drop at the bottom thereof, because it is for sin. ¹⁰And the other he shall burn for a holocaust, as is wont to be done: and the priest shall pray for him, and for his sin, and it shall be forgiven him. ¹¹And if his hand be not able to offer two turtles, or two young pigeons, he shall offer for his sin the tenth part of an ephi of flour. He shall not put oil upon it, nor put any frankincense thereon, because it is for sin: ¹²And he shall deliver it to the priest: who shall take a handful thereof, and shall burn it upon the altar for a memorial of him that offered it: ¹³Praying for him and making atonement: but the part that is left, he himself shall have for a gift. ¹⁴And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁵If any one shall sin through mistake, transgressing the ceremonies in those things that are sacrificed to the Lord, he shall offer for his offence a ram without blemish out of the flocks, that may be bought for two sicles, according to the weight of the sanctuary: ¹⁶And he shall make good the damage itself which he hath done, and shall add the fifth part besides, delivering it to the priest, who shall pray for him, offering the ram, and it shall be forgiven him. ¹⁷If any one sin through ignorance, and do one of those things which by the law of the Lord are forbidden, and being guilty of sin, understand his iniquity, ¹⁸He shall offer of the hocks a ram without blemish to the priest, according to the measure and estimation of the sin: and the priest shall pray for him, because he did it ignorantly: and it shall be forgiven him, ¹⁹Because by mistake he trespassed against the Lord.

Chapter 6

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Whosoever shall sin, and despising the Lord, shall deny to his neighbour the thing delivered to his keeping, which was committed to his trust; or shall by force extort any thing, or commit oppression; ³Or shall find a thing lost, and denying it, shall also swear falsely, or shall do any other of the many things, wherein men are wont to sin: ⁴Being convicted of the offence, he shall restore ⁵All that he would have gotten by fraud, in the principal, and the fifth part besides to the owner, whom he wronged. ⁶Moreover for his sin he shall offer a ram without blemish out of the flock, and shall give it to the priest, according to the estimation and measure of the offence: ⁷And he shall pray for him before the Lord, and he shall have forgiveness for every thing in doing of which he hath sinned. ⁸And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁹Command Aaron and his sons: This is the law of a holocaust: It shall be burnt upon the altar, all night until morning: the fire shall be of the same altar. ¹⁰The priest shall be vested with the tunick and the linen breeches, and he shall take up the ashes of that which the devouring fire hath burnt, and putting them beside the altar, ¹¹Shall put off his former vestments, and being clothed with others, shall carry them forth without the camp, and shall cause them to be consumed to dust in a very clean place, ¹²And the fire on the altar shall always burn, and the priest shall feed it, putting wood on it every day in the morning, and laying on the holocaust, shall burn thereupon the fat of the peace offerings. ¹³This is the perpetual fire which shall never go out on the altar. ¹⁴This is the law of the sacrifice and libations, which the children of Aaron shall offer before the Lord, and before the altar. ¹⁵The priest shall take a handful of the flour that is tempered with oil, and all the frankincense that is put upon the flour: and he shall burn it on the altar for a memorial of most sweet odour to the Lord: ¹⁶And the part of the flour that is left, Aaron and his sons shall eat, without leaven: and he shall eat it in the holy place of the court of the tabernacle. ¹⁷And therefore it shall not be leavened, because part thereof is offered for the burnt sacrifice of the Lord. It shall be most holy, as that which is offered for sin and for trespass. ¹⁸The males only of the race of Aaron shall eat it. It shall be an ordinance everlasting in your generations concerning the sacrifices of the Lord: Every one that toucheth them shall be sanctified. ¹⁹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁰This is the oblation of Aaron, and of his sons, which they must offer to the Lord, in the day of their anointing: They shall offer the tenth part of an ephi of flour for a perpetual sacrifice, half of it in the morning, and half of it in the evening: ²¹It shall be tempered with oil, and shall be fried in a fryingpan. ²²And the priest that rightfully succeedeth his father, shall offer it hot, for a most sweet odour to the Lord, and it shall be wholly burnt on the altar. ²³For every sacrifice of the priest shall be consumed with fire, neither shall any man eat thereof. ²⁴And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁵Say to Aaron and his sons: This is the law of the victim for sin: in the place where the holocaust is offered, it shall be immolated before the Lord. It is holy of holies. ²⁶The priest that offereth it, shall eat it in a holy place, in the court of the tabernacle. ²⁷Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof, shall be sanctified. If a garment be sprinkled with the blood thereof, it shall be washed in a holy place. ²⁸And the earthen vessel, wherein it was sodden, shall be broken, but if the vessel be of brass, it shall be scoured, and washed with water. ²⁹Every male of the priestly race shall eat of the flesh thereof, because it is holy of holies. ³⁰For the victim that is slain for sin, the blood of which is carried into the tabernacle of the testimony to make atonement in the sanctuary, shall not be eaten, but shall be burnt with fire.

Chapter 7

¹This also is the law of the sacrifice for a trespass, it is most holy: ²Therefore where the holocaust is immolated, the victim also for a trespass shall be slain: the blood thereof shall be poured round about the altar. ³They shall offer thereof the rump and the fat that covereth the entrails: ⁴The two little kidneys, and the fat which is by the flanks, and the caul of the liver with the little kidneys. ⁵And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the burnt sacrifice of the Lord for a trespass. ⁶Every male of the priestly race, shall eat this flesh in a holy place, because it is most holy. ⁷As the sacrifice for sin is offered, so is also that for a trespass: the same shall be the law of both these sacrifices: it shall belong to the priest that offereth it. ⁸The priest that offereth the victim of holocaust, shall have the skin thereof. ⁹And every sacrifice of flour that is baked in the oven, and whatsoever is dressed on the gridiron, or in the fryingpan, shall be the priest's that offereth it: ¹⁰Whether they be tempered with oil, or dry, all the sons of Aaron shall have one as much as another. ¹¹This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that is offered to the Lord. ¹²If the oblation be for thanksgiving, they shall offer leaves without leaven tempered with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and fine flour fried, and cakes tempered and mingled with oil: ¹³Moreover leaves of leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanks, which is offered for peace offerings: ¹⁴Of which one shall be offered to the Lord for firstfruits, and shall be the priest's that shall pour out the blood of the victim. ¹⁵And the flesh of it shall be eaten the same day, neither shall any of it remain until the morning. ¹⁶If any man by vow, or of his own accord offer a sacrifice, it shall in like manner be eaten the same day: and if any of it remain until the morrow, it is lawful to eat it: ¹⁷But whatsoever shall be found on the third day shall be consumed with fire. ¹⁸If any man eat of the flesh of the victim of peace offerings on the third day, the oblation shall be of no effect, neither shall it profit the offerer: yea rather whatsoever soul shall defile itself with such meat, shall be guilty of transgression. ¹⁹The flesh that hath touched any unclean thing, shall not be eaten, but shall be burnt with fire: he that is clean shall eat of it. ²⁰If any one that is defiled shall eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which is offered to the Lord, he shall be cut off from his people. ²¹And he that hath touched the uncleanness of man, or of beast, or of any thing that can defile, and shall eat of such kind of flesh, shall be cut off from his people. ²²And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²³Say to the children of Israel: The fat of a sheep, and of an ox, and of a goat you shall not eat. ²⁴The fat of a carcass that hath died of itself, and of a beast that was caught by another beast, you shall have for divers uses. ²⁵If any man eat the fat that should be offered for the burnt sacrifice of the Lord, he shall perish out of his people. ²⁶Moreover you shall not eat the blood of any creature whatsoever, whether of birds or beasts. ²⁷Every one that eateth blood, shall perish from among the people. ²⁸And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁹Speak to the children of Israel, saying: He that offereth a victim of peace offerings to the Lord, let him offer therewith a sacrifice also, that is, the libations thereof. ³⁰He shall hold in his hands the fat of the victim, and the breast: and when he hath offered and consecrated both to the Lord, he shall deliver them to the priest, ³¹Who shall burn the fat upon the altar, but the breast shall be Aaron's and his sons'. ³²The right shoulder also of the victims of peace offerings shall fall to the priest for firstfruits. ³³He among the sons of Aaron, that offereth the blood, and the fat, he shall have the right shoulder also for his portion. ³⁴For the breast that is elevated and the shoulder that is separated I have taken of the children of Israel, from off their victims of peace offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest, and to his sons, by a law for ever, from all the people of Israel. ³⁵This is the anointing of Aaron and his sons, in the ceremonies of the Lord, in the day when Moses offered them, that they might do the office of priesthood, ³⁶And the things that the Lord commanded to be given them by the children of Israel, by a perpetual observance in their generations. ³⁷This is the law of holocaust, and of the sacrifice for sin, and for trespass, and for consecration, and the victims of peace offerings: ³⁸Which the Lord appointed to Moses in mount Sinai, when he commanded the children of Israel, that they should offer their oblations to the Lord in the desert of Sinai.

Chapter 8

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Take Aaron with his sons, their vestments, and the oil of unction, a calf for sin, two rams, a basket with unleavened bread, ³And thou shalt gather together all the congregation to the door of the tabernacle. ⁴And Moses did as the Lord had commanded. And all the multitude being gathered together before the door of the tabernacle, ⁵He said: This is the word that the Lord hath commanded to be done. ⁶And immediately he offered Aaron and his sons: and when he had washed them, ⁷He vested the high priest with the strait linen garment, girding him with the girdle, and putting on him the violet tunick, and over it he put the ephod, ⁸And binding it with the girdle, he fitted it to the rational, on which was Doctrine and Truth. ⁹He put also the mitre upon his head: and upon the mitre over the forehead, he put the plate of gold, consecrated with sanctification, as the Lord had commanded him. ¹⁰He took also the oil of unction, with which he anointed the tabernacle, with all the furniture thereof. ¹¹And when he had sanctified and sprinkled the altar seven times, he anointed it, and all the vessels thereof, and the laver with the foot thereof, he sanctified with the oil. ¹²And he poured it upon Aaron's head, and he anointed and consecrated him : ¹³And after he had offered his sons, he vested them with linen tunicks, and girded them with girdles, and put mitres on them as the Lord had commanded. ¹⁴He offered also the calf for sin: and when Aaron and his sons had put their hands upon the head thereof, ¹⁵He immolated it: and took the blood, and dipping his finger in it, he touched the horns of the altar round about. Which being expiated, and sanctified, he poured the rest of the blood at the bottom thereof. ¹⁶But the fat that was upon the entrails, and the caul of the liver, and the two little kidneys, with their fat, he burnt upon the altar: ¹⁷And the calf with the skin, and the flesh and the dung, he burnt without the camp, as the Lord had commanded. ¹⁸He offered also a ram for a holocaust: and when Aaron and his sons had put their hands upon its head, ¹⁹He immolated it, and poured the blood thereof round about upon the altar. ²⁰And cutting the ram into pieces, the head thereof, and the joints, and the fat he burnt in the fire, ²¹Having first washed the entrails, and the feet, and the whole ram together he burnt upon the altar, because it was a holocaust of most sweet odour to the Lord, as he had commanded him. ²²He offered also the second ram, in the consecration of priests: and Aaron, and his sons put their hands upon the head thereof: ²³And when Moses had immolated it, he took of the blood thereof, and touched the tip of Aaron's right ear, and the thumb of his right hand, and in like manner also the great toe of his right foot. ²⁴He offered also the sons of Aaron: and when with the blood of the ram that was immolated, he had touched the tip of the right ear of every one of them, and the thumbs of their right hands, and the great toes of their right feet, the rest he poured on the altar round about: ²⁵But the fat, and the rump, and all the fat that covereth the entrails, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, and with the right shoulder, he separated. ²⁶And taking out of the basket; of unleavened bread, which was before the Lord, a loaf without leaven, and a cake tempered with oil and a wafer, he put them upon the fat, and the right shoulder, ²⁷Delivering all to Aaron, and to his sons: wile having lifted them up before the Lord, ²⁸He took them again from their hands, and burnt them upon the altar of holocaust, because it was the oblation of consecration, for a sweet odour of sacrifice to the Lord. ²⁹And he took of the ram of consecration, the breast for his portion, elevating it before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded him. ³⁰And taking the ointment, and the blood that was upon the altar, he sprinkled Aaron, and his vestments, and his sons, and their vestments with it. ³¹And when he had sanctified them in their vestments, he commanded them, saying: Boil the flesh before the door of the tabernacle, and there eat it. Eat ye also the loaves of consecration, that are laid in the basket, as the Lord commanded me, saying: Aaron and his sons shall eat them: ³²And whatsoever shall be left of the flesh and the leaves, shall be consumed with fire. ³³And you shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle for seven days, until the day wherein the time of your consecration shall be expired. For in seven days the consecration is finished: ³⁴As at this present it hath been done, that the rite of the sacrifice might be accomplished. ³⁵Day and night shall you remain in the tabernacle observing the watches of the Lord, lest you die: for so it hath been commanded me. ³⁶And Aaron and his sons did all things which the Lord spoke by the hand of Moses.

Chapter 9

¹And when the eighth day was come, Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the ancients of Israel, and said to Aaron: ²Take of the herd a calf for sin, and a ram for a holocaust, both without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. ³And to the children of Israel thou shalt say: Take ye a he goat for sin, and a calf, and a lamb, both of a year old, and without blemish for a holocaust, ⁴Also a bullock and a ram for peace offerings: and immolate them before the Lord, offering for the sacrifice of every one of them flour tempered with oil; for to day the Lord will appear to you. ⁵They brought therefore all things that Moses had commanded before the door of the tabernacle: where when all the multitude stood, ⁶Moses said: This is the word, which the Lord hath commanded: do it, and his glory will appear to you. ⁷And he said to Aaron: Approach to the altar, and offer sacrifice for thy sin: offer the holocaust, and pray for thyself and for the people: and when thou hast slain the people's victim, pray for them, as the Lord hath commanded. ⁸And forthwith Aaron, approaching to the altar, immolated the calf for his sin: ⁹And his sons brought him the blood of it: and he dipped his finger therein, and touched the horns of the altar, and poured the rest at the foot thereof. ¹⁰And the fat, and the little kidneys, and the caul of the liver, which are for sin, he burnt upon the altar, as the Lord had commanded Moses: ¹¹But the flesh and skins thereof he burnt with fire without the camp. ¹²He immolated also the victim of holocaust: and his sons brought him the blood thereof, which he poured round about on the altar. ¹³And the victim being cut into pieces, they brought to him the head and all the members, all which he burnt with fire upon the altar, ¹⁴Having first washed the entrails and the feet with water. ¹⁵Then offering for the sin of the people, he slew the he goat: and expiating the altar, ¹⁶He offered the holocaust: ¹⁷Adding in the sacrifice the libations, which are offered withal, and burning them upon the altar, besides the ceremonies of the morning holocaust. ¹⁸He immolated also the bullock and the ram, the peace offerings of the people: and his sons brought him the blood, which he poured upon the altar round about. ¹⁹The fat also of the bullock, and the rump of the ram, and the two little kidneys, with their fat, and the caul of the liver, ²⁰They put upon the breasts. And after the fat was burnt upon the altar, ²¹Aaron separated their breasts, and the right shoulders, elevating them before the Lord, as Moses had commanded. ²²And stretching forth his hands to the people, he blessed them. And so the victims for sin, and the holocausts, and the peace offerings being finished, he came down. ²³And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the testimony, and afterwards came forth and blessed the people. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the multitude: ²⁴And behold a fire, coming forth from the Lord, devoured the holocaust, and the fat that was upon the altar: which when the multitude saw, they praised the Lord, falling on their faces.

Chapter 10

¹And Nadab and Abiu, the sons of Aaron, taking their censers, put fire therein, and incense on it, offering before the Lord strange fire: which was not commanded them. ²And fire coming out from the Lord destroyed them, and they died before the Lord. ³And Moses said to Aaron: This is what the Lord hath spoken: I will be sanctified in them that approach to me, and I will be glorified in the sight of all the people. And when Aaron heard this, he held his peace. ⁴And Moses called Misael and Elisaphan, the sons of Oziel, the uncle of Aaron, and said to them: Go and take away your brethren from before the sanctuary, and carry them without the camp. ⁵And they went forthwith and took them as they lay, vested with linen tunicks, and cast them forth, as had been commanded them. ⁶And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons: Uncover not your heads, and rend not your garments, lest perhaps you die, and indignation come upon all the congregation. Let your brethren, and all the house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled: ⁷But you shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle, otherwise you shall perish, for the oil of the holy unction is on you. And they did all things according to the precept of Moses. ⁸The Lord also said to Aaron: ⁹You shall not drink wine nor any thing that may make drunk, thou nor thy sons, when you enter into the tabernacle of the testimony, lest you die: because it is an everlasting precept through your generations : ¹⁰And that you may have knowledge to discern between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean: ¹¹And may teach the children of Israel all my ordinances which the Lord hath spoken to them by the hand of Moses. ¹²And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons that were left: Take the sacrifice that is remaining of the oblation of the Lord, and eat it without leaven beside the altar, because it is holy of holies. ¹³And you shall eat it in a holy place: which is given to thee and thy sons of the oblations of the Lord, as it hath been commanded me. ¹⁴The breast also that is offered, and the shoulder that is separated, you shall eat in a most clean place, thou and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee. For they are set aside for thee and thy children, of the victims of peace offerings of the children of Israel: ¹⁵Because they have elevated before the Lord the shoulder and the breast, and the fat that is burnt on the altar, and they belong to thee and to thy sons by a perpetual law, as the Lord hath commanded. ¹⁶While these things were a doing, when Moses sought for the buck goat, that had been offered for sin, he found it burnt: and being angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron that were left, he said: ¹⁷Why did you not eat in the holy place the sacrifice for sin, which is most holy, and given to you, that you may bear the iniquity of the people, and may pray for them in the sight of the Lord, ¹⁸Especially whereas none of the blood thereof hath been carried within the holy places, and you ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, as was commanded me? ¹⁹Aaron answered: This day hath been offered the victim for sin, and the holocaust before the Lord: and to me what thou seest has happened: how could I eat it, or please the Lord in the ceremonies, having a sorrowful heart? ²⁰Which when Moses had heard he was satisfied.

Chapter 11

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ²Say to the children of Israel: These are the animals which you are to eat of all the living things of the earth. ³Whatsoever hath the hoof divided, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, you shall eat. ⁴But whatsoever cheweth indeed the cud, and hath a hoof, but divideth it not, as the camel, and others, that you shall not eat, but shall reckon it among the unclean. ⁵The cherogrillus which cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof, is unclean. ⁶The hare also: for that too cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof. ⁷And the swine, which, though it divideth the hoof, cheweth not the cud. ⁸The flesh of these you shall not eat, nor shall you touch their carcasses, because they are unclean to you. ⁹These are the things that breed in the waters, and which it is lawful to eat. All that hath fins, and scales, as well in the sea, as in the rivers, and the pools, you shall eat. ¹⁰But whatsoever hath not fins and scales, of those things that move and live in the waters, shall be an abomination to you, ¹¹And detestable : their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall avoid. ¹²All that have not fins and scales, in the waters, shall be unclean. ¹³Of birds these are they which you must not eat, and which are to be avoided by you: The eagle, and the griffon, and the osprey, ¹⁴And the kite, and the vulture, according to their kind, ¹⁵And all that is of the raven kind, according to their likeness. ¹⁶The ostrich, and the owl, and the larus, and the hawk according to its kind. ¹⁷The screech owl, and the cormorant, and the ibis, ¹⁸And the swan, and the bittern, and the porphyrion, ¹⁹The heron, and the charadrion according to its kind, the houp also, and the bat. ²⁰Of things that fly, whatsoever goeth upon four feet, shall be abominable to you. ²¹But whatsoever walketh upon four feet, but hath the legs behind longer, wherewith it hoppeth upon the earth, ²²That you shall eat, as the bruchus in its kind, the attacus, and ophiomachus, and the locust, every one according to their kind. ²³But of dying things whatsoever hath four feet only, shall be an abomination to you: ²⁴And whosoever shall touch the carcasses of them, shall be defiled, and shall be unclean until the evening: ²⁵And if it be necessary that he carry any of these things when they are dead, he shall wash his clothes, and shall be unclean until the sun set. ²⁶Every beast that hath a hoof, but divideth it not, nor cheweth the cud, shall be unclean: and he that toucheth it, shall be defiled. ²⁷That which walketh upon hands of all animals which go on all four, shall be unclean: he that shall touch their carcasses shall be defiled until evening. ²⁸And he that shall carry such carcasses, shall wash his clothes, and shall be unclean until evening: because all these things are unclean to you. ²⁹These also shall be reckoned among unclean things, of all that move upon the earth, the weasel, and the mouse, and the crocodile, every one according to their kind: ³⁰The shrew, and the chameleon, and the stello, and the lizard, and the mole: ³¹31All these are unclean. He that toucheth their carcasses shall be unclean until the evening. ³²And upon what thing soever any of their carcasses shall fall, it shall be defiled, whether it be a vessel of wood, or a garment, or skins or haircloths; or any thing in which work is done, they shall be dipped in water, and shall be unclean until the evening, and so afterwards shall be clean. ³³But an earthen vessel, into which any of these shall fall, shall be defiled, and therefore is to be broken. ³⁴Any meat which you eat, if water from such a vessel be poured upon it, shall be unclean; and every liquor that is drunk out of any such vessel, shall be unclean. ³⁵And upon whatsoever thing any of these dead beasts shall fall, it shall be unclean: whether it be oven, or pots with feet, they shall be destroyed, and shall be unclean. ³⁶But fountains and cisterns, and all gatherings together of waters shall be clean. He that toucheth their carcasses shall be defiled. ³⁷If it fall upon seed corn, it shall not defile it. ³⁸But if any man pour water upon the seed, and afterwards it be touched by the carcasses, it shall be forthwith defiled. ³⁹If any beast die, of which it is lawful for you to eat, he that toucheth the carcass thereof, shall be unclean until the evening: ⁴⁰And he that eateth or carrieth any thing thereof, shall wash his clothes, and shall be unclean until the evening. ⁴¹41All that creepeth upon the earth shall be abominable, neither shall it be taken for meat. ⁴²Whatsoever goeth upon the breast on four feet, or hath many feet, or traileth on the earth, you shall not eat, because it is abominable. ⁴³Do not defile your souls, nor touch aught thereof, lest you be unclean, ⁴⁴For I am the Lord your God: be holy because I am holy. Defile not your souls by any creeping thing, that moveth upon the earth. ⁴⁵For I am the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. ⁴⁶You shall be holy, because I am holy. This is the law of beasts and fowls, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and creepeth on the earth: ⁴⁷That you may know the differences of the clean, and unclean, and know what you ought to eat, and what to refuse.

Chapter 12

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: If a woman having received seed shall bear a man child, she shall be unclean seven days, according to the days of the separation of her flowers. ³And on the eighth day the infant shall be circumcised: ⁴But she shall remain three and thirty days in the blood of her purification. She shall touch no holy thing, neither shall she enter into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification be fulfilled. ⁵But if she shall bear a maid child, she shall be unclean two weeks, according to the custom of her monthly courses, and she shall remain in the blood of her purification sixty-six days. ⁶And when the days of her purification are expired, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, a lamb of a year old for a holocaust, and a young pigeon or a turtle for sin, and shall deliver them to the priest: ⁷Who shall offer them before the Lord, and shall pray for her, and so she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that beareth a man child or a maid child. ⁸And if her hand find not sufficiency, and she is not able to offer a lamb, she shall take two turtles, or two young pigeons, one for a holocaust, and another for sin: and the priest shall pray for her, and so she shall be cleansed.

Chapter 13

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ²The man in whose skin or flesh shalt arise a different colour or a blister, or as it were something shining, that is, the stroke of the leprosy, shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or any one of his sons. ³And if he see the leprosy in his skin, and the hair turned white, and the place where the leprosy appears lower than the skin and the rest of the flesh: it is the stroke of the leprosy, and upon his judgment he shall be separated. ⁴But if there be a shining whiteness in the skin, and not lower than the other flesh, and the hair be of the former colour, the priest shall shut him up seven days. ⁵And the seventh day he shall look on him: and if the leprosy be grown no farther, and hath not spread itself in the skin, he shall shut him up again other seven days. ⁶And on the seventh day, he shall look on him: if the leprosy be somewhat obscure, and not spread in the skin, he shall declare him clean, because it is but a scab: and the man shall wash his clothes, and shall be clean. ⁷But if the leprosy grow again, after he was seen by the priest and restored to cleanness, he shall be brought to him, ⁸And shall be condemned of uncleanness. ⁹If the stroke of the leprosy be in a man, he shall be brought to the priest, ¹⁰And he shall view him. And when there shall be a white colour in the skin, and it shall have changed the look of the hair, and the living flesh itself shall appear: ¹¹It shall be judged an inveterate leprosy, and grown into the skin. The priest therefore shall declare him unclean, and shall not shut him up, because he is evidently unclean. ¹²But if the leprosy spring out running about in the skin, and cover all the skin from the head to the feet, whatsoever falleth under the sight of the eyes, ¹³The priest shall view him, and shall judge that the leprosy which he has is very clean: because it is all turned into whiteness, and therefore the man shall be clean. ¹⁴But when the live flesh shall appear in him, ¹⁵Then by the judgment of the priest he shall be defiled, and shall be reckoned among the unclean: for live flesh, if it be spotted with leprosy, is unclean. ¹⁶And if again it be turned into whiteness, and cover all the man, ¹⁷The priest shall view him, and shall judge him to be clean. ¹⁸When also there has been an ulcer in the flesh and the skin, and it has been healed, ¹⁹And in the place of the ulcer, there appeareth a white scar, or somewhat red, the man shall be brought to the priest: ²⁰And when he shall see the place of the leprosy lower than the other flesh, and the hair turned white, he shall declare him unclean, for the plague of leprosy is broken out in the ulcer. ²¹But if the hair be of the former colour, and the scar somewhat obscure, and be not lower than the flesh that is near it, he shall shut him up seven days. ²²And if it spread, he shall judge him to have the leprosy: ²³But if it stay in its place, it is but the scar of an ulcer, and the man shall be clean. ²⁴The flesh also and skin that hath been burnt, and after it is healed hath a white or a red scar, ²⁵The priest shall view it, and if he see it turned white, and the place thereof is lower than the other skin: he shall declare him unclean, because the evil of leprosy is broken out in the scar. ²⁶But if the colour of the hair be not changed, nor the blemish lower than the other flesh, and the appearance of the leprosy be somewhat obscure, he shall shut him up seven days, ²⁷And on the seventh day he shall view him: if the leprosy be grown farther in the skin, he shall declare him unclean. ²⁸But if the whiteness stay in its place, and be not very clear, it is the sore of a burning, and therefore he shall be cleansed, because it is only the scar of a burning. ²⁹If the leprosy break out in the head or the beard of a man or woman, the Priest shall see them, ³⁰And if the place be lower than the other flesh, and the hair yellow, and thinner than usual: he shall declare them unclean, because it is the leprosy of the head and the beard; ³¹But if he perceive the place of the spot is equal with the flesh that is near it, and the hair black: he shall shut him up seven days, ³²And on the seventh day he shall look upon it. If the spot be not grown, and the hair keep its colour, and the place of the blemish be even with the other flesh: ³³The man shall be shaven all but the place of the spot, and he shall be shut up other seven days: ³⁴If on the seventh day the evil seem to have stayed in its place, and not lower than the other flesh, he shall cleanse him, and his clothes being washed he shall be clean. ³⁵But if after his cleansing the spot spread again in the skin, ³⁶He shall seek no more whether the hair be turned yellow, because he is evidently unclean. ³⁷But if the spot be stayed, and the hair be black, let him know that the man is healed, and let him confidently pronounce him clean. ³⁸If a whiteness appear in the skin of a man or a woman, ³⁹The priest shall view them. If he find that a darkish whiteness shineth in the skin, let him know that it is not the leprosy, but a white blemish, and that the man is clean. ⁴⁰The man whose hair falleth off from his head, he is bald and clean: ⁴¹And if the hair fall from his forehead, he is bald before and clean. ⁴²But if in the bald head or in the bald forehead there be risen a white or reddish colour, ⁴³And the priest perceive this, he shall condemn him undoubtedly of leprosy which is risen in the bald part. ⁴⁴Now whosoever shall be defiled with the leprosy, and is separated by the judgment of the priest, ⁴⁵Shall have his clothes hanging loose, his head bare, his mouth covered with a cloth, and he shall cry out that he is defiled and unclean. ⁴⁶All the time that he is a leper and unclean, he shall dwell alone without the camp. ⁴⁷A woollen or linen garment that shall have the leprosy ⁴⁸In the warp, and the woof, or a skin. or whatsoever is made of a skin, ⁴⁹If it be infected with a white or red spot, it shall be accounted the leprosy, and shall be shewn to the priest. ⁵⁰And he shall look upon it and shall shut it up seven days: ⁵¹51And on the seventh day when he looketh on it again, if he find that it if grown, it is a Axed leprosy: he shall judge the garment unclean, and every thing wherein it shall be found: ⁵²And therefore it shall be burnt with fire. ⁵³But if he see that it is not grown, ⁵⁴He shall give orders, and they shall wash that part wherein the leprosy is, and he shall shut it up other seven days. ⁵⁵And when he shall see that the former colour is not returned, nor yet the leprosy spread, he shall judge it unclean, and shall burn it with fire, for the leprosy has taken hold of the outside of the garment, or through the whole. ⁵⁶But if the place of the leprosy be somewhat dark, after the garment is washed, he shall tear it off, and divide it from that which is sound. ⁵⁷And if after this there appear in those places that before were without spot, a flying and wandering leprosy: it must be burnt with fire. ⁵⁸If it cease, he shall wash with water the parts that are pure, the second time, and they shall be clean. ⁵⁹This is the law touching the leprosy of any woollen or linen garment, either in the warp or woof, or any thing of skins, how it ought to be cleansed, or pronounced unclean.

Chapter 14

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²This is the rite of a leper, when he is to be cleansed: he shall be brought to the priest: ³Who going out of the camp when he shall And that the leprosy is cleansed, ⁴Shall command him that is to be purified, to offer for himself two living sparrows, which it is lawful to eat, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. ⁵And he shall command one of the sparrows to be immolated in an earthen vessel over living waters: ⁶But the other that is alive he shall dip, with the cedar wood, and the scarlet and the hyssop, in the blood of the sparrow that is immolated: ⁷Wherewith he shall sprinkle him that is to be cleansed seven times, that he may be rightly purified: and he shall let go the living sparrow, that it may fly into the field. ⁸And when the man hath washed his clothes, he shall shave all the hair of his body, and shall be washed with water: and being purified, he shall enter into the camp, yet so that he tarry without his own tent seven days: ⁹And on the seventh day he shall shave the hair of his head, and his beard and his eyebrows, and the hair of all his body. And having washed again his clothes, and his body, ¹⁰On the eighth day he shall take two lambs without blemish, and an ewe of a year old without blemish, and three tenths of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice, and a sextary of oil apart. ¹¹And when the priest that purifieth the man, hath presented him, and all these things before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, ¹²He shall take a. lamb, and offer it for a trespass offering with the sextary of oil: and having offered all before the Lord, ¹³He shall immolate the lamb, where the victim for sin is wont to be immolated, and the holocaust, that is, in the holy place: for as that which is for sin, so also the victim for a trespass offering pertaineth to the priest: it is holy of holies. ¹⁴And the priest taking of the blood of the victim that was immolated for trespass, shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand and the great toe of his right foot: ¹⁵And he shall pour of the sextary of oil into his own left. hand, ¹⁶And shall dip his right finger in it, and sprinkle it before the Lord seven times. ¹⁷And the rest of the oil in his left band, he shall pour upon the tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand and the great toe of his right foot, and upon the blood that was shed for trespass, ¹⁸And upon his head. ¹⁹And he shall pray for him before the Lord, and shall offer the sacrifice for sin: then shall he immolate the holocaust, ²⁰And put it on the altar with the libations thereof, and the man shall be rightly cleansed. ²¹But if he be poor, and his hand cannot find the things aforesaid: he shall take a lamb for an offering for trespass, that the priest may pray for him, and a tenth part of hour tempered with oil for a sacrifice, and a sextary of oil, ²²And two turtles or two young pigeons, of which one may be for sin, and the other for a holocaust: ²³And he shall offer them on the eighth day of his purification to the priest, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony before the Lord. ²⁴And the priest receiving the lamb for trespass, and the sextary of oil, shall elevate them together. ²⁵And the lamb being immolated, he shall put of the blood thereof upon the tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and the great toe of his right foot: ²⁶But he shall pour part of the oil into his own left hand, ²⁷And dipping the finger of his right hand in it, he shall sprinkle it seven times before the Lord: ²⁸And he shall touch the tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and the thumb of his right hand and the great toe of his right foot, in the place of the blood that was shed for trespass. ²⁹And the other part of the oil that is in his left hand, he shall pour upon the head of the purified person, that he may appease the Lord for him. ³⁰And he shall offer a turtle, or young pigeon, ³¹One for trespass, and the other for a holocaust, with their libations. ³²This is the sacrifice of a leper, that is not able to have all things that appertain to his cleansing. ³³And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ³⁴When you shall be come into the land of Chanaan, which I will give you for a possession, if there be the plague of leprosy in a house, ³⁵He whose house it is, shall go and tell the priest, saying: It seemeth to me, that there is the plague of leprosy in my house, ³⁶And he shall command, that they carry forth all things out of the house, before he go into it, and see whether it have the leprosy, lest all things become unclean that are in the house. And afterwards he shall go in to view the leprosy of the house. ³⁷And if he see in the walls thereof as it were little dints, disfigured with paleness or redness, and lower than all the rest, ³⁸He shall go out of the door of the house, and forthwith shut it up seven days, ³⁹And returning on the seventh day, he shall look upon it. If he find that the leprosy is spread, ⁴⁰He shall command, that the stones wherein the leprosy is, be taken out, and cast without the city into an unclean place: ⁴¹And that the house be scraped on the inside round about, and the dust of the scraping be scattered without the city into an unclean place: ⁴²And that other stones be laid in the place of them that were taken away, and the house be plastered with other mortar. ⁴³But if, after the stones be taken out, and the dust scraped off, and it be plastered with other earth, ⁴⁴The priest going in perceive that the leprosy is returned, and the walls full of spots, it is a lasting leprosy, and the house is unclean: ⁴⁵And they shall destroy it forthwith, and shall cast the stones and timber thereof, and all the dust without the town into an unclean place. ⁴⁶He that entereth into the house when it is shut, shall be unclean until evening, ⁴⁷And he that sleepeth in it, and eateth any thing, shall wash his clothes. ⁴⁸But if the priest going in perceive that the leprosy is not spread in the house, after it was plastered again, he shall purify it, it being cured, ⁴⁹And for the purification thereof he shall take two sparrows, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: ⁵⁰And having immolated one sparrow In an earthen vessel over living waters, ⁵¹He shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living sparrow, and shall dip all in the blood of the sparrow that is immolated, and in the living water, and he shall sprinkle the house seven times: ⁵²And shall purify it as well with the blood of the sparrow, as with the living water, and with the living sparrow, and with the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet. ⁵³And when he hath let go the sparrow to fly freely away into the field, he shall pray for the house, and it shall be rightly cleansed. ⁵⁴This is the law of every kind of leprosy and stroke. ⁵⁵Of the leprosy of garments and houses, ⁵⁶Of a scar and of blisters breaking out, of a shining spot, and when the colours are diversely changed: ⁵⁷That it may be known when a thing is clean or unclean.

Chapter 15

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ²Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: The man that hath an issue of seed, shall be unclean. ³And then shall he be judged subject to this evil, when a filthy humour, at every moment, cleaveth to his flesh, and gathereth there. ⁴Every bed on which he sleepeth, shall be unclean, and every place on which he sitteth. ⁵If ally man touch his bed, he shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, he shall be unclean until the evening. ⁶If a man sit where that man hath sitten, he also shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, shall be unclean until the evening. ⁷He that toucheth his flesh, shall wash his clothes: and being himself washed with water shall be unclean until the evening. ⁸If such a man cast his spittle upon him that is clean, he shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, he shall be unclean until the evening. ⁹The saddle on which he hath sitten shall be unclean. ¹⁰And whatsoever has been under him that hath the issue of seed, shall be unclean until the evening. He that carrieth any of these things, shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, he shall be unclean until the evening. ¹¹Every person whom such a one shall touch, not having washed his hands before, shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, shall be unclean until the evening. ¹²If he touch a vessel of earth, it shall be broken: but if a vessel of wood, if shall be washed with water. ¹³If he who suffereth this disease be healed, he shall number seven days after his cleansing, and having washed his clothes, and all his body in living water, he shall be clean. ¹⁴And on the eighth day he shall take two turtles, or two young pigeons, and he shall come before the Lord, to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and shall give them to the priest: ¹⁵Who shall offer one for sin, and the other for a holocaust: and he shall pray for him before the Lord, that he may be cleansed of the issue of his seed. ¹⁶The man from whom the seed of copulation goeth out, shall wash all his body with water: and he shall be unclean until the evening. ¹⁷The garment or skin that he weareth, he shall wash with water, and it shall be unclean until the evening. ¹⁸The woman, with whom he copulateth, shall be washed with water, and shall be unclean until the evening. ¹⁹The woman, who at the return of the month, hath her issue of blood, shall be separated seven days. ²⁰Every one that toucheth her, shall be unclean until the evening. ²¹21And every thing that she sleepeth on, or that she sitteth on in the days of her separation, shall be defiled. ²²He that toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes: and being himself washed with water, shall be unclean until the evening. ²³Whosoever shall touch any vessel on which she sitteth, shall wash his clothes: and himself being washed with water, shall be defiled until the evening. ²⁴If a man copulateth with her in the time of her flowers, he shall be unclean seven days: and every bed on which he shall sleep shall be defiled. ²⁵The woman that hath an issue of blood many days out of her ordinary time, or that ceaseth not to flow after the monthly courses, as long as she is subject to this disease, shall be unclean, in the same manner as if she were in her flowers. ²⁶Every bed on which she sleepeth, and every vessel on which she sitteth, shall be defiled. ²⁷Whosoever toucheth them shall wash his clothes: and himself being washed with water, shall be unclean until the evening. ²⁸If the blood stop and cease to run, she shall count seven days of her purification: ²⁹And on the eighth day she shall offer for herself to the priest, two turtles, or two young pigeons, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony: ³⁰And he shall offer one for sin, and the other for a holocaust, and he shall pray for her before the Lord, and for the issue of her uncleanness. ³¹You shall teach therefore the children of Israel to take heed of uncleanness, that they may not die in their filth, when they shall have defiled my tabernacle that is among them. ³²This is the law of him that hath the issue of seed, and that is defiled by copulation. ³³And of the woman that is separated in her monthly times, or that hath a continual issue of blood, and of the man that sleepeth with her.

Chapter 16

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they were slain upon their offering strange fire: ²And he commanded him, saying, Speak to Aaron thy brother, that he enter not at all into the sanctuary, which is within the veil before the propitiatory, with which the ark is covered, lest he die, (for I will appear in a cloud over the oracle,) ³Unless he first do these things: He shall offer a calf for sin, and a ram for a holocaust. ⁴He shall be vested with a linen tunick, he shall cover his nakedness with linen breeches: he shall be girded with a linen girdle, and he shall put a linen mitre upon his head: for these are holy vestments: all which he shall put on, after he is washed. ⁵And he shall receive from the whole multitude of the children of Israel two buck goats for sin, and one ram for a holocaust. ⁶And when he hath offered the calf and prayed for himself, and for his own house, ⁷He shall make the two buck goats to stand before the Lord in the door of the tabernacle of the testimony: ⁸And casting lots upon them both, one to be offered to the Lord, and the other to be the emissary goat: ⁹That whose lot fell to be offered to the Lord, he shall offer for sin: ¹⁰But that whose lot was to be the emissary goat, he shall present alive before the Lord, that he may pour out prayers upon him, and let him go into the wilderness. ¹¹After these things are duly celebrated, he shall offer the calf, and praying for himself and for his own house, he shall immolate it: ¹²And taking the censer, which he hath filled with the burning coals of the altar, and taking up with his hand the compounded perfume for incense, he shall go in within the veil into the holy place: ¹³That when the perfumes are put upon the fire, the cloud and vapour thereof may cover the oracle, which is over the testimony, and he may not die. ¹⁴He shall take also of the blood of the calf, and sprinkle with his finger seven times towards the propitiatory to the east. ¹⁵And when he hath killed the buck goat for the sin of the people, he shall carry in the blood thereof within the veil, as he was commanded to do with the blood of the calf, that he may sprinkle it over against the oracle, ¹⁶And may expiate the sanctuary from the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and from their transgressions, and all their sins. According to this rite shall he do to the tabernacle of the testimony, which is fixed among them in the midst of the filth of their habitation. ¹⁷Let no man be in the tabernacle when the high priest goeth into the sanctuary, to pray for himself and his house, and for the whole congregation of Israel, until he come out. ¹⁸And when he is come out to the altar that is before the Lord, let him pray for himself, and taking the blood of the calf, and of the buck goat, let him pour it upon the horns thereof round about: ¹⁹And sprinkling with his finger seven times, let him expiate, and sanctify it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. ²⁰After he hath cleansed the sanctuary, and the tabernacle, and the altar, then let him offer the living goat: ²¹And putting both hands upon his head, let him confess all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their offences and sins: and praying that they may light on his head, he shall turn him out by a man ready for it, into the desert. ²²And when the goat hath carried all their iniquities into an uninhabited land, and shall be let go into the desert, ²³Aaron shall return into the tabernacle of the testimony, and putting off the vestments, which he had on him before when he entered into the sanctuary, and leaving them there, ²⁴He shall wash his flesh in the holy place, and shall put on his own garments. And after that he has come out and hath offered his own holocaust, and that of the people, he shall pray both for himself, and for the people: ²⁵And the fat that is offered for sins, he shall burn upon the altar. ²⁶But he that hath let go the emissary goat, shall wash his clothes, and his body with water, and so shall enter into the camp. ²⁷But the calf and the buck goat, that were sacrificed for sin, and whose blood was carried into the sanctuary, to accomplish the atonement, they shall carry forth without the camp, e and shall burn with fire, their skins and their flesh, and their dung: ²⁸And whosoever burneth them shall wash his clothes, and flesh with water, and so shall enter into the camp. ²⁹And this shall be to you an everlasting ordinance: The seventh month, the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and shall do no work, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you. ³⁰Upon this day shall be the expiation for you, and the cleansing from all your sins: you shall be cleansed before the Lord. ³¹For it is a sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict your souls by a perpetual religion. ³²And the priest that is anointed, and whose hands are consecrated to do the office of the priesthood in his father's stead, shall make atonement; and he shall be vested with the linen robe and the holy vestments, ³³And he shall expiate the sanctuary and the tabernacle of the testimony and the altar, the priest also and all the people. ³⁴And this shall be an ordinance for ever, that you pray for the children of Israel, and for all their sins once in a year. He did therefore as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Chapter 17

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, saying to them: This is the word, which the Lord hath commanded, saying: ³Any man whosoever of the house of Israel if he kill an ox, or a sheep, or a goat in the camp, or without the camp, ⁴And offer it not at the door of the tabernacle an oblation to the Lord, shall be guilty of blood: as if he had shed blood, so shall he perish from the midst of his people. ⁵Therefore the children of Israel shall bring to the priest their victims, which they kill in the field, that they may be sanctified to the Lord before the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and they may sacrifice them for peace offerings to the Lord. ⁶And the priest shall pour the blood upon the altar of the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and shall burn the fat for a sweet odour to the Lord. ⁷And they shall no more sacrifice their victims to devils, with whom they have committed fornication. It shall be an ordinance for ever to them and to their posterity. ⁸And thou shalt say to them: The man of the house of Israel, and of the strangers who sojourn among you, that offereth a holocaust or a victim, ⁹And bringeth it not to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, that it may be offered to the Lord, shall perish from among his people. ¹⁰If any man whosoever of the house of Israel, and of the strangers that sojourn among them, eat blood, I will set my face against his soul, and will cut him off from among his people: ¹¹Because the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you, that you may make atonement with it upon the altar for your souls, and the blood may be for an expiation of the soul. ¹²Therefore I have said to the children of Israel: No soul of you, nor of the strangers that sojourn among you, shall eat blood. ¹³Any man whosoever of the children of Israel, and of the strangers that sojourn among you, if by hunting or fowling, he take a wild beast or a bird, which is lawful to eat, let him pour out its blood, and cover it with earth. ¹⁴For the life of all flesh is in the blood: therefore I said to the children of Israel: You shall not eat the blood of any flesh at all, because the life of the flesh is in the blood, and whosoever eateth it, shall be cut off. ¹⁵The soul that eateth that which died of itself, or has been caught by a beast, whether he be one of your own country or a stranger, shall wash his clothes and himself with water, and shall be defiled until the evening: and in this manner he shall be made clean. ¹⁶But if he do not wash his clothes, and his body, he shall bear his iniquity.

Chapter 18

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: I am the Lord your God. ³You shall not do according to the custom of the land of Egypt, in which you dwelt: neither shall you act according to the manner of the country of Chanaan, into which I will bring you, nor shall you walk in their ordinances. ⁴You shall do my judgments, and shall observe my precepts, and shall walk in them. I am the Lord your God. ⁵Keep my laws and my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them. I am the Lord. ⁶No man shall approach to her that is near of kin to him, to uncover her nakedness. I am the Lord. ⁷Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother: she is thy mother, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. ⁸Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's wife: for it is the nakedness of thy father. ⁹Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy sister by father or by mother, whether born at home or abroad. ¹⁰Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy son's daughter, or thy daughter's daughter: because it is thy own nakedness. ¹¹Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter, whom she bore to thy father, and who is thy sister. ¹²Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister: because she is the flesh of thy father. ¹³Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister: because she is thy mother's flesh. ¹⁴Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's brother: neither shalt thou approach to his wife, who is joined to thee by affinity. ¹⁵Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: because she is thy son's wife, neither shalt thou discover her shame. ¹⁶Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife: because it is the nakedness of thy brother. ¹⁷Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy wife and her daughter. Thou shalt not take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter, to discover her shame: because they are her flesh, and such copulation is incest. ¹⁸Thou shalt not take thy wife's sister for a harlot, to rival her, neither shalt thou discover her nakedness, while she is yet living. ¹⁹Thou shalt not approach to a woman having her flowers, neither shalt thou uncover her nakedness. ²⁰Thou shalt not lie with thy neighbour's wife, nor be defiled with mingling of seed. ²¹Thou shalt not give any of thy seed to be consecrated to the idol Moloch, nor defile the name of thy God : I am the Lord. ²²Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, because it is an abomination. ²³Thou shalt not copulate with any beast, neither shalt thou be defiled with it. A woman shall not lie down to a beast, nor copulate with it: because it is a heinous crime. ²⁴Defile not yourselves with any of these things with which all the nations have been defiled, which I will cast out before you, ²⁵And with which the land is defiled: the abominations of which I will visit, that it may vomit out its inhabitants. ²⁶Keep ye my ordinances and my judgments, and do not any of these abominations: neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you. ²⁷For all these detestable things the inhabitants of the land have done, that; were before you, and have defiled it. ²⁸Beware then, lest in like manner, it vomit you also out, if you do the like things, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. ²⁹Every soul that shall commit any of these abominations, shall perish from the midst of his people. ³⁰Keep my commandments. Do not the things which they have done, that have been before you, and be not defiled therein. I am the Lord your God.

Chapter 19

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy. ³Let every one fear his father, and his mother. Keep my sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. ⁴Turn ye not to idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods. I am the Lord your God. ⁵If ye offer in sacrifice a peace offering to the Lord, that he may be favourable, ⁶You shall eat it on the same day it was offered, and the next day: and whatsoever shall be left until the third day, you shall burn with fire. ⁷If after two days ally man eat thereof, he shall be profane and guilty of impiety: ⁸And shall bear his iniquity, because he hath defiled the holy thing of the Lord, and that soul shall perish from among his people. ⁹When thou reapest the corn of thy land, thou shalt not cut down all that is on the face of the earth to the very ground: nor shalt thou gather the ears that remain. ¹⁰Neither shalt thou gather the bunches and grapes that fall down in thy vineyard, but shalt leave them to the poor and the strangers to take. I am the Lord your God. ¹¹You shall not steal. You shall not lie, neither shall any man deceive his neighbour. ¹²Thou shalt not swear falsely by my name, nor profane the name of thy God. I am the Lord. ¹³Thou shalt not calumniate thy neighbour, nor oppress him by violence. The wages of him that hath been hired by thee shall not abide with thee until the morning. ¹⁴Thou shalt not speak evil of the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind: but thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, because I am the Lord. ¹⁵Thou shalt not do that which is unjust, nor judge unjustly. Respect not the person of the poor, nor honour the countenance of the mighty. But judge thy neighbour according to justice. ¹⁶Thou shalt not be a detractor nor a whisperer among the people. Thou shalt not stand against the blood of thy neighbour. I am the Lord. ¹⁷Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, but reprove him openly, lest thou incur sin through him. ¹⁸Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself. I am the Lord. ¹⁹Keep ye my laws. Thou shalt not make thy cattle to gender with beasts of any other kind. Thou shalt not sow thy field with different seeds. Thou shalt not wear a garment that is woven of two sorts. ²⁰If a man carnally lie with a woman that is a bondservant and marriageable, and yet not redeemed with a price, nor made free: they both shall be scourged, and they shall not be put to death, because she was not a free woman. ²¹And for his trespass he shall offer a ram to the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony: ²²And the priest shall pray for him and for his sin before the Lord, and he shall have mercy on him, and the sin shall be forgiven. ²³When you shall be come into the land, and shall have planted in it fruit trees, you shall take away the firstfruits of them: the fruit that comes forth shall be unclean to you, neither shall you eat of them. ²⁴But in the fourth year, all their fruit shall be sanctified, to the praise of the Lord. ²⁵And in the fifth year you shall eat the fruits thereof, gathering the increase thereof. I am the Lord your God. ²⁶You shall not eat with blood. You shall not divine nor observe dreams. ²⁷Nor shall you cut your hair roundwise: nor shave your beard. ²⁸You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh, for the dead, neither shall you make in yourselves any figures or marks: I am the Lord. ²⁹Make not thy daughter a common strumpet, lest the land be defiled, and filled with wickedness. ³⁰Keep ye my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord. ³¹31Go not aside after wizards, neither ask any thing of soothsayers, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God. ³²Rise up before the hoary head, and honour the person of the aged man: and fear the Lord thy God. I am the Lord. ³³If a stranger dwell in your land, and abide among you, do not upbraid him : ³⁴But let him be among you as one of the same country: and you shall love him as yourselves: for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. ³⁵Do not any unjust thing in judgment, in rule, in weight, or in measure. ³⁶Let the balance be just and the weights equal, the bushel just, and the sextary equal. I am the Lord your God, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. ³⁷Keep all my precepts, and all my judgments, and do them. I am the Lord.

Chapter 20

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: If any man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers, that dwell in Israel, give of his seed to the idol Moloch, dying let him die: the people of the land shall stone him. ³And I will set my face against him: and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he hath given of his seed to Moloch, and hath defiled my sanctuary, and profaned my holy name. ⁴And if the people of the land neglecting, and as it were little regarding my commandment, let alone the man that hath given of his seed to Moloch, and will not kill him: ⁵I will set my face against that man, and his kindred, and will cut off both him and all that consented with him, to commit fornication with Moloch, out of the midst of their people. ⁶The soul that shall go aside after magicians, and soothsayers, and shall commit fornication with them, I will set my face against that soul, and destroy it out of the midst of its people. ⁷Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy because I am the Lord your God. ⁸Keep my precepts, and do them. I am the Lord that sanctify you. ⁹He that curseth his father, or mother, dying let him die: he hath cursed his father, and mother, let his blood be upon him. ¹⁰If any man commit adultery with the wife of another, and defile his neighbour's wife, let then: be put to death, both the adulterer and the adulteress. ¹¹If a man lie with his stepmother, and discover the nakedness of his father, let them both be put to death: their blood be upon them. ¹²If any man lie with his daughter in law, let both die, because they have done a heinous crime: their blood be upon them. ¹³If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death: their blood be upon them. ¹⁴If any man after marrying the daughter, marry her mother, he hath done a heinous crime: he shall be burnt alive with them: neither shall so great an abomination remain in the midst of you. ¹⁵He that shall copulate with any beast or cattle, dying let him die, the beast also ye shall kill. ¹⁶The woman that shall lie under any beast, shall be killed together with the same: their blood be upon them. ¹⁷If any man take his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother, and see her nakedness, and she behold her brother's shame: they have committed a crime: they shall be slain, in the sight of their people, because they have discovered one another's nakedness, and they shall bear their iniquity. ¹⁸If any man lie with a woman in her flowers, and uncover her nakedness, and she open the fountain of her blood, both shall be destroyed out of the midst of their people. ¹⁹Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy aunt by thy mother, and of thy aunt by thy father: he that doth this, hath uncovered the shame of his own flesh, both shall bear their iniquity. ²⁰If any mall lie with the wife of his uncle by the father, or of his uncle by the mother, and uncover the shame of his near akin, both shall bear their sin: they shall die without children. ²¹He that marrieth his brother's wife, doth an unlawful thing, he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness: they shall be without children. ²²Keep my laws and my judgments, and do them: lest the land into which you are to enter to dwell therein, vomit you also out. ²³Walk not after the laws of the nations, which I will cast out before you. For they have done all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. ²⁴But to you I say: Possess their land which I will give you for an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from other people. ²⁵Therefore do you also separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the clean fowl from the unclean: defile not your souls with beasts, or birds, or any things that move on the earth, and which I have shewn you to be unclean. ²⁶You shall be holy unto me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be mine. ²⁷A man, or woman, in whom there is a pythonical or divining spirit, dying let them die: they shall stone them: their blood be upon them.

Chapter 21

¹The Lord said also to Moses: Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron, and thou shalt say to them: Let not a priest incur an uncleanness at the death of his citizens: ²But only for his kin, such as are near in blood, that is to say, for his father and for his mother, and for his son, and for his daughter, for his brother also, ³And for a maiden sister, who hath had no husband: ⁴But not even for the prince of his people shall he do any thing that may make him unclean. ⁵Neither shall they shave their head, nor their beard, nor make incisions in their flesh. ⁶They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane his name: for they offer the burnt offering of the Lord, and the bread of their God, and therefore they shall be holy. ⁷They shall not take to wife a harlot or a vile prostitute, nor one that has been put away from her husband: because they are consecrated to their God, ⁸And offer the leaves of proposition. Let them therefore be holy, because I also am holy, the Lord, who sanctify them. ⁹If the daughter of a priest be taken in whoredom, and dishonour the name of her father, she shall be burnt with fire. ¹⁰The high priest, that is to say, the priest, is the greatest among his brethren. upon whose head the oil of unction hath been poured, and whose hands have been consecrated for the priesthood, and who hath been vested with the holy vestments, shall not uncover his head, he shall not rend his garments: ¹¹Nor shall he go in at all to any dead person: not even for his father, or his mother, shall he be defiled: ¹²Neither shall he go out of the holy places, lest he defile the sanctuary of the Lord, because the oil of the holy unction of his God is upon him. I am the Lord. ¹³He shall take a virgin unto his wife: ¹⁴But a widow or one that is divorced, or defiled, or a harlot, he shall not take, but a maid of his own people : ¹⁵He shall not mingle the stock of his kindred with the common people of his nation: for I am the Lord who sanctify him. ¹⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁷Say to Aaron: Whosoever of thy seed throughout their families, hath a blemish, he shall not offer bread to his God. ¹⁸Neither shall he approach to minister to him: If he be blind, if he be lame, if he have a little, or a great, or a crooked nose, ¹⁹If his foot, or if his hand be broken, ²⁰If he be crookbacked, or blear eyed, or have a pearl in his eye, or a continual scab, or a dry scurf in his body, or a rupture: ²¹Whosoever of the seed of Aaron the priest hath a blemish, he shall not approach to offer sacrifices to the Lord, nor bread to his God. ²²He shall eat nevertheless of the loaves, that are offered in the sanctuary, ²³Yet so that he enter not within the veil, nor approach to the altar, because he hath a blemish, and he must not defile my sanctuary. I am the Lord who sanctify them. ²⁴Moses therefore spoke to Aaron, and to his sons and to all Israel, all the things that had been commanded him.

Chapter 22

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to Aaron and to his sons, that they beware of those things that are consecrated of the children of Israel, and defile not the name of the things sanctified to me, which they offer. I am the Lord. ³Say to them and to their posterity: Every man of your race, that approacheth to those things that are consecrated, and which the children of Israel have offered to the Lord, in whom there is uncleanness, shall perish before the Lord. I am the Lord. ⁴The man of the seed of Aaron, that is a leper, or that suffereth a running of the seed, shall not eat of those things that are sanctified to me, until he be healed. He that toucheth any thing unclean by occasion of the dead, and he whose seed goeth from him as in generation, ⁵And he that toucheth a creeping thing, or any unclean thing, the touching of which is defiling, ⁶Shall be unclean until the evening, and shall not eat those things that are sanctified: but when he hath washed his flesh with water, ⁷And the sun is down, then being purified, he shall eat of the sanctified things, because it is his meat. ⁸That which dieth of itself, and that which was taken by a beast, they shall not eat, nor be defiled therewith, I am the Lord. ⁹Let them keep my precepts, that they may not fall into sin, and die in the sanctuary, when they shall have defiled it. I am the Lord who sanctify them. ¹⁰No stranger shall eat of the sanctified things: a sojourner of the priests, or a hired servant, shall not eat of them. ¹¹But he whom the priest hath bought, and he that is his servant, born in his house, these shall eat of them. ¹²If the daughter of a priest be married to any of the people, she shall not eat of those things that are sanctified, nor of the firstfruits. ¹³But if she be a widow, or divorced, and having no children return to her father's house, she shall eat of her father's meats, as she was wont to do when she was a maid, no stranger hath leave to eat of them. ¹⁴He that eateth of the sanctified things through ignorance, shall add the fifth part with that which he ate, and shall give it to the priest into the sanctuary. ¹⁵And they shall not profane the sanctified things of the children of Israel, which they offer to the Lord: ¹⁶Lest perhaps they bear the iniquity of their trespass, when they shall have eaten the sanctified things. I am the Lord who sanctify them. ¹⁷And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁸Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: The man of the house of Israel, and of the strangers who dwell with you, that offereth his oblation, either paying his vows, or offering of his own accord, whatsoever it be which he presenteth for a holocaust of the Lord, ¹⁹To be offered by you, it shall be a male without blemish of the beeves, or of the sheep, or of the goats. ²⁰If it have a blemish you shall not offer it, neither shall it be acceptable. ²¹The man that offereth a victim of peace offerings to the Lord, either paying his vows, or offering of his own accord, whether of beeves or of sheep, shall offer it without blemish, that it may be acceptable: there shall be no blemish in it. ²²If it be blind, or broken, or have a scar or blisters, or a scab, or a dry scurf: you shall not offer them to the Lord, nor burn any thing of them upon the Lord's altar. ²³An ox or a sheep, that hath the ear and the tail cut off, thou mayst offer voluntarily: but a vow may not be paid with them. ²⁴You shall not offer to the Lord any beast that hath the testicles bruised, or crushed, or cut and taken away: neither shall you do any such thing in your land. ²⁵You shall not offer bread to your God, from the hand of a stranger, nor any other thing that he would give: because they are all corrupted, and defiled: you shall not receive them. ²⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁷When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, is brought forth, they shall be seven days under the udder of their dam: but the eighth day, and thenceforth, they may be offered to the Lord. ²⁸Whether it be a cow, or a sheep, they shall not be sacrificed the same day with their young ones. ²⁹If you immolate a victim for thanksgiving to the Lord, that he may be favourable, ³⁰You shall eat it the same day, there shall not any of it remain until the morning of the next day. I am the Lord. ³¹Keep my commandments, and do them. I am the Lord. ³²Profane not my holy name, that I may be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctify you, ³³And who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might be your God: I am the Lord.

Chapter 23

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: These are the feasts of the Lord, which you shall call holy. ³Six days shall ye do work: the seventh day, because it is the rest of the sabbath, shall be called holy. You shall do no work on that day: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your habitations. ⁴These also are the holy days of the Lord, which you must celebrate in their seasons. ⁵The first month, the fourteenth day of the month at evening, is the phase of the Lord: ⁶And the fifteenth day of the same month is the solemnity of the unleavened bread of the Lord. Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread. ⁷The first day shall be most solemn unto you, and holy: you shall do no servile work therein: ⁸But you shall offer sacrifice in fire to the Lord seven days. And the seventh day shall be more solemn, and more holy: and you shall do no servile work therein. ⁹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁰Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When you shall have entered into the land which I will give you, and shall reap your corn, you shall bring sheaves of ears, the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest: ¹¹Who shall lift up the shed before the Lord, the next day after the sabbath, that it may be acceptable for you, and shall sanctify it. ¹²And on the same day that the sheaf is consecrated, a lamb without blemish of the first year shall be killed for a holocaust of the Lord. ¹³And the libations shall be offered with it, two tenths of hour tempered with oil for a burnt offering of the Lord, and a most sweet odour: libations also of wine, the fourth part of a hin. ¹⁴You shall not eat either bread, or parched corn, or frumenty of the harvest, until the day that you shall offer thereof to your God. It is a precept for ever throughout your generations, and all your dwellings. ¹⁵You shall count therefore from the morrow after the sabbath, wherein you offered the sheaf of the firstfruits, seven full weeks. ¹⁶Even unto the marrow after the seventh week be expired, that is to say, fifty days, and so you shall offer a new sacrifice to the Lord. ¹⁷Out of all your dwellings, two leaves of the firstfruits, of two tenths of flour leavened, which you shall bake for the firstfruits of the Lord. ¹⁸And you shall offer with the leaves seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one calf from the herd, and two rams, and they shall be for a holocaust with their libations far a most sweet odour to the Lord. ¹⁹You shall offer also a buck goat for sin, and two lambs of the first year for sacrifices of peace offerings. ²⁰And when the priest hath lifted them up with the leaves of the firstfruits before the Lord, they shall fall to his use. ²¹And you shall call this day most solemn, and most holy. You shall do no servile work therein. It shall be an everlasting ordinance in all your dwellings and generations. ²²And when you reap the corn of your land, you shall not cut it to the very ground: neither shall you gather the ears that remain; but you shall leave them for the poor and for the strangers. I am the Lord your God. ²³And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁴Say to the children of Israel: The seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall keep a sabbath, a memorial, with she sound of trumpets, and it shall be called holy. ²⁵You shall do no servile work therein, and you shall offer a holocaust to the Lord. ²⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁷Upon the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the day of atonement, it shall be most solemn, and shall be called holy: and you shall afflict your souls on that day, and shall offer a holocaust to the Lord. ²⁸You shall do no servile work in the time of this day: because it is a day of propitiation, that the Lord your God may be merciful unto you. ²⁹Every soul that is not afflicted on this day, shall perish from among his people: ³⁰And every soul that shall do any work, the same will I destroy from among his people. ³¹You shall do no work therefore on that day: it shall be an everlasting ordinance unto you in all your generations, and dwellings. ³²It is a sabbath of rest, and you shell afflict your souls beginning on the ninth day of the month: from evening until evening you shall celebrate your sabbaths. ³³And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ³⁴Say to the children of Israel: From the fifteenth day of this same seventh month, shall be kept the feast of tabernacles seven days to the Lord. ³⁵The first day shall be called most solemn and most holy: you shall do no servile work therein. And seven days you shall offer holocausts to the Lord. ³⁶The eighth day also shall be most solemn and most holy, and you shall offer holocausts to the Lord: for it is the day of assembly and congregation: you shall do no servile work therein. ³⁷These are the feasts of the Lord, which you shall call most solemn and most holy, and shall offer on them oblations to the Lord, holocausts and libations according to the rite of every day, ³⁸Besides the sabbaths of the Lord, and your gifts, and those things that you offer by vow, or which you shall give to the Lord voluntarily. ³⁹So from the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you shall have gathered in all the fruits of your land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days: on the first day and the eighth shall be a sabbath, that is a day of rest. ⁴⁰And you shall take to you on the first day the fruits of the fairest tree, and branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. ⁴¹And you shall keep the solemnity thereof seven days in the year. It shall be an everlasting ordinance in your generations. In the seventh month shall you celebrate this feast. ⁴²And you shall dwell in bowers seven days: every one that is of the race of Israel, shall dwell in tabernacles: ⁴³That your posterity may know, that I made the children of Israel to dwell in tabernacles, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. ⁴⁴And Moses spoke concerning the feasts of the Lord to the children of Israel.

Chapter 24

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee the finest and dearest oil of olives, to furnish the lamps continually, ³Without the veil of the testimony in the tabernacle of the covenant. And Aaron shall set them from evening until morning before the Lord, by a perpetual service and rite in your generations. ⁴They shall be set upon the most pure candlestick before the Lord continually. ⁵Thou shalt take also fine hour, and shalt bake twelve leaves thereof, two tenths shall be in every loaf : ⁶And thou shalt set them six and six one against another upon the most clean table before the Lord: ⁷And thou shalt put upon them the dearest frankincense, that the bread may be for a memorial of the oblation of the Lord. ⁸Every sabbath they shall be changed before the Lord, being received of the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant: ⁹And they shall be Aaron's and his sons', that they may eat them in the holy place: because it is most holy of the sacrifices of the Lord by a perpetual right. ¹⁰And behold there went out the son of a woman of Israel, whom she had of an Egyptian, among the children of Israel, and fell at words in the camp with a man of Israel. ¹¹And when he had blasphemed the name, and had cursed it, he was brought to Moses: (now his mother was called Salumith, the daughter of Dabri, of the tribe of Dan:) ¹²And they put him into prison, till they might know what the Lord would command. ¹³And the Lord spoke to Moses, ¹⁴Saying: Bring forth the blasphemer without the camp, and let them that heard him, put their hands upon his head, and let all the people stone him. ¹⁵And thou shalt speak to the children of Israel: the man that curseth his God, shall bear his sin: ¹⁶And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, dying let him die: all the multitude shall stone him, whether he be a native or a stranger. He that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, dying let him die. ¹⁷He that striketh and killeth a man, dying let him die. ¹⁸He that killeth a beast, shall make it good, that is to say, shall give beast for beast. ¹⁹He that giveth a blemish to any of his neighbours: as he hath done, so shall it be done to him: ²⁰Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, shall he restore. What blemish he gave, the like shall he be compelled to suffer. ²¹He that striketh a beast, shall render another. He that striketh a man shall be punished. ²²Let there be equal judgment among you, whether he be a stranger, or a native that offends: because I am the Lord your God. ²³And Moses spoke to the children of Israel: and they brought forth him that had blasphemed, without the camp, and they stoned him. And the children of Israel did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Chapter 25

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses in mount Sinai, saying: ²Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When you shall have entered into the land which I will give you, observe the rest of the sabbath to the Lord. ³Six years thou shalt sow thy field and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and shalt gather the fruits thereof: ⁴But in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath to the land, of the resting of the Lord: thou shalt not sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. ⁵What the ground shall bring forth of itself, thou shalt not reap: neither shalt thou gather the grapes of the firstfruits as a vintage: for it is a year of rest to the land: ⁶But they shall be unto you for meat, to thee and to thy manservant, to thy maidservant and thy hireling, and to the strangers that sojourn with thee: ⁷All things that grow shall be meat to thy beasts and to thy cattle. ⁸Thou shalt also number to thee seven weeks of years, that is to say, seven times seven, which together make forty-nine years: ⁹And thou shalt sound the trumpet in the seventh month, the tenth day of the month, in the time of the expiation in all your land. ¹⁰And thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth year, and shalt proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of thy land: for it is the year of jubilee. Every man shall return to his possession, and every one shall go back to his former family: ¹¹Because it is the jubilee and the fiftieth year. You shall not sow, nor reap the things that grow in the field of their own accord, neither shall you gather the firstfruits of the vines, ¹²Because of the sanctification of the jubilee: but as they grow you shall presently eat them. ¹³In the year of the jubilee all shall return to their possessions. ¹⁴When thou shalt sell any thing to thy neighbour, or shalt buy of him; grieve not thy brother: but thou shalt buy of him according to the number of years from the jubilee. ¹⁵And he shall sell to thee according to the computation of the fruits. ¹⁶The more years remain after the jubilee, the more shall the price increase: and the less time is counted, so much the less shall the purchase cost. For he shall sell to thee the time of the fruits. ¹⁷Do not afflict your countrymen, but let every one fear his God: because I am the Lord your God. ¹⁸Do my precepts, and keep my judgments, and fulfil them: that you may dwell in the land without any fear, ¹⁹And the ground may yield you its fruits, of which you may eat your fill, fearing no mall's invasion. ²⁰But if you say: What shall we eat the seventh year, if we sow not, nor gather our fruits? ²¹I will give you my blessing the sixth year, and it shall yield the fruits of three years: ²²And the eighth year you shall sow, and shall eat of the old fruits, until the ninth year: till new grow up, you shall eat the old store. ²³The land also shall not be sold for ever: because it is mine, and you are strangers and sojourners with me. ²⁴For which cause all the country of your possession shall be under the condition of redemption. ²⁵If thy brother being impoverished sell his little possession, and his kinsman will, he may redeem what he had sold. ²⁶But if he have no kinsman, and he himself can find the price to redeem it: ²⁷The value of the fruits shall be counted from that time when he sold it: and the overplus he shall restore to the buyer, and so shall receive his possession again. ²⁸But if his hands find not the means to repay the price, the buyer shall have what he bought, until the year of the jubilee. For in that year all that is sold shall return to the owner, and to the ancient possessor. ²⁹He that selleth a house within the walls of a city, shall have the liberty to redeem it, until one year be expired: ³⁰If he redeem it not, and the whole year be fully out, the buyer shall possess it, and his posterity for ever, and it cannot be redeemed, not even in the jubilee. ³¹But if the house be in a village, that hath no walls, it shall be sold according to the same law as the fields: if it be not redeemed before, in the jubilee it shall return to the owner. ³²The houses of Levites, which are in cities, may always be redeemed: ³³If they be not redeemed, in the jubilee they shall all return to the owners, because the houses of the cities of the Levites are for their possessions among the children of Israel. ³⁴But let not their suburbs be sold, because it is a perpetual possession. ³⁵If thy brother be impoverished, and weak of hand, and thou receive him as a stranger and sojourner, and he live with thee, ³⁶Take not usury of him nor more than thou gavest: fear thy God, that thy brother may live with thee. ³⁷Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor exact of him any increase of fruits. ³⁸I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might give you the land of Chanaan, and might be your God. ³⁹If thy brother constrained by poverty, sell himself to thee, thou shalt not oppress him with the service of bondservants: ⁴⁰But he shall be as a hireling, and a sojourner: he shall work with thee until the year of the jubilee, ⁴¹And afterwards he shall go out with his children, and shall return to his kindred and to the possession of his fathers, ⁴²For they are my servants, and I brought them out of the land of Egypt: let them not be sold as bondmen: ⁴³Afflict him not by might, but fear thy God. ⁴⁴Let your bondmen, and your bondwomen, be of the nations that are round about you. ⁴⁵And of the strangers that sojourn among you, or that were born of them in your land, these you shall have for servants: ⁴⁶And by right of inheritance shall leave them to your posterity, and shall possess them for ever. But oppress not your brethren the children of Israel by might. ⁴⁷If the hand of a stranger or a sojourner grow strong among you, and thy brother being impoverished sell himself to him, or to any of his race: ⁴⁸After the sale he may be redeemed. He that will of his brethren shall redeem him: ⁴⁹Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, or his kinsman, by blood, or by affinity. But if he himself be able also, he shall redeem himself, ⁵⁰Counting only the years from the time of his selling unto the year of the jubilee: and counting the money that he was sold for, according to the number of the years and the reckoning of a hired servant, ⁵¹If there be many years that remain until the jubilee, according to them shall he also repay the price. ⁵²If few, he shall make the reckoning with him according to the number of the years, and shall repay to the buyer of what remaineth of the years, ⁵³His wages being allowed for which he served before: he shall not afflict him violently in thy sight. ⁵⁴And if by these means he cannot be redeemed, in the year of the jubilee he shall go out with his children. ⁵⁵For the children of Israel are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt.

Chapter 26

¹I am the Lord your God: you shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing, neither shall you erect pillars, nor set up a remarkable stone in your land, to adore it: for I am the Lord your God. ²Keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. ³If you walk in my precepts, and keep my commandments, and do them, I will give you rein in due seasons. ⁴And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. ⁵The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. ⁶I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. ⁷You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. ⁸Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. ⁹I will look on you, and make you increase: you shell be multiplied, and I will establish my covenant with you. ¹⁰You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. ¹¹I will set my tabernacle in the midst of you, and my soul shall not cast you off. ¹²I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people. ¹³I am the Lord your God: who have brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and who have broken the chains of your necks, that you might go upright. ¹⁴But if you will not hear me, nor do all my commandments, ¹⁵If you despise my laws, and contemn my judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by me, and to make void my covenant: ¹⁶I also will do these things to you: I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. ¹⁷I will set my face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. ¹⁸But if you will not yet for all this obey me: I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, ¹⁹And I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the heaven above as iron, and the earth as brass: ²⁰Your labour shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. ²¹If you walk contrary to me, and will not hearken to me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins: ²²And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. ²³And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to me: ²⁴I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. ²⁵And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge my covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies, ²⁶After I shall have broken the staff of your bread: so that ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and give it out by weight: and you shall eat, and shall not be filled. ²⁷But if you will not for all this hearken to me, but will walk against me: ²⁸I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins, ²⁹So that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. ³⁰I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. ³¹Insomuch that I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odours. ³²And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. ³³And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. ³⁴Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths all the days of her desolation: when you shall be ³⁵In the enemy's land, she shall keep a sabbath, and rest in the sabbaths of her desolation, because she did not rest in your sabbaths when you dwelt therein. ³⁶And as to them that shall remain of you I will send fear in their hearts in the countries of their enemies, the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as it were from the sword: they shall fall, when no man pursueth them, ³⁷And they shall every one fall upon their brethren as fleeing from wars, none of you shall dare to resist your enemies. ³⁸You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy's land shall consume you. ³⁹And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own: ⁴⁰Until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed me, and walked contrary unto me. ⁴¹Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies' land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins. ⁴²And I will remember my covenant, that I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. I will remember also the land: ⁴³Which when she shall be left by them, shall enjoy her sabbaths, being desolate for them. But they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected my judgments, and despised my laws. ⁴⁴And yet for all that when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be quite consumed, and I should make void my covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God. ⁴⁵And I will remember my former covenant, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Gentiles, to be their God. I am the Lord. These are the judgments, and precepts, and laws, which the Lord gave between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

Chapter 27

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: The man that shall have made a vow, and promised his soul to God, shall give the price according to estimation. ³If it be a man from twenty years old unto sixty years old, he shall give fifty sides of silver, after the weight of the sanctuary: ⁴If a woman, thirty. ⁵But from the fifth year until the twentieth, a man shall give twenty sicles: a woman ten. ⁶From one month until the fifth year. for a male shall be given five sides: for a female three. ⁷A man that is sixty years old or upward, shall give fifteen aisles: a woman ten. ⁸If he be poor, and not able to pay tile estimation, he shall stand before tile priest: and as much as he shall value him at, and see him able to pay, so much shall he give. ⁹But a beast that may be sacrificed to the Lord, if ally one shall vow, shall be holy, ¹⁰And cannot be changed, that is to say, neither a better for a worse, nor a worse for a better. And if he shall change it: both that which was changed, and that for which it was changed, shall be consecrated to the Lord. ¹¹An unclean beast, which cannot be sacrificed to the Lord, if my man shall vow, shall be brought before the priest: ¹²Who judging whether it be good or bad, shall set the price: ¹³Which if he that offereth it will give, he shall add above the estimation the fifth part. ¹⁴If a man shall vow his house, and sanctify it to the Lord, the priest shall consider it, whether it be good or bad, and it shall be sold according to the price, which he shall appoint. ¹⁵But if he that vowed, will redeem it, he shall give the fifth part of the estimation over and above, and shall have the house. ¹⁶And if he vow the field of his possession, and consecrate it to the Lord, the price shall be rated according to the measure of the seed. If the ground be sowed with thirty bushels of barley, let it be sold for fifty sides of silver. ¹⁷If he vow his field immediately from the year of jubilee that is beginning, as much as it may be worth, at so much it shall be rated. ¹⁸But if some time after, the priest shall reckon the money according to the number of years that remain until the jubilee, and the price shall be abated. ¹⁹And if he that had vowed, will redeem his field, he shall add the fifth part of the money of the estimation, and shall possess it. ²⁰And if he will not redeem it, but it be sold to any other man, he that vowed it, may not redeem it any more: ²¹For when the day of jubilee cometh, it shall be sanctified to the Lord, and as a possession consecrated, pertaineth to the right of the priests. ²²If a field that was bought, and not of a man's ancestors' possession, be sanctified to the Lord, ²³The priest shall reckon the price according to the number of years: unto the jubilee: and he that had vowed, shall give that to the Lord. ²⁴But in the jubilee, it shall return to the former owner, who had sold it, and had it in the lot of his possession. ²⁵All estimation shall be made according to the side of the sanctuary. A sicle hath twenty obols. ²⁶The firstborn, which belong to the Lord, no man may sanctify and vow: whether it be bullock, or sheep, they are the Lord's. ²⁷And if it be an unclean beast, he that offereth it shall redeem it, according to thy estimation, and shall add the fifth part of the price. If he will not redeem it, it shall be sold to another for how much soever it was estimated by thee. ²⁸Any thing that is devoted to the Lord, whether it be man, or beast, or field, shall not be sold, neither may it be redeemed. Whatsoever is once consecrated shall be holy of holies to the Lord. ²⁹And any consecration that is offered by man, shall not be redeemed, but dying shall die. ³⁰All tithes of the land, whether of corn, or of the fruits of trees, are the Lord's, and are sanctified to him. ³¹And if any man will redeem his tithes, he shall add the fifth part of them. ³²Of all the tithes of oxen, and sheep, and goats, that pass under the shepherd's rod, every tenth that cometh shall be sanctified to the Lord. ³³It shall not be chosen neither good nor bad, neither shall it be changed for another. If any man change it: both that which was changed, and that for which it was changed, shall be sanctified to the Lord, and shall not be redeemed. ³⁴These are the precepts which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai.

The Book of Numbers

This fourth Book of Moses is called NUMBERS, because it begins with the numbering of the people. The Hebrews, from its first words, call it VAIEDABBER. It contains the transactions of the Israelites from the second month of the second year after their going out of Egypt, until the beginning of the eleventh month of the fortieth year; that is, a history almost of thirty-nine years.

Chapter 1

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai in the tabernacle of the covenant, the first day of the second month, the second year of their going out of Egypt, saying: ²Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel by their families, and houses, and the names of every one, as many as are of the male sex, ³From twenty years old and upwards, of all the men of Israel fit for war, and you shall number them by their troops, thou and Aaron. ⁴And there shall be with you the princes of the tribes, and of the houses in their kindreds, ⁵Whose names are these: Of Ruben, Elisur the son of Sedeur. ⁶Of Simeon, Salamiel the son of Surisaddai. ⁷Of Juda, Nahasson the son of Aminadab. ⁸Of Issachar, Nathanael the son of Suar. ⁹Of Zabulon, Eliab the son of Helon. ¹⁰And of the sons of Joseph: of Ephraim, Elisama the son of Ammiud: of Manasses, Gamaliel the son of Phadassur. ¹¹Of Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gedeon. ¹²Of Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammisaddai. ¹³Of Aser, Phegiel the son of Ochran. ¹⁴Of Gad, Eliasaph the son of Duel. ¹⁵Of Nephtali, Ahira the son of Enan. ¹⁶These are the most noble princes of the multitude by their tribes and kindreds, and the chiefs of the army of Israel: ¹⁷Whom Moses and Aaron took with all the multitude of the common people: ¹⁸And assembled them on the first day of the second month, reckoning them up by the kindreds, and houses, and families, and heads, and names of every one from twenty years old and upward, ¹⁹As the Lord had commanded Moses. And they were numbered in the desert of Sinai. ²⁰Of Ruben the eldest son of Israel, by their generations and families and houses and names of every head, all that were of the male sex, from twenty years old and upward, that were able to go forth to war, ²¹Were forty-six thousand five hundred. ²²Of the sons of Simeon by their generations and families, and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names and heads of every one, all that were of the male sex, from twenty years old and upward, that were able to go forth to war, ²³Fifty-nine thousand three hundred. ²⁴Of the sons of Gad, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ²⁵Forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty. ²⁶Of the sons of Juda, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ²⁷Were reckoned up seventy-four thousand six hundred. ²⁸Of the sons of Issachar, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that could go forth to war, ²⁹Were reckoned up fifty-four thousand four hundred. ³⁰Of the sons of Zabulon, by the generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ³¹Fifty-seven thousand four hundred. ³²Of the sons of Joseph, namely, of the sons of Ephraim, by the generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ³³Forty thousand five hundred. ³⁴Moreover of the sons of Manasses, by the generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that could go forth to war, ³⁵Thirty-two thousand two hundred. ³⁶Of the sons of Benjamin, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ³⁷Thirty-five thousand four hundred. ³⁸Of the sons of Dan, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ³⁹Sixty-two thousand seven hundred. ⁴⁰Of the sons of Aser, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ⁴¹Forty-one thousand and five hundred. ⁴²Of the sons of Nephtali, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ⁴³Fifty-three thousand four hundred. ⁴⁴These era they who were numbered by Moses and Aaron, and the twelve princes of Israel, every one by the houses of their kindreds. ⁴⁵And the whole number of the children of Israel by their houses and families, from twenty years old and upward, that were able to go to war, ⁴⁶Were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men. ⁴⁷But the Levites in the tribes of their families were not numbered with them. ⁴⁸And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁴⁹Number not the tribe of Levi, neither shalt thou put down the sum of them with the children of Israel: ⁵⁰But appoint them over the tabernacle of the testimony, and all the vessels thereof, and whatsoever pertaineth to the ceremonies. They shall carry the tabernacle and all the furniture thereof: and they shall minister, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle. ⁵¹When you are to go forward, the Levites shall take down the tabernacle: when you are to camp, they shall set it up. What stranger soever cometh to it, shall be slain. ⁵²And the children of Israel shall camp every man by his troops and bands and army. ⁵³But the Levites shall pitch their tents round about the tabernacle, lest there come indignation upon the multitude of the children of Israel, and they shall keep watch, and guard the tabernacle of the testimony. ⁵⁴And the children of Israel did according to all things which the Lord had commanded Moses.

Chapter 2

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ²All the children of Israel shall camp by their troops, ensigns, and standards, and the houses of their kindreds, round about the tabernacle of the covenant. ³On the east Juda shall pitch his tents by the bands of his army: and the prince of his sons shall be Nahasson the son of Aminadab. ⁴And the whole sum of the fighting men of his stock, were seventy-four thousand six hundred. ⁵Next unto him they of the tribe of Issachar encamped, whose prince was Nathanael, the son of Suar. ⁶And the whole number of his fighting men were fifty-four thousand four hundred. ⁷In the tribe of Zabulon the prince was Eliab the son of Helon. ⁸And all the army of fighting men of his stock, were fifty-seven thousand four hundred. ⁹All that were numbered in the camp of Juda, were a hundred and eighty-six thousand four hundred: and they by their troops shall march first. ¹⁰In the camp of the sons of Ruben, on the south side, the prince shall be Elisur the son of Sedeur: ¹¹And the whole army of his fighting men, that were numbered, were forty-six thousand five hundred. ¹²Beside him camped they of the tribe of Simeon: whose prince was Salamiel the son of Surisaddai. ¹³And the whole army of his fighting men, that were numbered, were fifty-nine thousand three hundred. ¹⁴In the tribe of Gad the prince was Eliasaph the son of Duel. ¹⁵And the whole army of his fighting men that were numbered, were forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty. ¹⁶All that were reckoned up in the camp of Ruben, were a hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and fifty, by their troops: they shall march in the second place. ¹⁷And the tabernacle of the testimony shall be carried by the officers of the Levites and their troops. As it shall be set up, so shall it be taken down. Every one shall march according to their places, and ranks. ¹⁸On the west side shall be the camp of the sons of Ephraim, whose prince was Elisama, the son of Ammiud. ¹⁹The whole army of his fighting men, that were numbered, were forty thousand five hundred. ²⁰And with them the tribe of the sons of Manasses, whose prince was Gamaliel the son of Phadassur. ²¹And the whole army of his fighting men, that were numbered, were thirty-two thousand two hundred. ²²In the tribe of the sons of Benjamin the prince was Abidan the son of Gedeon. ²³And the whole army of his fighting men, that were reckoned up, were thirty-five thousand four hundred. ²⁴All that were numbered in the camp of Ephraim, were a hundred and eight thousand one hundred by their troops: they shall march in the third place. ²⁵On the north side camped the sons of Dan: whose prince was Ahiezar the son of Ammisaddai. ²⁶The whole army of his fighting men, that were numbered, were sixty-two thousand seven hundred. ²⁷Beside him they of the tribe of Aser pitched their tents: whose prince was Phegiel the son of Ochran. ²⁸The whole army of his fighting men, that were numbered, were forty-one thousand five hundred. ²⁹Of the tribe of the sons of Nephtali the prince was Ahira the son of Enan. ³⁰The whole army of his fighting men, were fifty-three thousand four hundred. ³¹All that were numbered in the camp of Dan, were a hundred and fifty-seven thousand six hundred: and they shall march last. ³²This is the number of the children of Israel, of their army divided according to the houses of their kindreds and their troops, six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty. ³³And the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel: for so the Lord had commanded Moses. ³⁴And the children of Israel did according to all things that the Lord had commanded. They camped by their troops, and marched by the families and houses of their fathers.

Chapter 3

¹These are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the Lord spoke to Moses in mount Sinai. ²And these the names of the sons of Aaron: his firstborn Nadab, then Abiu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar. ³These the names of the sons of Aaron the priests that were anointed, and whose hands were filled and consecrated, to do the functions of priesthood. ⁴Now Nadab and Abiu died, without children, when they offered strange fire before the Lord, in the desert of Sinai: and Eleazar and Ithamar performed the priestly office in the presence of Aaron their father. ⁵And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁶Bring the tribe of Levi, and make them stand in the sight of Aaron the priest to minister to him, and let them watch, ⁷And observe whatsoever appertaineth to the service of the multitude before the tabernacle of the testimony, ⁸And let them keep the vessels of the tabernacle, serving in the ministry thereof. ⁹And thou shalt give the Levites for a gift, ¹⁰To Aaron and to his sons, to whom they are delivered by the children of Israel. But thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons over the service of priesthood. The stranger that approacheth to minister, shall be put to death. ¹¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying : ¹²I have taken the Levites from the children of Israel, for every firstborn that openeth the womb among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. ¹³For every firstborn is mine: since I struck the firstborn in the land of Egypt: I have sanctified to myself whatsoever is firstborn in Israel both of man and beast, they are mine: I am the Lord. ¹⁴And the Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, saying: ¹⁵Number the sons of Levi by the houses of their fathers and their families, every male from one month and upward. ¹⁶Moses numbered them as the Lord had commanded. ¹⁷And there were found sons of Levi by their names, Gerson and Caath and Merari. ¹⁸The sons of Gerson: Lebni and Semei. ¹⁹The sons of Caath: Amram, and Jesaar, Hebron and Oziel: ²⁰The sons of Merari: Moholi and Musi. ²¹Of Gerson were two families, the Lebnites, and the Semeites: ²²Of which were numbered, people of the male sex from one month and upward, seven thousand five hundred. ²³These shall pitch behind the tabernacle on the west, ²⁴Under their prince Eliasaph the son of Lael. ²⁵And their charge shall be in the tabernacle of the covenant: ²⁶The tabernacle itself and the cover thereof, the hanging that is drawn before the doors of the tabernacle of the covenant, and the curtains of the court: the hanging also that is hanged in the entry of the court of the tabernacle, and whatsoever belongeth to the rite of the altar, the cords of the tabernacle, and all the furniture thereof. ²⁷Of the kindred of Caath come the families of the Amramites and Jesaarites and Hebronites and Ozielites. These are the families of the Caathites reckoned up by their names: ²⁸All of the male sex from one month and upward, eight thousand six hundred: they shall have the guard of the sanctuary, ²⁹And shall camp on the south side. ³⁰And their prince shall be Elisaphan the son of Oziel: ³¹And they shall keep the ark, and the table and the candlestick, the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary, wherewith they minister, and the veil, and all the furniture of this kind. ³²And the prince of the princes of the Levites, Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, shall be over them that watch for the guard of the sanctuary. ³³And of Merari are the families of the Moholites, and Musites, reckoned up by their names : ³⁴All of the male kind from one month and upward, six thousand two hundred. ³⁵Their prince Suriel the son of Abihaiel: they shall camp on the north side. ³⁶Under their custody shall be the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars, and the pillars and their sockets, and all things that pertain to this kind of service: ³⁷And the pillars of the court round about with their sockets, and the pins with their cords. ³⁸Before the tabernacle of the covenant, that is to say on the east side, shall Moses and Aaron camp, with their sons, having the custody of the sanctuary, in the midst of the children of Israel. What stranger soever cometh unto it, shall be put to death. ³⁹All the Levites, that Moses and Aaron numbered according to the precept of the Lord, by their families, of the male kind from one month and upward, were twenty-two thousand. ⁴⁰And the Lord said to Moses: Number the firstborn of the male sex of the children of Israel, from one month and upward, and thou shalt take the sum of them. ⁴¹And thou shalt take the Levites to me for all the firstborn of the children of Israel, I am the Lord: and their cattle for all the firstborn of the cattle of the children of Israel: ⁴²Moses reckoned up, as the Lord had commanded, the firstborn of the children of Israel: ⁴³And the males by their names, from one month and upward, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three. ⁴⁴And the Lord spoke to Moses, saving: ⁴⁵Take the Levites for the firstborn of the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites for their cattle, and the Levites shall be mine. I am the Lord. ⁴⁶But for the price of the two hundred and seventy-three, of the firstborn of the children of Israel, that exceed the number of the Levites, ⁴⁷Thou shalt take five sides for every head, according to the weight of the sanctuary. A sicle hath twenty obols. ⁴⁸And then shalt give the money to Aaron and his sons, the price of them that are above. ⁴⁹Moses therefore took the money of them that were above, and whom they had redeemed from the Levites, ⁵⁰For the firstborn of the children of Israel, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five sicles, according to the weight of the sanctuary, ⁵¹And gave it to Aaron and his sons, according to the word that the Lord had commanded him.

Chapter 4

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, and Aaron, saying: ²Take the sum of the sons of Caath from the midst of the Levites, by their houses and families. ³From thirty years old and upward, to fifty years old, of all that go in to stand and to minister in the tabernacle of the covenant. ⁴This is the service of the sons of Caath: ⁵When the camp is to set forward, Aaron and his sons shall go into the tabernacle of the covenant, and the holy of holies, and shall take down the veil that hangeth before the door, and shall wrap up the ark of the testimony in it, ⁶And shall cover it again with a cover of violet skins, and shall spread over it a cloth all of violet, and shall put in the bars. ⁷They shall wrap up also the table of proposition in a cloth of violet, and shall put with it the censers and little mortars, the cups and bowls to pour out the libations: the leaves shall be always on it: ⁸And they shall spread over it a cloth of scarlet, which again they shall cover with a covering of violet skins, and shall put in the bars. ⁹They shall take also a cloth of violet wherewith they shall cover the candlestick with the lamps and tongs thereof and the snuffers and all the oil vessels, which are necessary for the dressing of the lamps : ¹⁰And over all they shall put a cover of violet skins and put in the bars. ¹¹And they shall wrap up the golden altar also in a cloth of violet, and shall spread over it a cover of violet skins, and put in the bars. ¹²All the vessels wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, they shall wrap up in a cloth of violet, and shall spread over it a cover of violet skins, and put in the bars. ¹³They shall cleanse the altar also from the ashes, and shall wrap it up in a purple cloth, ¹⁴And shall put it with all the vessels that they use in the ministry thereof, that is to say, firepans, fleshhooks and forks, pothooks and shovels. They shall cover all the vessels of the altar together with a covering of violet skins, and shall put in the bars. ¹⁵And when Aaron and his sons have wrapped up the sanctuary and the vessels thereof at the removing of the camp, then shall the sons of Caath enter in to carry the things wrapped up: and they shall not touch the vessels of the sanctuary, lest they die. These are the burdens of the sons of Caath: in the tabernacle of the covenant: ¹⁶And over them shall be Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, to whose charge pertaineth the oil to dress the lamps, and the sweet incense, and the sacrifice, that is always offered, and the oil of unction, and whatsoever pertaineth to the service of the tabernacle, and of all the vessels that are in the sanctuary. ¹⁷And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ¹⁸Destroy not the people of Caath from the midst of the Levites: ¹⁹But do this to them, that they may live, and not die, by touching the holies of holies. Aaron and his sons shall go in, and they shall appoint every man his work, and shall divide the burdens that every man is to carry. ²⁰Let not others by any curiosity see the things that are in the sanctuary before they be wrapped up, otherwise they shall die. ²¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²²Take the sum of the soils of Gerson also by their houses and families and kindreds. ²³From thirty Sears old and upward, unto fifty years old. Number them all that go in and minister in the tabernacle of the covenant. ²⁴This is the office of the family of the Gersonites : ²⁵To carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the roof of the covenant, the other covering, and the violet covering over all, and the hanging that hangeth in the entry of the tabernacle of the covenant, ²⁶The curtains of the court, and the veil in the entry that is before the tabernacle. All things that pertain to the altar, the cords and the vessels of the ministry, ²⁷The sons of Gerson shall carry, by the commandment of Aaron and his sons: and each man shall know to what burden he must be assigned. ²⁸This is the service of the family of the Gersonites in the tabernacle of the covenant, and they shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. ²⁹Thou shalt reckon up the sons of Merari also by the families and houses of their fathers, ³⁰From thirty years old and upward, unto fifty years old, all that go in to the office of their ministry, and to the service of the covenant of the testimony. ³¹These are their burdens: They shall carry the boards of the tabernacle and the bars thereof, the pillars and their sockets, ³²The pillars also of the court round about, with their sockets and pins and cords. They shall receive by account all the vessels and furniture, and so shall carry them. ³³This is the office of the family of the Merarites, and their ministry in the tabernacle of the covenant: and they shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. ³⁴So Moses and Aaron and the princes of the synagogue reckoned up the sons of Caath, by their kindreds and the houses of their fathers, ³⁵From thirty years old and upward, unto fifty years old, all that go in to the ministry of the tabernacle of the covenant: ³⁶And they were found two thousand seven hundred and fifty. ³⁷This is the number of the people of Caath that go in to the tabernacle of the covenant: these did Moses and Aaron number according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses. ³⁸The sons of Gerson also were numbered by the kindreds and houses of their fathers, ³⁹From thirty years old and upward, unto fifty years old, all that go in to minister in the tabernacle of the covenant: ⁴⁰And they were found two thousand six hundred and thirty. ⁴¹This is the people of the Gersonites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord. ⁴²The sons of Merari also were numbered by the kindreds and houses of their fathers, ⁴³From thirty years old and upward, unto fifty years old, all that go in to fulfil the rites of the tabernacle of the covenant: ⁴⁴And they were found three thousand two hundred. ⁴⁵This is the number of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron reckoned up according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses. ⁴⁶All that were reckoned up of the Levites, and whom Moses and Aaron and the princes of Israel took by name, by the kindreds and houses of their fathers, ⁴⁷From thirty years old and upward, until fifty years old, that go into the ministry of the tabernacle, and to carry the burdens, ⁴⁸Were in all eight thousand five hundred and eighty. ⁴⁹Moses reckoned them up according to the word of the Lord, every one according to their office and burdens, as the Lord had commanded him.

Chapter 5

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Command the children of Israel, that they cast out of the camp every leper, and whosoever hath an issue of seed, or is defiled by the dead: ³Whether it be man or woman, cast ye them out of the camp, lest they defile it when I shall dwell with you. ⁴And the children of Israel did so, and they cast them forth without the camp, as the Lord had spoken to Moses. ⁵And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁶Say to the children of Israel: When a man or woman shall have committed any of all the sins that men are wont to commit, and by negligence shall have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and offended, ⁷They shall confess their sin, and restore the principal itself, and the fifth part over and above, to him against whom they have sinned. ⁸But if there be no one to receive it, they shall give it to the Lord, and it shall be the priest's, besides the ram that is offered for expiation, to be an atoning sacrifice. ⁹an the firstfruits also, which the children of Israel offer, belong to the priest: ¹⁰And whatsoever is offered into the sanctuary by every one, and is delivered into the hands of the priest, it shall be his. ¹¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹²Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: The man whose wife shall have gone astray, and contemning her husband, ¹³Shall have slept with another man, and her husband cannot discover it, but the adultery is secret, and cannot be proved by witnesses, because she was not found in the adultery: ¹⁴If the spirit of jealousy stir up the husband against his wife, who either is defiled, or is charged with false suspicion, ¹⁵He shall bring her to the priest, and shall offer an oblation for her, the tenth part of a measure of barley meal: he shall not pour oil thereon, nor put frankincense upon it: because it is a sacrifice of jealousy, and an oblation searching out adultery. ¹⁶The priest therefore shall offer it, and set it before the Lord. ¹⁷And he shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and he shall cast a little earth of the pavement of the tabernacle into it. ¹⁸And when the woman shall stand before the Lord, he shall uncover her head, and shall, put on her hands the sacrifice of remembrance, and the oblation of jealousy: and he himself shall hold the most bitter waters, whereon he hath heaped curses with execration. ¹⁹And he shall adjure her, and shall say: If another man hath not slept with thee, and if thou be not defiled by forsaking thy husband's bed, these most bitter waters, on which I have heaped curses, shall not hurt thee. ²⁰But if thou hast gone aside from thy husband, and art defiled, and hast lain with another man: ²¹These curses shall light upon thee: The Lord make thee a curse, and an example for all among his people: may he make thy thigh to rot, and may thy belly swell and burst asunder. ²²Let the cursed waters enter into thy belly, and may thy womb swell and thy thigh rot. And the woman shall answer, Amen, amen. ²³And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and shall wash them out with the most bitter waters, upon which he hath heaped the curses, ²⁴And he shall give them her to drink. And when she hath drunk them up, ²⁵The priest shall take from her hand the sacrifice of jealousy, and shall elevate it before the Lord, and shall put it upon the altar: yet so as first, ²⁶To take a handful of the sacrifice of that which is offered, and burn it upon the altar: and so give the most bitter waters to the woman to drink. ²⁷And when she hath drunk them, if she be defiled, and having despised her husband be guilty of adultery, the malediction shall go through her, and her belly swelling, her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse, and an example to all the people. ²⁸But if she be not defiled, she shall not be hurt, and shall bear children. ²⁹This is the law of jealousy. If a woman hath gone aside from her husband, and be defiled, ³⁰And the husband stirred up by the spirit of jealousy bring her before the Lord, and the priest do to her according to all things that are here written: ³¹The husband shall be blameless, and she shall bear her iniquity.

Chapter 6

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When a man, or woman, shall make a vow to be sanctified, and will consecrate themselves to the Lord: ³They shall abstain from wine, and from every thing that may make a man drunk. They shall not drink vinegar of wine, or of any other drink, nor any thing that is pressed out of the grape: nor shall they eat grapes either fresh or dried. ⁴All the days that they are consecrated to the Lord by vow: they shall eat nothing that cometh of the vineyard, from the raisin even to the kernel. ⁵All the time of his separation no razor shall pass over his head, until the day be fulfilled of his consecration to the Lord. He shall be holy, and shall let the hair of his head grow. ⁶All the time of his consecration he shall not go in to any dead, ⁷Neither shall he make himself unclean, even for his father, or for his mother, or for his brother, or for his sister, when they die, because the consecration of his God is upon his head. ⁸All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the Lord. ⁹But if any man die suddenly before him: the head of his consecration shall be defiled: and he shall shave it forthwith on the same day of his purification, and again on the seventh day. ¹⁰And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons to the priest in the entry of the covenant of the testimony. ¹¹And the priest shall offer one for sin, and the other for a holocaust, and shall pray for him, for that he hath sinned by the dead: and he shall sanctify his head that day : ¹²And shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation, offering a lamb of one year for sin: yet so that the former days be made void, because his sanctification was profaned. ¹³This is the law of consecration. When the days which he had determined by vow shall be expired, he shall bring him to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, ¹⁴And shall offer his oblation to the Lord: one he lamb of a year old without blemish for a holocaust, and one awe lamb of a year old without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for a victim of peace offering, ¹⁵A basket also of unleavened bread, tempered with oil, and wafers without leaven anointed with oil, and the libations of each: ¹⁶And the priest shall present them before the Lord, and shall offer both the sin offering and the holocaust. ¹⁷But the ram he shall immolate for a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, offering at the same time the basket of unleavened bread, and the libations that are due by custom. ¹⁸Then shall the hair of the consecration of the Nazarite, be shaved off before the door of the tabernacle of the covenant: and he shall take his hair, and lay it upon the fire, which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings. ¹⁹And shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and he shall deliver them into the hands of the Nazarite, after his head is shaven. ²⁰And receiving them again from him, he shall elevate them in the sight of the Lord: and they being sanctified shall belong to the priest, as the breast, which was commanded to be separated, and the shoulder. After this the Nazarite may drink wine. ²¹This is the law of the Nazarite, when he hath vowed his oblation to the Lord in the time of his consecration, besides those things which his hand shall find, according to that which he had vowed in his mind, so shall he do for the fulfilling of his sanctification. ²²And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²³Say to Aaron and his sons: Thus shall you bless the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: ²⁴The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. ²⁵The Lord shew his face to thee, and have mercy on thee. ²⁶The Lord turn his countenance to thee, and give thee peace. ²⁷And they shall invoke my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.

Chapter 7

¹And it came to pass in the day that Moses had finished the tabernacle, and set it up, and had anointed and sanctified it with all its vessels, the altar likewise and all the vessels thereof, ²The princes of Israel and the heads of the families, in every tribe, who were the rulers of them who had been numbered, offered ³Their gifts before the Lord, six wagons covered, and twelve oxen. Two princes offered one wagon, and each one an ox, and they offered them before the tabernacle. ⁴And the Lord said to Moses: ⁵Receive them from them to serve in the ministry of the tabernacle, and thou shalt deliver them to the Levites according to the order of their ministry. ⁶Moses therefore receiving the wagons and the oxen, delivered them to the Levites. ⁷Two wagons and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gerson, according to their necessity. ⁸The other four wagons, and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their offices and service, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. ⁹But to the sons of Caath he gave no wagons or oxen: because they serve in the sanctuary and carry their burdens upon their own shoulders. ¹⁰And the princes offered for the dedication of the altar on the day when it was anointed, their oblation before the altar. ¹¹And the Lord said to Moses: Let each of the princes one day after another offer their gifts for the dedication of the altar. ¹²The first day Nahasson the son of Aminadab of the tribe of Juda offered his offering: ¹³And his offering was a silver dish weighing one hundred and thirty sides, a silver bowl of seventy sides according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for ¹⁴A little mortar of ten sides of gold full of incense: ¹⁵An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust: ¹⁶And a buck goat for sin: ¹⁷And for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Nahasson the son of Aminadab. ¹⁸The second day Nathanael the son of Suar, prince of the tribe of Issachar, made his offering, ¹⁹A silver dish weighing one hundred and thirty sides, a silver bowl of seventy sides, according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice: ²⁰A little mortar of gold weighing ten sides full of incense: ²¹An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust: ²²And a buck goat for sin: ²³And for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Nathanael the son of Suar. ²⁴The third day the prince of the sons of Zabulon, Eliab the son of Helon, ²⁵Offered a silver dish weighing one hundred and thirty sides, a silver bowl of seventy sides by the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice: ²⁶A little mortar of gold weighing ten sides full of incense: ²⁷An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust: ²⁸And a buck goat for sin: ²⁹And for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This is the oblation of Eliab the son of Helon. ³⁰The fourth day the prince of the sons of Ruben, Elisur the son of Sedeur, ³¹Offered a silver dish weighing one hundred and thirty sides, a silver bowl of seventy sides according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice: ³²A little mortar of gold weighing ten sides full of incense: ³³An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old, for a holocaust: ³⁴And a buck goat for sin: ³⁵And for victims of peace offerings two oxen, five rams, five buck goats. five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Elisur the son of Sedeur. ³⁶The fifth day the prince of the sons of Simeon, Salamiel the son of Surisaddai, ³⁷Offered a silver dish weighing one hundred and thirty sides, a silver bowl of seventy sides after the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice: ³⁸A little mortar of gold weighing ten sides full of incense: ³⁹An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust: ⁴⁰And a buck goat for sin: ⁴¹And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Salamiel the son of Surisaddai. ⁴²The sixth day the prince of the sons of Gad, Eliasaph the son of Duel, ⁴³Offered a silver dish weighing a hundred and thirty sides, a silver bowl of seventy sides by the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice: ⁴⁴A little mortar of gold weighing ten sides full of incense: ⁴⁵An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust: ⁴⁶And a buck goat for sin: ⁴⁷And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Eliasaph the son of Duel. ⁴⁸The seventh day the prince of the sons of Ephraim, Elisama the son Ammiud, ⁴⁹Offered a silver dish weighing a hundred and thirty sides, a silver bowl of seventy sides according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of hour tempered with oil for a sacrifice: ⁵⁰A little mortar of gold weighing ten sides full of incense : ⁵¹An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust: ⁵²And a buck goat for sin: ⁵³And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Elisama the son of Ammiud. ⁵⁴The eighth day the prince of the sons of Manasses, Gamaliel the son of Phadassur, ⁵⁵Offered a silver dish weighing a hundred and thirty sicles, a silver bowl of seventy sicles, according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice: ⁵⁶A little mortar of gold weighing ten sicles full of incense: ⁵⁷An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust: ⁵⁸And a buck goat for sin: ⁵⁹And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Gamaliel the son of Phadassur. ⁶⁰The ninth day the prince of the sons of Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gedeon, ⁶¹Offered a silver dish weighing a hundred and thirty sides, a silver bowl of seventy sides by the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice: ⁶²A little mortar of gold weighing ten sides full of incense: ⁶³An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a, holocaust: ⁶⁴And a buck goat for sin: ⁶⁵And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Abidan the son of Gedeon. ⁶⁶The tenth day the prince of the sons of Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammisaddai, ⁶⁷Offered a silver dish weighing a hundred and thirty sides, a silver bowl of seventy sides, according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice: ⁶⁸A little mortar of gold weighing ten sides full of incense : ⁶⁹An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust: ⁷⁰And a buck goat for sin: ⁷¹And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Ahiezer the son of Ammisaddai. ⁷²The eleventh day the prince of the sons of Aser, Phegiel the son of Ochran, ⁷³Offered a silver dish weighing a hundred and thirty sides, a silver bowl of seventy sides, according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice: ⁷⁴A little mortar of gold weighing ten sides full of incense: ⁷⁵An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust: ⁷⁶And a buck goat for sin: ⁷⁷And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Phegiel the son of Ochran. ⁷⁸The twelfth day the prince of the sons of Nephtali, Ahira the son of Enan, ⁷⁹Offered a silver dish weighing a hundred and thirty sides, a silver bowl of seventy sides, according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice: ⁸⁰A little mortar of gold weighing ten sides full of incense: ⁸¹An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust: ⁸²And a buck goat for sin: ⁸³And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Ahira the son of Enan. ⁸⁴These were the offerings made by the princes of Israel in the dedication of the altar, in the day wherein it was consecrated. Twelve dishes of silver: twelve silver bowls: twelve little mortars of gold: ⁸⁵Each dish weighing a hundred and thirty sides of silver, and each bowl seventy sides: that is, putting all the vessels of silver together, two thousand four hundred sides, by the weight of the sanctuary. ⁸⁶Twelve little mortars of gold full of incense, weighing ten sides apiece, by the weight of the sanctuary: that is, in all a hundred and twenty sides of gold. ⁸⁷Twelve oxen out of the herd for a holocaust, twelve rams, twelve lambs of a year old, and their libations: twelve buck goats for sin. ⁸⁸And for sacrifices of peace offerings, oxen twenty-four, rams sixty, buck goats sixty, lambs of a year old sixty. These things were offered in the dedication of the altar, when it was anointed. ⁸⁹And when Moses entered into the tabernacle of the covenant, to consult the oracle, he heard the voice of one speaking to him from the propitiatory, that was over the ark between the two cherubims, and from this place he spoke to him.

Chapter 8

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to Aaron, and thou shalt say to him: When thou shalt place the seven lamps, let the candlestick be set up on the south side. Give orders therefore that the lamps look over against the north, towards the table of the leaves of proposition, over against that part shall they give light, towards which the candlestick looketh. ³And Aaron did so, and he put the lamps upon the candlestick, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁴Now this was the work of the candlestick, it was of beaten gold, both the shaft in the middle, and all that came out of both sides of the branches: according to the pattern which the Lord had shewn to Moses, so he made the candlestick. ⁵And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying : ⁶Take the Levites out of the midst of the children of Israel, and thou shalt purify them, ⁷According to this rite: Let them be sprinkled with the water of purification, and let them shave all the hairs of their flesh. And when they shall have washed their garments, and are cleansed, ⁸They shall take an ox of the herd, and for the offering thereof fine flour tempered with oil: and thou shalt take another ox of the herd for a sin offering: ⁹And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the covenant, calling together all the multitude of the children of Israel: ¹⁰And when the Levites are before the Lord, the children of Israel shall put their hands upon them: ¹¹And Aaron shall offer the Levites, as a gift in the sight of the Lord from the children of Israel, that they may serve in his ministry. ¹²The Levites also shall put their hands upon the heads of the oxen, of which thou shalt sacrifice one for sin, and the other for a holocaust to the Lord, to pray for them. ¹³And thou shalt set the Levites in the sight of Aaron and of his sons, and shalt consecrate them being offered to the Lord, ¹⁴And shalt separate them from the midst of the children of Israel, to be mine. ¹⁵And afterwards they shall enter into the tabernacle of the covenant, to serve me. And thus shalt thou purify and consecrate them for an oblation of the Lord: for as a gift they were given me by the children of Israel. ¹⁶I have taken them instead of the firstborn that open every womb in Israel, ¹⁷For all the firstborn of the children of Israel, both of men and of beasts, are mine. From the day that I slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, have I sanctified them to myself: ¹⁸And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel: ¹⁹And have delivered them for a gift to Aaron and his sons out of the midst of the people, to serve me for Israel in the tabernacle of the covenant, and to pray for them, lest there should be a plague among the people, if they should presume to approach unto my sanctuary. ²⁰And Moses and Aaron and all the multitude of the children of Israel did with the Levites all that the Lord had commanded Moses: ²¹And they were purified, and washed their garments. And Aaron lifted them up in the sight of the Lard, and prayed for them, ²²That being purified they might go into the tabernacle of the covenant to do their services before Aaron and his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses touching the Levites, so was it done. ²³And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁴This is the law of the Levites: From twenty-five years old and upwards, they shall go in to minister in the tabernacle of the covenant. ²⁵And when they shall have accomplished the fiftieth year of their age, they shall cease to serve: ²⁶And they shall be the ministers of their brethren in the tabernacle of the covenant, to keep the things that are committed to their care, but not to do the works. Thus shalt thou order the Levites touching their charge.

Chapter 9

¹The Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first month, saying: ²Let the children of Israel make the phase in its due time, ³The fourteenth day of this month in the evening, according to all the ceremonies and justifications thereof. ⁴And Moses commanded the children of Israel that they should make the phase. ⁵And they made it in its proper time: the fourteenth day of the month at evening, in mount Sinai. The children of Israel did according to all things that the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁶But behold some who were unclean by occasion of the soul of a men, who could not make the phase on that day, coming to Moses and Aaron, ⁷Said to them: We are unclean by occasion of the soul of a man. Why are we kept back that we may not offer in its season the offering to the Lord among the children of Israel? ⁸And Moses answered them: Stay that I may consult the Lord what he will ordain concerning you. ⁹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁰Say to the children of Israel: The man that shall be unclean by occasion of one that is dead, or shall be in a journey afar off in your nation, let him make the phase to the Lord. ¹¹In the second month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, they shall eat it with unleavened bread and wild lettuce: ¹²They shall not leave any thing thereof until morning, a nor break a bone thereof, they shall observe all the ceremonies of the phase. ¹³But if any man is clean, and was not on a journey, and did not make the phase, that soul shall be cut off from among his people, because he offered not sacrifice to the Lord in due season: he shall bear his sin. ¹⁴The sojourner also and the stranger if they be among you, shall make the phase to the Lord according to the ceremonies and justifications thereof. The same ordinance shall be with you both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land. ¹⁵Now on the day that the tabernacle was reared up, a cloud covered it. But from the evening there was over the tabernacle, as it were, the appearance of fire until the morning. ¹⁶So it was always: by day the cloud covered it, and by night as it were the appearance of fire. ¹⁷And when the cloud that covered the tabernacle was taken up, then the children of Israel marched forward: and in the place where the cloud stood still, there they camped. ¹⁸At the commandment of the Lord they marched, and at his commandment they pitched the tabernacle. All the days that the cloud abode over the tabernacle, they remained in the same place: ¹⁹And if it was so that it continued over it a long time, the children of Israel kept the watches of the Lord, and marched not, ²⁰For as many days soever as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. At the commandment of the Lord they pitched their tents, and at his commandment they took them down. ²¹If the cloud tarried from evening until morning, and immediately at break of day left the tabernacle, they marched forward: and if it departed after a day and a night, they took down their tents. ²²But if it remained over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a longer time, the children of Israel remained in the same place, and marched not: but immediately as soon as it departed, they removed the camp. ²³By the word of the Lord they pitched their tents, and by his word they marched: and kept the watches of the Lord according to his commandment by the hand of Moses.

Chapter 10

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Make thee two trumpets of beaten silver, wherewith thou mayest call together the multitude when the camp is to be removed. ³And when thou shalt sound the trumpets, all the multitude shall gather unto thee to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant. ⁴If thou sound but once, the princes and the heads of the multitude of Israel shall come to thee. ⁵But if the sound of the trumpets be longer, and with interruptions, they that are on the east side, shall first go forward. ⁶And at the second sounding and like noise of the trumpet, they who lie on the south side shall take up their tents. And after this manner shall the rest do, when the trumpets shall sound for a march. ⁷But when the people is to be gathered together, the sound of the trumpets shall be plain, and they shall not make a broken sound. ⁸And the sons of Aaron the priest shall sound the trumpets: and this shall be an ordinance for ever in your generations. ⁹If you go forth to war out of your land against the enemies that fight against you, you shall sound aloud with the trumpets, and there shall be a remembrance of you before the Lord your God, that you may be delivered out of the hands of your enemies. ¹⁰If at any time you shall have a banquet, end on your festival days, and on the first days of your months, you shall sound the trumpets over the holocausts, and the sacrifices of peace offerings, that they may be to you for a remembrance of your God. I am the Lord your God. ¹¹The second year, in the second month, the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle of the covenant. ¹²And the children of Israel marched by their troops from the desert of Sinai, and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Pharan. ¹³And the first went forward according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses. ¹⁴The sons of Juda by their troops: whose prince was Nahasson the son of Aminadab. ¹⁵In the tribe of the sons of Issachar, the prince was Nathanael the son of Suar. ¹⁶In the tribe of Zabulon, the prince was Eliab the son of Helon. ¹⁷And the tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gerson and Merari set forward, bearing it. ¹⁸And the sons of Ruben also marched, by their troops and ranks, whose prince was Helisur the son of Sedeur. ¹⁹And in the tribe of Simeon, the prince was Salamiel the son of Surisaddai. ²⁰And in the tribe of Cad, the prince was Eliasaph the son of Duel. ²¹Then the Caathites also marched carrying the sanctuary. So long was the tabernacle carried, till they same to the place of setting it up. ²²The sons of Ephraim also moved their camp by their troops, in whose army the prince was Elisama the son of Ammiud. ²³And in the tribe of the sons of Manasses, the prince was Gamaliel the son of Phadassur. ²⁴And in the tribe of Benjamin, the prince was Abidan the son of Gedeon. ²⁵The last of all the camp marched the sons of Dan by their troops, in whose army the prince was Ahiezer the son of Ammisaddai. ²⁶And in the tribe of the sons of Aser, the prince was Phegiel the son of Ochran. ²⁷And in the tribe of the sons of Nephtali, the prince was Ahira the son of Enan. ²⁸This was the order of the camps, and marches of the children of Israel by their troops, when they set forward. ²⁹And Moses said to Hobab the son of Raguel the Madianite, his kinsman: We are going towards the place which the Lord will give us: come with us, that we may do thee good : for the Lord hath promised good things to Israel. ³⁰But he answered him: I will not go with thee, but I will return to my country, wherein I was born. ³¹And he said: Do not leave us: for thou knowest in what places we should encamp in the wilderness, and thou shalt be our guide. ³²And if thou comest with us, we will give thee what is the best of the riches which the Lord shall deliver to us. ³³So they marched from the mount of the Lord three days' journey, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them, for three days providing a place for the camp. ³⁴The cloud also of the Lord was over them by day when they marched. ³⁵And when the ark was lifted up, Moses said: Arise, O Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered, and let them that hate thee, flee from before thy face. ³⁶And when it was set down, he said: Return, O Lord, to the multitude of the host of Israel.

Chapter 11

¹In the mean time there arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were repining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it he was angry. And the fire of the Lord being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp. ²And when the people cried to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was swallowed up. ³And he called the name of that place, The burning: for that the fire of the Lord had been kindled against them. ⁴For a mixt multitude of people, that came up with them, burned with desire, sitting and weeping, the children of Israel also being joined with them, and said: Who shall give us flesh to eat? ⁵We remember the Ash that we ate in Egypt free cost: the cucumbers come into our mind, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. ⁶Our soul is dry, our eyes behold nothing else but manna. ⁷A Now the manna was like coriander seed, of the colour of bdellium. ⁸And the people went about, and gathering it, ground it in a mill, or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in a pot, and made cakes thereof of the taste of bread tempered with oil. ⁹and when the dew fell in the night upon the camp, the manna also fell with it. ¹⁰Now Moses heard the people weeping by their families, every one at the door of his tent. And the wrath of the Lord was exceedingly enkindled: to Moses also the thing seemed insupportable. ¹¹And he said to the Lord: Why hast thou afflicted thy servant? wherefore do I not find favour before thee? and why hast thou laid the weight of all this people upon me ? ¹²Have I conceived all this multitude, or begotten them, that thou shouldst say to me: Carry them in thy bosom as the nurse is wont to carry the little infant, and bear them into the land, for which thou hast sworn to their fathers? ¹³Whence should I have flesh to give to so great a multitude? they weep against me, saying: Give us flesh that we may eat. ¹⁴I am not able alone to bear all this people, because it is too heavy for me. ¹⁵But if it seem unto thee otherwise, I beseech thee to kill me, and let me find grace in thy eyes, that I be not afflicted with so great evils. ¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses: Gather unto me seventy men of the ancients of Israel, whom thou knowest to be ancients and masters of the people: and thou shalt bring them to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, and shalt make them stand there with thee, ¹⁷That I may come down and speak with thee: and I will take of thy spirit, and will give to them, that they may bear with thee the burden of the people, and thou mayest not be burthened alone. ¹⁸And thou shalt say to the people: Be ye sanctified : to morrow you shall eat flesh: for I have heard you say: Who will give us flesh to eat? it was well with us in Egypt. That the Lord may give you flesh, and you may eat: ¹⁹Not for one day, nor two, nor five, nor ten, no nor for twenty. ²⁰But even for a month of days, till it come out at your nostrils, and become loathsome to you, because you have cast off the Lord, who is in the midst of you, and have wept before him, saying: Why came we out of Egypt? ²¹And Moses said: There are six hundred thousand footmen of this people, and sayest thou: I will give them flesh to eat a whole month? ²²Shall then a multitude of sheep and oxen be killed, that it may suffice for their food? or shall the fishes of the sea be gathered together to fill them? ²³And the Lord answered him: Is the hand of the Lord unable? Thou shalt presently see whether my word shall come to pass or no. ²⁴Moses therefore came, and told the people the words of the Lord, and assembled seventy men of the ancients of Israel, and made them to stand about the tabernacle. ²⁵And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, taking away of the spirit that was in Moses, and giving to the seventy men. And when the spirit had rested on them they prophesied, nor did they cease afterwards. ²⁶Now there remained in the camp two of the men, of whom one was called Eldad, and the other Medad, upon whom the spirit rested; for they also had been enrolled, but were not gone forth to the tabernacle. ²⁷And when they prophesied in the camp, there ran a young man, and told Moses, saying: Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp. ²⁸Forthwith Josue the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, and chosen out of many, said: My lord Moses forbid them. ²⁹But he said: Why hast thou emulation for me? O that all the people might prophesy, and that the Lord would give them his spirit! ³⁰And Moses returned, with the ancients of Israel, into the camp. ³¹And a wind going out from the Lord, taking quails up beyond the sea brought them, and cast them into the camp for the space of one day's journey, on every side of the camp round about, and they flew in the air two cubits high above the ground. ³²The people therefore rising up all that day, and night, and the next day, gathered together of quails, he that did least, ten cores: and they dried them round about the camp. ³³As yet the flesh was between their teeth, neither had that kind of meat failed: when behold the wrath of the Lord being provoked against the people, struck them with an exceeding great plague. ³⁴And that place was called, The graves of lust: for there they buried the people that had lusted. And departing from the graves of lust, they came unto Haseroth, and abode there.

Chapter 12

¹And Mary and Aaron spoke against Moses, because of his wife the Ethiopian, ²And they said: Hath the Lord spoken by Moses only? hath he not also spoken to us in like manner? And when the Lord heard this, ³(For Moses was a man exceeding meek above all men that dwelt upon earth) ⁴Immediately he spoke to him, and to Aaron and Mary: Come out you three only to the tabernacle of the covenant. And when they were come out, ⁵The Lord came down in a pillar of the cloud, and stood in the entry of the tabernacle calling to Aaron and Mary. And when they were come, ⁶He said to them: Hear my words: if there be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to him in a vision, or I will speak to him in a dream. ⁷But it is not so with my servant Moses a who is most faithful in all my house: ⁸For I speak to him mouth to mouth: and plainly, and not by riddles and figures doth he see the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak ill of my servant Moses? ⁹And being angry with them he went away: ¹⁰The cloud also that was over the tabernacle departed: and behold Mary appeared white as snow with a leprosy. And when Aaron had looked on her, and saw her all covered with leprosy, ¹¹He said to Moses: I beseech thee, my lord, lay not upon us this sin, which we have foolishly committed: ¹²Let her not be as one dead, and as an abortive that is cast forth from the mother's womb. Lo, now one half of her flesh is consumed with the leprosy. ¹³And Moses cried to the Lord, saying: O God, I beseech thee heal her. ¹⁴And the Lord answered him: If her father had spitten upon her face, ought she not to have been ashamed for seven days at least? Let her be separated seven days without the camp, and after wards she shall be called again. ¹⁵Mary therefore was put out of the camp seven days : and the people moved not from that place until Mary was called again.

Chapter 13

¹And the people marched from Haseroth, and pitched their tents in the desert of Pharan. ²And there the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ³Send men to view the land of Chanaan, which I will give to the children of Israel, one of every tribe, of the rulers. ⁴Moses did what the Lord had commanded, sending from the desert of Pharan, principal men, whose names are these: ⁵Of the tribe of Ruben, Sammua the son of Zechur. ⁶Of the tribe of Simeon, Saphat the son of Hurl. ⁷Of the tribe of Juda, Caleb the son of Jephone. ⁸Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. ⁹Of the tribe of Ephraim, Osee the son of Nun. ¹⁰Of the tribe of Benjamin, Phalti the son of Raphu. ¹¹Of the tribe of Zabulon, Geddiel the son of Sodi. ¹²Of the tribe of Joseph, of the sceptre of Manasses, Gaddi the son of Susi. ¹³Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. ¹⁴Of the tribe of Aser, Sthur the son of Michael. ¹⁵Of the tribe of Nephtali, Nahabi the son of Vapsi. ¹⁶Of the tribe of Gad, Guel the son of Machi. ¹⁷These are the names of the men, whom Moses sent to view the land: and he called Osee the son of Nun, Josue. ¹⁸And Moses sent them to view the land of Chanaan, and said to them: Go you up by the south side. And when you shall come to the mountains, ¹⁹View the land, of what sort it is: and the people that are the inhabitants thereof, whether they be strong or weak: few in number or many: ²⁰The land itself, whether it be good or bad: what manner of cities, walled or without walls: ²¹The ground, fat or barren, woody or without trees. Be of good courage, and bring us of the fruits of the land. Now it was the time when the first ripe grapes are fit to be eaten. ²²And when they were gone up, they viewed the land from the desert of Sin, unto Rohob as you enter into Emath. ²³And they went up at the south side, and came to Hebron, where were Achiman and Sisai and Tholmai the sons of Enac. For Hebron was built seven years before Tanis the city of Egypt. ²⁴And going forward as far as the torrent of the cluster of grapes, they cut off a branch with its cluster of grapes, which two men carried upon a lever. They took also of the pomegranates and of the figs of that place: ²⁵Which was called Nehelescol, that is to say, the torrent of the cluster of grapes, because from thence the children of Israel had carried a cluster of grapes. ²⁶And they that went to spy out the land returned after forty days, having gone round all the country, ²⁷And came to Moses and Aaron and to all the assembly of the children of Israel to the desert of Pharan, which is in Cades. And speaking to them and to all the multitude, they shewed them the fruits of the land: ²⁸And they related and said: We came into the land to which thou sentest us, which in very deed floweth with milk and honey as may be known by these fruits: ²⁹But it hath very strong inhabitants, and the cities are great and walled. We saw there the race of Enac. ³⁰Amalec dwelleth in the south, the Hethite and the Jebusite and the Amorrhite in the mountains: but the Chanaanite abideth by the sea and near the streams of the Jordan. ³¹In the mean time Caleb, to still the murmuring of the people that rose against Moses, said: Let us go up and possess the land, for we shall be able to conquer it. ³²But the others, that had been with him, said: No, we are not able to go up to this people, because they are stronger than we. ³³And they spoke ill of the land, which they had viewed, before the children of Israel, saying: The land which we have viewed, devoureth its inhabitants: the people, that we beheld, are of a tall stature. ³⁴There we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac, of the giant kind: in comparison of whom, we seemed like locusts.

Chapter 14

¹Wherefore the whole multitude crying wept that night. ²And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying: ³Would God that we had died in Egypt and would God we may die in this vast wilderness, and that the Lord may not bring us into this land, lest we fall by the sword, and our wives and children be led away captives. Is it not better to return into Egypt? ⁴And they said one to another: Let us appoint a captain, and let us return into Egypt. ⁵And when Moses and Aaron heard this, they fell down flat upon the ground before the multitude of the children of Israel. ⁶But Josue the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephone, who themselves also had viewed the land, rent their garments, ⁷And said to all the multitude of the children of Israel: The land which we have gone round is very good: ⁸If the Lord be favourable, he will bring us into it, and give us a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁹Be not rebellious against the Lord: and fear ye not the people of this land, for we are able to eat them up as bread. All aid is gone from them: the Lord is with us, fear ye not. ¹⁰And when all the multitude cried out, and would have stoned them, the glory of the Lord appeared over the tabernacle of the covenant to all the children of Israel. ¹¹And the Lord said to Moses: How long will this people detract me? how long will they not believe me for all the signs that I have wrought before them? ¹²I will strike them therefore with pestilence, and will consume them: but thee I will make a ruler over a great nation, and a mightier than this is. ¹³And Moses said to the Lord: That the Egyptians, from the midst of whom thou hast brought forth this people, ¹⁴And the inhabitants of this land, (who have heard that thou, O Lord, art among this people, and art seen face to face, and thy cloud protecteth them, and thou goest before them in a pillar of a cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night,) ¹⁵May hear that thou hast killed so great a multitude as it were one man and may say: ¹⁶He could not bring the people into the land for which he had sworn, therefore did he kill them in the wilderness. ¹⁷Let then the strength of the Lord be magnified, as thou hast sworn, saying: ¹⁸The Lord is patient and full of mercy, taking away iniquity and wickedness, and leaving no man clear, who visitest the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. ¹⁹Forgive, I beseech thee, the sins of this people, according to the greatness of thy mercy, as thou hast been merciful to them from their going out of Egypt unto this place. ²⁰And the Lord said: I have forgiven according to thy word. ²¹As I live: and the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. ²²But yet all the men that have seen my majesty, and the signs that I have done in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now ten times, and have not obeyed my voice, ²³Shall not see the land for which I aware to their fathers, neither shall any one of them that hath detracted me behold it. ²⁴My servant Caleb, who being full of another spirit hath followed me, I will bring into this land which he hath gone round: and his seed shall possess it. ²⁵For the Amalecite and the Chanaanite dwell in the valleys. To morrow remove the camp, and return into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. ²⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ²⁷How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. ²⁸Say therefore to them: As I live, saith the Lord: According as you have spoken in my hearing, so will I do to you. ²⁹In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against me, ³⁰Shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up my bend to make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun. ³¹But your children, of whom you said, that they should be a prey to the enemies, will I bring in: that they may see the land which you have despised. ³²Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness. ³³Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed in the desert, ³⁴According to the number of the forty days, wherein you viewed the land: year shall be counted for a day. And forty years you shall receive your iniquities, and shall know my revenge: ³⁵For as I have spoken, so will I do to all this wicked multitude, that hath risen up together against me: in this wilderness shall it faint away and die. ³⁶Therefore all the men, whom Moses had sent to view the land, and who at their return had made the whole multitude to murmur against him, speaking ill of the land that it was naught, ³⁷Died and were struck in the sight of the Lord. ³⁸But Josue .the son of Nun. and Caleb the son of Jephone lived, of all them that had gone to view the land. ³⁹And Moses spoke all these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned exceedingly. ⁴⁰And behold rising up very early in the morning, they went up to the top of the mountain, and said: We are ready to go up to the place, of which the Lord hath spoken: for we have sinned. ⁴¹And Moses said to them: Why transgress you the word of the Lord, which shall not succeed prosperously with you? ⁴²Go not up, for the Lord is not with you: lest you fall before your enemies. ⁴³The Amalecite and the Chanaanite are before you, and by their sword you shall fall, because you would not consent to the Lord, neither will the Lord be with you. ⁴⁴But they being blinded went up to the top of the mountain. But the ark of the testament of the Lord and Moses departed not from the camp. ⁴⁵And the Amalecite came down, and the Chanaanite that dwelt in the mountain: and smiting and slaying them pursued them as far as Horma.

Chapter 15

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to the children of Israel and thou shalt say to them: When you shall be come into the land of your habitation, which I will give you, ³And shall make an offering to the Lord, for a holocaust, or a victim, paying your vows, or voluntarily offering gifts, or in your solemnities burning a sweet savour unto the Lord, of oxen or of sheep: ⁴Whosoever immolateth the victim, shall offer a sacrifice of fine flour, the tenth part of an ephi, tempered with the fourth part of a hin of oil: ⁵And he shall give the same measure of wine to pour out in libations for the holocaust or for the victim. For every lamb, ⁶And for every ram there shall be a sacrifice of hour of two tenths, which shall be tempered with the third part of a hin of oil: ⁷And he shall offer the third part of the same measure of wine for the libation, for a sweet savour to the Lord. ⁸But when thou offerest a holocaust or sacrifice of oxen, to fulfil thy vow or for victims of peace offerings, ⁹Thou shalt give for every ox three tenths of flour tempered with half a hin of oil, ¹⁰And wine for libations of the same measure, for an offering of most sweet savour to the Lord. ¹¹Thus shalt thou do ¹²For every ox and ram and lamb and kid. ¹³Both they that are born in the land, and the strangers ¹⁴Shall offer sacrifices after the same rite. ¹⁵There shall be all one law and judgment both for you and for them who are strangers in the land. ¹⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁷Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: ¹⁸When you are come into the land which I will give you, ¹⁹And shall eat of the bread of that country, you shall separate firstfruits to the Lord, ²⁰Of the things you eat. As you separate firstfruits of your barnfloors: ²¹So also shall you give firstfruits of your dough to the Lord. ²²And if through ignorance you omit any of these things, which the Lord hath spoken to Moses, ²³And by him hath commanded you, from the day that he began to command and thenceforward, ²⁴And the multitude have forgotten to do it: they shall offer a calf out of the herd, a holocaust for a most sweet savour to the Lord, and the sacrifice and libations thereof, as the ceremonies require, and a buck goat for sin: ²⁵And the priest shall pray for all the multitude of the children of Israel: and it shall be forgiven them, because they sinned ignorantly, offering notwithstanding a burnt offering to the Lord for themselves and for their sin and their ignorance: ²⁶And it shall be forgiven all the people of the children of Israel: and the strangers that sojourn among them: because it is the fault of all the people through ignorance. ²⁷But if one soul shall sin ignorantly, he shall offer a she goat of a year old for his sin. ²⁸And the priest shall pray for him, because he sinned ignorantly before the Lord: and he shall obtain his pardon, and it shall be forgiven him. ²⁹The same law shall be for all that sin by ignorance, whether they be natives or strangers. ³⁰But the soul that committeth any thing through pride, whether he be born in the land or a stranger (because he hath been rebellious against the Lord) shall be cut off from among his people: ³¹For he hath contemned the word the Lord, and made void his precept: therefore shall he be destroyed, and shall bear his iniquity. ³²And it came to pass, when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, and had found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day, ³³That they brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole multitude. ³⁴And they put him into prison, not knowing what they should do with him. ³⁵And the Lord said to Moses: Let that man die, let all the multitude stone him without the camp. ³⁶And when they had brought him out, they stoned him, and he died as the Lord had commanded. ³⁷The Lord also said to Moses: ³⁸Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt tell them I to make to themselves fringes in the corners of their garments, putting in them ribands of blue: ³⁹That when they shall see them, they may remember all the commandments of the Lord, and not follow their own thoughts and eyes going astray after divers things, ⁴⁰But rather being mindful of the precepts of the Lord, may do them and be holy to their Cod. ⁴¹I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might be your God.

Chapter 16

¹And behold Core the son of Isaar, the son of Caath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab, and Hon the son of Pheleth of the children of Ruben, ²Rose lap against Moses, and with them two hundred and fifty others of the children of Israel, leading men of the synagogue, and who in the time of assembly were called by name. ³And when they had stood up against Moses and Aaron, they said: Let it be enough for you, that all the multitude consisteth of holy ones, and the Lord is among them: Why lift you up yourselves above the people of the Lord? ⁴When Moses heard this, he fell flat on his face: ⁵And speaking to Core and all the multitude, he said: In the morning the Lord will make known who belong to him, and the holy he will join to himself: and whom he shall choose, they shall approach to him. ⁶Do this therefore: Take every man of you your censers, thou Core, and all thy company. ⁷And putting fire in them to morrow, put incense upon it before the Lord: and whomsoever he shall choose, the same shall be holy: you take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi. ⁸And he said again to Core: Hear ye sons of Levi. ⁹Is it a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath spared you from all the people, and joined you to himself, that you should serve him in the service of the tabernacle, and should stand before the congregation of the people, and should minister to him? ¹⁰Did he therefore make thee and all thy brethren the sons of Levi to approach unto him, that you should challenge to yourselves the priesthood also, ¹¹And that all thy company should stand against the Lord ? for what is Aaron that you murmur against him? ¹²Then Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab. But they answered: We will not come. ¹³Is it a small matter to thee, that thou hast brought us out of a land that flowed with milk and honey, to kill us in the desert, except thou rule also like a lord over us? ¹⁴Thou best brought us indeed into a land that floweth with rivers of milk and honey, and hast given us possessions of fields and vineyards; wilt thou also pull out our eyes? We will not come. ¹⁵Moses therefore being very angry, raid to the Lord: Respect not their sacrifices: thou knowest that I have not taken of them so much as a young ass at any time, nor have injured any of them. ¹⁶And he said to Core: Do thou and thy congregation stand apart before the Lord to morrow, and Aaron apart. ¹⁷Take every one of you censers, and put incense upon them, offering to the Lord two hundred and fifty censers: let Aaron also hold his censer. ¹⁸When they had done this, Moses and Aaron standing, ¹⁹And had drawn up all the multitude against them to the door of the tabernacle, the glory of the Lord appeared to them all. ²⁰And the Lord speaking to Moses and Aaron, said: ²¹Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may presently destroy them. ²²They fell flat on their face, and said: O most mighty, the God of the spirits of all flesh, for one man's sin shall thy wrath rage against all? ²³And the Lord said to Moses: ²⁴Command the whole people to separate themselves from the tents of Core and Dathan and Abiron. ²⁵And Moses arose, and went to Dathan and Abiron: and the ancients of Israel following him, ²⁶He said to the multitude: Depart from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be involved in their sins. ²⁷And when they were departed from their tents round about, Dathan and Abiron coming out stood in the entry of their pavilions with their wives and children, and all the people. ²⁸And Moses said: By this you shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all things that you see, and that I have not forged them of my own head: ²⁹If these men die the common death of men, and if they be visited with a plague, wherewith others also are wont to be visited, the Lord did not send me. ³⁰But if the Lord do a new thing, and the earth opening her mouth swallow them down, and all things that belong to them, and they go down alive into hell, you shall know that they have blasphemed the Lord. ³¹And immediately as he had made an end of speaking, the earth broke asunder under their feet: ³²And opening her mouth, devoured them with their tents and all their substance. ³³And they went down alive into hell the ground closing upon them, and they perished from among the people. ³⁴But all Israel, that was standing round about, fled at the cry of them that were perishing: saying: Lest perhaps the earth swallow us up also. ³⁵And a fire coming out from the Lord, destroyed the two hundred and fifty men that offered the incense. ³⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ³⁷Command Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers that lie in the burning, and to scatter the fire of one side and the other: because they are sanctified ³⁸In the deaths of the sinners: and let him beat them into plates, and fasten them to the altar, because incense hath been offered in them to the Lord, and they are sanctified, that the children of Israel may see them for a sign and a memorial. ³⁹Then Eleazar the priest took the brazen censers, wherein they had offered, whom the burning fire had devoured, and beat them into plates, fastening them to the altar: ⁴⁰That the children of Israel might have for the time to come wherewith they should be admonished, that no stranger or any one that is not of seed of Aaron should come near to offer incense to the Lord, lest he should suffer as Core suffered, and all his congregation, according as the Lord spoke to Moses. ⁴¹The following day all the multitude of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying: You have killed the people of the Lord. ⁴²And when there arose a sedition, and the tumult increased, ⁴³Moses and Aaron fled to the tabernacle of the covenant. And when the were gone into it, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴⁴And the Lord said to Moses: ⁴⁵Get you out from the midst of this multitude, this moment will I destroy them. And as they were lying on the ground, ⁴⁶Moses said to Aaron: Take the censer, and putting fire in it from the altar, put incense upon it, and go quickly to the people to pray for them: for already wrath is gone out from the Lord, and the plague rageth. ⁴⁷When Aaron had done this, and had run to the midst of the multitude which the burning fire was now destroying, he offered the incense: ⁴⁸And standing between the dead and the living, he prayed for the people, and the plague ceased. ⁴⁹And the number of them that were slain was fourteen thousand and seven hundred men, besides them that had perished in the sedition of Core. ⁵⁰And Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant after the destruction was over.

Chapter 17

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod by their kindreds, of all the princes of the tribes, twelve rods, and write the name of every man upon his rod. ³And the name of Aaron shall be for the tribe of Levi, and one rod shall contain all their families: ⁴And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the covenant before the testimony, where I will speak to thee. ⁵Whomsoever of these I shall choose, his rod shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, wherewith they murmur against you. ⁶And Moses spoke to the children of Israel: and all the princes gave him rods one for every tribe: and there were twelve rods besides the rod of Aaron. ⁷And when Moses had laid them up before the Lord in the tabernacle of the testimony: ⁸He returned on the following day, and found that the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi, was budded: and that the buds swelling it had bloomed blossoms, which spreading the leaves, were formed into almonds. ⁹Moses therefore brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel: and they saw, and every one received their rods. ¹⁰And the Lord said to Moses: Carry back the rod of Aaron into the tabernacle of the testimony, that it may be kept there for a token of the rebellious children of Israel, and that their complaints may cease from me lest they die. ¹¹And Moses did as the Lord had commanded. ¹²And the children of Israel said to Moses: Behold we are consumed, we all perish. ¹³Whosoever approacheth to the tabernacle of the Lord, he dieth. Are we all to a man to be utterly destroyed?

Chapter 18

¹And the Lord said to Aaron: Thou, and thy sons, and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the sins of your priesthood. ²And take with thee thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, and the sceptre of thy father, and let them be ready in hand, and minister to thee: but thou and thy sons shall minister in the tabernacle of the testimony. ³And the Levites shall watch to do thy commands, and about all the works of the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary nor the altar, lest both they die, and you also perish with them. ⁴But let them be with thee, and watch in the charge of the tabernacle, and in all the ceremonies thereof. A stranger shall not join himself with you. ⁵Watch ye in the charge of the sanctuary, and in the ministry of the altar: lest indignation rise upon the children of Israel. ⁶I have given you your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel, and have delivered them for a gift to the Lord, to serve in the ministries of the tabernacle. ⁷But thou and thy sons look ye to the priesthood: and all things that pertain to the service of the altar, and that are within the veil, shall be executed by the priests. If any stranger shall approach, he shall be slain. ⁸And the Lord said to Aaron: Behold I have given thee the charge of my firstfruits. All things that are sanctified by the children of Israel, I have delivered to thee and to thy sons for the priestly office, by everlasting ordinances. ⁹These therefore shalt thou take of the things that are sanctified, and are offered to the Lord. Every offering, and sacrifice, and whatsoever is rendered to me for sin and for trespass, and becometh holy of holies, shall be for thee and thy sons. ¹⁰Thou shalt eat it in the sanctuary: the males only shall eat thereof, because it is a consecrated thing to thee. ¹¹But the firstfruits, which the children of Israel shall vow and offer, I have given to thee, and to thy sons, and to thy daughters, by a perpetual law. He that is clean in thy house, shall eat them. ¹²All the best of the oil, and of the wine, and of the corn, whatsoever firstfruits they offer to the Lord, I have given them to thee. ¹³All the firstripe of the fruits, that the ground bringeth forth, and which are brought to the Lord, shall be for thy use: he that is clean in thy house, shall eat them. ¹⁴Every thing that the children of Israel shall give by vow, shall be thine. ¹⁵Whatsoever is firstborn of all flesh, which they offer to the Lord, whether it be of men, or of beasts, shall belong to thee: only for the firstborn of man thou shalt take a price, and every beast that is unclean thou shalt cause to be redeemed, ¹⁶And the redemption of it shall be after one month, for five sicles of silver, by the weight of the sanctuary. A sicle hath twenty obols. ¹⁷But the firstling of a cow and of a sheep and of a goat thou shalt not cause to be redeemed, because they are sanctified to the Lord. Their blood only thou shalt pour upon the altar, and their fat thou shalt burn for a most sweet odour to the Lord. ¹⁸But the flesh shall fall to thy use, as the consecrated breast, and the right shoulder shall be thine. ¹⁹All the firstfruits of the sanctuary which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to thee and to thy sons and daughters, by a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord, to thee and to thy sons. ²⁰And the Lord said to Aaron: You shall possess nothing in their land, neither shall you have a portion among them: I am thy portion and inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel. ²¹And I have given to the sons of Levi all the tithes of Israel for a possession for the ministry wherewith they serve me in the tabernacle of the covenant: ²²That the children of Israel may not approach any more to the tabernacle, nor commit deadly sin, ²³But only the sons of Levi may serve me in the tabernacle, and bear the sins of the people. It shall be an everlasting ordinance in your generations. They shall not possess any other thing, ²⁴But be content with the oblation or tithes, which I have separated for their uses and necessities. ²⁵And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁶Command the Levites, and declare unto them: When you shall receive of the children of Israel the tithes, which I have given you, offer the firstfruits of them to the Lord, that is to say, the tenth part of the tenth: ²⁷That it may be reckoned to you as an oblation of firstfruits, as well of the barnfloors as of the winepresses: ²⁸And of all the things of which you receive tithes, offer the firstfruits to the Lord, and give them to Aaron the priest. ²⁹All the things that you shall offer of the tithes, and shall separate for the gifts of the Lord, shall be the best and choicest things. ³⁰And thou shalt say to them: If you offer all the goodly and the better things of the tithes, it shall be reckoned to you as if you had given the firstfruits of the barnfloor and the winepress: ³¹And you shall eat them in all your places, both you and your families: because it is your reward for the ministry, wherewith you serve in the tabernacle of the testimony. ³²And you shall not sin in this point, by reserving the choicest and fat things to yourselves, lest you profane the oblations of the children of Israel, and die.

Chapter 19

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ²This is the observance of the victim, which the Lord hath ordained. Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee a red cow of full age, in which there is no blemish, and which hath not carried the yoke: ³And you shall deliver her to Eleazar the priest, who shall bring her forth without the camp, and shall immolate her in the sight of all: ⁴And dipping his finger in her blood, shall sprinkle it over against the door of the tabernacle seven times, ⁵And shall burn her in the sight of all, delivering up to the fire her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, and her dung. ⁶The priest shall also take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet twice dyed, and cast it into the flame, with which the cow is consumed. ⁷And then after washing his garments, and body, he shall enter into the camp, and shall be unclean until the evening. ⁸He also that hath burned her, shall wash his garments, and his body, and shall be unclean until the evening. ⁹And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the cow, and shall pour them forth without the camp in a most clean place, that they may be reserved for the multitude of the children of Israel, and for a water of aspersion: because the cow was burnt for sin. ¹⁰And when he that carried the ashes of the cow, hath washed his garments, he shall be unclean until the evening. The children of Israel, and the strangers that dwell among them, shall observe this for a holy thing by a perpetual ordinance. ¹¹He that toucheth the corpse of a man, and is therefore unclean seven days, ¹²Shall be sprinkled with this water on the third day, and on the seventh, and so shall be cleansed. If he were not sprinkled on the third day, he cannot be cleansed on the seventh. ¹³Every one that toucheth the corpse of a man, and is not sprinkled with mixture, shall profane the tabernacle of the Lord, and shall perish out of Israel: because he was not sprinkled with the water of expiation, he shall be unclean, and his uncleanness shall remain upon him. ¹⁴This is the law of a mall that dieth in a tent: All that go into his tent and all the vessels that are there, shall be unclean seven days. ¹⁵The vessel that hath no cover, nor binding over it, shall be unclean. ¹⁶If any man in the field touch the corpse of a man that was slain, or that died of himself, or his bone, or his grave, he shall be unclean seven days. ¹⁷And they shall take of the ashes of the burning and of the sin offering, and shall pour living waters upon them into a vessel. ¹⁸And a man that is clean shall dip hyssop in them, and shall sprinkle therewith all the tent, and all the furniture, and the men that are defiled with touching any such thing: ¹⁹And in this manner he that is clean shall purify the unclean on the third and on the seventh day. And being expiated the seventh day, he shall wash both himself and his garments, and be unclean until the evening. ²⁰If any man be not expiated after this rite, his soul shall perish out of the midst of the church: because he hath profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, and was not sprinkled with the water of purification. ²¹This precept shall be an ordinance for ever. He also that sprinkled the water, shall wash his garments. Every one that shall touch the waters of expiation, shall be unclean until the evening. ²²Whatsoever a person toucheth who is unclean, he shall make it unclean: and the person that toucheth any of these things, shall be unclean until the evening.

Chapter 20

¹And the children of Israel, and all the multitude came into the desert of Sin, in the first month: and the people abode in Cades. And Mary died there, and was buried in the same place. ²And the people wanting water, came together against Moses and Aaron: ³And making a sedition, they said: Would God we had perished among our brethren before the Lord. ⁴Why have you brought out the church of the Lord into the wilderness, that both we and our cattle should die? ⁵Why have you made us come up out of Egypt, and have brought us into this wretched place which cannot be sowed, nor bringeth forth figs, nor vines, nor pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink? ⁶And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the tabernacle of the covenant, and fell flat upon the ground, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord God, hear the cry of this people, and open to them thy treasure, a fountain of living water, that being satisfied, they may cease to murmur. And the glory of the Lord appeared over them. ⁷And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁸Take the rod, and assemble the people together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock before them, and it shall yield waters. And when thou hast brought forth water out of the rock, all the multitude and their cattle shall drink. ⁹Moses therefore took the rod, which was before the Lord, as he had commanded him, ¹⁰And having gathered together the multitude before the rock, he said to them: Hear, ye rebellious and incredulous: Can we bring you forth water out of this rock? ¹¹And when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rook twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank, ¹²And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you have not believed me, to sanctify me before the children of Israel, you shall not bring these people into the land, which I will give them. ¹³This is the Water of contradiction, where the children of Israel strove with words against the Lord, and he was sanctified in them. ¹⁴In the mean time Moses sent messengers from Cades to the king of Edom, to say: Thus saith thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the labour that hath come upon us: ¹⁵In what manner our fathers went down into Egypt, and there we dwelt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers. ¹⁶And how we cried to the Lord, and he heard us, and sent an angel, who hath brought us out of Egypt. Lo, we are now in the city of Cades, which is in the uttermost of thy borders, ¹⁷And we beseech thee that we may have leave to pass through thy country. We will not go through the fields, nor through the vineyards, we will not drink the waters of thy wells, but we will go by the common highway, neither turning aside to the right hand, nor to the left, till we are past thy borders. ¹⁸And Edom answered them: Thou shalt not pass by me: if thou dost I will come out armed against thee. ¹⁹And the children of Israel said: We will go by the beaten way: and if we and our cattle drink of thy waters, we will give thee what is just: there shall be no difficulty in the price, only let us pass speedily. ²⁰But he answered: Thou shalt not pass. And immediately he came forth to meet them with an infinite multitude, and a strong hand, ²¹Neither would he condescend to their desire to grant them passage through his borders. Wherefore Israel turned another way from him. ²²And when they had removed the camp from Cades, they came to mount Her, which is in the borders of the land of Edom: ²³Where the Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁴Let Aaron, saith he, go to his people: for he shall not go into the land which I have given the children of Israel, because he was incredulous to my words, at the waters of contradiction. ²⁵Take Aaron and his son with him, and bring them up into mount Hor: ²⁶And when thou hast stripped the father of his vesture, thou shalt vest therewith Eleazar his son: Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and die there. ²⁷Moses did as the Lord had commanded: and they went up into mount Hor before all the multitude. ²⁸And when he had stripped Aaron of his vestments, he vested Eleazar his son with them. ²⁹And Aaron being dead in the top of the mountain, he came down with Eleazar. ³⁰And all the multitude seeing that Aaron was dead, mourned for him thirty days throughout all their families.

Chapter 21

¹And when king Arad the Chanaanite, who dwelt towards the south, had heard this, to wit, that Israel was come by the way of the spies, he fought against them, and overcoming them carried off their spoils. ²But Israel binding himself by vow to the Lord, said: It thou wilt deliver this people into my hand, I will utterly destroy their cities. ³And the Lord heard the prayers of Israel, and delivered up the Chanaanite, and they cut them off and destroyed their cities: and they called the name of that place Horma, that is to say, Anathema. ⁴And they marched from mount Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom. And the people began to be weary of their journey and labour: ⁵And speaking against God end Moses, they said: Why didst thou bring us out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, nor have we any waters: our soul now loatheth this very light food. ⁶Wherefore the Lord sent among the people fiery serpents, which bit them and killed many of them. ⁷Upon which they came to Moses, and said: We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and thee: pray that he may take away these serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. ⁸And the Lord said to him: Make brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live. ⁹Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed. ¹⁰And the children of Israel setting forwards camped in Oboth. ¹¹And departing thence they pitched their tents in Jeabarim, in the wilderness, that faceth Moab toward the east. ¹²And removing from thence, they came to the torrent Zared: ¹³Which they left and encamped over against Arnon, which is in the desert and standeth out on the borders of the Amorrhite. For Arnon is the border of Moab, dividing the Moabites and the Amorrhites. ¹⁴Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord: As he did in the Red Sea, so will he do in the streams of Amen. ¹⁵The rocks of the torrents were bowed down that they might rest in Ar, and lie down in the borders of the Moabites. ¹⁶When they went from that place, the well appeared whereof the Lord said to Moses: Gather the people together, and I will give them water. ¹⁷Then Israel sung this song: Let the well spring up. They sung thereto: ¹⁸The well, which the princes dug, and the chiefs of the people prepared by the direction of the lawgiver, and with their staves. And they marched from the wilderness to Mathana. ¹⁹From Mathana unto Nahaliel: from Nahaliel unto Bamoth. ²⁰From Bamoth, is a valley in the country of Moab, to the top of Phasga, which looked towards the desert. ²¹And Israel sent messengers to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, saying: ²²I beseech thee that I may have leave to pass through thy land: we will not go aside into the fields or the vineyards, we will not drink waters of the wells, we will go the king's highway, till we be past thy borders. ²³And he would not grant that Israel should pass by his borders: but rather gathering an army, went forth to meet them in the desert, and came to Jasa, and fought against them. ²⁴And he was slain by them with the edge of the sword, and they possessed his land from the Arnon unto the Jeboc, and to the confines of the children of Ammon: for the borders of the Ammonites, were kept with a strong garrison. ²⁵So Israel took all his cities, and dwelt in the cities of the Amorrhite, to wit, in Hesebon, and in the villages thereof. ²⁶Hesebon was the city of Sehon the king of the Amorrhites, who fought against the king of Moab: and took all the land, that had been of his dominions, as far as the Arnon. ²⁷Therefore it is said in the proverb: Come into Hesebon, let the city of Sehon be built and set up: ²⁸A fire is gone out of Hesebon, a flame from the city of Sehon, and hath consumed Ar of the Moabites, and the inhabitants of the high places of the Arnon. ²⁹Woe to thee Moab: thou art undone, O people of Chamos. He hath given his sons to flight, and his daughters into captivity to Sehon the king of the Amorrhites. ³⁰Their yoke is perished from Hesebon unto Dibon, they came weary to Nophe, and unto Medaba. ³¹So Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorrhite. ³²And Moses sent some to take a view of Jazer: and they took the villages of it, and conquered the inhabitants. ³³And they turned themselves, and went up by the way of Basan, and Og the king of Basan came against them with all his people, to fight in Edrai. ³⁴And the Lord said to Moses: Fear him not, for I have delivered him and all his people, and his country into thy hand: and thou shalt do to him as thou didst to Sehon the king of the Amorrhites, the inhabitant of Hesebon. ³⁵So they slew him also with his sons, and all his people, not letting any one escape, and they possessed his land.

Chapter 22

¹And they went forward and encamped in the plains of Moab, over against where Jericho is situate beyond the Jordan. ²And Balac the son of Sephor, seeing all that Israel had done to the Amorrhite, ³And that the Moabites were in great fear of him, and were not able to sustain his assault, ⁴He said to the elders of Madian: So will this people destroy all that dwell in our borders, as the ox is wont to eat the grass to the very roots. Now he was at that time king in Moab. ⁵He sent therefore messengers to Balaam the son of Beer, a soothsayer, who dwelt by the river of the land of the children of Ammon, to call him, and to say: Behold a people is come out of Egypt, that hath covered the face of the earth, sitting over against me. ⁶Come therefore, and curse this people, because it is mightier than I: if by any means I may beat them and drive them out of my land: for I know that he whom thou shalt bless is blessed, and he whom thou shalt curse is cursed. ⁷And the ancients of Moab, and the elders of Madian, went with the price of divination in their hands. And when they were come to Balaam, and had told him all the words of Balac: ⁸He answered: Tarry here this night, and I will answer whatsoever the Lord shall say to me. And while they stayed with Balaam, God came and said to him: ⁹What mean these men that are with thee? ¹⁰He answered: Balac the son of Sephor king of the Moabites hath sent to me, ¹¹Saying: Behold a people that is come out of Egypt, hath covered the face of the land: come and curse them, if by any means I may fight with them and drive them away. ¹²And God said to Balaam : Thou shalt not go with them, nor shalt thou curse the people: because it is blessed. ¹³And he rose in the morning and said to the princes: Go into your country, because the Lord hath forbid me to come with you. ¹⁴The princes returning, said to Balac: Balaam would not come with us. ¹⁵Then he sent many more and more noble than he had sent before: ¹⁶Who, when they were come to Balaam, said: Thus saith Balac the son of Sephor, Delay not to come to me: ¹⁷For I am ready to honour thee, and will give thee whatsoever thou wilt: come and curse this people. ¹⁸Balaam answered: If Balac would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot alter the word of the Lord my God, to speak either more or less. ¹⁹I pray you to stay here this night also, that I may know what the Lord will answer me once more. ²⁰God therefore came to Balaam in the night, and said to him: It these men be come to call thee, arise and go with them: yet so, that thou do what I shall command thee. ²¹Balaam arose in the morning, and saddling his ass went with them. ²²And God was angry. And an angel of the Lord stood in the way against Balaam, who sat on the ass, and had two servants with him. ²³The ass seeing the angel standing in the way, with a drawn sword, turned herself out of the way, and went into the field. And when Balaam beat her, and had a mind to bring her again to the way, ²⁴The angel stood in a narrow place between two walls, wherewith the vineyards were enclosed. ²⁵And the ass seeing him, thrust herself close to the wall, and bruised the foot of the rider. But he beat her again: ²⁶And nevertheless the angel going on to a narrow place, where there was no way to turn aside either to the right hand or to the left, stood to meet him. ²⁷And when the ass saw the angel standing, she fell under the feet of the rider: who being angry beat her sides more vehemently with a staff. ²⁸And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said: What have I done to thee? Why strikest thou me, lo, now this third time? ²⁹Balaam answered: Because thou hast deserved it, and hast served me ill: I would I had a sword that I might kill thee. ³⁰The ass said: Am not I thy beast, on which thou hast been always accustomed to ride until this present day? tell me if I ever did the like thing to thee. But he said: Never. ³¹Forthwith the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel standing in the way with a drawn sword, and he worshipped him falling flat on the ground. ³²And the angel said to him: Why beatest thou thy ass these three times? I am come to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse, and contrary to me: ³³And unless the ass had turned out of the way, giving place to me who stood against thee, I had slain thee, and she should have lived. ³⁴Balaam said: I have sinned, not knowing that thou didst stand against me: and now if it displease thee that I go, I will return. ³⁵The angel said: Go with these men, and see thou speak no other thing than what I shall command thee. He went therefore with the princes. ³⁶And when Balac heard it he came forth to meet him in a town of the Moabites, that is situate in the uttermost borders of Arnon. ³⁷And he said to Balaam: I sent messengers to call thee, why didst thou not come immediately to me? was it because I am not able to reward thy coming? ³⁸He answered him: Lo, here I am: shall I have power to speak any other thing but that which God shall put in my mouth? ³⁹So they went on together, and came into a city, that was in the uttermost borders of his kingdom. ⁴⁰And when Balac had killed oxen and sheep, he sent presents to Balaam, and to the princes that were with him. ⁴¹And when morning was come, he brought him to the high places of Baal, and he beheld the uttermost part of the people.

Chapter 23

¹And Balaam said to Balac: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams. ²And when he had done according to the word of Balaam, they laid together a calf and a ram upon every altar. ³And Balaam said to Balac: Stand a while by thy burnt offering, until I go, to see if perhaps the Lord will meet me, and whatsoever he shall command, I will speak to thee. ⁴And when he was gone with speed, God met him. And Balaam speaking to him, said: I have erected seven altars, and have laid on everyone a calf and a ram. ⁵And the Lord put the word in his mouth, and said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou speak. ⁶Returning he found Balac standing by his burnt offering, with all the princes of the Moabites: ⁷And taking up his parable, he said: Balac king of the Moabites hath brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east: Come, said he, and curse Jacob: make haste and detest Israel. ⁸How shall I curse him, whom God hath not cursed? By what means should I detest him, whom the Lord detesteth not? ⁹I shall see him from the tops of the rocks, and shall consider him from the hills. This people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. ¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob, and know the number of the stock of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the just, and my last end be like to them. ¹¹And Balac said to Balaam: What is this that thou dost? I sent for thee to curse my enemies: and thou contrariwise blessest them. ¹²He answered him: Call I speak any thing else but what the Lord commandeth? ¹³Balac therefore said: Come with me to another place from whence thou mayest see part of Israel, and canst not see them all: curse them from thence. ¹⁴And when he had brought him to a high place, upon the top of mount Phasga, Balaam built seven altars, and laying on every one a calf and a ram, ¹⁵He said to Balac: Stand here by thy burnt offering while I go to meet him. ¹⁶And when the Lord had met him, and had put the word in his mouth, he said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou say to him. ¹⁷Returning he found him standing by his burnt sacrifice, and the princes of the Moabites with him. And Balac said to him: What hath the Lord spoken? ¹⁸But he taking up his parable, said: Stand, O Balac, and give ear: hear, thou son of Sephor: ¹⁹God is not a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said then, and will he not do? hath he spoken, and will he not fulfil? ²⁰I was brought to bless, the blessing I am not able to hinder. ²¹There is no idol in Jacob, neither is there an image god to be seen in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the sound of the victory of the king in him. ²²God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros. ²³There is no soothsaying in Jacob, nor divination in Israel. In their times it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God hath wrought. ²⁴Behold the people shall rise up as a lioness, and shall lift itself up as a lion: it shall not lie down till it devour the prey, and drink the blood of the slain. ²⁵And Balac said to Balaam: Neither curse, nor bless him. ²⁶And he said: Did I not tell thee, that whatsoever God should command me, that I would do? ²⁷And Balac said to him: Come and I will bring thee to another place; if peradventure it please God that thou mayest curse them from thence. ²⁸And when he had brought him upon the top of mount Phogor, which looketh towards the wilderness, ²⁹Balaam said to him: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams. ³⁰Balac did as Balaam had said: and he laid on every altar, a calf and a ram.

Chapter 24

¹And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord that he should bless Israel. he went not as he had gone before, to seek divination: but setting his face towards the desert, ²And lifting up his eyes, he saw Israel abiding in their tents by their tribes: and the spirit of God rushing upon him, ³He took up his parable and said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man hath said, whose eye ire stopped up: ⁴The hearer of the words of God hath said, he that hath beheld the vision of the Almighty, he that falleth, and so his eyes are opened: ⁵How beautiful are thy tabernacles, O Jacob, and thy tents, O Israel! ⁶As woody valleys, as watered gardens near the rivers, as tabernacles which the Lord hath pitched, as cedars by the waterside. ⁷Water shall flow out of his bucket, and his seed shall be in many waters. For Agag his king shall be removed, and his kingdom shall be taken awry. ⁸God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros. They shall devour the nations that are his enemies, and break their bones, and pierce them with arrows. ⁹Lying down he hath slept as a lion, and as a lioness, whom none shall dare to rouse. He that blesseth thee, shall also himself be blessed: he that curseth thee shall be reckoned accursed. ¹⁰And Balac being angry against Balaam, clapped his hands together and said: I called thee to curse my enemies, and thou on the contrary hast blessed them three times. ¹¹Return to thy place. I had determined indeed greatly to honour thee, but the Lord hath deprived thee of the honour designed for thee. ¹²Balaam made answer to Balac: Did I not say to thy messengers, whom thou sentest to me: ¹³If Balac would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to utter any thing of my own head either good or evil: but whatsoever the Lord shall say, that I will speak? ¹⁴But yet going to my people, I will give thee counsel, what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. ¹⁵Therefore taking up his parable, again he said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man whose eye is stopped up, hath said: ¹⁶The hearer of the words of God hath said, who knoweth the doctrine of the Highest, and seeth the visions of the Almighty, who falling hath his eyes opened: ¹⁷I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near. A STAR SHALL RISE out of Jacob and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel: and shall strike the chiefs of Moab, and shall waste all the children of Seth. ¹⁸And he shall possess Idumea: the inheritance of Seir shall come to their enemies, but Israel shall do manfully ¹⁹Out of Jacob shall he come that shall rule, and shall destroy the remains of the city. ²⁰And when he saw Amalec, he took up his parable, and said: Amalec the beginning of nations, whose latter ends shall be destroyed. ²¹He saw also the Cinite: and took up his parable, and said: Thy habitation indeed is strong: but though thou build thy nest in a rock, ²²And thou be chosen of the stock of Cin, how long shalt thou be able to continue? For Assur shall take thee captive. ²³And taking up his parable, again he said: Alas, who shall live when God shall do these things? ²⁴They shall come in galleys from Italy, they shall overcome the Assyrians, and shall waste the Hebrews, and at the last they themselves also shall perish. ²⁵And Balaam rose, and returned to his place: Balac also returned the way that he came.

Chapter 25

¹And Israel at that time abode in Settim, and the people committed fornication with the daughters of Moab, ²Who called them to their sacrifices. And they ate of them, and adored their gods. ³And Israel was initiated to Beelphegor: upon which the Lord being angry, ⁴Said to Moses: Take all the princes of the people, and hang them up on gibbets against the sun: that my fury may be turned away from Israel. ⁵And Moses said to the judges of Israel: Let every man kill his neighbours, that have been initiated to Beelphegor. ⁶And behold one of the children of Israel went in before his brethren to a harlot of Madian, in the sight of Moses, and of all the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle. ⁷And when Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose up from the midst; of the multitude, and taking a dagger, ⁸Went in after the Israelite into the brothel house, and thrust both of them through together, to wit, the man and the woman in the genital parts. And the scourge ceased from the children of Israel: ⁹And there were slain four and twenty thousand men. ¹⁰And the Lord said to Moses: ¹¹Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel: because he was moved with my zeal against them, that I myself might not destroy the children of Israel in my zeal. ¹²Therefore say to him: Behold I give him the peace of my covenant, ¹³And the covenant of the priesthood for ever shall be both to him and his seed, because he hath been zealous for his God, and hath made atonement for the wickedness of the children of Israel. ¹⁴And the name of the Israelite, was slain with the woman of Madian, was Zambri the son of Salu, a prince the kindred and tribe of Simeon. ¹⁵And the Madianite woman, that was slain with him, was called Cozbi the daughter of Sur, a most noble prince among the Madianites. ¹⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁷Let the Madianites find you enemies, and slay you them: ¹⁸Because they also have acted like enemies against you, and have guilefully deceived you by the idol Phogor, and Cozbi their sister, a daughter of a prince of Madian, who was slain in the day the plague for the sacrilege of Phogor.

Chapter 26

¹After the blood of the guilty was shed, the Lord said to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron, the priest: ²Number the whole sum of the children of Israel from twenty years old and upward, by their houses and kindreds, all that are able to go forth to war. ³Moses therefore and Eleazar the priest, being in the plains of Moab upon the Jordan over against Jericho, spoke to them that were ⁴From twenty years old and upward, as the Lord had commanded: and this is the number of them: ⁵Ruben the firstborn of Israel. His sons were Henoch, of whom is the family of the Henochites: and Phallu, of whom is the family of the Phalluites: ⁶And Hesron, of whom is the family of the Hesronites: and Charmi, of whom is the family of the Charmites. ⁷These are the families of the stock of Ruben: whose number was found to be forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty. ⁸The son of Phallu was Eliab. ⁹His sons, were Namuel and Dathan and Abiron. These are Dathan and Abiron the princes of the people, that rose against Moses and Aaron in the sedition of Core, when they rebelled against the Lord: ¹⁰And the earth opening her mouth swallowed up Core, many others dying, when the fire burned two hundred and fifty men. And there was a great miracle wrought, ¹¹That when Core perished, his sons did not perish. ¹²The sons of Simeon by their kindreds: Namuel, of him is the family of the Namuelites: Jamin, of him is the family of the Jaminites: Jachin, of him is the family of the Jachinites: ¹³Zare, of him is the family of the Zarites: Saul, of him is the family of the Saulites. ¹⁴These are the families of the stock of Simeon, of which the whole number was twenty-two thousand two hundred. ¹⁵The sons of Gad by their kindreds: Sephon, of hin; Is the family of the Sephonites: Aggi, of him is the family of the Aggites: Suni, of him is the family of the Sunites: ¹⁶Ozni, of him is the family of the Oznites: Her, of him is the family of the Herites : ¹⁷Arod, of him is the family of the Arodites: Ariel, of him is the family of the Arielites. ¹⁸These are the families of Gad, of which the whole number was forty thousand five hundred. ¹⁹The sons of Juda, Her and Onan, who both died in the land of Chanaan. ²⁰And the sons of Juda by their kindreds were: Sela, of whom is the family of the Selaites: Phares, of whom is the family of the Pharesites: Zare, of whom is the family of the Zarites. ²¹Moreover the sons of Phares were: Hesron, of whom is the family of the Hesronites: and Hamul, of whom is the family of the Hamulites. ²²These are the families of Juda, of which the whole number was seventy-six thousand five hundred. ²³The sons of Issachar, by their kindreds: Thola, of whom is the family of the Tholaites: Phua, of whom is the family of the Phuaites: ²⁴Jasub, of whom is the family of the Jasubites: Semran, of whom is the family of the Semranites. ²⁵These are the kindreds of Issachar, whose number was sixty-four thousand three hundred. ²⁶The sons of Zabulon by their kindreds: Sared, of whom is the family of the Saredites: Elon, of whom is the family of the Elonites: Jalel, of whom is the family of the Jalelites. ²⁷These are the kindreds of Zabulon, whose number was sixty thousand five hundred. ²⁸The sons of Joseph by their kindred, Manasses and Ephraim. ²⁹Of Manasses was born Machir, of whom is the family of the Machirites. Machir beget Galaad, of whom is the family of the Galaadites. ³⁰Galaad had sons: Jezer, of whom is the family of the Jezerites: and Helec, of whom is the family of the Helecites: ³¹And Asriel, of whom is the family of the Asrielites: and Sechem, of whom is the family of the Sechemites: ³²And Semida, of whom is the family of the Semidaites: and Hepher, of whom is the family of the Hepherites. ³³And Hepher was the father of Salphaad, who had no sons, but only daughters, whose names are these: Maala, and Noa, and Hegla, and Melcha, and Thersa. ³⁴These are the families of Manasses, and the number of them fifty-two thousand seven hundred. ³⁵And the sons of Ephraim by their kindreds were these: Suthala, of whom is the family of the Suthalaites: Becher, of whom is the family of the Becherites: Thehen, of whom is the family of the Thehenites. ³⁶Now the son of Suthala was Heran, of whom is the family of the Heranites. ³⁷These are the kindreds of the sons of Ephraim: whose number was thirty-two thousand five hundred. ³⁸These are the sons of Joseph by their families. The sons of Benjamin in their kindreds: Bela, of whom is the family of the Belaites: Asbel, of whom is the family of the Asbelites: Ahiram, of whom is the family of the Ahiramites: ³⁹Supham, of whom is the family of the Suphamites: Hupham, of whom is the family of the Huphamites. ⁴⁰The sons of Bela: Hered, and Noeman. Of Hered, is the family of the Heredites: of Noeman, the family of tile Noemanites. ⁴¹These are the sons of Benjamin by their kindreds, whose number was forty-five thousand six hundred. ⁴²The sons of Dan by their kindreds: Suham, of whom is the family of the Suhamites: These are the kindreds of Dan by their families. ⁴³All were Suhamites, whose number was sixty-four thousand four hundred. ⁴⁴The sons of Aser by their kindreds: Jemna, of whom is the family of the Jemnaites: Jessui, of whom is the family of the Jessuites: Brie, of whom is the family of the Brieites. ⁴⁵The sons of Brie: Heber, of whom is the family of the Heberites: and Melchiel, of whom is the family of the Melchielites. ⁴⁶And the name of the daughter of Aser, was Sara. ⁴⁷These are the kindreds of the sons of Aser, and their number fifty-three thousand four hundred. ⁴⁸The sons of Nephtali by their kindreds: Jesiel, of whom is the family of the Jesielites: Guni, of whom is the family of the Gunites: ⁴⁹Jeser, of whom is the family of the Jeserites: Sellem, of whom is the family of the Sellemites. ⁵⁰These are the kindreds of the sons of Nephtali by their families: whose number was forty-five thousand four hundred. ⁵¹This is the sum of the children of Israel, that were reckoned up, six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty. ⁵²And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁵³To these shall the land be divided for their possessions according to the number of names. ⁵⁴To the greater number thou shalt give a greater portion, and to the fewer a less: to every one, as they have now been reckoned up, shall a possession be delivered : ⁵⁵Yet so that by lot the land be divided to the tribe and families. ⁵⁶Whatsoever shall fall by lot, that shall be taken by the more, or the fewer. ⁵⁷This also is the number of the sons of Levi by their families: Gerson, of whom is the family of the Gersonites: Caath, of whom is the family of the Caathites: Merari, of whom is the family of the Merarites. ⁵⁸These are the families of Levi: The family of Lobni, the family of Hebroni, the family of Moholi, the family of Musi, the family of Core. Now Caath beget Amram : ⁵⁹Who had to wife Jochabed the daughter of Levi, who was horn to him in Egypt. She bore to her husband Amram sons, Aaron and Moses, and Mary their sister. ⁶⁰Of Aaron were born Nadab and Abiu, and Eleazar and Ithamar: ⁶¹Of whom Nadab and Abiu died, when they had offered the strange fire before the Lord. ⁶²And all that were numbered, were twenty-three thousand males from one month old and upward: for they were not reckoned up among the children of Israel, neither was a possession given to them with the rest. ⁶³This is the number of the children of Israel, that were enrolled by Moses and Eleazar the priest, in the plains of Moab upon the Jordan, over against Jericho. ⁶⁴Among whom there was not one of them that were numbered before by Moses and Aaron in the desert of Sinai. ⁶⁵For the Lord had foretold that they should die in the wilderness. And none remained of them, but Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun.

Chapter 27

¹Then came the daughters of Salphaad, the son of Hepher, the son of Galaad, the son of Machir, the son of Manasses, who was the son of Joseph: and their names are Maala, and Noa, and Hegla, and Melcha, and Thersa. ²And they stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the people at the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, and said: ³Our father died in the desert, and was not in the sedition, that was raised against the Lord under Core, but he died in his own sin: and he had no male children. Why is his name taken away out of his family, because he had no son? Give us a possession among the kinsmen of our father. ⁴And Moses referred their cause to the judgment of the Lord. ⁵And the Lord said to him: ⁶The daughters of Salphaad demand a just thing : Give them a possession among their father's kindred, and let them succeed him in his inheritance. ⁷And to the children of Israel thou shalt speak these things: ⁸When a man dieth without a son, his inheritance shall pass to his daughter. ⁹If he have no daughter, his brethren shall succeed him. ¹⁰And if he have no brethren, you shall give the inheritance to his father's brethren. ¹¹But if he have no uncles by the father, the inheritance shall be given to them that are the next akin. And this shall be to the children of Israel sacred by a perpetual law, as the Lord hath commanded Moses. ¹²The Lord also said to Moses: Go up into this mountain Abarim, and view from thence the land which I will give to the children of Israel. ¹³And when thou shalt have seen it, thou also shalt go to thy people, as thy brother Aaron is gone: ¹⁴Because you offended me in the desert of Sin in the contradiction of the multitude, neither would you sanctify me before them at the waters. These are the waters of contradiction in Cades of the desert of Sin. ¹⁵And Moses answered him: ¹⁶May the Lord the God of the spirits of all flesh provide a man, that may be over this multitude: ¹⁷And may go out and in before them, and may lead them out, or bring them in: lest the people of the Lord be as sheep without a shepherd. ¹⁸And the Lord said to him: Take Josue the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and put thy hand upon him. ¹⁹And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest and all the multitude: ²⁰And thou shalt give him precepts in the sight of all, and part of thy glory, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may hear him. ²¹If any thing be to be done, Eleazar the priest shall consult the Lord for him. He and all the children of Israel with him, and the rest of the multitude shall go out and go in at his word. ²²Moses did as the Lord had commanded. And when he had taken Josue, he set him before Eleazar the priest, and all the assembly of the people, ²³And laying his hands on his head, he repeated all things that the Lord had commanded.

Chapter 28

¹The Lord also said to Moses: ²Command the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: Offer ye my oblation and my bread, and burnt sacrifice of most sweet odour, in their due seasons. ³These are the sacrifices which you shall offer: Two lambs of a year old without blemish every day for the perpetual holocaust: ⁴One you shall offer in the morning, and the other in the evening: ⁵And the tenth part of an ephi of flour, which shall be tempered with the purest oil, of the measure of the fourth part of a hin. ⁶It is the continual holocaust which you offered in mount Sinai for a most sweet. odour of a sacrifice by fire to the Lord. ⁷And for a libation you shall offer of wine the fourth part of a hin for every lamb in the sanctuary of the Lord. ⁸And you shall offer the other lamb in like manner ill the evening according to all the rites of the morning sacrifice, and of the libations thereof, an oblation of most sweet odour to the Lord. ⁹And on the sabbath day you shall offer two lambs of a year old without blemish, and two tenths of flour tempered with oil in sacrifice, and the libations, ¹⁰Which regularly are poured out every sabbath for the perpetual holocaust. ¹¹And on the first day of the month you shall offer a holocaust to the Lord, two calves of the herd, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old, without blemish, ¹²And three tenths of flour tempered with oil in sacrifice for every calf: and two tenths of flour tempered with oil for every ram: ¹³And the tenth of a tenth of flour tempered with oil in sacrifice for every lamb. It is a holocaust of most sweet odour and an offering by fire to the Lord. ¹⁴And these shall be the libations of wine that are to be poured out for every victim: Half a hin for every calf, a third for a ram, and a fourth for a lamb. This shall be the holocaust for every month, as they succeed one another in the course of the year. ¹⁵A buck goat also shall be offered to the Lord for a sin offering over and above the perpetual holocaust with its libations. ¹⁶And in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, shall be the phase of the Lord, ¹⁷And on the fifteenth day the solemn feast: seven days shall they eat unleavened bread. ¹⁸And the first day of them shall be venerable and holy: you shall not do any servile work therein. ¹⁹And you shall offer a burnt sacrifice a holocaust to the Lord, two calves of the herd, one ram, seven lambs of a year old, without blemish: ²⁰And for the sacrifices of every one three tenths of flour which shall be tempered with oil to every calf, and two tenths to every ram, ²¹21And the tenth of a tenth, to every lamb, that is to say, to all the seven lambs: ²²And one buck goat for sin, to make atonement for you, ²³Besides the morning holocaust which you shall always offer. ²⁴So shall you do every day of the seven days for the food of the fire, and for a most sweet odour to the Lord, which shall rise from the holocaust, and from the libations of each. ²⁵The seventh day also shall be most solemn and holy unto you: you shall do no servile work therein. ²⁶The day also of firstfruits, when after the weeks are accomplished, you shall offer new fruits to the Lord, shall be venerable and holy: you shall do no servile work therein. ²⁷And you shall offer a holocaust for a most sweet odour to the Lord, two calves of the herd, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old, without blemish: ²⁸And in the sacrifices of them three tenths of flour tempered with oil to every calf, two to every ram, ²⁹The tenth of a tenth to every lamb, which in all are seven lambs: a buck goat also, ³⁰Which is slain for expiation: besides the perpetual holocaust and the libations thereof. ³¹31You shall offer them all without blemish with their libations.

Chapter 29

¹The first day also of the seventh month shall be venerable and holy unto you; you shall do no servile work therein, because it is the day of the sounding and of trumpets. ²And you shall offer a holocaust for a most sweet odour to the Lord, one calf of the herd, one ram and seven lambs of a year old, without blemish. ³And for their sacrifices, three tenths of flour tempered with oil to every calf, two tenths to a ram, ⁴One tenth to a lamb, which in all are seven lambs: ⁵And a buck goat for sin, which is offered for the expiation of the people, ⁶Besides the holocaust of the first day of the month with the sacrifices thereof, and the perpetual holocaust with the accustomed libations. With the same ceremonies you shall offer a burnt sacrifice for a most sweet odour to the Lord. ⁷The tenth day also of this seventh month shall be holy and venerable unto you, and you shall afflict your souls: you shall do no servile work therein. ⁸And you shall offer a holocaust to the Lord for a most sweet odour, one calf of the herd, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old, without blemish: ⁹And for their sacrifices, three tenths of flour tempered with oil to every calf, two tenths to a ram, ¹⁰The tenth of a tenth to every lamb, which are in all seven lambs: ¹¹And a buck goat for sin, besides the things that are wont to be offered for sin, for expiation, and for the perpetual holocaust with their sacrifice and libations. ¹²And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, which shall be unto you holy and venerable, you shall do no servile work, but shall celebrate a solemnity to the Lord seven days. ¹³And you shall offer a holocaust for a most sweet odour to the Lord, thirteen calves of the herd, two rams, and fourteen lambs of a year old, without blemish: ¹⁴And for their libations three tenths of flour tempered with oil to every calf, being in all thirteen calves: and two tenths to each ram, being two rams, ¹⁵And the tenth of a tenth to every lamb, being in all fourteen lambs: ¹⁶And a buck goat for sin, besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice and the libation thereof. ¹⁷On the second day you shall offer twelve calves of the herd, two rams and fourteen lambs of a year old, without blemish : ¹⁸And the sacrifices and the libations for every one, for the calves and for the rams and for the lambs you shall duly celebrate: ¹⁹And a buck goat for a sin offering besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice and the libation thereof. ²⁰The third day you shall offer eleven calves, two rams, and fourteen lambs of a year old, without blemish: ²¹And the sacrifices and the libations of every one for the calves and for the rams and for the lambs you shall offer according to the rite: ²²And a buck goat for sin, besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice, and the libation thereof. ²³The fourth day you shall offer tell calves, two rams, and fourteen lambs of a year old, without blemish: ²⁴And the sacrifices and the libations of every one for the calves and for the rams and for the lambs you shall celebrate in right manner: ²⁵And a buck goat for sin, besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice and the libation thereof. ²⁶The fifth day you shall offer nine calves, two rams, and fourteen lambs of a year old, without blemish: ²⁷And the sacrifices and the libations of every one for the calves and for the rams and for the lambs you shall celebrate according to the rite: ²⁸And a buck goat for sin, besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice and the libation thereof. ²⁹The sixth day you shall offer eight calves, two rams, and fourteen lambs of a year old, without blemish: ³⁰And the sacrifices and the libations of every one for the calves and for the rams and for the lambs you shall celebrate according to the rite: ³¹And a buck goat for sin, besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice and the libation thereof. ³²The seventh day you shall offer seven calves and two rams, and fourteen lambs of a year old, without blemish: ³³And the sacrifices and the libations of every one for the calves and for the rams and for the lambs you shall celebrate according to the rite: ³⁴And a buck goat for sin, besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice and the libation thereof. ³⁵On the eighth day, which is moat solemn, you shall do no servile work: ³⁶But you shall offer a holocaust for a most sweet odour to the Lord, one calf, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old, without blemish: ³⁷And the sacrifices and the libations of every one for the calves and for the rams and for the lambs you shall celebrate according to the rite: ³⁸And a buck goat for sin, besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice and the libation thereof. ³⁹These things shall you offer to the Lord in your solemnities: besides your vows and voluntary oblations for holocaust, for sacrifice, for libation, and for victims of peace offerings.

Chapter 30

¹And Moses told the children of Israel all that the Lord had commanded him : ²And he said to the princes of the tribes of the children of Israel: This is the word that the Lord hath commanded: ³If any man make a vow to the Lord, or bind himself by an oath: he shall not make his word void but shall fulfil all that he promised. ⁴If a woman vow any thing, and bind herself by an oath, being in her father's house, and but yet a girl in age: if her father knew the vow that she hath promised, and the oath wherewith she hath bound her soul, and held his peace, she shall be bound by the vow: ⁵Whatsoever she promised and swore, she shall fulfil in deed. ⁶But if her father, immediately as soon as he heard it, gainsaid it, both her vows and her oaths shall be void, neither shall she be bound to what she promised, because her father hath gainsaid it. ⁷If she have a husband, and shall vow any thing, and the word once going out of her mouth shall bind her soul by an oath: ⁸The day that her husband shall hear it, and not gainsay it, she shall be bound to the vow, and shall give whatsoever she promised. ⁹But if as soon as he heareth he gainsay it, and make her promises and the words wherewith she had bound her soul of no effect : the Lord will forgive her. ¹⁰The widow, and she that is divorced, shall fulfil whatsoever they vow. ¹¹If the wife in the house of her husband, hath bound herself by vow and by oath, ¹²If her husband hear, and hold his peace, and doth not disallow the promise, she shall accomplish whatsoever she had promised. ¹³But if forthwith he gainsay it, she shall not be bound by the promise: because her husband gainsaid it, and the Lord will be merciful to her. ¹⁴If she vow and bind herself by oath, to afflict her soul by fasting, or abstinence from other things, it shall depend on the will of her husband, whether she shall do it, or not do it. ¹⁵But if the husband hearing it hold his peace, and defer the declaring his mind till another day: whatsoever she had vowed and promised, she shall fulfil: because immediately as he heard it, he held his peace. ¹⁶But if he gainsay it after that he knew it, he shall bear her iniquity. ¹⁷These are the laws which the Lord appointed to Moses between the husband and the wife, between the father and the daughter that is as yet but a girl in age, or that abideth in her father's house.

Chapter 31

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Revenge first the children of Israel on the Madianites, and so thou shalt be gathered to thy people. ³And Moses forthwith said: Arm of you men to fight, who may take the revenge of the Lord on the Madianites. ⁴Let a thousand men be chosen out of every tribe of Israel to be sent to the war. ⁵And they gave a thousand of every tribe, that is to say, twelve thousand men well appointed for battle. ⁶And Moses sent them with Phinees the son of Eleazar the priest, and he delivered to him the holy vessels, and the trumpets to sound. ⁷And when they had fought against the Madianites and had overcome them, they slew all the men. ⁸And their kings Evi, and Recem, and Sur, and Hur, and Rebe, five princes of the nation: Balaam also the son of Beer they killed with the sword. ⁹And they took their women, and their children captives, and all their cattle, and all their goods: and all their possessions they plundered: ¹⁰And all their cities, and their villages, and castles, they burned. ¹¹And they carried away the booty, and all that they had taken both of men and of beasts. ¹²And they brought them to Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and to all the multitude of the children of Israel. But the rest of the things for use they carried to the camp on the plains of Moab, beside the Jordan over against Jericho. ¹³And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the synagogue went forth to meet them without the camp. ¹⁴And Moses being angry with the chief officers of the army, the tribunes, and the centurions that were come from the battle, ¹⁵Said: Why have you saved the women? ¹⁶Are not these they, that deceived the children of Israel by the counsel of Balaam, and made you transgress against the Lord by the sin of Phogor, for which also the people was punished? ¹⁷Therefore kill all that are of the male sex, even of the children: and put to death the women, that have carnally known men. ¹⁸But the girls, and all the women that are virgins save for yourselves: ¹⁹And stay without the camp seven days. He that hath killed a man, or touched one that is killed, shall be purified the third day and the seventh day. ²⁰And of all the spoil, every garment, or vessel, or any thing made for use, of the skins, or hair of goats, or of wood, shall be purified. ²¹Eleazar also the priest spoke to the men of the army, that had fought, in this manner: This is the ordinance of the law, which the Lord hath commanded Moses: ²²Gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and lend, and tin, ²³And all that may pass through the fire, shall be purified by fire, but whatsoever cannot abide the fire, shall be sanctified with the water of expiation: ²⁴And you shall wash your garments the seventh day, and being purified, you shall afterwards enter into the camp. ²⁵And the Lord said to Moses: ²⁶Take the sum of the things that were taken both of man and beast, thou and Eleazar the priest and the princes of the multitude: ²⁷And thou shalt divide the spoil equally, between them that fought and went out to the war, and between the rest of the multitude. ²⁸And thou shalt separate a portion to the Lord from them that fought and were in the battle, one soul of five hundred as well of persons as of oxen and asses and sheep. ²⁹And thou shalt give it to Eleazar the priest, because they are the firstfruits of the Lord. ³⁰Out of the moiety also of the children of Israel thou shalt take the fiftieth head of persons, and of oxen, and asses, and sheep, and of all beasts, and thou shalt give them to the Levites that watch in the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord. ³¹And Moses and Eleazar did as the Lord had commanded. ³²And the spoil which the army had taken, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep, ³³Seventy-two thousand oxen, ³⁴Sixty-one thousand asses: ³⁵And thirty-two thousand persons of the female sex, that had not known men. ³⁶And one half was given to them that had been in the battle, to wit, three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep: ³⁷Out of which, for the portion of the Lord, were reckoned six hundred seventy-five sheep. ³⁸And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen, seventy-two oxen: ³⁹Out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses, sixty-one asses: ⁴⁰Out of the sixteen thousand persons, there fell to the portion of the Lord, thirty-two souls. ⁴¹And Moses delivered the number of the firstfruits of the Lord to Eleazar the priest, as had been commanded him, ⁴²Out of the half of the children of Israel, which he had separated for them that had been in the battle. ⁴³But out of the half that fell to the rest of the multitude, that is to say, out of the three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, ⁴⁴And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen, ⁴⁵And out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses, ⁴⁶And out of the sixteen thousand persons, ⁴⁷Moses took the fiftieth head, and gave it to the Levites that watched in the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded. ⁴⁸And when the commanders of the army, and the tribunes and centurions were come to Moses, they said: ⁴⁹We thy servants have reckoned up the number of the fighting men, whom we had under our hand, and not so much as one was wanting. ⁵⁰Therefore we offer as gifts to the Lord what gold every one of us could find in the booty, in garters and tablets, rings and bracelets, and chains, that thou mayst pray to the Lord for us. ⁵¹And Moses and Eleazar the priest received all the gold in divers kinds, ⁵²In weight sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty sicles, from the tribunes and from the centurions. ⁵³For that which every one had taken in the booty was his own. ⁵⁴And that which was received they brought into the tabernacle of the testimony, for a memorial of the children of Israel before the Lord.

Chapter 32

¹And the sons of Ruben and Gad had many flocks of cattle, and their substance in beasts was infinite. And when they saw the lands of Jazer and Galaad fit for feeding cattle, ²They came to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and the princes of the multitude, and said: ³Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nemra, Hesebon, and Eleale, and Saban, and Nebo, and Beon, ⁴The land, which the Lord hath conquered in the sight of the children of Israel, is a very fertile soil for the feeding of beasts: and we thy servants have very much cattle: ⁵And we pray thee, if we have found favour in thy sight, that thou give it to us thy servants in possession, and make us not pass over the Jordan. ⁶And Moses answered them: What, shall your brethren go to fight, and will you sit here? ⁷Why do ye overturn the minds of the children of Israel, that they may not dare to pass into the place which the Lord hath given them? ⁸Was it not thus your fathers did, when I sent from Cadesbarne to view the land? ⁹And when they were come as far as the valley of the cluster, having viewed all the country, they overturned the hearts of the children of Israel, that they should not enter into the coasts, which the Lord gave them. ¹⁰And he swore in his anger, saying:. ¹¹If these men, that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land, which I promised with an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: because they would not follow me, ¹²Except Caleb the son of Jephone the Cenezite, and Josue the son of Nun: these have fulfilled my will. ¹³And the Lord being angry against Israel, led them about through the desert forty years, until the whole generation, that had done evil in his sight, was consumed. ¹⁴And behold, said he, you are risen up instead of your fathers, the increase and offspring of sinful men, to augment the fury of the Lord against Israel. ¹⁵For if you will not follow him, he will leave the people in the wilderness, end you shall be the cause of the destruction of all. ¹⁶But they coming near, said: We will make sheepfolds, and stalls for our cattle, and strong cities for our children : ¹⁷And we ourselves will go armed and ready for battle before the children of Israel, until we bring them in unto their places. Our little ones, and all we have, shall be in walled cities, for fear of the ambushes of the inhabitants. ¹⁸We will not return into our houses until the children of Israel possess their inheritance: ¹⁹Neither will we seek any thing beyond the Jordan, because we have already our possession on the east side thereof, ²⁰And Moses said to them: If you do what you promise, go on well appointed for war before the Lord: ²¹And let every fighting man pass over the Jordan, until the Lord overthrow his enemies : ²²And all the land be brought under him, then shall you be blameless before the Lord and before Israel, and you shall obtain the countries that you desire, before the Lord. ²³But if you do not what you say, no man can doubt but you sin against God: and know ye, that your sin shall overtake you. ²⁴Build therefore cities for your children, and folds and stalls for your sheep and beasts, and accomplish what you have promised. ²⁵And the children of Gad and Ruben said to Moses: We are thy servants, we will do what my lord commandeth. ²⁶We will leave our children, and our wives and sheep and cattle, in the cities of Galaad: ²⁷And we thy servants all well appointed will march on to the war, as thou, my lord, speakest. ²⁸Moses therefore commanded Eleazar the priest, and Josue the son of Nun, and the princes of the families of all the tribes of Israel, and said to them: ²⁹If the children of Gad, and the children of Ruben pass with you over the Jordan, all armed for war before the Lord, and the land be made subject to you: give them Galaad in possession. ³⁰But if they will not pass armed with you into the land of Chanaan, let them receive places to dwell in among you. ³¹And the children of Gad, and the children of Ruben answered: As the Lord hath spoken to his servants, so will we do: ³²We will go armed before the Lord into the land of Chanaan, and we confess that we have already received our possession beyond the Jordan. ³³Moses therefore gave to the children of Cad and of Ruben, and to the half tribe of Manasses the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sehon king of the Amorrhites, and the kingdom of Og king of Basan, and their land and the cities thereof round about. ³⁴And the sons of Cad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer, ³⁵And Etroth, and Sophan, and Jazer, and Jegbaa, ³⁶And Bethnemra, and Betharan, fenced cities, and folds for their cattle. ³⁷But the children of Ruben built Hesebon, and Eleale, and Cariathaim, ³⁸And Nabo, and Baalmeon (their names being changed) and Sabama: giving names to the cities which they had built. ³⁹Moreover the children of Machir, the son of Manasses, went into Galaad, and wasted it, cutting off the Amorrhites, the inhabitants thereof. ⁴⁰And Moses gave the land of Galaad to Machir the son of Manasses, and he dwelt in it. ⁴¹And Jair the son of Manasses went, and took the villages thereof, and he called them Havoth Jair, that is to say, the villages of Jair. ⁴²Nobe also went, and took Canath with the villages thereof: and he called it by his own name, Nobe.

Chapter 33

¹These are the mansions of the children of Israel, who went out of Egypt by their troops under the conduct of Moses and Aaron, ²Which Moses wrote down according to the places of their encamping, which they changed by the commandment of the Lord. ³Now the children of Israel departed from Ramesses the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the phase, with a mighty hand, in the eight of all the Egyptians, ⁴Who were burying their firstborn, whom the Lord had slain (upon their gods also he had executed vengeance,) ⁵And they camped in Soccoth. ⁶And from Soccoth they came into Etham, which is in the uttermost borders of the wilderness. ⁷Departing from thence they came over against Phihahiroth, which looketh towards Beelsephon, and they camped before Magdalum. ⁸And departing from Phihahiroth, they passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness: and having marched three days through the desert of Etham, they camped in Mara. ⁹And departing from Mara, they came into Elim, where there were twelve fountains of waters, and seventy palm trees: and there they camped. ¹⁰But departing from thence also, they pitched their tents by the Red Sea. And departing from the Red Sea, ¹¹They camped in the desert of Sin. ¹²And they removed from thence, and came to Daphca. ¹³And departing from Daphca, they camped in Alus. ¹⁴And departing from Alus, they pitched their tents in Raphidim, where the people wanted water to drink. ¹⁵And departing from Raphidim, they camped in the desert of Sinai. ¹⁶But departing also from the desert of Sinai, they came to the graves of lust. ¹⁷And departing from the graves of lust, they camped in Haseroth. ¹⁸And from Haseroth they came to Rethma. ¹⁹And departing from Rethma, they camped in Remmomphares. ²⁰And they departed from thence and came to Lebna. ²¹Removing from Lebna they camped in Ressa. ²²And departing from Ressa, they came to Ceelatha. ²³And they removed from thence and camped in the mountain Sepher. ²⁴Departing from the mountain Sepher, they came to Arada. ²⁵From thence they went and camped in Maceloth. ²⁶And departing from Maceloth, they came to Thahath. ²⁷Removing from Thahath they camped in Thare. ²⁸And they departed from thence, and pitched their tents in Methca. ²⁹And removing from Methca, they camped in Hesmona. ³⁰And departing from Hesmona, they came to Moseroth. ³¹And removing from Moseroth, they camped in Benejaacan. ³²And departing from Benejaacan, they came to mount Gadgad. ³³From thence they went and camped in Jetebatha. ³⁴And from Jetebatha they came to Hebrona. ³⁵And departing from Hebrona, they camped in Asiongaber. ³⁶They removed from thence and came into the desert of Sin, which is Cades. ³⁷And departing from Cades, they camped in mount Her, in the uttermost borders of the land of Edom. ³⁸And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the Lord: and there he died in the fortieth year of the coming forth of the children of Israel out of Egypt, W the fifth month, the first day of the month, ³⁹When he was a hundred and twenty-three years old. ⁴⁰And king Arad the Chanaanite, who dwelt towards the south, heard that the children of Israel were come to the land of Chanaan. ⁴¹And they departed from mount Her, and camped in Salmona. ⁴²From whence they removed and came to Phunon. ⁴³And departing from Phunon, they camped in Oboth. ⁴⁴And from Oboth they came to Ijeabarim, which is in the borders of the Moabites. ⁴⁵And departing from Ijeabarim they pitched their tents in Dibongab. ⁴⁶From thence they went and camped in Helmondeblathaim. ⁴⁷And departing from Helmondeblathaim, they came to the mountains of Abarim over against Nabo. ⁴⁸And departing from the mountains of Abarim, they passed to the plains of Moab, by the Jordan, over against Jericho. ⁴⁹And there they camped from Bethsi moth even to Ablesatim in the plains of the Moabites, ⁵⁰Where the Lord said to Moses: ⁵¹Command the children of Israel, and say to them: When you shall have passed over the Jordan, entering into the land of Chanaan, ⁵²Destroy all the inhabitants of that land: beat down their pillars, and break in pieces their statues, and waste all their high places, ⁵³Cleansing the land, and dwelling in it. For I have given it you for a possession. ⁵⁴And you shall divide it among you by lot. To the more you shall give a larger part, and to the fewer a lesser. To every one as the lot shall fall, so shall the inheritance be given. The possession shall be divided by the tribes and the families. ⁵⁵But if you will not kill the inhabitants of the land: they that remain, shall be unto you as nails in your eyes, and spears in your sides, and they shall be your adversaries in the land of your habitation. ⁵⁶And whatsoever I had thought to do to them, I will do to you.

Chapter 34

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Command the children of Israel, and then shalt say to them: When you are entered into the land of Chanaan, and it shall be fallen into your possession by lot, it shall be bounded by these limits: ³The south side shall begin from the wilderness of Sin, which is by Edom: and shall have the most salt sea for its furthest limits eastward: ⁴Which limits shall go round on the south side by the ascent of the Scorpion and so into Senna, and reach toward the south as far as Cadesbarne, from whence the frontiers shall go out to the town called Adar, and shall reach as far as Asemona. ⁵And the limits shall fetch a compass from Asemona to the torrent of Egypt, and shall end in the shore of the great sea. ⁶And the west side shall begin from the great sea, and the same shall be the end thereof. ⁷But toward the north side the borders shall begin from the great sea, reaching to the most high mountain, ⁸From which they shall come to Emath, as far as the borders of Sedada: ⁹nod the limits shall go as far as Zephrona, and the village of Enan. These shall be the borders on the north side. ¹⁰From thence they shall mark out the bounds towards the east side from the village of Enan unto Sephama. ¹¹And from Sephama the bounds shall go down to Rebla over against the fountain of Daphnis: from thence they shall come eastward to the sea of Cenereth, ¹²And shall reach as far as the Jordan, and at the last shall be closed in by the most salt sea. This shall be your land with its borders round about. ¹³And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying: This shall be the land which you shall possess by lot, and which the Lord hath commanded to be given to the nine tribes, and to the half tribe. ¹⁴For the tribe of the children of Ruben by their families, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the number of their kindreds, and half of the tribe of Manasses, ¹⁵That is, two tribes and a half, have received their portion beyond the Jordan over against Jericho at the east side. ¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses: ¹⁷These are the names of the men, that shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Josue the son of Nun, ¹⁸And one prince of every tribe, ¹⁹Whose names are these : Of the tribe of Juda, Caleb the son of Jephone. ²⁰Of the tribe of Simeon, Samuel the son of Ammiud. ²¹Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chaselon. ²²Of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bocci the son of Jogli. ²³Of the children of Joseph of the tribe of Manasses, Hanniel the son of Ephod. ²⁴Of the tribe of Ephraim, Camuel the son of Sephtan. ²⁵Of the tribe of Zabulon, Elisaphan the son of Pharnach. ²⁶Of the tribe of Issachar, Phaltiel the prince, the son of Ozan. ²⁷Of the tribe of Aser, Ahiud the son of Salomi. ²⁸Of the tribe of Nephtali: Phedael the son of Ammiud. ²⁹These are they whom the Lord hath commanded to divide the land of Chanaan to the children of Israel,.

Chapter 35

¹And the Lord spoke these things also to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, over against Jericho: ²Command the children of Israel that they give to the Levites out of their possessions, ³Cities to dwell in, and their suburbs round about: that they may abide in the towns, and the suburbs may be for their cattle and beasts: ⁴Which suburbs shall reach from the walls of the cities outward, a thousand paces on every side: ⁵Toward the east shall be two thousand cubits: and toward the south in like manner shall be two thousand cubits: toward the sea also, which looketh to the west, shall be the same extent: and the north side shall be bounded with the like limits. And the cities shall be in the midst, and the suburbs without. ⁶And among the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, six shall be separated for refuge to fugitives, that he who hath shed blood may flee to them: and besides these there shall be other forty-two cities, ⁷That is, in all forty-eight with their suburbs. ⁸And of these cities which shall be given out of the possessions of the children of Israel, from them that have more, more shall be taken: and from them that have less, fewer. Each shall give towns to the Levites according to the extent of their inheritance. ⁹The Lord said to Moses: ¹⁰Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When you shall have passed over the Jordan into the land of Chanaan, ¹¹Determine what cities shall be for the refuge of fugitives, who have shed blood against their will. ¹²And when the fugitive shall be in them, the kinsman of him that is slain may not have power to kill him, until he stand before the multitude, and his cause be judged. ¹³And of those cities, that are separated for the refuge of fugitives, ¹⁴Three shall be beyond the Jordan, and three in the land of Chanaan, ¹⁵As well for the children of Israel as for strangers and sojourners, that he may flee to them, who hath shed blood against his will. ¹⁶If any man strike with iron, and he die that was struck : he shall be guilty of murder, and he himself shall die. ¹⁷If he throw a stone, and he that is struck die: he shall be punished in the same manner. ¹⁸If he that is struck with wood die: he shall be revenged by the blood of him that struck him. ¹⁹The kinsman of him that was slain, shall kill the murderer: as soon as he apprehendeth him, he shall kill him. ²⁰If through hatred any one push a man, or fling any thing at him with ill design: ²¹Or being his enemy, strike; him with his hand, and he die: the striker shall be guilty of murder: the kinsman of him that was slain as soon as he findeth him, shall kill him. ²²But if by chance medley, and without hatred, ²³And enmity, he do any of these things, ²⁴And this be proved in the hearing of the people, and the cause be debated between him that struck, and the next of kin: ²⁵The innocent shall be delivered from the hand of the revenger, and shall be brought back by sentence into the city, to which he had fled, and he shall abide there until the death of the high priest, that is anointed with the holy oil. ²⁶If the murderer be found without the limits of the cities that are appointed for the banished, ²⁷And be struck by him that is the avenger of blood: he shall not be guilty that killed him. ²⁸For the fugitive ought to have stayed in the city until the death of the high priest: and after he is dead, then shall the manslayer return to his own country. ²⁹These things shall be perpetual, and for an ordinance in all your dwellings. ³⁰The murderer shall be punished by witnesses: none shall be condemned upon the evidence of one man. ³¹31You shall not take money of him that is guilty of blood, but he shall die forthwith. ³²The banished and fugitives before the death of the high priest may by no means return into their own cities. ³³Defile not the land of your habitation, which is stained with the blood of the innocent: neither can it otherwise be expiated, but by his blood that hath shed the blood of another. ³⁴And thus shall your possession he cleansed, myself abiding with you. For I am the Lord that dwell among the children of Israel.

Chapter 36

¹And the princes of the families of Galaad, the son of Machir, the son of Manasses, of the stock Of the children of Joseph, came and spoke to Moses before the princes of Israel, and said: ²The Lord hath commanded thee, my lord, that thou shouldst divide the land by lot to the children of Israel, and that thou shouldst give to the daughters of Salphaad our brother the possession due to their father: ³Now if men of another tribe take them to wives, their possession will follow them, and being transferred to another tribe, will be a diminishing of our inheritance. ⁴And so it shall come to pass, that when the jubilee, that is, the fiftieth year of remission, is come, the distribution made by the lots shall be confounded, and the possession of the one shall pass to the others. ⁵Moses answered the children of Israel, and said by the command of the Lord: The tribe of the children of Joseph hath spoken rightly. ⁶And this is the law promulgated by the Lord touching the daughters of Salphaad: Let them marry to whom they will, only so that it be to men of their own tribe. ⁷Lest the possession of the children of Israel be mingled from tribe to tribe. For all men shall marry wives of their own tribe and kindred: ⁸And all women shall take husbands of the same tribe: that the inheritance may remain in the families, ⁹And that the tribes be not mingled one with another, but remain so ¹⁰As they were separated by the Lord. And the daughters of Salphaad did as was commanded: ¹¹And Maala, and Thersa, and Hegla, and Melcha, and Noa were married to the sons of their uncle by their father ¹²Of the family of Manasses, who was the son of Joseph: and the possession that had been allotted to them, remained in the tribe and family of their father. ¹³These are the commandments and judgments, which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to the children of Israel, in the plains of Moab upon the Jordan over against Jericho.

The Book of Deuteronomy

This Book is called DEUTERONOMY, which signifies a SECOND LAW, because it repeats and inculcates the ordinances formerly given on mount Sinai, with other precepts not expressed before. The Hebrews, from the first words in the book, call it ELLE HADDEBARIM.

Chapter 1

¹These are the words, which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan, in the plain wilderness, over against the Red Sea, between Pharan and Thophel and Laban and Haseroth, where there is very much gold: ²Eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Cadesbarne. ³In the fortieth year, the eleventh month, the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel all that the Lord had commanded him to say to them: ⁴After that he had slain Sehon king of the Amorrhites, who dwelt in Hesebon: and Og king of Basan who abode in Astaroth, and in Edrai, ⁵Beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab. And Moses began to expound the law, and to say: ⁶The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: You have stayed long enough in this mountain: ⁷Turn you, and come to the mountain of the Amorrhites, and to the other places that are next to it, the plains and the hills and the vales towards the south, and by the sea shore, the land of the Chanaanites, and of Libanus, as far as the great river Euphrates. ⁸Behold, said he, I have delivered it to you: go in and possess it, concerning which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give it to them, and to their seed after them. ⁹And I said to you at that time: ¹⁰I alone am not able to bear you: for the Lord your God hath multiplied you, and you are this day as the stars of heaven, for multitude. ¹¹(The Lord God of your fathers add to this number many thousands, and bless you as he hath spoken.) ¹²I alone am not able to bear your business, and the charge of you and your differences. ¹³Let me have from among you wise and understanding men, and such whose conversation is approved among your tribes, that I may appoint them your rulers. ¹⁴Then you answered me: The thing is good which thou meanest to do. ¹⁵And I took out of your tribes men wise and honourable, and appointed them rulers, tribunes, and centurions, and officers over fifties, and over tens, who might teach you all things. ¹⁶And I commanded them, saying: Hear them, and judge that which is just: whether he be one of your country, or a stranger. ¹⁷There shall be no difference of persons, you shall hear the little as well as the great: neither shall you respect any man's person, because it is the judgment of God. And if any thing seem hard to you, refer it to me, and I will hear it. ¹⁸And I commanded you all things that you were to do. ¹⁹And departing from Horeb, we passed through the terrible and vast wilderness, which you saw, by the way of the mountain of the Amorrhite, as the Lord our God had commanded us. And when we were come into Cadesbarne, ²⁰I said to you: You are come to the mountain of the Amorrhite, which the Lord our God will give to us. ²¹See the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord our God hath spoken to thy fathers: fear not, nor be any way discouraged. ²²And you came all to me, and said: Let us send men who may view the land, and bring us word what way we shall go up, and to what cities we shall go. ²³And because the saying pleased me, I sent of you twelve men, one of every tribe: ²⁴Who, when they had set forward and had gone up to the mountains, came as far as the valley of the cluster: and having viewed the land, ²⁵Taking of the fruits thereof, to shew its fertility, they brought them to us, and said: The land is good, which the Lord our God will give us. ²⁶And you would not go up, but being incredulous to the word of the Lord our God, ²⁷You murmured in your tents, and said: The Lord hateth us, and therefore he hath brought us out of the land of Egypt, that he might deliver us into the hand of the Amorrhite, and destroy us. ²⁸Whither shall we go up? the messengers have terrified our hearts, saying: The multitude is very great, and taller than we: the cities are great, and walled up td the sky, we have seen the sons of the Enacims there. ²⁹And I said to you: Fear not, neither be ye afraid of them: ³⁰The Lord God, who is your leader, himself will fight for you, as he did in Egypt in the sight of all. ³¹And in the wilderness (as thou hast seen) the Lord thy God hath carried thee, as a man is wont to carry his little son, all the way that you have come, until you came to this place. ³²And yet for all this you did not believe the Lord your God, ³³Who went before you in the way, and marked out the place, wherein you should pitch your tents, in the night shewing you the way by fire, and in the day by the pillar of a cloud. ³⁴And when the Lord had heard the voice of your words, he was angry and swore, and said: ³⁵Not one of the men of this wicked generation shall see the good land, which I promised with an oath to your fathers: ³⁶Except Caleb the son of Jephone: for he shall see it, and to him I will give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath followed the Lord. ³⁷Neither is his indignation against the people to be wondered at, since the Lord was angry with me also on your account, and said: Neither shalt thou go in thither. ³⁸But Josue the son of Nun, thy minister, he shall go in for thee: exhort and encourage him, and he shall divide the land by lot to Israel. ³⁹Your children, of whom you said that they should be led away captives, and your sons who know not this day the difference of good and evil, they shall go in: and to them I will give the land, and they shall possess it. ⁴⁰But return you and go into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. ⁴¹And you answered me: We have sinned against the Lord: we will go up and fight, as the Lord our God hath commanded. And when you went ready armed unto the mountain, ⁴²The Lord said to me: Say to them: Go not up, and fight not, for I am not with you: lest you fall before your enemies. ⁴³I spoke, and you hearkened not: but resisting the commandment of the Lord, and swelling with pride, you went up into the mountain. ⁴⁴And the Amorrhite that dwelt in the mountains coming out, and meeting you, chased you, as bees do: and made slaughter of you from Seir as far as Horma. ⁴⁵And when you returned and wept before the Lord, he heard you not, neither would he yield to your voice. ⁴⁶So you abode in Cadesbarne a long time.

Chapter 2

¹And departing from thence we came into the wilderness that leadeth to the Red Sea, as the Lord had spoken to me: and we compassed mount Seir a long time. ²And the Lord said to me: ³You have compassed this mountain long enough: go toward the north: ⁴And command thou the people, saying: You shall pass by the borders of your brethren the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and they will be afraid of you. ⁵Take ye then good heed that you stir not against them. For I will not give you of their land so much as the step of one foot can tread upon, because I have given mount Seir to Esau, for a possession. ⁶You shall buy meats of them for money and shall eat: you shall draw waters for money, and shall drink. ⁷The Lord thy God hath blessed thee in every work of thy hands: the Lord thy God dwelling with thee, knoweth thy journey, how thou hast passed through this great wilderness, for forty years, and thou hast wanted nothing. ⁸And when we had passed by our brethren the children of Esau, that dwelt in Seir, by the way of the plain from Elath and from Asiongaber, we came to the way that leadeth to the desert of Moab. ⁹And the Lord said to me: Fight not against the Moabites, neither go to battle against them: for I will not give thee any of their land, because I have given Ar to the children of Lot in possession. ¹⁰The Emims first were the inhabitants thereof, a people great, and strong, and so tall, that like the race of the Enacims, ¹¹They were esteemed as giants, and were like the sons of the Enacims. But the Moabites call them Emims. ¹²The Horrhites also formerly dwelt in Seir: who being driven out and destroyed, the children of Esau dwelt there, as Israel did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave him. ¹³Then rising up to pass the torrent Zared, we came to it. ¹⁴And the time that we journeyed from Cadesbarne till we passed over the torrent Zared, was thirty-eight years: until all the generation of the men that were fit for war was consumed out of the camp, as the Lord had sworn: ¹⁵For his hand was against them, that they should perish from the midst of the camp. ¹⁶And after all the fighting men were dead, ¹⁷The Lord spoke to me, saying: ¹⁸Thou shalt pass this day the borders of Moab, the city named Ar: ¹⁹And when thou comest nigh the frontiers of the children of Ammon, take heed thou fight not against them, nor once move to battle: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon, because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession. ²⁰It was accounted a land of giants: and giants formerly dwelt in it, whom the Ammonites call Zomzommims, ²¹A people great and many, and of tall stature, like the Enacims whom the Lord destroyed before their face: and he made them to dwell in their stead, ²²As he had done in favour of the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir, destroying the Horrhites, and delivering their land to them, which they possess to this day. ²³The Hevites also, that dwelt in Haserim as far as Gaza, were expelled by the Cappadocians: who came out of Cappadocia, and destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead. ²⁴Arise ye, and pass the torrent Arnon: Behold I have delivered into thy hand Sehon king of Hesebon the Amorrhite, and begin thou to possess his land and make war against him. ²⁵This day will I begin to send the dread and fear of thee upon the nations that dwell under the whole heaven: that when they hear thy name they may fear and tremble, and be in pain like women in travail. ²⁶So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Cademoth to Sehon the king of Hesebon with peaceable words, saying: ²⁷We will pass through thy land, we will go along by the highway: we will not turn aside neither to the right hand nor to the left. ²⁸Sell us meat for money, that we may eat: give us water for money and so we will drink. We only ask that thou wilt let us pass through, ²⁹As the children of Esau have done, that dwell in Seir, and the Moabites, that abide in Ar: until we come to the Jordan, and pass to the land which the Lord our God will give us. ³⁰And Sehon the king of Hesebon would not let us pass: because the Lord thy God had hardened his spirit, and fixed his heart, that he might be delivered into thy hands, as now thou seest. ³¹And the Lord said to me: Behold I have begun to deliver unto thee Sehon and his land, begin to possess it. ³²And Sehon came out to meet us with all his people to fight at Jasa. ³³And the Lord our God delivered him to us: and we slew him with his sons and all his people. ³⁴And we took all his cities at that time, killing the inhabitants of them, men and women and children. We left nothing of them: ³⁵Except the cattle which came to the share of them that took them: and the spoils of the cities, which we took: ³⁶From Aroer, which is upon the bank of the torrent Amen, a town that is situate in a valley, as far as Galaad. There was not a village or city, that escaped our hands: the Lord our God delivered all unto us: ³⁷Except the land of the children of Ammon, to which we approached not: and all that border upon the torrent Jeboc, and the cities in the mountains, and all the places which the Lord our God forbade us.

Chapter 3

¹Then we turned and went by the way of Basan: and Og the king of Basan came out to meet us with his people to fight in Edrai. ²And the Lord said to me: Fear him not: because he is delivered into thy hand, with all his people and his land: and thou shalt do to him as thou hast done to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that dwelt in Hesebon. ³So the Lord our God delivered into our hands, Og also the king of Basan, and all his people: and we utterly destroyed them, ⁴Wasting all his cities at one time, there was not a town that escaped us: sixty cities, all the country of Argob the kingdom of Og in Basan. ⁵All the cities were fenced with very high walls, and with gates and bars, besides innumerable towns that had no walls. ⁶And we utterly destroyed them, as we had done to Sehon the king of Hesebon, destroying every city, men and women and children: ⁷But the cattle and the spoils of the cities we took for our prey. ⁸And we took at that time the land out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorrhites, that were beyond the Jordan: from the torrent Amen unto the mount Hermon, ⁹Which the Sidonians call Sarion, and the Amorrhites Sanir: ¹⁰All the cities that are situate in the plain, and all the land of Galaad and Basan as far as Selcha and Edrai, cities of the kingdom of Og in Basan. ¹¹For only Og king of Basan remained of the race of the giants. His bed of iron is shewn, which is in Rabbath of the children of Ammon, being nine cubits long, and four broad after the measure of the cubit of a man's hand. ¹²And we possessed the land at that time from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the torrent Amen, unto the half of mount Galaad: and I gave the cities thereof to Ruben and Gad. ¹³And I delivered the other part of Galaad, and all Basan the kingdom of Og to the half tribe of Manasses, all the country of Argob: and all Basan is called the Land of giants. ¹⁴Jair the son of Manasses possessed all the country of d Argob unto the borders of Gessuri, and Machati. And he called Basan by his own name, Havoth Jair, that is to say, the towns of Jair, until this present day. ¹⁵To Machir also I gave Galaad. ¹⁶And to the tribes of Ruben and Cad I gave of the land of Galaad as far as the torrent Amen, half the torrent, and the confines even unto the torrent Jeboc, which is the border of the children of Ammon: ¹⁷And the plain of the wilderness, and the Jordan, and the borders of Cenereth unto the sea of the desert, which is the most salt sea, to the foot of mount Phasga eastward. ¹⁸And I commanded you at that time, saying: The Lord your God giveth you this land for an inheritance, go ye well appointed before your brethren the children of Israel, all the strong men of you, ¹⁹Leaving your wives and children and cattle. For I know you have much cattle, and they must remain in the cities, which I have delivered to you. ²⁰Until the Lord give rest to your brethren, as he hath given to you: and they also possess the land, which he will give them beyond the Jordan: then shall every man return to his possession, which I have given you. ²¹I commanded Josue also at that time, saying: Thy eyes have seen what the Lord your God hath done to these two kings: so will he do to all the kingdom to which thou shalt pass. ²²Fear them not: for the Lord your God will fight for you. ²³And I besought the Lord at that time, saying: ²⁴Lord God, thou hast begun to shew unto thy servant thy greatness, and most mighty hand, for there is no other God either in heaven or earth, that is able to do thy works, or to be compared to thy strength. ²⁵I will pass over therefore, and will see this excellent land beyond the Jordan, and this goodly mountain, and Libanus. ²⁶And the Lord was angry with me on your account and heard me not, but said to me: It is enough: speak no more to me of this matter. ²⁷Go up to the top of Phasga, and cast thy eyes round about to the west, and to the north, and to the south, and to the east, and behold it, for thou shalt not pass this Jordan. ²⁸Command Josue, and encourage and strengthen him: for he shall go before this people, and shall divide unto them the land which thou shalt see. ²⁹And we abode in the valley over against the temple of Phogor.

Chapter 4

¹And now, O Israel, hear the commandments and judgments which I teach thee: that doing them, thou mayst live, and entering in mayst possess the land which the Lord the God of your fathers will give you. ²You shall not add to the word that I speak to you, neither shall you take away from it: keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. ³Your eyes have seen all that the Lord hath done against Beelphegor, how he hath destroyed all his worshippers from among you. ⁴But you that adhere to the Lord your Cad, are all alive until this present day. ⁵You know that I have taught you statutes and justices, as the Lord my God hath commanded me: so shall you do them in the land which you shall possess: ⁶And you shall observe, and fulfil them in practice. For this is your wisdom, and understanding in the sight of nations, that hearing all these precepts, they may say: Behold a wise and understanding people, a great nation. ⁷Neither is there any other nation so great, that hath gods so nigh them, as our God is present to all our petitions. ⁸For what other nation is there so renowned that hath ceremonies, and just judgments, and all the law, which I will set forth this day before your eyes? ⁹Keep thyself therefore, and thy soul carefully. Forget not the words that thy eyes have seen, and let them not go out of thy heart all the days of thy life. Thou shalt teach them to thy sons and to thy grandsons, ¹⁰From the day in which thou didst stand before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord spoke to me, saying: Call together the people unto me, that they may hear my words, and may learn to fear me all the time that they live on the earth, and may teach their children. ¹¹And you came to the foot of the mount, which burned even unto heaven: and there was darkness, and a cloud and obscurity in it. ¹²And the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the voice of his words, but you saw not any form at all. ¹³And he shewed you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, and the ten words that he wrote in two tables of stone. ¹⁴And he commanded me at that time that I should teach you the ceremonies and judgments which you shall do in the land, that you shall possess. ¹⁵Keep therefore your souls carefully. You saw not any similitude in the day that the Lord God spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire: ¹⁶Lest perhaps being deceived you might make you a graven similitude, or image of male or female, ¹⁷The similitude of any beasts, that are upon the earth, or of birds, that fly under heaven, ¹⁸Or of creeping things, that move on the earth, or of fishes, that abide in the waters under the earth: ¹⁹Lest perhaps lifting up thy eyes to heaven, thou see the sun and the moon, and all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by error thou adore and serve them, which the Lord thy God created for the service of all the nations, that are under heaven. ²⁰But the Lord hath taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace of Egypt, to make you his people of inheritance, as it is this present day. ²¹And the Lord was angry with me for your words, and he swore that I should not pass over the Jordan, nor enter into the excellent land, which he will give you. ²²Behold I die in this land, I shall not pass over the Jordan: you shall pass, and possess the goodly land. ²³Beware lest thou ever forget the covenant of the Lord thy God, which he hath made with thee: and make to thyself a graven likeness of those things which the Lord hath forbid to be made: ²⁴Because the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. ²⁵If you shall beget sons and grandsons, and abide in the land, and being deceived, make to yourselves any similitude, committing evil before the Lord your God, to provoke him to wrath: ²⁶I call this day heaven and earth to witness, that you shall quickly perish out of the land, which, when you have passed over the Jordan, you shall possess. You shall not dwell therein long, but the Lord will destroy you, ²⁷And scatter you among all nations, and you shall remain a few among the nations, to which the Lord shall lead you. ²⁸And there you shall serve gods, that were framed with men's hands: wood and stone, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. ²⁹And when thou shalt seek there the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him: yet so, if thou seek him with all thy heart, and all the affliction of thy soul. ³⁰After all the things aforesaid shall and thee, in the latter time thou shalt return to the Lord thy God, and shalt hear his voice. ³¹Because the Lord thy God is a merciful God: he will not leave thee, nor altogether destroy thee, nor forget the covenant, by which he swore to thy fathers. ³²Ask of the days of old, that have been before thy time from the day that God created man upon the earth, from one end of heaven to the other end thereof, if ever there was done the like thing, or it hath been known at any time, ³³That a people should hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire, as thou hast heard, and lived: ³⁴If God ever did so as to go, and take to himself a nation out of the midst of nations by temptations, signs, and wonders, by fight, and a strong hand, and stretched out arm, and horrible visions according to all the things that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before thy eyes. ³⁵That thou mightest know that the Lord he is God, and there is no other besides him. ³⁶From heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might teach thee. And upon earth he shewed thee his exceeding great fire, and thou didst hear his words out of the midst of the fire, ³⁷Because he loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them. And he brought thee out of Egypt, going before thee with his great power, ³⁸To destroy at thy coming very great nations, and stronger than thou art, and to bring thee in, and give thee their land for a possession, as thou seest at this present day. ³⁹Know therefore this day, and think in thy heart that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath, and there is no other. ⁴⁰Keep his precepts and commandments, which I command thee: that it may be well with thee, and thy children after thee, and thou mayst remain a long time upon the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee. ⁴¹Then Moses set aside three cities beyond the Jordan at the east side, ⁴²That any one might flee to them who should kill his neighbour unwillingly, and was not his enemy a day or two before, and that he might escape to some one of these cities: ⁴³Bosor in the wilderness, which is situate in the plains of the tribe of Ruben: and Ramoth in Galaad, which is in the tribe of Gad: and Golan in Basan, which is in the tribe of Manasses. ⁴⁴This is the law, that Moses set before the children of Israel, ⁴⁵And these are the testimonies and ceremonies and judgments, which he spoke to the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt, ⁴⁶Beyond the Jordan in the valley over against the temple of Phogor, in the land of Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that dwelt in Hesebon, whom Moses slew. And the children of Israel coming out of Egypt, ⁴⁷Possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Basan, of the two kings of the Amorrhites, who were beyond the Jordan towards the rising of the sun: ⁴⁸From Aroer, which is situate upon the bank of the torrent Amen, unto mount Sion, which is also called Hermon, ⁴⁹All the plain beyond the Jordan at the east side, unto the see of the wilderness, and unto the foot of mount Phasga.

Chapter 5

¹And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the ceremonies and judgments, which I speak in your ears this day: learn them, and fulfil them in work. ²The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. ³He made not the covenant with our fathers, but with us, who are now present and living. ⁴He spoke to us face to face in the mount out of the midst of fire. ⁵I was the mediator and stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you his words, for you feared the fire, and went not up into the mountain, and he said: ⁶I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage ⁷Thou shalt not have strange gods in my sight. ⁸Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any things, that are in heaven above, or that are in the earth beneath, or that abide in the waters under the earth. ⁹Thou shalt not adore them, and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation, to them that hate me, ¹⁰And shewing mercy unto many thousands, to them that love me, and keep my commandments. ¹¹Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for he shall not be unpunished that taketh his name upon a vain thing. ¹²Observe the day of the sabbath, to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. ¹³Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works. ¹⁴The seventh is the day of the sabbath, that is, the rest of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not do any work therein, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy ox, nor thy ass, nor any of thy beasts, nor the stranger that is within thy gates: that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest, even as thyself. ¹⁵Remember that thou also didst serve in Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out from thence with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm. Therefore hath he commanded thee that thou shouldst observe the sabbath day. ¹⁶Honour thy father and mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that thou mayst live a long time, and it may be well with thee in the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee. ¹⁷Thou shalt not kill. ¹⁸Neither shalt thou commit adultery. ¹⁹And thou shalt not steal. ²⁰Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour. ²¹Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife: nor his house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his. ²²These words the Lord spoke to all the multitude of you in the mountain, out of the midst of the fire and the cloud, and the darkness, with a loud voice, adding nothing more: and he wrote them in two tables of stone, which he delivered unto me. ²³But you, after you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and saw the mountain burn, came to me, all the princes of the tribes and the elders, and you said: ²⁴Behold the Lord our God hath shewn us his majesty and his greatness, we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire, and have proved this day that God speaking with man, man hath lived. ²⁵Why shall we die therefore, and why shall this exceeding great Are consume us: for if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. ²⁶What is all flesh, that it should hear the voice of the living God, who speaketh out of the midst of the fire, as we have heard, and be able to live? ²⁷Approach thou rather: and hear all things that the Lord our God shall say to thee, and thou shalt speak to us, and we will hear and will do them. ²⁸And when the Lord had heard this, he said to me: I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they spoke to thee: they have spoken all things well. ²⁹Who shall give them to have such a mind, to fear me, and to keep all my commandments at all times, that it may be well with them and with their children for ever? ³⁰Go and say to them: Return into your tents. ³¹But stand thou here with me, and I will speak to thee all my commandments, and ceremonies and judgments: which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land, which I will give them for a possession. ³²Keep therefore and do the things which the Lord God hath commanded you: you shall not go aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left. ³³But you shall walk in the way that the Lord your God hath commanded, that you may live, and it may be well with you, and your days may be long in the land of your possession.

Chapter 6

¹These are the precepts, and ceremonies, and judgments, which the Lord your God commanded that I should teach you, and that you should do them in the land into which you pass over to possess it: ²That thou mayst fear the Lord thy God, and keep all his commandments and precepts, which I command thee, and thy sons, and thy grandsons, all the days of thy life, that thy days may be prolonged. ³Hear, O Israel, and observe to do the things which the Lord hath commanded thee, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst be greatly multiplied, as the Lord the God of thy fathers hath promised thee a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁴Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. ⁵Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength. ⁶And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart: ⁷And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising. ⁸And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes. ⁹And thou shalt write them in the entry, and on the doors of thy house. ¹⁰And when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, for which he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and shall have given thee great and goodly cities, which thou didst not build, ¹¹Houses full of riches, which thou didst not set up, cisterns which thou didst not dig, vineyards and oliveyards, which thou didst not plant, ¹²And thou shalt have eaten and be full: ¹³Take heed diligently lest thou forget the Lord, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve him only, and thou shalt swear by his name. ¹⁴You shall not go after the strange gods of all the nations, that are round about you: ¹⁵Because the Lord thy God is a jealous God in the midst of thee: lest at any time the wrath of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and take thee away from the face of the earth. ¹⁶Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as thou temptedst him in the place of temptation. ¹⁷Keep the precepts of the Lord thy God, and the testimonies and ceremonies which he hath commanded thee. ¹⁸And do that which is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with thee: and going in thou mayst possess the goodly land, concerning which the Lord swore to thy fathers, ¹⁹That he would destroy all thy enemies before thee, as he hath spoken. ²⁰And when thy son shall ask thee to morrow, saying: What mean these testimonies, and ceremonies and judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded us? ²¹Thou shalt say to him: We were bondmen of Pharao in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. ²²And he wrought signs and wonders great and very grievous in Egypt against Pharao, and all his house, in our sight, ²³And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in and give us the land, concerning which he swore to our fathers. ²⁴And the Lord commanded that we should do all these ordinances, and should fear the Lord our God, that it might be well with us all the days of our life, as it is at this day. ²⁵And he will be merciful to us, if we keep and do all his precepts before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.

Chapter 7

¹When the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, which thou art going in to possess, and shall have destroyed many nations before thee, the Hethite, and the Gergezite, and the Amorrhite, and the Chanaanite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, seven nations much more numerous than thou art, and stronger than thou: ²And the Lord thy God shall have delivered them to thee, thou shalt utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no league with them, nor shew mercy to them: ³Neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son, nor take his daughter for thy son: ⁴For she will turn away thy son from following me, that he may rather serve strange gods, and the wrath of the Lord will be kindled, and will quickly destroy thee. ⁵But thus rather shall you deal with them: Destroy their altars, and break their statues, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven things. ⁶Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee, to be his peculiar people of all peoples that are upon the earth. ⁷Not because you surpass all nations in number, is the Lord joined unto you, and hath chosen you, for you are the fewest of any people: ⁸But because the Lord hath loved you, and hath kept his oath, which he swore to your fathers: and hath brought you out with a strong hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, out of the hand of Pharao the king of Egypt. ⁹And thou shalt know that the Lord thy God, he is a strong and faithful God, keeping his covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments, unto a thousand generations: ¹⁰And repaying forthwith them that hate him, so as to destroy them, without further delay immediately rendering to them what they deserve. ¹¹11Keep therefore the precepts and ceremonies and judgments, which I command thee this day to do. ¹²If after thou hast heard these judgments, thou keep and do them, the Lord thy God will also keep his covenant to thee, and the mercy which he swore to thy fathers: ¹³And he will love thee and multiply thee, and will bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy vintage, thy oil, and thy herds, and the flocks of thy sheep upon the land, for which he swore to thy fathers that he would give it thee. ¹⁴Blessed shalt thou be among all people. No one shall be barren among you of either sex, neither of men nor cattle. ¹⁵The Lord will take away from thee all sickness: and the grievous infirmities of Egypt, which thou knowest, he will not bring upon thee, but upon thy enemies. ¹⁶Thou shalt consume all the people, which the Lord thy God will deliver to thee. Thy eye shall not spare them, neither shalt thou serve their gods, lest they be thy ruin. ¹⁷If thou say in thy heart: These nations are more than I, how shall I be able to destroy them? ¹⁸Fear not, but remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharao and to all the Egyptians, ¹⁹The exceeding great plagues, which thy eyes saw, and the signs and wonders, and the strong hand, and the stretched out arm, with which the Lord thy God brought thee out: so will he do to all the people, whom thou fearest. ²⁰Moreover the Lord thy God will send also hornets among them, until he destroy and consume all that have escaped thee, and could hide themselves. ²¹Thou shalt not fear them, because the Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, a God mighty and terrible: ²²He will consume these nations in thy sight by little and little and by degrees. Thou wilt not be able to destroy them altogether: lest perhaps the beasts of the earth should increase upon thee. ²³But the Lord thy God shall deliver them in thy sight: and shall slay them until they be utterly destroyed. ²⁴And he shall deliver their kings into thy hands, and thou shalt destroy their names from under Heaven: no man shall be able to resist thee, until thou destroy them. ²⁵Their graven things thou shalt burn with fire: thou shalt not covet the silver and gold of which they are made, neither shalt thou take to thee any thing thereof, lest thou offend, because it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. ²⁶Neither shalt thou bring any thing of the idol into thy house, lest thou become an anathema, like it. Thou shalt detest it as dung, and shalt utterly abhor it as uncleanness and filth, because it is an anathema.

Chapter 8

¹All the commandments, that I command thee this day, take great care to observe: that you may live, and be multiplied, and going in may possess the land, for which the Lord swore to your fathers. ²And thou shalt remember all the way through which the Lord thy God hath brought thee for forty years through the desert, to afflict thee and to prove thee, and that the things that were in thy heart might be made known, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no. ³He afflicted thee with want, and gave thee manna for thy food, which neither thou nor thy fathers knew: to shew that m not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. ⁴Thy raiment, with which thou wast covered, hath not decayed for age, and thy foot is not worn, lo this is the fortieth year, ⁵That thou mayst consider in thy heart, that as a man traineth up his son, so the Lord thy God hath trained thee up. ⁶That thou shouldst keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and fear him. ⁷For the Lord thy God will bring thee into a good land, of brooks and of waters, and of fountains: in the plains of which and the hills deep rivers break out: ⁸A land of wheat, and barley, and vineyards, wherein fig trees and pomegranates, and oliveyards grow: a land of oil and honey. ⁹Where without any want thou shalt eat thy bread, and enjoy abundance of all things: where the stones are iron, and out of its hills are dug mines of brass: ¹⁰That when thou hast eaten, and art full, thou mayst bless the Lord thy God for the excellent land which he hath given thee. ¹¹Take heed, and beware lest at any time thou forget the Lord thy God, and neglect his commandments and judgments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day: ¹²Lest after thou hast eaten and art filled, hast built goodly houses, and dwelt in them, ¹³And shalt have herds of oxen and flocks of sheep, and plenty of gold and of silver, and of all things, ¹⁴Thy heart be lifted up, and thou remember not the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: ¹⁵And was thy leader in the great and terrible wilderness, wherein there was the serpent burning with his breath, and the scorpion and the dipsas, and no waters at all: who brought forth streams out of the hardest rock, ¹⁶And fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not. And after he had afflicted and proved thee, at the last he had mercy on thee, ¹⁷Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: My own might, and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me. ¹⁸But remember the Lord thy God, that he hath given thee strength, that he might fulfil his covenant, concerning which he swore to thy fathers, as this present day sheweth. ¹⁹But if thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them: behold now I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish. ²⁰As the nations, which the Lord destroyed at thy entrance, so shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God.

Chapter 9

¹Hear, O Israel: Thou shalt go over the Jordan this day; to possess nations very great, and stronger than thyself, cities great, and walled up to the sky, ²A People great and tall, the sons of the Enacims, whom thou hast seen, and heard of, against whom no man is able to stand. ³Thou shalt know therefore this day that the Lord thy God himself will pass over before thee, a devouring and consuming fire, to destroy and extirpate and bring them to nothing before thy face quickly, as he hath spoken to thee. ⁴Say not in thy heart, when the Lord thy God shall have destroyed them in thy sight: For my justice hath the Lord brought me in to possess this land, whereas these nations are destroyed for their wickedness. ⁵For it is not for thy justices, and the uprightness of thy heart that thou shalt go in to possess their lands: but because they have done wickedly, they are destroyed at thy coming in: and that the Lord might accomplish his word, which he promised by oath to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ⁶Know therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this excellent land in possession for thy justices, for thou art a very stiffnecked people. ⁷Remember, and forget not how then provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that thou camest out of Egypt unto this place, thou hast always strove against the Lord. ⁸For in Horeb also thou didst provoke him, and he was angry, and would have destroyed thee, ⁹When I went up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you: and I continued in the mount forty days and nights, neither eating bread, nor drinking water. ¹⁰And the Lord gave me two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and containing all the words that he spoke to you in the mount from the midst of the Are, when the people were assembled together. ¹¹And when forty days were passed, and as many nights, the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant, ¹²And said to me: Arise, and go down from hence quickly: for thy people, which thou hast brought out of Egypt, have quickly forsaken the way that thou hast shewn them, and have made to themselves a molten idol. ¹³And again the Lord said to me: I see that this people is stiffnecked: ¹⁴Let me alone that I may destroy them, and abolish their name from under heaven, and set thee over a nation, that is greater and stronger than this. ¹⁵And when I came down from the burning mount, and held the two tables of the covenant with both hands, ¹⁶And saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made to yourselves a molten calf, and had quickly forsaken his way, which he had shewn you: ¹⁷I cast the tables out of my hands, and broke them in your sight. ¹⁸And I fell down before the Lord se before, forty days and nights neither eating bread, nor drinking water, for all your sins, which you had committed against the Lord, and had provoked him to wrath: ¹⁹For I feared his indignation and anger, wherewith being moved against you, he would have destroyed you. And the Lord heard me this time also. ²⁰And he was exceeding angry against Aaron also, and would have destroyed him, and I prayed in like manner for him. ²¹And your sin that you had committed, that is, the calf, I took, and burned it with fire, and breaking it into pieces, until it was as small as dust, I threw it into the torrent, which cometh down from the mountain. ²²At the burning also, and at the place of temptation, and at the graves of lust you provoked the Lord: ²³And when he sent you from Cadesbarne, saying: Go up, and possess the land that I have given you, and you slighted the commandment of the Lord your God, and did not believe him, neither would you hearken to his voice: ²⁴But were always rebellious from the day that I began to know you. ²⁵And I lay prostrate before the Lord forty days and nights, in which I humbly besought him, that he would not destroy you as he had threatened: ²⁶And praying, I said: Lord God, destroy not thy people, and thy inheritance, which thou hast redeemed in thy greatness, whom thou hast brought out of Egypt with a strong hand. ²⁷Remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: look not on the stubbornness of this people, nor on their wickedness and sin: ²⁸Lest perhaps the inhabitants of the land, out of which thou hast brought us, say: The Lord could not bring them into the land that he promised them, and he hated them: therefore he brought them out, that he might kill them in the wilderness, ²⁹Who are thy people and thy inheritance, whom thou hast brought out by thy great strength, and in thy stretched out arm.

Chapter 10

¹At that time the Lord said to me: Hew thee two tables of stone like the former, and come up to me into the mount: and thou shalt make an ark of mood, ²And I will write on the tables the words that were in them, which thou brokest before, and thou shalt put them in the ark. ³And I made an ark of setim wood and when I had hewn two tables of stone like the former, I went up into the mount, having them in my hands. ⁴And he wrote in the tables, according as he had written before, the ten words, which the Lord spoke to you in the mount from the midst of the fire, when the people were assembled: and he gave them to me. ⁵And returning from the mount, I came down, and put the tables into the ark, that I had made, and they are there till this present, as the Lord commanded me. ⁶And the children of Israel removed their camp from Beroth of the children of Jacan into Mosera, where Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him in the priestly office. ⁷From thence they came to Gadgad, from which place they departed, and camped in Jetebatha, in a land of waters and torrents. ⁸At that time he separated the tribe of Levi, to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to stand before him in the ministry, and to bless in his name until this present day. ⁹Wherefore Levi hath no part nor possession with his brethren: because the Lord himself is his possession, as the Lord thy God promised him. ¹⁰And I stood in the mount, as before, forty days and nights: and the Lord heard me this time also, and would not destroy thee. ¹¹And he said to me: Go, and walk before the people, that they may enter, and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers that I would give them. ¹²And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and love him, and serve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul: ¹³And keep the commandments of the Lord, and his ceremonies, which I command thee this day, that it may be well with thee? ¹⁴Behold heaven is the Lord's thy God, and the heaven of heaven, the earth and all things that are therein. ¹⁵And yet the Lord hath been closely joined to thy fathers, and loved them and chose their seed after them, that is to say, you, out of all nations, as this day it is proved. ¹⁶Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no more. ¹⁷Because the Lord your God he is the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, a great God and mighty and terrible, a who accepteth no person nor taketh bribes. ¹⁸He doth judgment to the fatherless and the widow, loveth the stranger, and giveth him food and raiment. ¹⁹And do you therefore love strangers, because you also were strangers in the land of Egypt. ²⁰Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him only: to him thou shalt adhere, and shalt swear by his name. ²¹He is thy praise, and thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thy eyes have seen. ²²In seventy souls thy fathers went down into Egypt: and behold now the Lord thy God hath multiplied thee as the stars of heaven.

Chapter 11

¹Therefore love the Lord thy God and observe his precepts and ceremonies, his judgments and commandments at all times. ²Know this day the things that your children know not, who saw not the chastisements of the Lord your God, his great doings and strong hand, and stretched out arm, ³The signs and works which he did in the midst of Egypt to king Pharao, and to all his land, ⁴And to all the host of the Egyptians, and to their horses and chariots: how the waters of the Red Sea covered them, when they pursued you, and how the Lord destroyed them until this present day: ⁵And what he hath done to you in the wilderness, till you came to this place: ⁶And to Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab, who was the son of Ruben: whom the earth, opening her mouth swallowed up with their households and tents, and all their substance, which they had in the midst of Israel. ⁷Your eyes have seen all the greet works of the Lord, that he hath done, ⁸That you may keep all his commandments, which I command you this day, and may go in, and possess the land, to which you are entering, ⁹And may live in it a long time: which the Lord promised by oath to your fathers, and to their seed, a land which floweth with milk and honey. ¹⁰For the land, which thou goest to possess, is not like the land of Egypt, from whence thou camest out, where, when the seed is sown, waters are brought in to water it after the manner of gardens. ¹¹But it is a land of hills and plains, expecting rain from heaven. ¹²And the Lord thy God doth always visit it, and his eyes are on it from the beginning of the year unto the end thereof. ¹³If then you obey my commandments, which I command you this day, that you love the Lord your God, and serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul: ¹⁴He will give to your land the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and your oil, ¹⁵And your hay out of the fields to feed your cattle, and that you may eat and be filled. ¹⁶Beware lest perhaps your heart be deceived, and you depart from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them: ¹⁷And the Lord being angry shut up heaven, that the rain come not down, nor the earth yield her fruit, and you perish quickly from the excellent land, which the Lord will give you. ¹⁸Lay up these my words in your hearts and minds, and hang them for a sign on your hands, and place them between your eyes. ¹⁹Teach your children that they meditate on them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest on the way, end when thou liest down and risest up. ²⁰Thou shalt write them upon the posts and the doors of thy house: ²¹That thy days may be multiplied, and the days of thy children in the land which the Lord swore to thy fathers, that he would give them as long as the heaven hangeth over the earth. ²²For if you keep the commandments which I command you, and do them, to love the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, cleaving unto him, ²³The Lord will destroy all these nations before your face, and you shall possess them, which are greater and stronger than you. ²⁴Every place, that your foot shall tread upon, shall be yours. From the desert, and from Libanus, from the great river Euphrates unto the western sea shall be your borders. ²⁵None shall stand against you: the Lord your God shall lay the dread and fear of you upon all the land that you shall tread upon, as he hath spoken to you. ²⁶Behold I set forth in your sight this day a blessing and a curse: ²⁷A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: ²⁸A curse, if you obey not the commandments of the Lord your. God, but revolt from the way which now I shew you, and walk after strange gods which you know not. ²⁹And when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, whither thou goest to dwell, thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Garizim, the curse upon mount Hebal: ³⁰Which are beyond the Jordan, behind the way that goeth to the setting of the sun, in the land of the Chanaanite who dwelleth in the plain country over against Galgala, which is near the valley that reacheth and entereth far. ³¹For you shall pass over the Jordan, to possess the land, which the Lord your God will give you, that you may have it and possess it. ³²See therefore that you fulfil the ceremonies and judgments, which I shall set this day before you.

Chapter 12

¹These are the precepts and judgments, that you must do in the land, which the Lord the God of thy fathers will give thee, to possess it all the days that thou shalt walk upon the earth. ²Destroy all the places in which the nations, that you shall possess, worshipped their gods upon high mountains, and hills, and under every shady tree: ³Overthrow their altars, and break down their statues, burn their groves with fire, and break their idols in pieces: destroy their names out of those places. ⁴You shall not do so to the Lord your God: ⁵But you shall come to the place, which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, and to dwell in it: ⁶And you shall offer in that place your holocausts and victims, the tithes and firstfruits of your hands and your vows and gifts, the firstborn of your herds and your sheep. ⁷And you shall eat there in the sight of the Lord your God: and you shall rejoice in all things, whereunto you shall put your hand, you and your houses wherein the Lord your God hath blessed you. ⁸You shall not do there the things we do here this day, every man that which seemeth good to himself. ⁹For until this present time you are not come to refit, and to the possession, which the Lord your God will give you. ¹⁰You shall pass over the Jordan, and shall dwell in the land which the Lord your God will give you, that you may have rest from all enemies round about: and may dwell without any fear, ¹¹In the place, which the Lord your God shall choose, that his name may be therein. Thither shall you bring all the things that I command you, holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the firstfruits of your hands: and whatsoever is the choicest in the gifts which you shall vow to the Lord. ¹²There shall you feast before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite that dwelleth in your cities. For he hath no other part and possession among you. ¹³Beware lest thou offer thy holocausts in every place that thou shalt see: ¹⁴But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes shalt thou offer sacrifices. and shalt do all that I command thee. ¹⁵But if thou desirest to eat, and the eating of flesh delight thee, kill, and eat according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which he hath given thee, in thy cities: whether it be unclean, that is to say, having blemish or defect: or clean, that is to say, sound and without blemish, such as may be offered, as the roe, and the hart, shalt thou eat it: ¹⁶Only the blood thou shalt not eat, but thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water. ¹⁷Thou mayst not eat in thy towns the tithes of thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil, the firstborn of thy herds and thy cattle, nor any thing that thou vowest, and that thou wilt offer voluntarily, and the firstfruits of thy hands: ¹⁸But thou shalt eat them before the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou and thy son and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and maidservant, and the Levite that dwelleth in thy cities: and thou shalt rejoice and be refreshed before the Lord thy God in all things, whereunto thou shalt put thy hand. ¹⁹Take heed thou forsake not the Levite all the time that thou livest in the land. ²⁰When the Lord thy God shall have enlarged thy borders, as he hath spoken to thee, and thou wilt eat the flesh that thy soul desireth: ²¹And if the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name should be there, be far off, thou shalt kill of thy herds and of thy docks, as I have commanded thee, and shalt eat in thy towns, as it pleaseth thee. ²²Even as the roe and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat them: both the clean and unclean shall eat of them alike. ²³Only beware of this, that thou eat not the blood, for the blood is for the soul: and therefore thou must not eat the soul with the flesh: ²⁴But thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water, ²⁵That it may be well with thee and thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is pleasing in the sight of the Lord. ²⁶But the things which thou hast sanctified and vowed to the Lord, thou shalt take, and shalt come to the place which the Lord shall choose: ²⁷And shalt offer thy oblations the flesh and the blood upon the altar of the Lord thy God: the blood of thy victims thou shalt pour on the altar: and the flesh thou thyself shalt eat. ²⁸Observe and hear all the things that I command thee, that it may be well with thee and thy children after thee for ever, when thou shalt do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God. ²⁹When the Lord thy God shall have destroyed before thy face the nations, which then shalt go in to possess, and when thou shalt possess them, and dwell in their land: ³⁰Beware lest thou imitate them, after they are destroyed at thy coming in, and lest thou seek after their ceremonies, saying: As these nations have worshipped their gods, so will I also worship. ³¹Thou shalt not do in like manner to the Lord thy God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations which the Lord abhorreth, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire. ³²What I command thee, that only do thou to the Lord: neither add any thing, nor diminish.

Chapter 13

¹If there rise in the midst of thee a prophet or one that saith he hath dreamed a dream, and he foretell a sign and a wonder, ²And that come to pass which he spoke, and he say to thee: Let us go and follow strange gods, which thou knowest not, and let us serve them: ³Thou shalt not hear the words of that prophet or dreamer: for the Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you love him with all your heart, and with all your soul, or not. ⁴Follow the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and hear his voice: him you shall serve, and to him you shall cleave. ⁵And that prophet or forger of dreams shall be slain: because he spoke to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of bondage: to make thee go out of the way, which the Lord thy God commanded thee: and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee. ⁶If thy brother the son of thy mother, or thy son, or daughter, or thy wife that is in thy bosom, or thy friend, whom thou lovest as thy own soul, would persuade thee secretly, saying: Let us go, and serve strange gods, which thou knowest not, nor thy fathers, ⁷Of all the nations round about, that are near or afar off, from one end of the earth to the other, ⁸Consent not to him, hear him not, neither let thy eye spare him to pity and conceal him, ⁹But thou shalt presently put him to death. It Let thy hand be first upon him, and afterwards the hands of all the people. ¹⁰With stones shall he be stoned to death: because he would have withdrawn thee from the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage: ¹¹That all Israel hearing may fear, and may do no more any thing like this. ¹²If in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God shall give thee to dwell in, thou hear some say: ¹³Children of Belial are gone out of the midst of thee, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, and have said: Let us go, and serve strange gods which you know not: ¹⁴Inquire carefully and diligently, the truth of the thing by looking well into it, and if thou find that which is said to be certain, and that this abomination hath been really committed, ¹⁵Thou shalt forthwith kill the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, and shalt destroy it and all things that are in it, even the cattle. ¹⁶And all the household goods that are there, thou shalt gather together in the midst of the streets thereof, and shalt burn them with the city itself, so as to consume all for the Lord thy God, and that it be a heap for ever: it shall be built no more. ¹⁷And there shall nothing of that anathema stick to thy hand: that the Lord may turn from the wrath of his fury, and may have mercy on thee, and multiply thee as he swore to thy fathers, ¹⁸When thou shalt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, keeping all his precepts, which I command thee this day, that thou mayst do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.

Chapter 14

¹Be ye children of the Lord your God: you shall not cut yourselves, no, make any baldness for the dead; ²Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God: and he chose thee to be his peculiar people of all nations that are upon the earth. ³Eat not the things that are unclean. ⁴These are the beasts that you shall eat, the ox, and the sheep, and the goat, ⁵The hart and the roe, the buffle, the chamois, the pygarg, the wild goat, the camelopardalus. ⁶Every beast that divideth the hoof in two parts, and cheweth the cud, you shall eat. ⁷But of them that chew the cud, but divide not the hoof, you shall not eat, such as the camel, the hare, and the cherogril: because they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof, they shall be unclean to you. ⁸The swine also, because it divideth the hoof, but cheweth not the cud, shall be unclean, their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. ⁹These shall you eat of all that abide in the waters: All that have fins and scales, you shall eat. ¹⁰Such as are without fins and scales, you shall not eat, because they are unclean. ¹¹All birds that are clean you shall eat. ¹²The unclean eat not: to wit, the eagle, and the grype, and the osprey, ¹³The ringtail, and the vulture, and the kite according to their kind: ¹⁴And all of the raven's kind: ¹⁵And the ostrich, and the owl, and the larus, and the hawk according to its kind: ¹⁶The heron, and the swan, and the stork, ¹⁷And the cormorant, the porphirion, and the night crow, ¹⁸The bittern, and the charadrion, every one in their kind: the hoop also and the bat. ¹⁹Every thing that creepeth, and hath little wings, shall be unclean, and shall not be eaten. ²⁰All that is clean, you shall eat. ²¹But whatsoever is dead of itself, eat not thereof. Give it to the stranger, that is within thy gates, to eat, or sell it to him: because thou art the holy people of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam. ²²Every year thou shalt set aside the tithes of all thy fruits that the earth bringeth forth, ²³And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, that his name may be called upon therein, the tithe of thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil, and the firstborn of thy herds and thy sheep: that thou mayst learn to fear the Lord thy God at all times. ²⁴But when the way and the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, are far off, and he hath blessed thee, and thou canst not carry all these things thither, ²⁵Thou shalt sell them all, and turn them into money, and shalt carry it in thy hand, and shalt go to the place which the Lord shall choose : ²⁶And thou shalt buy with the same money whatsoever pleaseth thee, either of the herds or of sheep, wine also and strong drink, and all that thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, and shalt feast, thou and thy house: ²⁷And the Levite that is within thy gates, beware thou forsake him not, because he hath no other part in thy possession. ²⁸The third year thou shalt separate another tithe of all things that grow to thee at that time, and shalt lay it up within thy gates. ²⁹And the Levite that hath no other part nor possession with thee, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, that are within thy gates, shall come and shall eat and be filled: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of thy hands that thou shalt do.

Chapter 15

¹In the seventh year thou shalt make a remission, ²Which shall be celebrated in this order. He to whom any thing is owing from his friend or neighbour or brother, cannot demand it again, because it is the year of remission of the Lord, ³Of the foreigner or stranger thou mayst exact it: of thy countryman and neighbour thou shalt not have power to demand it again. ⁴And there shall be no poor nor beggar among you: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in the land which he will give thee in possession. ⁵Yet so if thou hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and keep all things that he hath ordained, and which I command thee this day, he will bless thee, as he hath promised. ⁶Thou shalt lend to many nations, and thou shalt borrow of no man. Thou shalt have dominion over very many nations, and no one shall have dominion over thee. ⁷If one of thy brethren that dwelleth within the gates of thy city in the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, come to poverty: thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor close thy hand, ⁸But shalt open it to the poor man, thou shalt lend him, that which thou perceivest he hath need of. ⁹Beware lest perhaps a wicked thought steal in upon thee, and thou say in thy heart: The seventh year of remission draweth nigh; and thou turn away thy eyes from thy poor brother, denying to lend him that which he asketh: lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it become a sin unto thee. ¹⁰But thou shalt give to him: neither shalt thou do any thing craftily in relieving his necessities: that the Lord thy God may bless thee at all times, and in all things to which thou shalt put thy hand. ¹¹There will not be wanting poor in the land of thy habitation: therefore I command thee to open thy hand to thy needy and poor brother, that liveth in the land. ¹²When thy brother a Hebrew man, or Hebrew woman is sold to thee, and hath served thee six years, in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free: ¹³And when thou sendest him out free, thou shalt not let him go away empty: ¹⁴But shalt give him for his way out of thy flocks, and out of thy barnfloor, and thy winepress, wherewith the Lord thy God shall bless thee. ¹⁵Remember that thou also wast a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God made thee free, and therefore I now command thee this. ¹⁶But if he say: I will not depart: because he loveth thee, and thy house, and findeth that he is well with thee: ¹⁷Thou shalt take an awl, and bore through his ear in the door of thy house, and he shall serve thee for ever: thou shalt do in like manner to thy womanservant also. ¹⁸Turn not away thy eyes from them when thou makest them tree: because he hath served thee six years according to the wages of a hireling: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works that thou dost. ¹⁹Of the firstlings, that come of thy herds and thy sheep, thou shalt sanctify to the Lord thy God whatsoever is of the male sex. Thou shalt not work with the firstling of a bullock, and thou shalt not shear the firstlings of thy sheep. ²⁰In the sight of the Lord thy God shalt thou eat them every year, in the place that the Lord shall choose, thou and thy house. ²¹But if it have a blemish, or be lame, or blind, or in any part disfigured or feeble, it shall not be sacrificed to the Lord thy God. ²²But thou shalt eat it within the gates of thy city: the clean and the unclean shall eat them alike, as the roe and as the hart. ²³Only thou shalt take heed not to eat their blood, but pour it out on the earth as water.

Chapter 16

¹Observe the month of new corn, which is the first of the spring, that thou mayst celebrate the phase to the Lord thy God: because in this month the Lord thy God brought thee out of Egypt by night. ²And thou shalt sacrifice the phase to the Lord thy God, of sheep, and of oxen, in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name may dwell there. ³Thou shalt not eat with it leavened bread: seven days shalt thou eat without leaven, the bread of affliction, because thou camest out of Egypt in fear: that thou mayst remember the day of thy coming out of Egypt, all the days of thy life. ⁴No leaven shall be seen in all thy coasts for seven days, neither shall any of the flesh of that which was sacrificed the first day in the evening remain until morning. ⁵Thou mayst not immolate the phase in any one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God will give thee: ⁶But in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name may dwell there: thou shalt immolate the phase in the evening, at the going down of the sun, at which time thou camest out of Egypt. ⁷And thou shalt dress, and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and in the morning rising up thou shalt go into thy dwellings. ⁸Six days shalt thou eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day, because it is the assembly of the Lord thy God, thou shalt do no work. ⁹Thou shalt number unto thee seven weeks from that day, wherein thou didst put the sickle to the corn. ¹⁰And thou shalt celebrate the festival of weeks to the Lord thy God, a voluntary oblation of thy hand, which thou shalt offer according to the blessing of the Lord thy God. ¹¹And thou shalt feast before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger and the fatherless, and the widow, who abide with you: in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name may dwell there: ¹²And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in Egypt: and thou shalt keep and do the things that are commanded. ¹³Thou shalt celebrate the solemnity also of tabernacles seven days, when thou hast gathered in thy fruit of the barnfloor and of the winepress. ¹⁴And thou shalt make merry in thy festival time, thou, thy son, and thy daughter, thy manservant, and thy maidservant, the Levite also and the stranger, and the fatherless and the widow that are within thy gates. ¹⁵Seven days shalt thou celebrate feasts to the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: and the Lord thy God will bless thee in all thy fruits, and in every work of thy hands, and thou shalt be in joy. ¹⁶Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose: in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. No one shall appear with his hands empty before the Lord: ¹⁷But every one shall offer according to what he hath, according to the blessing of the Lord his God, which he shall give him. ¹⁸Thou shalt appoint judges and magistrates in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God shall give thee, in all thy tribes: that they may judge the people with just judgment, ¹⁹And not go aside to either part. Thou shalt not accept person nor gifts: for gifts blind the eyes of the wise, and change the words of the just. ²⁰Thou shalt follow justly after that which is just: that thou mayst live and possess the land, which the Lord thy God shall give thee. ²¹Thou shalt plant no grove, nor any tree near the altar of the Lord thy God: ²²Neither shalt thou make nor set up to thyself a statue: which things the Lord thy God hateth.

Chapter 17

¹Thou shalt not sacrifice to the Lord thy God a sheep, or an ox, wherein there is blemish, or any fault: for that is an abomination to the Lord thy God. ²When there shall be found among you within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God shall give thee, man or woman that do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, and transgress his covenant, ³So as to go and serve strange gods, and adore them, the sun and the moon. and all the host of heaven, which I have not commanded: ⁴And this is told thee, and hearing it thou hast inquired diligently, and found it to be true, and that the abomination is committed in Israel: ⁵Thou shalt bring forth the man or the woman, who have committed that most wicked thing, to the gates of thy city, and they shall be stoned. ⁶By the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he die that is to be slain. Let no man be put to death, when only one beareth witness against him. ⁷The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to kill him, and afterwards the hands of the rest of the people: that thou mayst take away the evil out of the midst of thee. ⁸If thou perceive that there be among you a hard and doubtful matter in judgment between blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and leprosy: and thou see that the words of the judges within thy gates do vary: arise, and go up to the place, which the Lord thy God shall choose. ⁹And thou shalt come to the priests of the Levitical race, and to the judge, that shall be at that time: and thou shalt ask of them, and they shall shew thee the truth of the judgment. ¹⁰And thou shalt do whatsoever they shall say, that preside in the place, which the Lord shall choose, and what they shall teach thee, ¹¹According to his law; and thou shalt follow their sentence: neither shalt thou decline to the right hand nor to the left hand. ¹²But he that will be proud, and refuse to obey the commandment of the priest, who ministereth at that time to the Lord thy God, and the decree of the judge, that man shall die, and thou shalt take away the evil from Israel: ¹³And all the people hearing it shall fear, that no one afterwards swell with pride. ¹⁴When thou art come into the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee, and possessest it, and shalt say: I will set a king over me, as all nations have that are round about: ¹⁵Thou shalt set him whom the Lord thy God shall choose out of the number of thy brethren. Thou mayst not make a man of another nation king, that is not thy brother. ¹⁶And when he is made king, he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor lead back the people into Egypt, being lifted up with the number of his horsemen, especially since the Lord hath commanded you to return no more the same way. ¹⁷He shall not have many wives, that may allure his mind, nor immense sums of silver and gold. ¹⁸But after he is raised to the throne of his kingdom, he shall copy out to himself the Deuteronomy of this law in a volume, taking the copy of the priests of the Levitical tribe, ¹⁹And he shall have it with him, and shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and keep his words and ceremonies, that are commanded in the law; ²⁰And that his heart be not lifted up with pride over his brethren, nor decline to the right or to the left, that he and his sons may reign a long time over Israel.

Chapter 18

¹The priests and Levites, and all that are of the same tribe, shall have no part nor inheritance with the rest of Israel, because they shall eat the sacrifices of the Lord, and his oblations, ²And they shall receive nothing else. of the possession of their brethren: for the Lord himself is their inheritance, as he hath said to them. ³This shall be the priest's due from the people, and from them that offer victims: whether they sacrifice an ox, or a sheep, they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the breast: ⁴The firstfruits also of corn, of wine, and of oil, and a part of the wool from the shearing of their sheep. ⁵For the Lord thy God hath chosen him of all thy tribes, to stand and to minister to the name of the Lord, him and his sons for ever. ⁶If a Levite go out of any one of the cities throughout all Israel, in which he dwelleth, and have a longing mind to come to the place which the Lord shall choose, ⁷He shall minister in the name of the Lord his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, that shall stand at that time before the Lord. ⁸He shall receive the same portion of food that the rest do: besides that which is due to him in his own city, by succession from his fathers. ⁹When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee, beware lest thou have a mind to imitate the abominations of those nations. ¹⁰Neither let there be found among you any one that shall expiate his son or daughter, making them to pass through the fire: or that consulteth soothsayers, or observeth dreams and omens, neither let there be any wizard, ¹¹Nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeketh the truth from the dead. ¹²For the Lord abhorreth all these things, and for these abominations he will destroy them at thy coming. ¹³Thou shalt be perfect, and without spot before the Lord thy God. ¹⁴These nations, whose land thou shalt possess, hearken to soothsayers and diviners: but thou art otherwise instructed by the Lord thy God. ¹⁵The Lord thy God will raise up to thee a PROPHET of thy nation and of thy brethren like unto me: him thou shalt hear: ¹⁶As thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the assembly was gathered together, and saidst: Let me not hear any more the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see any more this exceeding great fire, lest I die. ¹⁷And the Lord said to me: They have spoken all things well. ¹⁸m I will raise them up a prophet out of the midst of their brethren like to thee: and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. ¹⁹And he that will not hear his words, which he shall speak in my name, I will be the revenger. ²⁰But the prophet, who being corrupted with pride, shall speak in my name things that I did not command him to say, or in the name of strange gods, shall be slain. ²¹And if in silent thought thou answer: How shall I know the word that the Lord hath not spoken? ²²Thou shalt have this sign: Whatsoever that same prophet foretelleth in the name of the Lord, and it cometh not to pass: that thing the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath forged it by the pride of his mind: and therefore thou shalt not fear him.

Chapter 19

¹When the Lord thy God hath destroyed the nations, whose land he will deliver to thee, and thou shalt possess it, and shalt dwell in the cities and houses thereof : ²Thou shalt separate to thee three cities in the midst of the land, which the Lord will give thee in possession, ³Paving diligently the way: and thou shalt divide the whole province of thy land equally into three parts: that he who is forced to flee for manslaughter, may have near at hand whither to escape. ⁴This shall be the law of the slayer that fleeth, whose life is to be saved: He that killeth his neighbour ignorantly, and who is proved to have had no hatred against him yesterday and the day before: ⁵But to have gone with him to the wood to hew wood, and in cutting down the tree the axe slipped out of his hand, and the iron slipping from the handle struck his friend, and killed him: he shall flee to one of the cities aforesaid, and live: ⁶Lest perhaps the next kinsman of him whose blood was shed, pushed on by his grief should pursue, and apprehend him. if the way be too long, and take away the life of him who is not guilty of death, because he is proved to have had no hatred before against him that was slain. ⁷Therefore I command thee, that thou separate three cities at equal distance one from another. ⁸And when the Lord thy God shall have enlarged thy borders, as he swore to thy fathers, and shall give thee all the land that he promised them, ⁹(Yet so, if thou keep his commandments, and do the things which I command thee this day, that thou love the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways at all times) thou shalt add to thee other three cities, and shalt double the number of the three cities aforesaid: ¹⁰That innocent blood may not be shed in the midst of the land which the Lord thy God will give thee to possess, lest thou be guilty of blood. ¹¹But if any man hating his neighbour, lie in wait for his life, and rise and strike him, and he die, and he flee to one of the cities aforesaid, ¹²The ancients of his city shall send, and take him out of the place of refuge, and shall deliver him into the hand of the kinsman of him whose blood was shed, and he shall die. ¹³Thou shalt not pity him, and thou shalt take away the guilt of innocent blood out of Israel, that it may be well with thee. ¹⁴Thou shalt not take nor remove thy neighbour's landmark, which thy predecessors have set in thy possession. which the Lord thy God will give thee in the land that thou shalt receive to possess. ¹⁵One witness shall not rise up against any man, whatsoever the sin or wickedness be: but in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand. ¹⁶If a lying witness stand against a man, accusing him of transgression, ¹⁷Both of them, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord in the sight of the priests and the judges that shall be in those days. ¹⁸And when after most diligent inquisition, they shall find that the false witness hath told a lie against his brother: ¹⁹They shall render to him as he meant to do to his brother, and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee: ²⁰That others hearing may fear, and may not dare to do such things. ²¹21Thou shalt not pity him, but shalt require life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Chapter 20

¹If thou go out to war against thy enemies, and see horsemen and chariots, and the numbers of the enemy's army greater than thine, thou shalt not fear them: because the Lord thy God is with thee, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt. ²And when the battle is now at hand, the priest shall stand before the army, and shall speak to the people in this manner: ³Hear, O Israel, you join battle this day against your enemies, let not your heart be dismayed, be not afraid, do not give back, fear ye them not: ⁴Because the Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger. ⁵And the captains shall proclaim through every band in the hearing of the army: What man is there, that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. ⁶What man is there, that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not as yet made it to be common, whereof all men may eat? let him go, and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man execute his office. ⁷What man is there, that hath espoused a wife, and not taken her? let him go, and return to his house, lest he die in the war, and another man take her. ⁸After these things are declared they shall add the rest, and shall speak to the people: What man is there that is fearful, and faint hearted? let him go, and return to his house, lest he make the hearts of his brethren to fear, as he himself is possessed with fear. ⁹And when the captains of the army shall hold their peace, and have made an end of speaking, every man shall prepare their bands to fight. ¹⁰If at any time thou come to fight against a city, thou shalt first offer it peace. ¹¹If they receive it, and open the gates to thee, all the people that are therein, shall be saved, and shall serve thee paying tribute. ¹²But if they will not make peace, and shall begin war against thee, thou shalt besiege it. ¹³And when the Lord thy God shall deliver it into thy bands, thou shalt slay all that are therein of the male sex, with the edge of the sword, ¹⁴Excepting women and children, cattle and other things, that are in the city. And thou shalt divide all the prey to the army, and thou shalt eat the spoils of thy enemies, which the Lord thy God shall give thee. ¹⁵So shalt thou do to all cities that are at a great distance from thee, and are not of these cities which thou shalt receive in possession. ¹⁶But of those cities that shall be given thee, thou shalt suffer none at all to live: ¹⁷But shalt kill them with the edge of the sword, to wit, the Hethite, and the Amorrhite, and the Chanaanite, the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: ¹⁸Lest they teach you to do all the abominations which they have done to their gods: and you should sin against the Lord your God. ¹⁹When thou hast besieged a city a long time, and hath compassed it with bulwarks to take it, thou shalt not cut down the trees that may be eaten of, neither shalt thou spoil the country round about with axes: for it is a tree, and not a man, neither can it increase the number of them that fight against thee. ²⁰But if there be any trees that are not fruitful, but wild, and fit for other uses, cut them down, and make engines, until thou take the city, which fighteth against thee.

Chapter 21

¹Then there shall be found in the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee, the corpse of a man slain, and it is not known who is guilty of the murder, ²Thy ancients and judges shall go out, and shall measure from the place where the body lieth the distance of every city round about: ³And the ancients of that city which they shall perceive to be nearer than the rest, shall take a heifer of the herd, that hath not drawn in the yoke, nor ploughed the ground, ⁴And they shall bring her into a rough and stony valley, that never was ploughed, nor sown: and there they shall strike off the head of the heifer: ⁵And the priests the sons of Levi shall come, whom the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister to him, and to bless in his name, and that by their word every matter should be decided, and whatsoever is clean or unclean should be judged. ⁶And the ancients of that city shall come to the person slain, and shall wash their hands over the heifer that was killed in the valley, ⁷And shall say: Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. ⁸Be merciful to thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, O Lord, and lay not innocent blood to their charge, in the midst of thy people Israel. And the guilt of blood shall be taken from them: ⁹And thou shalt be free from the innocent's blood, that was shed, when thou shalt have done what the Lord hath commanded thee. ¹⁰If thou go out to fight against thy enemies, and the Lord thy God deliver them into thy hand, and thou lead them away captives, ¹¹And seest in the number of the captives a beautiful woman, and lovest her, and wilt have her to wife, ¹²Thou shalt bring her into thy house: and she shall shave her hair, and pare her nails, ¹³And shall put off the raiment, wherein she was taken: and shall remain in thy house, and mourn for her father and mother one month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and shalt sleep with her, and she shall be thy wife. ¹⁴Rut if afterwards she please thee not, thou shalt let her go free, but thou mayst not sell her for money nor oppress her by might because thou hast humbled her. ¹⁵If a man have two wives, one beloved, and the other hated, and they have had children by him, and the son of the hated be the firstborn, ¹⁶And he meaneth to divide his substance among his sons: he may not make the son of the beloved the firstborn, and prefer him before the son of the hated. ¹⁷But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, and shall give him a double portion of all he hath: for this is the first of his children, and to him are due the first birthrights. ¹⁸If a man have a stubborn and unruly son, who will not hear the commandments of his father or mother, and being corrected, slighteth obedience: ¹⁹They shall take him and bring him to the ancients of his city, and to the gate of judgment, ²⁰And shall say to them: This our son is rebellious and stubborn, he slighteth hearing our admonitions, he giveth himself to revelling, and to debauchery and banquetings: ²¹The people of the city shall stone him: and he shall die, that you may take away the evil out of the midst of you, and all Israel hearing it may be afraid. ²²When a man hath committed a crime for which he is to be punished with death, and being condemned to die is hanged on a gibbet: ²³His body shall not remain upon the tree, but shall be buried the same day: for he is accursed of God that hangeth on a tree: and thou shalt not defile thy land, which the Lord thy God shall give thee in possession.

Chapter 22

¹Thou shalt not pass by if thou seest thy brother's ox, or his sheep go astray: but thou shalt bring them back to thy brother. ²And if thy brother be not nigh, or thou know him not: thou shalt bring them to thy house, and they shall be with thee until thy brother seek them, and receive them. ³Thou shalt do in like manner with his ass, and with his raiment, and with every thing that is thy brother's, which is lost: if thou find it, neglect it not as pertaining to another. ⁴If thou see thy brother's ass or his ox to be fallen down in the way, thou shalt not slight it, but shalt lift it up with him. ⁵A woman shall not be clothed with man's apparel, neither shall a man use woman's apparel : for he that doeth these things is abominable before God. ⁶If thou find as thou walkest by the way, a bird's nest in a tree, or on the ground, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs: thou shalt not take her with her young: ⁷But shalt let her go, keeping the young which thou hast caught: that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst live a long time. ⁸When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a battlement to the roof round about: lest blood be shed in thy house, and thou be guilty, if any one slip, and fall down headlong. ⁹Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest both the seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of the vineyard, be sanctified together. ¹⁰Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. ¹¹Thou shalt not wear a garment that is woven of woollen and linen together. ¹²Thou shalt make strings in the hem at the four corners of thy cloak, wherewith thou shalt be covered. ¹³If a man marry a wife, and afterwards hate her, ¹⁴And seek occasions to put her away, laying to her charge a very ill name, and say: I took this woman to wife, and going in to her, I found her not a virgin: ¹⁵Her father and mother shall take her, and shall bring with them the tokens of her virginity to the ancients of the city that are in the gate: ¹⁶And the father shall say: I gave my daughter unto this man to wife: and because he hateth her, ¹⁷He layeth to her charge a very ill name, so as to say: I found not thy daughter a virgin: and behold these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the ancients of the city: ¹⁸And the ancients of that city shall take that man, and beat him, ¹⁹Condemning him besides in a hundred sides of silver, which he shall give to the damsel's father, because he hath defamed by a very ill name a virgin of Israel: and he shall have her to wife, and may not put her away all the days of his life. ²⁰But if what he charged her with be true, and virginity be not found in the damsel: ²¹They shall cast her out of the doors of her father's house, and the men of the city shall stone her to death, and she shall die: because she hath done a wicked thing in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee. ²²If a man lie with another man's wife, they shall both die, that is to say, the adulterer and the adulteress: and thou shalt take away the evil out of Israel. ²³If a man have espoused a damsel that is a virgin, and some one find her in the city, and lie with her, ²⁴Thou shalt bring them both out to the gate of that city, and they shall be stoned: the damsel, because she cried not out, being in the city: the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife. And thou shalt take away the evil from the midst of thee. ²⁵But if a man find a damsel that is betrothed, in the field, and taking hold of her, lie with her, he alone shall die: ²⁶The damsel shall suffer nothing, neither is she guilty of death : for as a robber riseth against his brother, and taketh away his life, so also did the damsel suffer: ²⁷She was alone in the field: she cried, and there was no man to help her. ²⁸If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, who is not espoused, and taking her, lie with her, and the matter come to judgment : ²⁹He that lay with her shall give to the father of the maid fifty sides of silver, and shall have her to wife, because he hath humbled her: he may not put her away all the days of his life. ³⁰No man shall take his father's wife, nor remove his covering.

Chapter 23

¹An eunuch, whose testicles are broken or cut away, or yard cut off, shall not enter into the church of the Lord. ²A mamzer, that is to say, one born of a prostitute, shall not enter into the church of the Lord, until the tenth generation. ³The Ammonite and the Moabite, even after the tenth generation shall not enter into the church of the Lord for ever: ⁴Because they would not meet you with bread and water in the way, when you came out of Egypt: hand because they hired against thee Balaam, the son of Beer, from Mesopotamia in Syria, to curse thee. ⁵And the Lord thy God would not hear Balaam, and he turned his cursing into thy blessing, because he loved thee. ⁶Thou shalt not make peace with them, neither shalt thou seek their prosperity all the days of thy life for ever. ⁷Thou shalt not abhor the Edomite, because he is thy brother: nor the Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land. ⁸They that are born of them, in the third generation shall enter into the church of the Lord. ⁹When thou goest out to war against thy enemies, thou shalt keep thyself from every evil thing. ¹⁰If there be among you any man, that is defiled in a dream by night, he shall go forth out of the camp. ¹¹And shall not return, before he be washed with water in the evening: and after sunset he shall return into the camp. ¹²Thou shalt have a place without the camp, to which thou mayst go for the necessities of nature, ¹³Carrying a paddle at thy girdle. And when thou sittest down, thou shalt dig round about, and with the earth that is dug up thou shalt cover ¹⁴That which thou art eased of: (for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thy enemies to thee:) and let thy camp be holy, and let no uncleanness appear therein, lest he go away from thee. ¹⁵Thou shalt not deliver to his master the servant that is fled to thee. ¹⁶He shall dwell with thee ill the place that shall please him, and shall rest, in one of thy cities: give him no trouble. ¹⁷There shall be no whore among the daughters of Israel, nor whoremonger among the sons of Israel. ¹⁸Thou shalt not offer the hire of a strumpet, nor the price of a dog, in the house of the Lord thy God, whatsoever it be that thou hast vowed: because both these are an abomination to the Lord thy God. ¹⁹Thou shalt not lend to thy brother money to usury, nor corn, nor any other thing: ²⁰But to the stranger. To thy brother thou shalt lend that which he wanteth, without usury: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all thy works in the land, which thou shalt go in to possess. ²¹When thou hast made a vow to the Lord thy God, thou shalt not delay to pay it: because the Lord thy God will require it. And if thou delay, it shall be imputed to thee for a sin. ²²If thou wilt not promise, thou shalt be without sin. ²³But that which is once gone out of thy lips, thou shalt observe, and shalt do as thou hast promised to the Lord thy God, and hast spoken with thy own will and with thy own mouth. ²⁴Going into thy neighbour's vineyard, thou mayst eat as many grapes as thou pleasest: but must carry none out with thee: ²⁵If thou go into thy friend's corn, thou mayst break the ears, and rub them in thy hand: but not reap them with a sickle.

Chapter 24

¹If a man take a wife, and have her, and she find not favour in his eyes, for some uncleanness: he shall write a bill of divorce, and shall give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. ²And when she is departed, and marrieth another husband, ³And he also hateth her, and hath given her a bill of divorce, and hath sent her out of his house or is dead: ⁴The former husband cannot take her again to wife: because she is defiled, and is become abominable before the Lord: lest thou cause thy land to sin, which the Lord thy God shall give thee to possess. ⁵When a man hath lately taken a wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall any public business be enjoined him, but he shall be free at home without fault, that for one year he may rejoice with his wife. ⁶Thou shalt not take the nether, nor the upper millstone to pledge: for he hath pledged his life to thee. ⁷If ally man be found soliciting his brother of the children of Israel, and selling him shall take a price, he shall be put to death, and thou shalt take away the evil from the midst of thee. ⁸Observe diligently that thou incur not the stroke of the leprosy, but thou shalt do whatsoever the priests of the Levitical race shall teach thee, according to what I have commanded them, and fulfil thou it carefully. ⁹Remember what the Lord your God did to Mary, in the way when you came out of Egypt. ¹⁰When thou shalt demand of thy neighbour any thing that he oweth thee, thou shalt not go into his house to take away a pledge : ¹¹But then shalt stand without, and he shall bring out to thee what he hath. ¹²But if he be poor, the pledge shall not lodge with thee that night, ¹³But thou shalt restore it to him presently before the going down of the sun: that he may sleep in his own raiment and bless thee, and thou mayst have justice before the Lord thy God. ¹⁴Thou shalt not refuse the hire of the needy, and the poor, whether he be thy brother, or a stranger that dwelleth with thee in the land, and is within thy gates: ¹⁵But thou shalt pay him the price of his labour the same day, before the going down of the sun, because he is poor, and with it maintaineth his life: lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it be reputed to thee for a sin. ¹⁶The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children for the fathers, but every one shall die for his own sin. ¹⁷Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger nor of the fatherless, neither shalt thou take away the widow's raiment for a pledge. ¹⁸Remember that thou wast a slave in Egypt, and the Lord thy God delivered thee from thence. Therefore I command thee to do this thing. ¹⁹When thou hast reaped the corn in thy field, and hast forgot and left a sheaf, thou shalt not return to take it away: but thou shalt suffer the stranger, and the fatherless and the widow to tabs it away: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of thy hands. ²⁰If thou have gathered the fruit of thy olive trees, thou shalt not return to gather whatsoever remaineth on the trees: but shalt leave it for the stranger, for the fatherless, and the widow. ²¹If thou make the vintage of thy vineyard, thou shalt not gather the clusters that remain, but they shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. ²²Remember that thou also wast a bondman in Egypt, and therefore I command thee to do this thing.

Chapter 25

¹If there be a controversy between men, and they call upon the judges: they shall give the prize of justice to him whom they perceive to be just: and him whom they find to be wicked, they shall condemn of wickedness. ²And if they see that the offender be worthy of stripes: they shall lay him down, and shall cause him to be beaten before them. According to the measure of the sin shall the measure also of the stripes be: ³Yet so, that they exceed not the number of forty: lest thy brother depart shamefully torn before thy eyes. ⁴Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out thy corn on the floor. ⁵When brethren dwell together, and one of them dieth without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another: but his brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother: ⁶And the first son he shall have of her he shall call by his name, that his name be not abolished out of Israel. ⁷But if he will not take his brother's wife, who by law belongeth to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and call upon the ancients, and say: My husband's brother refuseth to raise up his brother's name in Israel: and will not take me to wife. ⁸And they shall cause him to be sent for forthwith, and shall ask him. If he answer: I will not take her to wife: ⁹The woman shall come to him before the ancients, and shall take off his shoe from his foot, and spit in his face, and say: So shall it be done to the man that will not build up his brother's house: ¹⁰And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of the unshod. ¹¹If two men have words together, and one begin to fight against the other, and the other's wife willing to deliver her husband out of the hand of the stronger, shall put forth her hand, and take him by the secrets, ¹²Thou shalt cut off her hand, neither shalt thou be moved with any pity in her regard. ¹³Thou shalt not have divers weights in thy bag, a greater and a less: ¹⁴Neither shall there be in thy house a greater bushel and a less. ¹⁵Thou shalt have a just and a true weight, and thy bushel shall be equal and true: that thou mayest live a long time upon the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee. ¹⁶For the Lord thy God abhorreth him that doth these things, and he hateth all injustice. ¹⁷Remember what Amalec did to thee in the way when thou camest out of Egypt: ¹⁸How he met thee: and slew the hindmost of the army, who sat down, being weary, when thou wast spent with hunger and labour, and he feared not God. ¹⁹Therefore when the Lord thy God shall give thee rest, and shall have subdued all the nations round about in the land which he hath promised thee: thou shalt blot out his name from under heaven. See thou forget it not.

Chapter 26

¹And when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee to possess, and hast conquered it, and dwellest in it: ²Thou shalt take the first of all thy fruits, and put then? in a basket, and shalt go to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name may be invocated there: ³And thou shalt go to the priest that shall be in those days, and say to him: I profess this day before the Lord thy God, that I am come into the land, for which he swore to our fathers, that he would give it us. ⁴And the priest taking the basket at thy hand, shall set it before the altar of the Lord thy God: ⁵And thou shalt speak thus in the sight of the Lord thy God: The Syrian pursued my father, who went down into Egypt, and sojourned there in a very small number, and grew into a nation great and strong and of an infinite multitude. ⁶And the Egyptians afflicted us, and persecuted us, laying on us most grievous burdens : ⁷And we cried to the Lord God of our fathers: who heard us, and looked down upon our affliction, and labour, and distress: ⁸And brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders: ⁹And brought us into this place, and gave us this land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰And therefore now I offer the firstfruits of the land which the Lord hath given me. And thou shalt leave them in the sight of the ford thy God, adoring the Lord thy God. ¹¹And thou shalt feast in all the good things which the Lord thy God hath given thee, and thy house, thou and the Levite, and the stranger that is with thee. ¹²When thou hast made an end of tithing all thy fruits, in the third year of tithes thou shalt give it to the Levite, and to the stranger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled: ¹³And thou shalt speak thus in the sight of the Lord thy God: I have taken that which was sanctified out of my house, and I have given it to the Levite, and to the stranger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, as thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments nor forgotten thy precepts. ¹⁴I have not eaten of them is my mourning, nor separated them for any uncleanness, nor spent any thing of them in funerals. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done all things as thou hast commanded me. ¹⁵Look from thy sanctuary, and thy high habitation of heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou didst swear to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁶This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these commandments and judgments: and to keep and fulfil them with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. ¹⁷Thou hast chosen the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways and keep his ceremonies, and precepts, end judgments, and obey his command. ¹⁸And the Lord hath chosen thee this day, to be his peculiar people, as he hath spoken to thee, and to keep all his commandments: ¹⁹And to make thee higher than all nations which he hath created, to his own praise, and name, and glory: that thou mayst be a holy people of the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken.

Chapter 27

¹And Moses with the ancients of Israel commanded the people, saying: Keep every commandment that I command you this day. ²And when you are passed over the Jordan into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, thou shalt set up great stones, and shalt plaster them over with plaster, ³That thou mayst write on them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over the Jordan: that thou mayst enter into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, as he swore to thy fathers. ⁴Therefore when you are passed over the Jordan, set up the stones which I command you this day, in mount Hebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster: ⁵And thou shalt build there an altar to the Lord thy God, of stones which iron hath not touched, ⁶And of stones not fashioned nor polished: and thou shalt offer upon it holocausts to the Lord thy God: ⁷And shalt immolate peace victims, and eat there, and feast before the Lord thy God. ⁸And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law plainly and clearly, ⁹And Moses and the priests of the race of Levi said to all Israel: Attend, and hear, O Israel: This day thou art made the people of the Lord thy God. ¹⁰Thou shalt hear his voice, and do the commandments and justices which I command thee. ¹¹And Moses commanded the people in that day, saying: ¹²These shall stand upon mount Garizim to bless the people, when you are passed the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³And over against them shall stand on mount Hebal to curse: Ruben, Gad, and Aser, and Zabulon, Dan, and Nephtali. ¹⁴And the Levites shall pronounce, and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice: ¹⁵Cursed be the man that maketh a graven and molten thing, the abomination of the Lord, the work of the hands of artificers, and shall put it in a secret place: and all the people shall answer and say: Amen. ¹⁶Cursed be he that honoureth not his father and mother: and all the people shall say: Amen. ¹⁷Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmarks: and all the people shall say: Amen. ¹⁸Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of his way: and all the people shall say: Amen. ¹⁹Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, of the fatherless and the widow: and all the people shall say: Amen. ²⁰Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife, and uncovereth his bed: and all the people shall say: Amen. ²¹Cursed be he that lieth with any beast: and all the people shall say: Amen. ²²Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or of his mother: and all the people shall say: Amen. ²³Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law: and all the people shall say: Amen. ²⁴Cursed be he that secretly killeth his neighbour: and all the people shall say: Amen. ²⁵Cursed be he that taketh gifts, to slay an innocent person: and all the people shall say: Amen. ²⁶Cursed be he that abideth not in the words of this law, and fulfilleth them not in work: and all the people shall say: Amen.

Chapter 28

¹Now if thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to do and keep all his commandments, which I command thee this day, the Lord thy God will make thee higher than all the nations that are on the earth. ²And all these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee: yet so if thou hear his precepts, ³Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed in the field. ⁴Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the droves of thy herds, and the folds of thy sheep. ⁵Blessed shall be thy barns and blessed thy stores. ⁶Blessed shalt thou be coming in and going out. ⁷The Lord shall cause thy enemies, that rise up against thee, to fall down before thy face: one way shall they come out against thee, and seven ways shall they flee before thee. ⁸The Lord will send forth a blessing upon thy storehouses, and upon all the works of thy hands: and will bless thee in the land that thou shalt receive. ⁹The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to himself, as he swore to thee: if thou keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. ¹⁰And all the people of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is invocated upon thee, and they shall fear thee. ¹¹The Lord will make thee abound with all goods, with the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy cattle, with the fruit of thy land, which the Lord swore to thy fathers that he would give thee. ¹²The Lord will open his excellent treasure, the heaven, that it may give rain in due season: and he will bless all the works of thy hands. And thou shalt lend to many nations, and shalt not borrow of any one. ¹³And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail: and thou shalt be always above, and not beneath: yet so if thou wilt hear the commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day, and keep and do them, ¹⁴And turn not away from them neither to the right hand, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them. ¹⁵But if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep and to do all his commandments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day, all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. ¹⁶Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed in the field. ¹⁷Cursed shall be thy barn, and cursed thy stores. ¹⁸Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep. ¹⁹Cursed shalt thou be coming in, and cursed going out. ²⁰The Lord shall send upon thee famine and hunger, and a rebuke upon all the works which thou shalt do: until he consume and destroy thee quickly, for thy most wicked inventions, by which thou hast forsaken me. ²¹May the Lord set the pestilence upon thee, until he consume thee out of the land, which thou shalt go in to possess. ²²May the Lord afflict thee with miserable want, with the fever and with cold, with burning and with heat, and with corrupted air and with blasting, and pursue thee till thou perish. ²³Be the heaven, that is over thee, of brass: and the ground thou treadest on, of iron. ²⁴The Lord give thee dust for rain upon thy land, and let ashes come down from heaven upon thee, till thou be consumed. ²⁵The Lord make thee to fall down before thy enemies, one way mayst thou go out against them, and flee seven ways, and be scattered throughout all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶And be thy carcass meat for all the Fowls of the air, and the beasts of the earth, and be there none to drive them away. ²⁷The Lord strike thee with the ulcer of Egypt, and the part of thy body, by which the dung is cast out, with the scab and with the itch : so that thou canst not be healed. ²⁸The Lord strike thee with madness and blindness and fury of mind. ²⁹And mayst thou grope at midday as the blind is wont to grope in the dark, and not make straight thy ways. And mayst thou at all times suffer wrong, and be oppressed with violence, and mayst thou have no one to deliver thee. ³⁰Mayst thou take a wife, and another sleep with her. Mayst thou build a house, and not dwell therein. Mayest thou plant a vineyard and not gather the vintage thereof. ³¹May thy ox be slain before thee, and thou not eat thereof. May thy ass be taken away in thy sight, and not restored to thee. May thy sheep be given to thy enemies, and may there be none to help thee. ³²May thy sons and thy daughters be given to another people, thy eyes looking on, and languishing at the sight of them all the day, and may there be no strength in thy hand. ³³May a people which thou knowest not, eat the fruits of thy land, and all thy labours: and mayst thou always suffer oppression, and be crushed at all times. ³⁴And be astonished at the terror of those things which thy eyes shall see: ³⁵May the Lord strike thee with a very sore ulcer in the knees and in the legs, and be thou incurable from the sole of the foot to the top of the head. ³⁶The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king, whom thou shalt have appointed over thee, into a nation which thou and thy fathers know not: and there thou shalt serve strange gods, wood and stone. ³⁷And thou shalt be lost, as a proverb and a byword to all people, among whom the Lord shall bring thee in. ³⁸Thou shalt cast much seed into the ground, and gather little: because the locusts shall consume all. ³⁹Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and dig it, and shalt not drink the wine, nor gather any thing thereof: because it shall be wasted with worms. ⁴⁰Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy borders, and shalt not be anointed with the oil: for the olives shall fall off and perish. ⁴¹Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, and shalt not enjoy them: because they shall be led into captivity. ⁴²The blast shall consume all the trees and the fruits of thy ground. ⁴³The stranger that liveth with thee in the land, shall rise up over thee, and shall be higher: and thou shalt go down, and be lower. ⁴⁴He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be as the head, and thou shalt be the tail. ⁴⁵And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue and overtake thee, till thou perish: because thou heardst not the voice of the Lord thy God, and didst not keep his commandments and ceremonies which he commanded thee. ⁴⁶And they shall be as signs and wonders on thee, and on thy seed for ever. ⁴⁷Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things: ⁴⁸Thou shalt serve thy enemy, whom the Lord will send upon thee, in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put an iron yoke upon thy neck, till he consume thee. ⁴⁹The Lord will bring upon thee a nation from afar, and from the uttermost ends of the earth, like an eagle that flyeth swiftly, whose tongue thou canst not understand, ⁵⁰A most insolent nation, that will shew no regard to the ancients, nor have pity on the infant, ⁵¹And will devour the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruits of thy land: until thou be destroyed, and will leave thee no wheat, nor wine, nor oil, nor herds of oxen, nor flocks of sheep: until he destroy thee. ⁵²And consume thee in all thy cities, end thy strong and high walls be brought down, wherein thou trustedst in all thy land. Thou shalt be besieged within thy gates in all thy land which the Lord thy God will give thee: ⁵³And thou shalt eat the fruit of thy womb, and the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God shall give thee, in the distress and extremity wherewith thy enemy shall oppress thee. ⁵⁴The man that is nice among you, and very delicate, shall envy his own brother, and his wife, that lieth in his bosom, ⁵⁵So that he will not give them of the flesh of his children, which he shall eat: because he hath nothing else in the siege and the want, wherewith thy enemies shall distress thee within all thy gates. ⁵⁶The tender and delicate woman, that could not go upon the ground, nor set down her foot for over much niceness and tenderness, will envy her husband who lieth in her bosom, the flesh of her son, and of her daughter, ⁵⁷And the filth of the afterbirths, that come forth from between her thighs, and the children that are born the same hour. For they shall eat them secretly for the want of all things, in the siege and distress, wherewith thy enemy shall oppress thee within thy gates. ⁵⁸If thou wilt not keep, and fulfil all the words of this law, that are written in this volume, and fear his glorious and terrible name: that is, The Lord thy God: ⁵⁹The Lord shall increase thy plagues, and the plagues of thy seed, plagues great and lasting, infirmities grievous and perpetual. ⁶⁰And he shall bring back on thee all the afflictions of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of, and they shall stick fast to thee. ⁶¹Moreover the Lord will bring upon thee all the diseases, and plagues, that are not written in the volume of this law till he consume thee: ⁶²And you shall remain few in number, who before were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because thou heardst not the voice of the Lord thy God. ⁶³And as the Lord rejoiced upon you before doing good to you, and multiplying you: so he shall rejoice destroying and bringing you to nought, so that you shall be taken away from the land which thou shalt go in to possess. ⁶⁴The Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the farthest parts of the earth to the ends thereof: and there thou shalt serve strange gods, which both thou art ignorant of and thy fathers, wood and stone. ⁶⁵Neither shalt thou be quiet, even in those nations, nor shall there be any rest for the sole of thy foot. For the Lord will give thee a fearful heart, and languishing eyes, and a soul consumed with pensiveness: ⁶⁶And thy life shall be as it were hanging before thee. Thou shalt fear night and day, neither shalt thou trust thy life. ⁶⁷In the morning thou shalt say: Who will grant me evening? and at evening: Who will grant me morning? for the fearfulness of thy heart, wherewith thou shalt be terrified, and for those things which thou shalt see with thy eyes. ⁶⁸The Lord shall bring thee again with ships into Egypt, by the way whereof he said to thee that thou shouldst see it no more. There shalt thou be set to sale to thy enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.

Chapter 29

¹These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab: beside that covenant which he made with them in Horeb. ²And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: You have seen all the things that the Lord did before you in the land of Egypt to Pharao, and to all his servants, and to his whole land. ³The great temptations, which thy eyes have seen, those mighty signs and wonders, ⁴And the Lord hath not given you al heart to understand, and eyes to see, and ears that may hear, unto this present day. ⁵He hath brought you forty years through the desert: your garments are not worn out, neither are the shoes of your feet consumed with age. ⁶You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink: that you might know that I am the Lord your God. ⁷And you came to this place: sand Sehon king of Hesebon, and Og king of Basan, came out against us to fight. And we slew them. ⁸And took their land, and delivered it for a possession to h Ruben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses. ⁹Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and fulfil them: that you may understand all that you do. ¹⁰You all stand this day before the Lord your God, your princes, and tribes, and ancients, and doctors, all the people of Israel, ¹¹11Your children and your wives, and the stranger that abideth with thee in the camp, besides the hewers of wood, and them that bring water: ¹²That thou mayst pass in the covenant of the Lord thy God, and in the oath which this day the Lord thy God maketh with thee. ¹³That he may raise thee up a people to himself, and he may be thy God as he hath spoken to thee, and as he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ¹⁴Neither with you only do I make this covenant, and confirm these oaths, ¹⁵But with all that are present and that are absent. ¹⁶For you know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we have passed through the midst of nations, and passing through them, ¹⁷You have seen their abominations and filth, that is to say, their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which they worshipped. ¹⁸Lest perhaps there should be among you a man or a woman, a family or a tribe, whose heart is turned away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations: and there should be among you a root bringing forth gall and bitterness. ¹⁹And when he shall hear the words of this oath, he should bless himself in his heart saying: I shall have peace, and will walk on in the naughtiness of my heart: and the drunken may consume the thirsty, ²⁰And the Lord should not forgive him: but his wrath and jealousy against that man should be exceedingly enkindled at that time, and all the curses that are written in this volume should light upon him: and the Lord should blot out his name from under heaven, ²¹And utterly destroy him out of all the tribes of Israel, according to the curses that are contained in the book of this law and covenant: ²²And the following generation shall say, and the children that shall be born hereafter, and the strangers that shall come from afar, seeing the plagues of that land and the evils wherewith the Lord hath afflicted it, ²³Burning it with brimstone, and the heat of salt, so that it cannot be sown any more, nor any green thing grow therein, after the example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, Adama and Seboim, which the Lord destroyed in his wrath and indignation: ²⁴And all the nations shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land? what meaneth this exceeding great heat of his wrath? ²⁵And they shall answer: Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, which he made with their fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt: ²⁶And they have served strange gods, and adored them, whom they knew not, and for whom they had not been assigned: ²⁷Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this volume : ²⁸And he hath cast them out of their land, in anger and in wrath, and in very great indignation, and hath thrown them into a strange land, as it is seen this day. ²⁹Secret things to the Lord our God: things that are manifest, to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Chapter 30

¹Now when all these things shall be come upon thee, the blessing or the curse, which I have set forth before thee, and thou shalt be touched with repentance of thy heart among all the nations, into which the Lord thy God shall have scattered thee, ²And shalt return to him, and obey his commandments, as I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul: ³The Lord thy God will bring back again thy captivity, and will have mercy on thee, and gather thee again out of all the nations, into which he scattered thee before. ⁴If thou be driven as far as the poles of heaven, the Lord thy God will fetch thee back from thence, ⁵And will take thee to himself, and bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it: and blessing thee, he will make thee more numerous than were thy fathers. ⁶The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed: that then mayst love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayst live. ⁷And he will turn all these curses upon thy enemies, and upon them that hate and persecute thee. ⁸But thou shalt return, and hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and shalt do all the commandments which I command thee this day: ⁹And the Lord thy God will make thee abound in all the works of thy hands, in the fruit of thy womb, and in the fruit of thy cattle, in the fruitfulness of thy land, and in the plenty of all things. For the Lord will return to rejoice over thee in all good things, as he rejoiced in thy fathers: ¹⁰Yet so if thou hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and keep his precepts and ceremonies, which are written in this law: and return to the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. ¹¹This commandment, that I command thee this day is not above thee, nor far off from thee: ¹²Nor is it in heaven, that thou shouldst say: Which of us can go up to heaven to bring it unto us, and we may hear and fulfil it in work? ¹³Nor is it beyond the sea: that thou mayst excuse thyself, and say: Which of us can cross the sea, and bring it unto us: that we may hear, and do that which is commanded? ¹⁴But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayst do it. ¹⁵Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil: ¹⁶That thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and keep his commandments and ceremonies and judgments, and thou mayst live, and he may multiply thee, and bless thee in the land, which thou shalt go in to possess. ¹⁷But if thy heart be turned away, so that thou wilt not hear, and being deceived with error thou adore strange gods, and serve them: ¹⁸I foretell thee this day that thou shalt perish, and shalt remain but a short time in the land, to which thou shalt pass over the Jordan, and shalt go in to possess it. ¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live: ²⁰And that thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and obey his voice, and adhere to him (for he is thy life, and the length of thy days,) that thou mayst dwell in the land, for which the Lord swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give it them.

Chapter 31

¹And Moses went, and spoke all these words to all Israel, ²And he said to them: I am this day a hundred and twenty years old, I can no longer go out and come in, especially as the Lord also hath said to me: O Thou shalt not pass over this Jordan. ³The Lord thy God then will pass over before thee: he will destroy all these nations in thy sight, and thou shalt possess them: and this Josue shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath spoken. ⁴And the Lord shall do to them as he did to Sehon and Og the kings of the Amorrhites, and to their land, and shall destroy them. ⁵Therefore when the Lord shall have delivered these also to you, you shall do in like manner to them as I have commanded you, ⁶Do manfully and be of good heart: fear not, nor be ye dismayed at their sight: for the Lord thy God he himself is thy leader, and will not leave thee nor forsake thee. ⁷And Moses called Josue, and said to him before all Israel: Take courage, and be valiant: for thou shalt bring this people into the land which the Lord swore he would give to their fathers, and thou shalt divide it by lot. ⁸And the Lord who is your leader, he himself will be with thee: he will not leave 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 carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the ancients of Israel. ¹⁰And he commanded them, saying: After seven years, in the year of remission, in the feast of tabernacles, ¹¹When all Israel come together, to appear in the sight of the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose, thou shalt read the words of this law before all Israel, in their hearing, ¹²And the people being all assembled together, both men and women, children and strangers, that are within thy gates: that hearing they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and keep, and fulfil all the words of this law: ¹³That their children also, who now are ignorant, may hear, and fear the Lord their God, all the days that they lire in the land whither you are going over the Jordan to possess it. ¹⁴And the Lord said to Moses: Behold the days of thy death are nigh: call Josue, and stand ye in the tabernacle of the testimony, that I may give him a charge. So Moses and Josue went and stood in the tabernacle of the testimony: ¹⁵And the Lord appeared there in the pillar of a cloud, which stood in the en try of the tabernacle. ¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses: Behold thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and this people rising up will go a fornicating after strange gods in the land, to which it goeth in to dwell: there will they forsake me, and will make void the covenant, which I have made with them, ¹⁷And my wrath shall be kindled against them in that day: and I will forsake them, and will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured: all evils and afflictions shall find them, so that they shall say in that day: In truth it is because God is not with me, that these evils have found me. ¹⁸But I will hide, and cover my face in that day, for all the evils which they have done, because they have followed strange gods.. ¹⁹Now therefore write you this canticle, and teach the children of Israel: that they may know it by heart, and sing it by mouth, and this song may be unto me for a testimony among the children of Israel. ²⁰For I will bring them into the land, for which I swore to their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey. And when they have eaten, and are full and fat, they will turn away after strange gods, and will serve them: and will despise me, and make void my covenant. ²¹And after many evils and afflictions shall have come upon them, this canticle shall answer them for a testimony, which no oblivion shall take away out of the mouth of their seed. For I know their thoughts, and what they are about to de this day, before that I bring them into the land which I have promised them. ²²Moses therefore wrote the canticle and taught it to the children of Israel. ²³And the Lord commanded Josue the son of Nun, and said: Take courage, and be valiant: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I have promised, and I will be with thee. ²⁴Therefore after Moses had wrote the words of this law in a volume, and finished it: ²⁵He commanded the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. saying: ²⁶Take this book, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God: that it may be there for a testimony against thee. ²⁷For I know thy obstinacy, and thy most stiff neck, While I am yet living, and going in with you, you have always been rebellious against the Lord: how much more when I shall be dead? ²⁸Gather unto me all the ancients of your tribes, and your doctors, and I will speak these words in their hearing, and will call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹For I know that, after my death, you will do wickedly, and will quickly turn aside from the way that I have commanded you: and evils shall come upon you in the latter times, when you shall do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him by the works of your hands. ³⁰Moses therefore spoke, in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel, the words of this canticle, and finished it even to the end,

Chapter 32

¹Hear, O ye heavens, the things I speak, let the earth give ear to the words of my mouth. ²Let my doctrine gather as the rain, let my speech distil as the dew, as a shower upon the herb, and as drops upon the grass. ³Because I will invoke the name of the Lord: give ye magnificence to our God. ⁴The works of God are perfect, and all his ways are judgments: God is faithful and without any iniquity, he is just and right. ⁵They have sinned against him, and are nose of his children in their filth: they are a wicked and perverse generation. ⁶Is this the return thou makest to the Lord, O foolish and senseless people? Is not he thy father, that hath possessed thee, and made thee, and created thee? ⁷Remember the days of old, think upon every generation: ask thy father, and he will declare to thee: thy elders and they will tell thee. ⁸When the Most High divided the nations: when he separated the sons of Adam, he appointed the bounds of people according to the number of the children of Israel. ⁹But the Lord's portion is his people: Jacob the lot of his inheritance. ¹⁰He found him in a desert land, in a place of horror, and of vast wilderness: he led him about, and taught him: and he kept him as the apple of his eye. ¹¹As the eagle enticing her young to fly, and hovering over them, he spread his wings, and hath taken him and carried him on his shoulders. ¹²The Lord alone was his leader: and there was no strange god with him. ¹³He set him upon high land: that he might eat the fruits of the fields, that he might suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the hardest stone, ¹⁴Butter of the herd, and milk of the sheep with the fat of lambs, and of the rams of the breed of Basan: and goats with the marrow of wheat, and might drink the purest blood of the grape. ¹⁵The beloved grew fat, and kicked: he grew fat, and thick and gross, he forsook God who made him, and departed from God his saviour. ¹⁶They provoked him by strange gods, and stirred him up to anger, with their abominations. ¹⁷They sacrificed to devils and not to God: to gods whom they knew not: that were newly come up, whom their fathers worshipped not. ¹⁸Thou hast forsaken the God that beget thee, and hast forgotten the Lord that created thee. ¹⁹The Lord saw, and was moved to wrath: because his own sons and daughters provoked him. ²⁰And he said: I will hide my face from them, and will consider what their last end shall be: for it is a perverse generation, and unfaithful children. ²¹They have provoked me with that which was no god, and have angered me with their vanities: and I will provoke them with that which is no people, and will vex them with a foolish nation. ²²A fire is kindled in my wrath, and shall burn even to the lowest hell: and shall devour the earth with her increase, and shall burn the foundations of the mountains. ²³I will heap evils upon them, and will spend my arrows among them. ²⁴They shall be consumed with famine, and birds shall devour them with a most bitter bite: I will send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the fury of creatures that trail upon the ground, and of serpents. ²⁵Without, the sword shall lay them waste, and terror within, both the young man and the virgin, the sucking child with the man in years. ²⁶I said: Where are they? I will make the memory of them to cease from among men. ²⁷But for the wrath of the enemies I have deferred it: lest perhaps their enemies might be proud, and should say: Our mighty hand, and not the Lord, hath done all these things. ²⁸They are a nation without counsel, and without wisdom. ²⁹O that they would be wise and would understand, and would provide for their last end. ³⁰How should one pursue after a thousand, and two chase ten thousand? Was it not, because their God had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up? ³¹For our God is not as their gods: our enemies themselves are judges. ³²Their vines are of the vineyard of Sodom, and of the suburbs of Gomorrha: their grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters most bitter. ³³Their wine is the gall of dragons, and the venom of asps, which is incurable. ³⁴Are not these things stored up with me, and sealed up in my treasures? ³⁵Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time, that their foot may slide: the day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes haste to come. ³⁶The Lord will judge his people, and will have mercy on his servants : he shall see that their hand is weakened, and that they who were shut up have also failed, and they that remained are consumed. ³⁷And he shall say: Where are their gods, in whom they trusted? ³⁸Of whose victims they ate the fat, and drank the wine of their drink offerings: let them arise and help you, and protect you in your distress. ³⁹See ye that I alone am, and there is no other God besides me: I will kill and I will make to live: I will strike, and I will heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. ⁴⁰I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will say: I live for ever. ⁴¹If I shall whet my sword as the lightning, and my hand take hold on judgment: I will render vengeance to my enemies, and repay them that hate me. ⁴²I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh, of the blood of the slain and of the captivity, of the bare head of the enemies. ⁴³Praise his people, ye nations, for he will revenge the blood of his servants: and will render vengeance to their enemies, and he will be merciful to the land of his people. ⁴⁴So Moses came and spoke all the words of this canticle in the ears of the people, and Josue the son of Nun. ⁴⁵And he ended all these words, speaking to all Israel. ⁴⁶And he said to them : Set your hearts on all the words, which I testify to you this day: which you shall command your children to observe and to do, and to fulfil all that is written in this law: ⁴⁷For they are not commanded you in vain, but that every one should live in them, and that doing them you may continue a long time in the land whither you are going over the Jordan to possess it. ⁴⁸And the Lord spoke to Moses the same day, saying: ⁴⁹Go up into this mountain Abarim, (that is to say, of passages,) unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab over against Jericho: and see the land of Chanaan, which I will deliver to the children of Israel to possess, and die thou in the mountain. ⁵⁰When thou art gone up into it thou shalt be gathered to thy people, as Aaron thy brother died in mount Her, and was gathered to his people: ⁵¹Because you trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel, at the waters of contradiction in Cades of the desert of Sin: and you did not sanctify me among the children of Israel. ⁵²Thou shalt see the land before thee, which I will give to the children of Israel, but thou shalt not enter into it.

Chapter 33

¹This is the blessing, wherewith the man of God Moses blessed the children of Israel, before his death. ²And he said: The Lord came from Sinai, and from Seir he rose up to us: he hath appeared from mount Pharan, and with him thousands of saints. In his right hand a fiery law. ³He hath loved the people, all the saints are in his hand: and they that approach to his feet, shall receive of his doctrine. ⁴Moses commanded us a law, the inheritance of the multitude of Jacob. ⁵He shall be king with the most right, the princes of the people being assembled with the tribes of Israel. ⁶Let Ruben live, and not die, and be he small in number. ⁷This is the blessing of Juda. Hear, O Lord, the voice of Juda, and bring him in unto his people : his hands shall fight for him, and he shall be his helper against his enemies. ⁸To Levi also he said: Thy perfection, and thy doctrine be to thy holy man, whom thou hast proved in the temptation, and judged at the waters of contradiction : ⁹Who hath said to his father, and to his mother: I do not know you; and to his brethren: I know you not: and their own children they have not known. These have kept thy word, and observed thy covenant, ¹⁰Thy judgments, O Jacob, and thy law, O Israel: they shall put incense in thy wrath and holocaust upon thy altar. ¹¹Bless, O Lord, his strength, and receive the works of his hands. Strike the backs of his enemies, and let not them that hate him rise. ¹²And to Benjamin he said: The best beloved of the Lord shall dwell confidently in him: as in a bride chamber shall he abide all the day long, and between his shoulders shall be rest. ¹³To Joseph also he said: Of the blessing of the Lord be his land, of the fruits of heaven, and of the dew, and of the deep that lieth beneath. ¹⁴Of the fruits brought forth by the sun and by the moon. ¹⁵Of the tops of the ancient mountains, of the fruits of the everlasting hills: ¹⁶And of the fruits of the earth, and of the fulness thereof. The blessing of him that appeared in the bush, come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren. ¹⁷His beauty as of the firstling of a bullock, his horns as the horns of a rhinoceros: with them shall he push the nations even to the ends of the earth These are the multitudes of Ephraim and these the thousands of Manasses. ¹⁸And to Zabulon he said: Rejoice, O Zabulon, in thy going out; and Issachar in thy tabernacles. ¹⁹They shall call the people to the mountain: there shall they sacrifice the victims of justice. Who shall suck as milk the abundance of the sea, and the hidden treasures of the sands. ²⁰And to Gad he said: Blessed be Gad in his breadth: he hath rested as a lion, and hath seized upon the arm and the top of the head. ²¹And he saw his pre-eminence, that in his portion the teacher was laid up: who was with the princes of the people, and did the justices of the Lord, and his judgment with Israel. ²²To Dan also he said: Dan is a young lion, he shall flow plentifully from Basan. ²³And to Nephtali he said: Nephtali shall enjoy abundance, and shall be full of the blessings of the Lord: he shall possess the sea and the south. ²⁴To Aser also he said: Let Aser be blessed with children, let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. ²⁵His shoe shall be iron and brass. As the days of thy youth, so also shall thy old age be. ²⁶There is no other God like the God of the rightest: he that is mounted upon the heaven is thy helper. By his magnificence the clouds run hither and thither. ²⁷His dwelling is above, and underneath are the everlasting arms: he shall cast out the enemy from before thee, and shall say: Be thou brought to nought. ²⁸Israel shall dwell in safety, and alone. The eye of Jacob in a land of corn and wine, and the heavens shall be misty with dew. ²⁹Blessed are thou, Israel: who is like to thee, O people, that art saved by the Lord? the shield of thy help, and the sword of thy glory: thy enemies shall deny thee, and thou shalt tread upon their necks.

Chapter 34

¹Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab upon mount Nebo, to the top of Phasga over against Jericho: and the Lord shewed him all the land of Galaad as far as Dan. ²And all Nephtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasses, and all the land of Juda unto the furthermost sea, ³And the south part, and the breadth of the plain of Jericho the city of palm trees as far as Segor. ⁴And the Lord said to him: This is the land, for which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: I will give it to thy seed. Thou hast seen it with thy eyes, and shalt not pass over to it. ⁵And Moses the servant of the Lord died there, in the land of Moab, by the commandment of the Lord: ⁶And he buried him in the valley of the land of Moab over against Phogor: and no man hath known of his sepulchre until this present day. ⁷Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, neither were his teeth moved. ⁸And the children of Israel mourned for him in the plains of Moab thirty days: and the days of their mourning in which they mourned for Moses were ended. ⁹And Josue the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands upon him. And the children of Israel obeyed him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses. ¹⁰And there arose no more a prophet in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, ¹¹In all the signs and wonders, which he sent by him, to do in the land of Egypt to Pharao, and to all his servants, and to his whole land, ¹²And all the mighty hand, and great miracles, which Moses did before all Israel.

The Book of Josue

This Book is called JOSUE, because it contains the history of what passed under him, and according to the common opinion was written by him. The Greeks call him Jesus: for Josue and Jesus in the Hebrew, are the same name, and have the same signification, viz. A SAVIOUR. And it was not without a mystery that he who was to bring the people into the land of promise should have his name changed from OSEE (for so he was called before, Num. 13.17,) to JOSUE or JESUS, to give us to understand, that Moses by his law could only bring the people within sight of the promised inheritance, but that our Saviour JESUS was to bring us into it.

Chapter 1

¹Now it came to pass after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Josue the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, and said to him: ²Moses my servant is dead: arise, and pass over this Jordan, thou and thy people with thee, into the land which I will give to the children of Israel. ³I will deliver to you every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, as I have said to Moses. ⁴From the desert and from Libanus unto the great river Euphrates, all the land of the Hethites unto the great sea toward the going; down of the sun, shall be your border. ⁵No man shall be able to resist you all the days of thy life: as I have been with Moses, so will I be with thee: I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee. ⁶Take courage, and be strong: for thou shalt divide by lot to this people the land, for which I swore to their fathers, that I would deliver it to them. ⁷Take courage therefore, and be very valiant: that thou mayst observe and do all the law, which Moses my servant hath commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayst understand all things which thou dost. ⁸Let not the book of this law depart from thy mouth: but thou shalt meditate on it day and night, that thou mayst observe and do all things that are written in it: then shalt thou direct thy way, and understand it. ⁹Behold I command thee, take courage, end be strong. Fear not and be not dismayed: because the Lord thy God is with thee in all things whatsoever thou shalt go to. ¹⁰And Josue commanded the princes of the people, saying: Pass through the midst of the camp, and command the people, and say: ¹¹Prepare you victuals: for after the third day you shall pass over the Jordan and shall go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God will give you. ¹²And he said to the Rubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasses: ¹³Remember the word, which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying: The Lord your God hath given you rest, and all this land. ¹⁴Your wives, and children, and cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan: but pass you over armed before your brethren, all of you that are strong of hand, and fight for them, ¹⁵Until the Lord give rest to your brethren as he hath given you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God will give them: and so you shall return into the land of your possession, and you shall dwell in it, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun. ¹⁶And they made answer to Josue, and said: All that thou hast commanded us we will do; and whithersoever thou shalt send us, we will go. ¹⁷As we obeyed Moses in all things, so will we obey thee also: only be the Lord thy God with thee, as he was with Moses. ¹⁸He that shall gainsay thy mouth, and not obey all thy words, that thou shalt command him, let him die: only take thou courage, and do manfully.

Chapter 2

¹And Josue the son of Nun sent from Setim two men, to spy secretly: and said to them: Go, and view the land and the city of Jericho. n They went and entered into the house of a woman that was a harlot named Rahab, and lodged with her. ²And it was told the king of Jericho, and was said : Behold there are men come in hither, by night, of the children of Israel, to spy the land. ³And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying: Bring forth the men that came to thee, and are entered into thy house: for they are spies, and are come to view all the land. ⁴And the woman taking the men, hid them, and said: I confess they came to me, but I knew not whence they were: ⁵And at the time of shutting the gate in the dark, they also went out together. I know not whither they are gone: pursue after them quickly, and you will overtake them. ⁶But she made the men go up to the top of her house, and covered them with the stalks of flax, which was there. ⁷Now they that were sent, pursued after them, by the way that leadeth to the fords of the Jordan: and as soon as they were gone out, the gate was presently shut. ⁸The men that were hidden were not yet asleep, when behold the woman went up to them, and said: ⁹I know that the Lord hath given this land to you: for the dread of you is fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land have lost all strength. ¹⁰We have heard that the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea at your going in, when you came out of Egypt: and what things you did to the two kings of the Amorrhites, that were beyond the Jordan: Sehon and Og whom you slew. ¹¹And hearing these things we were affrighted, and our heart fainted away, neither did there remain any spirit in us at your coming in: for the Lord your God he is God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath. ¹²Now therefore swear ye to me by the Lord, that as I have shewn mercy to you, so you also will shew mercy to my father's house: and give me a true token, ¹³That you will save my father and mother, my brethren end sisters, and all things that are theirs, and deliver our souls from death. ¹⁴They answered her: Be our lives for you unto death, only if thou betray us not. And when the Lord shall have delivered us the land, we will shew thee mercy and truth. ¹⁵Then she let them down with a cord out of a window: for her house joined close to the wall. ¹⁶And she said to them: Get ye up to the mountains, lest perhaps they meet you as they return: and there lie ye hid three days, till they come back, and so you shall go on your way. ¹⁷And they said to her: We shall be blameless of this oath, which thou hast made us swear: ¹⁸If when we come into the land, this scarlet cord be a sign, and thou tie it in the window, by which thou hast let us down: and gather together thy father and mother, and brethren and all thy kindred into thy house. ¹⁹Whosoever shall go out of the door of thy house, his blood shall be upon his own head, and we shall be quit. But the blood of all that shall be with thee in the house, shall light upon our head, if any man touch them. ²⁰But if thou wilt betray us, and utter this word abroad, we shall be quit of this oath which thou hast made us swear. ²¹And she answered: As you have spoken, so be it done. And sending them on their way, she hung the scarlet cord in the window. ²²But they went and came to the mountains, and stayed there three days till they that pursued them were returned. For having sought them through all the way, they found them not. ²³And when they were gone back into the city, the spies returned, and came down from the mountain: and passing over the Jordan, they came to Josue the son of Nun, and told him all that befel them. ²⁴And said: The Lord hath delivered all this land into our hands, and all the inhabitants thereof are overthrown with fear.

Chapter 3

¹And Josue rose before daylight, and removed the camp: and they departed from Setim, and came to the Jordan, he, and all the children of Israel, and they abode there for three days. ²After which, the heralds went through the midst of the camp, ³And began to proclaim: When you shall see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests of the race of Levi carrying it, rise you up also, and follow them as they go before: ⁴And let there be between you and the ark the space of two thousand cubits: that you may see it afar off, and know which way you must go: for you have not gone this way before: and take care you come not near the ark. ⁵And Josue said to the people: Be ye sanctified: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you. ⁶And he said to the priests: Take up the ark of the covenant, and go before the people. And they obeyed his commands, and took it up and walked before them. ⁷And the Lord said to Josue: This day will I begin to exalt thee before Israel: that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I am with thee also. ⁸And do thou command the priests that carry the ark of the covenant, and say to them: When you shall have entered into part of the water of the Jordan, stand in it. ⁹And Josue said to the children of Israel: Come hither and hear the word of the Lord your God. ¹⁰And again he said: By this you shall know that the Lord the living God is in the midst of you, and that he shall destroy before your sight the Chanaanite and the Hethite, the Hevite and the Pherezite, the Gergesite also and the Jebusite, and the Amorrhite. ¹¹Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth shall go before you into the Jordan. ¹²Prepare ye twelve men of the tribes of Israel, one of every tribe. ¹³And when the priests, that carry the ark of the Lord the God of the whole earth, shall set the soles of their feet in the waters of the Jordan, the waters that are beneath shall run down and go off: and those that come from above, shall stand together upon a heap. ¹⁴So the people went out of their tents, to pass over the Jordan: and the priests that carried the ark of the covenant. went on before them. ¹⁵And as soon as they came into the Jordan, and their feet were dipped in part of the water, (now the Jordan, it being harvest time, had filled the banks of its channel,) ¹⁶The waters that came down from above stood in one place, and swelling up like a mountain, were seen afar off from the city that is called Adom, to the place of Sarthan: but those that were beneath, ran down into the sea of the wilderness (which now is called the Dead Sea) until they wholly failed. ¹⁷And the people marched over against Jericho: and the priests that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, stood girded upon the dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all the people passed over through the channel that was dried up.

Chapter 4

¹And when they were passed over, the Lord said to Josue: ²Choose twelve men, one of every tribe: ³And command them to take out of the midst of the Jordan, where the feet of the priests stood, twelve very hard stones, which you shall set in the place of the camp, where you shall pitch your tents this night. ⁴And Josue called twelve men, whom he had chosen out of the children of Israel, one out of every tribe, ⁵And he said to them: Go before the ark of the Lord your God to the midst of the Jordan, and carry from thence every man a stone on your shoulders, according to the number of the children of Israel, ⁶That it may be a sign among you end when your children shall ask you to morrow, saying: What mean these stones? ⁷You shall answer them: The waters of the Jordan ran off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, when it passed over the same: therefore were these atones set for a monument of the children of Israel for ever. ⁸The children of Israel therefore did as Josue commanded them, carrying out of the channel of the Jordan twelve stones, as the Lord had commanded him, according to the number of the children of Israel, unto the place wherein they camped, and there they set them. ⁹And Josue put other twelve stones in the midst of the channel of the Jordan, where the priests stood that carried the ark of the covenant: and they are there until this present day. ¹⁰Now the priests that carried the ark, stood in the midst of the Jordan till all things were accomplished which the Lord had commanded Josue to speak to the people, and Moses had said to him. And the people made haste and passed over. ¹¹And when they had all passed over, the ark also of the Lord passed over, and the priests went before the people. ¹²The children of Ruben also and Gad, and half the tribe of Manasses, went armed before the children of Israel as Moses had commanded them. ¹³And forty thousand fighting men by their troops, and bands, marched through the plains and fields of the city of Jericho. ¹⁴In that day the Lord magnified Josue in the sight of all Israel, that they should fear him, as they had feared Moses, while he lived. ¹⁵And he said to him: ¹⁶Command the priests, that carry the ark of the covenant, to come up out of the Jordan. ¹⁷And he commanded them, saying: Come ye up out of the Jordan. ¹⁸And when they that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, were come up, and began to tread on the dry ground, the waters returned into the channel, and ran as they were wont before. ¹⁹And the people came up out of the Jordan, the tenth day of the first month, and camped in Galgal, over against the east side of the city of Jericho. ²⁰And the twelve stones which they had taken out of the channel of the Jordan, Josue pitched in Galgal, ²¹And said to the children of Israel: When your children shall ask their fathers, to morrow, and shall say to them: What mean these stones? ²²You shall teach them and say: Israel passed over this Jordan through the dry channel. ²³The Lord your God drying up the waters thereof in your sight, until you passed over: ²⁴As he had done before in the Red Sea, which he dried up till we passed through : ²⁵That all the people of the earth may learn the most mighty hand of the Lord, that you also may fear the Lord your God for ever.

Chapter 5

¹Now when all the kings of the Amorrhites, who dwelt beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of Chanaan, who possessed the places near the great sea, had heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the children of Israel, till they passed over, their heart failed them, and there remained no spirit in them, fearing the coming in of the children of Israel. ²At that time the Lord said to Josue: Make thee knives of stone, and circumcise the second time the children of Israel. ³He did what the Lord had commanded, and he circumcised the children of Israel in the hill of the foreskins. ⁴Now this is the cause of the second circumcision: All the people that came out of Egypt that were males, all the men fit for war, died in the desert, during the time of the long going about in the way. ⁵Now these were all circumcised. But the people that were born in the desert, ⁶Luring the forty years of the journey in the wide wilderness, were uncircumcised: till all they were consumed that had not heard the voice of the Lord, and to whom he had sworn before, that he would not shew them the land flowing with milk and honey. ⁷The children of these succeeded in the place of their fathers, and were circumcised by Josue: for they were uncircumcised even as they were born, and no one had circumcised them in the way. ⁸Now after they were all circumcised, they remained in the same place of the camp, until they were healed. ⁹And the Lord said to Josue: This day have I taken away from you the reproach of Egypt. And the name of that place was called Galgal, until this present day. ¹⁰And the children of Israel abode in Galgal, and they kept the phase on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the plains of Jericho: ¹¹And they ate on the next day unleavened bread of the corn of the land, and frumenty of the same year. ¹²And the manna ceased after they ate of the corn of the land, neither did the children of Israel use that food any more, but they ate of the corn of the present year of the land of Chanaan. ¹³And when Josue was in the field of the city of Jericho, he lifted up his eyes, and saw a man standing over against him: holding a drawn sword, and he went to him, and said: Art thou one of ours, or of our adversaries? ¹⁴And he answered: No: but I am prince of the host of the Lord, and now I am come. ¹⁵Josue fell on his face to the ground. And worshipping, add: What saith my lord to his servant? ¹⁶Loose, saith he, thy shoes from off thy feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Josue did as was commanded him.

Chapter 6

¹Now Jericho was close shut up and fenced, for fear of the children of Israel, and no man durst go out or come in. ²And the Lord said to Josue: Behold I have given into thy hands Jericho, and the king thereof, and all the valiant men. ³Go round about the city, all ye fighting men, once a day: so shall ye do for six days. ⁴And on the seventh day the priests shall take the seven trumpets, which are used in the jubilee, and shall go before the ark of the covenant: and you shall go about the city seven times, and the priests shall sound the trumpets. ⁵And when the voice of the trumpet shall give a longer and broken tune, and shall sound in your ears, all the people shall shout together with a very great shout, and the walls of the city shall fall to the ground, and they shall enter in every one at the place against which they shall stand. ⁶Then Josue the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them: Take the ark of the covenant: and let seven other priests take the seven trumpets of the jubilee, and march before the ark of the Lord. ⁷And he said to the people: Go, and compass the city, armed, marching before the ark of the Lord. ⁸And when Josue had ended his words, and the seven priests blew the seven trumpets before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, ⁹And all the armed men went before, the rest of the common people followed the ark, and the sound of the trumpets was heard on all sides. ¹⁰But Josue had commanded the people, saying: You shall not shout, nor shall your voice be heard, nor any word go out of your mouth: until the day come wherein I shall say to you: Cry, and shout. ¹¹So the ark of the Lord went about the city once a day, and returning into the camp, abode there. ¹²And Josue rising before day, the priests took the ark of the Lord, ¹³And seven of them seven trumpets, which are used in the jubilee: and they went before the ark of the Lord walking and sounding the trumpets: and the armed men went before them, and the rest of the common people followed the ark, and they blew the trumpets. ¹⁴And they went round about the city the second day once, and returned into the camp. So they did six days. ¹⁵But the seventh day, rising up early, they went about the city, as it was ordered, seven times. ¹⁶And when in the seventh going about the priests sounded with the trumpets, Josue said to all Israel: Shout: for the Lord hath delivered the city to you: ¹⁷And let this city be an anathema, and all things that are in it, to the Lord. Let only Rahab the harlot live, with all that are with her in the house: for she hid the messengers whom we sent. ¹⁸But beware ye lest you touch ought of those things that are forbidden, and you be guilty of transgression, and all the camp of Israel be under sin, and be troubled. ¹⁹But whatsoever gold or silver there shall be, or vessels of brass and iron, let it be consecrated to the Lord, laid up in his treasures. ²⁰So all the people making a shout, and the trumpets sounding, when the voice and the sound thundered in the ears of the multitude, the walls forthwith fell down: and every man went up by the place that was over against him: s and they took the city, ²¹And killed all that were in it, man and woman, young and old. The oxen also and the sheep, and the asses, they slew with the edge of the sword. ²²But Josue said to the two men that had been sent for spies: Go into the harlot's house, and bring her out, and all things that are hers, as you assured her by oath. ²³And the young men went in and brought out Rahab, and her parents, her brethren also and all her goods and her kindred, and made them to stay without the camp. ²⁴But they burned the city, and all things that were therein; except the gold and silver, and vessels of brass and iron, which they consecrated into the treasury of the Lord. ²⁵But Josue saved Rahab the harlot and her father's house, and all she had, and they dwelt in the midst of Israel until this present day: because she hid the messengers whom he had sent to spy out Jericho. At that time, Josue made an imprecation, saying: ²⁶Cursed be the man before the Lord, that shall raise up and build the city of Jericho. In his firstborn may he lay the foundation thereof, and in the last of his children set up its gates. ²⁷And the Lord was with Josue, and his name was noised throughout all the land.

Chapter 7

¹But the children of Israel transgressed the commandment, and took to their own use of the anathema. For Achan the son of Charmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zare of the tribe of Juda, took something of the anathema: and the Lord was angry against the children of Israel. ²And when Josue sent men from Jericho against Hai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of the town of Bethel, he said to them: Go up, and view the country: and they fulfilled his command, and viewed Hai. ³And returning they said to him: Let not all the people go up, but let two or three thousand men go and destroy the city: why should all the people be troubled in vain against enemies that are very few? ⁴There went up therefore three thousand fighting men: who immediately turned their backs, ⁵And were defeated by the men of the city of Hai, and there fell of them six and thirty men : and the enemies pursued them from the gate as far as Sabarim, and they slew them as they fled by the descent: and the heart of the people was struck with fear, and melted like water. ⁶But Josue rent his garments, and fell flat on the ground before the ark of the Lord until the evening, both he and all the ancients of Israel: and they put dust upon their heads. ⁷And Josue said: Alas, O Lord God, why wouldst thou bring this people over the river Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorrhite, and to destroy us? would God, we had stayed beyond the Jordan as we began. ⁸My Lord God, what shall I say, seeing Israel turning their backs to their enemies? ⁹The Chanaanites, and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and being gathered together will surround us and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do to thy great name? ¹⁰And the Lord said to Josue: Arise, why liest thou flat on the ground? ¹¹Israel hath sinned, and transgressed my covenant: and they have taken of the anathema, and have stolen and lied, and have hidden it among their goods. ¹²Neither can Israel stand before his enemies, but he shall flee from them: because he is defiled with the anathema. I will be no more with you, till you destroy him that is guilty of this wickedness. ¹³Arise, sanctify the people, and say to them: Be ye sanctified against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel: The anathema is in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thy enemies, till he be destroyed out of thee that is defiled with this wickedness. ¹⁴And you shall come in the morning every one by your tribes: and what tribe soever the lot shall find, it shall come by its kindreds and the kindred by its houses, and the house by the men. ¹⁵And whosoever he be that shall be found guilty of this fact, he shall be burnt with fire with all his substance, because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and hath done wickedness in Israel. ¹⁶Josue, therefore, when he rose in the morning, made Israel to come by their tribes, and the tribe of Juda was found, ¹⁷Which being brought by its families, it was found to be the family of Zare. Bringing that also by the houses, he found it to be Zabdi. ¹⁸And bringing his house man by man, he found Achan the son of Charmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zare of the tribe of Juda. ¹⁹And Josue said to Achan: My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and confess, and tell me what thou hast done, hide it not. ²⁰And Achan answered Josue, and said to him: Indeed I have sinned against the Lord the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. ²¹For I saw among the spoils a scarlet garment exceeding good, and two hundred sides of silver, and a golden rule of fifty sides: and I coveted them, and I took them away, and hid them in the ground is the midst of my tent, and the silver I covered with the earth that I dug up. ²²Josue therefore sent ministers: who running to his tent, found all hidden in the same place, together with the silver. ²³And taking them away out of the tent, they brought them to Josue, and to all the children of Israel, and threw them down before the Lord. ²⁴Then Josue and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zare, and the silver and the garments, and the golden rule, his sons also and his daughters, his oxen and asses and sheep, the tent also, and all the goods: and brought them to the valley of Achor: ²⁵Where Josue said: Because thou hast troubled us, the Lord trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him: and all things that were his, were consumed with fire. ²⁶And they gathered together upon him a great heap of stones, which remaineth until this present day. And the wrath of the Lord was turned away from them. And the name of that place was called the Valley of Achor, until this day.

Chapter 8

¹And the Lord said to Josue: Fear not, nor be thou dismayed: take with thee all the multitude of fighting men, arise and go up to the town of Hai. Behold I have delivered into thy hand the king thereof, and the people, and the city, and the land. ²And thou shalt do to the city of Hai, and to the king thereof, as thou hast done to Jericho, and to the king thereof: but the spoils and all the cattle you shall take for a prey to yourselves: lay an ambush for the city behind it. ³And Josue arose, and all the army of the fighting men with him, to go up against Hai: and he sent thirty thousand chosen valiant men in the night, ⁴And commanded them, saying: Lay an ambush behind the city: and go not very far from it: and be ye all ready. ⁵But I and the rest of the multitude which is with me; will approach on the contrary side against the city. And when they shall come out against us, we will flee, and turn our backs, as we did before: ⁶Till they pursuing us be drawn farther from the city: for they will think that we flee as before. ⁷And whilst we are fleeing, and they pursuing, you shall arise out of the ambush, and shall destroy the city: and the Lord your God will deliver it into our hands. ⁸And when you shall have taken it, set it on fire, and you shall do all things so as I have commanded. ⁹And he sent them away, and they went on to the place of the ambush, and abode between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the city of Hai. But Josue stayed that night in the midst of the people, ¹⁰And rising early in the morning, he mustered his soldiers, and went up with the ancients in the front of the army environed with the aid of the fighting men. ¹¹And when they were come, and were gone up over against the city, they stood on the north side of the city, between which and them there was a valley in the midst. ¹²And he had chosen five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the same city: ¹³But all the rest of the army went in battle array on the north side, so that the last of that multitude reached to the west side of the city. So Josue went that night, and stood in the midst of the valley. ¹⁴And when the king of Hai saw this, he made haste in the morning, and went out with all the army of the city, and set it in battle array toward the desert, not knowing that there lay an ambush behind his back. ¹⁵But Josue, and all Israel gave back, making as if they were afraid, and fleeing by the way of the wilderness. ¹⁶But they shouting together, and encouraging one another, pursued them. And when they were come from the city, ¹⁷And not one remained in the city of Hai and of Bethel, that did not pursue after Israel, leaving the towns open as they had rushed out, ¹⁸The Lord said to Josue: Lift up the shield that is in thy hand, towards the city of Hai, for I will deliver it to thee. ¹⁹And when he had lifted up his shield towards the city, the ambush that lay hid, rose up immediately: and going to the city, took it and set it on fire. ²⁰And the men of the city, that pursued after Josue, looking back and seeing the smoke of the city rise up to heaven, had no more power to flee this way or that way: especially as they that had counterfeited flight, end were going toward the wilderness, turned back most valiantly against them that pursued. ²¹So Josue and all Israel seeing that the city was taken, and that the smoke of the city rose up, returned and slew the men of Hai. ²²And they also that had taken and set the city on fire, issuing out of the city to meet their own men, began to cut off the enemies who were surrounded by them. So that the enemies being cut off on both sides, not one of so great a multitude was saved. ²³And they took the king of the city of Hai alive, and brought him to Josue. ²⁴So all being slain that had pursued after Israel in his flight to the wilderness, and tailing by the sword in the same place, the children of Israel returned and laid waste the city. ²⁵And the number of them that fell that day, both of men and women, was twelve thousand persons all of the city of Hai. ²⁶But Josue drew not back his hand, which he had stretched out on high, holding the shield, till all the inhabitants of Hai were slain. ²⁷And the children of Israel divided among them the cattle and the prey of the city, as the Lord had commanded Josue. ²⁸And he burned the city, and made it a heap for ever: ²⁹And he hung the king thereof on a gibbet until the evening and the going down of the sun. Then Josue commanded, and they took down his carcass from the gibbet: and threw it in the very entrance of the city, heaping upon it a great heap of stones, which remaineth until this present day. ³⁰Then Josue built an altar to the Lord the God of Israel in mount Hebal, ³¹As Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, and it is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of unhewn stones which iron had not touched: and he offered upon it holocausts to the Lord, and immolated victims of peace offerings. ³²And he wrote upon stones the Deuteronomy of the law of Moses, which he had ordered before the children of Israel. ³³And all the people, and the ancients, and the princes and judges stood on both sides of the ark, before the priests that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, both the stranger and he that was born among them, half of them by mount Garizim, and half by mount Hebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. And first he blessed the people of Israel. ³⁴After this he read all the words of the blessing and the cursing and all things that were written in the hook of the law. ³⁵He left out nothing of those things which Moses had commanded, but he repeated all before all the people of Israel, with the women and children and strangers that dwelt among them.

Chapter 9

¹Now When these things were heard of, all the kings beyond the Jordan, that dwelt in the mountains and in the plains, in the places near the sea, and on the coasts of the great sea, they also that dwell by Libanus, the Hethite and the Amorrhite, the Chanaanite, the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, ²Gathered themselves together, to fight against Josue and Israel with one mind, and one resolution. ³But they that dwelt in Gabaon, hearing all that Josue had done to Jericho and Hai: ⁴Cunningly devising took for themselves provisions, laying old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles rent and sewed up again, ⁵And very old shoes, which for a show of age were clouted with patches, and old garments upon them: the leaves also, which they carried for provisions by the way, were hard, and broken into pieces: ⁶And they went to Josue, who then abode in the camp at Galgal, and said to him, and to all Israel with him: We are come from a far country, desiring to make peace with you. And the children of Israel answered them, and said: ⁷Perhaps you dwell in the land which falls to our lot; if so, we can make no league with you. ⁸But they said to Josue: We are thy servants. Josue said to them: Who are you? and whence came you? ⁹They answered: From a very far country thy servants are come in the name of the Lord thy God. For we have heard the fame of his power, all the things that he did in Egypt. ¹⁰And to the two kings of the Amorrhites that were beyond the Jordan, Sehon king of Hesebon, and Og king of Basan, that was in Astaroth: ¹¹And our ancients, and all the inhabitants of our country said to us: Take with you victuals for a long way, and go meet them, and say: We are your servants, make ye a league with us. ¹²Behold, these leaves we took hot, when we set out from our houses to come to you, now they are become dry, and broken in pieces, by being exceeding old. ¹³These bottles of wine when we filled them were new, now they are rent and burst. These garments we have on, and the shoes we have on our feet, by reason of the very long journey are worn out, and almost consumed. ¹⁴They took therefore of their victuals, and consulted not the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁵And Josue made peace with them, and entering into a league promised that they should not be slain: the princes also of the multitude swore to them. ¹⁶Now three days after the league was made, they heard that they dwelt nigh, and they should be among them. ¹⁷And the children of Israel removed the camp, and came into their cities on the third day, the names of which are Gabaon, and Caphira, and Beroth, and Cariathiarim. ¹⁸And they slew them not, because the princes of the multitude had sworn in the name of the Lord the God of Israel. Then all the common people murmured against the princes. ¹⁹And they answered them: We have sworn to them in the name of the Lord the God of Israel, and therefore we may not touch them. ²⁰But this we mill do to them: Let their lives be saved, lest the wrath of the Lord be stirred up against us, if we should be forsworn. ²¹But so let them live, as to serve the whole multitude in hewing wood, and bringing in water. As they were speaking these things, ²²Josue called the Gabaonites and said to them: Why would you impose upon us, saying: We dwell far off from you, whereas you are in the midst of us? ²³Therefore you shall be under a curse, and your race shall always be hewers of wood, and carriers of water unto the house of my God. ²⁴They answered: It was told us thy servants, that the Lord thy God had promised his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants thereof. Therefore we feared exceedingly and provided for our lives. compelled by the dread we had of you and we took this counsel. ²⁵And now we are in thy hand: deal with us as it seemeth good and right unto thee. ²⁶So Josue did as he had said, and delivered them from the hand of the children of Israel, that they should not be slain. ²⁷And he gave orders in that day that they should be in the service of all the people, and of the altar of the Lord, hewing wood and carrying water, until this present time, in the place which the Lord hath chosen.

Chapter 10

¹When Adonisedec king of Jerusalem had heard these things, to wit, that Josue had taken Hai, and had destroyed it, (for as he had done to Jericho and the king thereof, so did he to Hai, and its king,) and that the Gabaonites were gone over to Israel, and were their confederates, ²He was exceedingly afraid. For Gabaon was a great city, and one of the royal cities, and greater than the town of Hai, and all its fighting men were most valiant. ³Therefore Adonisedec king of Jerusalem sent to Oham king of Hebron, and to Pharam king of Jerimoth, and to Japhia king of Lachis, and to Dabir king of Eglon, saying: ⁴Come up to me, and bring help, that we may take Gabaon, because it hath gone over to Josue, and to the children of Israel. ⁵So the five kings of the Amorrhites being assembled together went up: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jerimoth, the king of Lachis, the king of Eglon, they and their armies, and camped about Gabaon, laying siege to it. ⁶But the inhabitants of the city of Gabaon which was besieged, sent to Josue, who then abode in the camp at Galgal, and said to him: Withdraw not thy hands from helping thy servants: come up quickly and save us, and bring us succour: for all the kings of the Amorrhites, who dwell in the mountains, are gathered together against us. ⁷And Josue went up from Galgal, and all the army of the warriors with him, most valiant men. ⁸And the Lord said to Josue: Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thy hands: none of them shall be able to stand against thee. ⁹So Josue going up from Galgal all the night, came upon them suddenly. ¹⁰And the Lord troubled them at the sight of Israel: and he slew them with a great slaughter in Gabaon, and pursued them by the way of the ascent to Beth-horon, and cut them off all the way to Azeca and Maceda. ¹¹And when they were fleeing from the children of Israel, and were in the descent of Beth-horon, the Lord cast down upon them great stones from heaven as far as Azeca: and many more were killed with the hailstones than were slain by the swords of the children of Israel. ¹²Then Josue spoke to the Lord, in the day that he delivered the Amorrhite in the sight of the children of Israel, and he said before them: Move not, O sun, toward Gabaon, nor thou, O moon, toward the valley of Ajalon. ¹³And the sun and the moon stood still, till the people revenged themselves of their enemies. Is not this written in the book of the just? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down the space of one day. ¹⁴There was not before nor after so long a day, the Lord obeying the voice of a man, and fighting for Israel. ¹⁵And Josue returned with all Israel into the camp of Galgal. ¹⁶For the five kings were fled, and had hidden themselves in a cave of the city of Maceda. ¹⁷And it was told Josue that the five kings were found hidden in a cave of the city of Maceda. ¹⁸And he commanded them that were with him, saying: Roll great stones to the mouth of the cave, and set careful men, to keep them shut up: ¹⁹And stay you not, but pursue after the enemies, and kill all the hindermost of them as they flee, and do not suffer them whom the Lord God hath delivered into your hands to shelter themselves in their cities. ²⁰So the enemies being slain with a great slaughter, and almost utterly consumed, they that were able to escape from Israel, entered into fenced cities. ²¹And all the army returned to Josue in Maceda, where the camp then was, in good health and without the loss of any one: and no man durst move his tongue against the children of Israel. ²²And Josue gave orders, saying: Open the mouth of the cave, and bring forth to me the five kings that lie hid therein. ²³And the ministers did as they were commanded: and they brought out to him the five kings out of the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jerimoth, the king of Lachis, the king of Eglon. ²⁴And when they were Drought out to him, he called all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the army that were with him: Go, and set your feet on the necks of these kings. And when they had gone, and put their feet upon the necks of them lying under them, ²⁵He said again to them: Fear not, neither be ye dismayed, take courage and be strong: for so will the Lord do to all your enemies, against whom you fight. ²⁶And Josue struck, and slew them, and hanged them upon five gibbets, and they hung until the evening. ²⁷And when the sun was down, he commanded the soldiers to take them down from the gibbets. And after they were taken down, they cast them into the cave where they had lain hid, and put great stones at the mouth thereof, which remain until this day. ²⁸The same day Josue took Maceda and destroyed it, with the edge of the sword, and killed the king and all the inhabitants thereof: he left not in it the least remains. And he did to the king of Maceda, as he had done to the king of Jericho. ²⁹And he passed from Maceda with all Israel to Lebna, and fought against it: ³⁰And the Lord delivered it with the king thereof into the hands of Israel: and they destroyed the city with the edge of the sword, and all the inhabitants thereof. They left not in it any remains. And they did to the king of Lebna, as they had done to the king of Jericho. ³¹From Lebna he passed unto Lachis, with all Israel: and investing it with his army, besieged it. ³²And the Lord delivered Lachis into the hands of Israel, and he took it the following day, and put it to the sword, and every soul that was in it, as he had done to Lebna. ³³At that time Horam king of Gazer, came up to succour Lachis: and Josue slew him with all his people, so as to leave none alive. ³⁴And he passed from Lachis to Eglon, and surrounded it, ³⁵And took it the same day: and put to the sword all the souls that were in it, according to all that he had done to Lachis. ³⁶He went up also with all Israel from Eglon to Hebron, and fought against it: ³⁷Took it, and destroyed it with the edge of the sword: the king also thereof, and all the towns of that country, and all the souls that dwelt in it: he left not therein any remains: as he had done to Eglon, so did he also to Hebron, putting to the sword all that he found in it. ³⁸Returning from thence to Dabir, ³⁹He took it and destroyed it: the king also thereof and all the towns round about he destroyed with the edge of the sword: he left not in it any remains: as he had done to Hebron and Lebna and to their kings, so did he to Dabir and to the king thereof. ⁴⁰So Josue conquered all the country of the hills and of the south and of the plain, and of Asedoth, with their kings: he left not any remains therein, but slew all that breathed, as the Lord the God of Israel had commanded him, ⁴¹From Cadesbarne even to Gaza. All the land of Gosen even to Gabaon, ⁴²And all their kings, and their lands he took and wasted at one onset: for the Lord the God of Israel fought for him. ⁴³And he returned with all Israel to the place of the camp in Galgal.

Chapter 11

¹And when Jabin king of Asor had heard these things, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Semeron, and to the king of Achsaph: ²And to the kings of the north, that dwelt in the mountains and in the plains over against the south side of Ceneroth, and in the levels and the countries of Dor by the sea side : ³To the Chanaanites also on the ease and on the west, and the Amorrhite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Jebusite in the mountains: to the Hevite also who dwelt at the foot of Hermon in the land of Maspha. ⁴And they all came out with their troops, a people exceeding numerous as the sand that is on the sea shore, their horses also and chariots a very great multitude, ⁵And all these kings assembled together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel. ⁶And the Lord said to Josue: Fear them not: for to morrow at this same hour I will deliver all these to be slain in the sight of Israel: thou shalt hamstring their horses, and thou shalt burn their chariots with fire. ⁷And Josue came, and all the army with him, against them to the waters of Merom on a sudden, and fell upon them. ⁸And the Lord delivered them into the hands of Israel. And they defeated them, and chased them as far as the great Sidon, and the waters of Maserophot, and the field of Masphe, which is on the east side thereof. He slew them all, so as to leave no remains of them: ⁹And he did as the Lord had commanded him, he hamstringed their horses and burned their chariots. ¹⁰And presently turning back he took Asor: and slew the king thereof with the sword. Now Asor of old was the head of all these kingdoms. ¹¹And he cut off all the souls that abode there: he left not in it any remains, but utterly destroyed all, and burned the city itself with fire. ¹²And he took and put to the sword and destroyed all the cities round about, and their kings, as Moses the servant of God had commanded him. ¹³Except the cities that were on hills and high places, the rest Israel burned: only Asor that was very strong he consumed with fire. ¹⁴And the children of Israel divided among themselves all the spoil of these cities and the cattle, killing all the men. ¹⁵As the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Josue, and he accomplished all: he left not one thing undone of all the commandments which the Lord had commanded Moses. ¹⁶So Josue took all the country of the hills, and of the south, and the land of Gosen, and the plains and the west country, and the mountain of Israel, and the plains thereof: ¹⁷And part of the mountain that goeth up to Seir as far as Baalgad, by the plain of Libanus under mount Hermon: all their kings he took, smote and slew. ¹⁸Josue made war a long time against these kings. ¹⁹There was hot a city that delivered itself to the children of Israel, except the Hevite, who dwelt in Gabaon: for he took all by fight. ²⁰For it was the sentence of the Lord, that their hearts should be hardened, and they should fight against Israel, and fall, and should not deserve any clemency, and should be destroyed as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²¹At that time Josue came and cut off the Enacims from the mountains, from Hebron, and Dabir, and Anab, and from all the mountain of Juda and Israel, and destroyed their cities. ²²He left not any of the stock of the Enacims, in the land of the children of Israel: except the cities of Gaza, and Geth, and Azotus, in which alone they were left. ²³So Josue took all the land, as the Lord spoke to Moses, and delivered it in possession to the children of Israel, according to their divisions and tribes. And the land rested from wars.

Chapter 12

¹These are the kings, whom the children of Israel slew and possessed their land beyond the Jordan towards the rising of the sun, from the torrent Arnon unto mount Hermon, and all the east country that looketh towards the wilderness. ²Sehon king of the Amorrhites, who dwelt in Hesebon, and had dominion from Aroer, which is seated upon the bank of the torrent Arnon, and of the middle part in the valley, and of half Galaad, as far as the torrent Jaboc, which is the border of the children of Ammon. ³And from the wilderness, to the sea of Ceneroth towards the east, and to the sea of the wilderness, which is the most salt sea, on the east side by the way that leadeth to Bethsimoth: and on the south side that lieth under Asedoth, Phasga. ⁴The border of Og the king of Basan, of the remnant of the Raphaims who dwelt in Astaroth, and in Edrai, and had dominion in mount Hermon, and in Salecha, and in all Basan, unto the herders ⁵Of Gessuri and Machati, and of half Galaad: the borders of Sehon the king of Hesebon. ⁶Moses the servant of the Lord, and the children of Israel slew them, and Moses delivered their land in possession to the Rubenites, and Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasses. ⁷These are the kings of the land, whom Josue and the children of Israel slew beyond the Jordan on the west side from Baalgad in the held of Libanus, unto the mount, part of which goeth up into Seir: and Josue delivered it in possession to the tribes of Israel, to every one their divisions, ⁸As well in the mountains as in the plains and the champaign countries. In Asedoth, and in the wilderness, and in the south was the Hethite and the Amorrhite, the Chanaanite and the Pherezite, the Hevite and the Jebusite. ⁹The king of Jericho one: the king of Hai, which is on the side of Bethel, one: ¹⁰The king of Jerusalem one, the king of Hebron one. ¹¹The king of Jerimoth one, the king of Lachis one, ¹²The king of Eglon one, the king of Gazer one, ¹³The king of Dabir one, the king of Gader one, ¹⁴The king of Herma one, the king of Hered one, ¹⁵The king of Lebna one, the king of Odullam one, ¹⁶The king of Maceda one, the king of Bethel one, ¹⁷The king of Taphua one, the king of Opher one, ¹⁸The king of Aphec one, the king of Saron one, ¹⁹The king of Madon one, the king of Asor one, ²⁰The king of Semeron one, the king of Achsaph one, ²¹The king of Thenac one, the king of Megeddo one, ²²The king of Cades one, the king of Jachanan of Carmel one, ²³The king of Dor, and of the province of Dor one, the king of the nations of Galgal one, ²⁴The king of Thersa one: all the kings thirty and one.

Chapter 13

¹Josue was old, and far advanced in years, and the Lord said to him: Thou art grown old, and advanced in age, and there is a very large country left, which is not yet divided by lot: ²To wit, all Galilee, Philistia, and all Gessuri. ³From the troubled river, that watereth Egypt, unto the borders of Accaron northward: the land of Chanaan, which is divided among the lords of the Philistines, the Gazites, the Azotians, the Ascalonites, the Gethites, and the Accronites. ⁴And on the south side are the Hevites, all the land of Chanaan, and Maara of the Sidonians as far as Apheca, and the borders of the Amorrhite, ⁵And his confines. The country also of Libanus towards the east from Baalgad under mount Hermon to the entering into Emath. ⁶Of all that dwell in the mountains from Libanus, to the waters of Maserephoth, and all the Sidonians. I am he that will cut them off from before the face of the children of Israel. So let their land come in as a part of the inheritance of Israel, as I have commanded thee. ⁷And now divide the land in possession to the nine tribes, and to the half tribe of Manasses, ⁸With whom Ruben and Gad have possessed the land, which Moses the servant of the Lord delivered to them beyond the river Jordan, on the east side. ⁹From Aroer, which is upon the bank of the torrent Amen, and in the midst of the valley and all the plains of Medaba, as far as Dibon: ¹⁰And all the cities of Sehon, king of the Amorrhites, who reigned in Hesebon, unto the borders of the children of Ammon. ¹¹And Galaad, and the borders of Gessuri and Machati, and all mount Hermon, and all Basan as far as Salecha, ¹²All the kingdom of Og in Basan, who reigned in Astaroth and Edrai, he was of the remains of the Raphaims: and Moses overthrew and destroyed them. ¹³And the children of Israel would not destroy Gessuri and Machati: and they have dwelt in the midst of Israel, until this present day. ¹⁴But to the tribe of Levi he gave no possession: but the sacrifices and victims of the Lord God of Israel, are his inheritance, as he spoke to him. ¹⁵And Moses gave a possession to the children of Ruben according to their kindreds. ¹⁶And their border was from Aroer, which is on the bank of the torrent Arnon, and in the midst of the valley of the same torrent: all the plain, that leadeth to Medaba, ¹⁷And Hesebon, and all their villages, which are in the plains. Dibon also, and Bamothbaal, and the town of Baalmaon, ¹⁸And Jassa, and Cidimoth, and Mephaath, ¹⁹And Cariathaim, and Sabama, and Sarathasar in the mountain of the valley. ²⁰Bethphogor and Asedoth, Phasga and Bethiesimoth, ²¹And all the cities of the plain, and all the kingdoms of Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that reigned in Hesebon, whom Moses slew with the princes of Madian: Hevi, and Recem, and Sur and Hur, and Rebe, dukes of Sehon inhabitants of the land. ²²Balaam also the son of Beer the soothsayer, the children of Israel slew with the sword among the rest that were slain. ²³And the river Jordan was the herder of the children of Ruben. This is the possession of the Rubenites, by their kindreds, of cities and villages. ²⁴And Moses gave to the tribe of Gad and to his children by their kindreds a possession, of which this is the division. ²⁵The border of Jaser, and all the cities of Galaad, and half the land of the children of Ammon: as far as Aroer which is over against Rabba: ²⁶And from Hesebon unto Ramoth, Masphe and Betonim: and from Manaim unto the borders of Dabir. ²⁷And in the valley Betharan and Bethnemra, and Socoth, and Saphon the other part of the kingdom of Sehon king of Hesebon: the limit of this also is the Jordan, as far as the uttermost part of the sea of Cenereth beyond the Jordan on the east side. ²⁸This is the possession of the children of Gad by their families, their cities, and villages. ²⁹He gave also to the half tribe of Manasses and his children possession according to their kindreds, ³⁰The beginning whereof is this: from Manaim all Basan, and all the kingdoms of Og king of Basan, and all the villages of Jair, which are in Basan, threescore towns. ³¹And half Galaad, and Astaroth, and Edrai, cities of the kingdom of Og in Basan: to the children of Machir, the son of Manasses, to one? half of the children of Machir according to their kindreds. ³²This possession Moses divided in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan, over against Jericho on the east side. ³³But to the tribe of Levi he gave no possession: because the Lord the God of Israel himself is their possession, as he spoke to them.

Chapter 14

¹This is what the children of Israel possessed in the land of Chanaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Josue the son of Nun, and the princes of the families by the tribes of Israel gave to them: ²Dividing all by lot, as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses, to the nine tribes, and the half tribe. ³For to two tribes and a half Moses had given possession beyond the Jordan: besides the Levites, who received no land among their brethren: ⁴But in their place succeeded the children of Joseph divided into two tribes, of Manasses and Ephraim: neither did the Levites receive other portion of land, but cities to dwell in, and their suburbs to feed their beasts and flocks. ⁵As the Lord had commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel, and they divided the land. ⁶Then the children of Juda came to Josue in Galgal, and Caleb the son of Jephone the Cenezite spoke to him: Thou knowest what the Lord spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Cadesbarne. ⁷I was forty Bears old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me m from Cadesbarne, to view the land, and I brought him word again as to me seemed true. ⁸But my brethren, that had gone up with me, discouraged the heart of the people: and I nevertheless followed the Lord my God. ⁹And Moses swore in that day, saying: The land which thy foot hath trodden upon shall be thy possession, and thy children's for ever, because thou hast followed the Lord my God. ¹⁰The Lord therefore hath granted me life, as he promised until this present day. It is forty and five years since the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel journeyed through the wilderness: this day I am eighty-five years old, ¹¹As strong as I was at that time when I was sent to view the land : the strength of that time continueth in me until this day, as well to fight as to march. ¹²Give me therefore this mountain, which the Lord promised, in thy hearing also, wherein are the Enacims, and cities great and strong: if so be the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to destroy them, as he promised me. ¹³And Josue blessed him, and gave him Hebron in possession. ¹⁴And from that time Hebron belonged to Caleb the son of Jephone the Cenezite, until this present day: because he followed the Lord the God of Israel. ¹⁵The name of Hebron before was called Cariath-Arbe: Adam the greatest among the Enacims was laid there: and the land rested from wars.

Chapter 15

¹Now the lot of the children of Juda by their kindreds was this: From the frontier of Edom, to the desert of Sin southward, and to the uttermost part of the south coast. ²Its beginning was from the top of the most salt sea, and from the bay thereof, that looketh to the south. ³And it goeth out towards the ascent of the Scorpion, and passeth on to Sina: and ascendeth into Cadesbarne, and reacheth into Esron, going up to Addar, and compassing Carcaa. ⁴And from thence passing along into Asemona, and reaching the torrent of Egypt: and the bounds thereof shall be the great sea, this shall be the limit of the south coast. ⁵But on the east side the beginning shall be the most salt sea even to the end of the Jordan: and towards the north, from the bay of the sea unto the same river Jordan. ⁶And the border goeth up into Beth-Hagla, and passeth by the north into Beth-Araba: going up to the stone of Boen the son of Ruben. ⁷And reaching as far as the borders of Debara from the valley of Achor, and so northward looking towards Galgal, which is opposite to the ascent of Adommin, on the south side of the torrent: and the border passeth the waters that are called the fountain of the sun: and the goings out thereof shall be at the fountain Rogel. ⁸And it goeth up by the valley of the son of Ennom on the side of the Jebusite towards the south, the same is Jerusalem: and thence ascending to the top of the mountain, which is over against Geennom to the west in the end of the valley of Raphaim, northward. ⁹And it passeth on from the top of the mountain to the fountain of the water of Nephtoa: and reacheth to the towns of mount Ephron: and it bendeth towards Baala, which is Cariathiarim, that is to say, the city of the woods. ¹⁰And it compasseth from Baala westward unto mount Seir: and passeth by the side of mount Jarim to the north into Cheslon: and goeth down into Bethsames, and passeth into Thamna. ¹¹And it reacheth northward to a part of Accaron at the side: and bendeth to Sechrona, and passeth mount Baala: and cometh into Jebneel, and is bounded westward with the great sea. ¹²These are the borders round about of the children of Juda in their kindreds. ¹³But to Caleb the son of Jephone he gave a portion in the midst of the children of Juda, as the Lord had commanded him: Cariath-Arbe the father of Enac. which is Hebron. ¹⁴And Caleb destroyed out of it the three sons of Ehac, Sesai and Ahiman. and Tholmai of the race of Enac. ¹⁵And going up from thence he came to the inhabitants of Dabir, which before was called Cariath-Sepher, that is to say, the city of letters. ¹⁶And Caleb said: He that shall smite Cariath-Sepher, and take it, I will give him Axa my daughter to wife. ¹⁷And Othoniel the son of Cenez, the younger brother of Caleb, took it: and he gave him Axa his daughter to wife. ¹⁸And as they were going together, she was moved by her husband to ask a field of her father, and she sighed as she sat on her ass. And Caleb said to her: What aileth thee? ¹⁹But she answered: Give me a blessing: thou hast given me a southern and dry land, give me also a land that is watered. And Caleb gave her the upper and the nether watery ground. ²⁰This is the possession of the tribe of the children of Juda by their kindreds. ²¹And the cities from the uttermost parts of the children of Juda by the borders of Edom to the south, were Cabseel and Eder and Jagur, ²²And Cina and Dimona and Adada, ²³And Cades and Asor and Jethnam, ²⁴Ziph and Telem and Baloth, ²⁵New Asor and Carioth, Hesron, which is Asor. ²⁶Amam, Sama and Molada, ²⁷And Asergadda and Hassemon and Bethphelet, ²⁸And Hasersual and Bersabee and Baziothia, ²⁹And Baala and Jim and Esem, ³⁰And Eltholad and Cesil and Harma, ³¹And Siceleg and Medemena and Sensenna, ³²Lebaoth and Selim and Aen and Remmon: all the cities twenty-nine, and their villages. ³³But in the plains: Estaol and Sarea and Asena, ³⁴And Zanoe and Engannim and Taphua and Enaim, ³⁵And Jerimoth and Adullam, Socho and Azeca, ³⁶And Saraim and Adithaim and Gedera and Gederothaim: fourteen cities, and their villages. ³⁷Sanan and Hadassa and Magdalgad, ³⁸Delean and Masepha and Jecthel, ³⁹Lachis and Bascath and Eglon, ⁴⁰Chebbon and Leheman and Cethlis, ⁴¹And Gideroth and Bethdagon and Naama and Maceda: sixteen cities, and their villages. ⁴²Labana and Ether and Asan, ⁴³Jephtha and Esna and Nesib, ⁴⁴And Ceila and Achzib and Maresa: nine cities, and their villages. ⁴⁵Accaron with the towns and villages thereof. ⁴⁶From Accaron even to the sea: all places that lie towards Azotus and the villages thereof. ⁴⁷Azotus with its towns and villages. Gaza with its towns and villages, even to the torrent of Egypt, and the great sea that is the border thereof. ⁴⁸And in the mountain Samir and Jether and Socoth, ⁴⁹And Danna and Cariath-senna, this is Dabir : ⁵⁰Anab and Istemo and Anim, ⁵¹Gosen and Olon and Gilo: eleven cities and their villages. ⁵²Arab and Ruma and Esaan, ⁵³And Janum and Beththaphua and Apheca, ⁵⁴Athmatha and Cariath-Arbe, this is Hebron and Sior: nine cities and their villages. ⁵⁵Maon and Carmel and Ziph and Jota, ⁵⁶Jezrael and Jucadam and Zanoe, ⁵⁷Accain, Gabaa and Thamna: ten cities and their villages. ⁵⁸Halhul, and Bessur, and Gedor, ⁵⁹Mareth, and Bethanoth, and Eltecon: six cities and their villages. ⁶⁰Cariathbaal, the same is Cariathiarim, the city of woods, and Arebba: two cities and their villages. ⁶¹In the desert Betharaba, Meddin and Sachacha, ⁶²And Nebsan, and the city of salt, and Engaddi: six cities and their villages. ⁶³But the children of Juda could not destroy the Jebusite that dwelt in Jerusalem: and the Jebusite dwelt with the children of Juda in Jerusalem until this present day.

Chapter 16

¹And the lot of the sons of Joseph fell from the Jordan over against Jericho and the waters thereof, on the east: the wilderness which goeth up from Jericho to the mountain of Bethel: ²And goeth out from Bethel to Luza: and passeth the border of Archi, to Ataroth, ³And goeth down westward, by the border of Jephleti, unto the borders of Beth-horon the nether, and to Gazer :and the countries of it are ended by the great sea: ⁴And Manasses and Ephraim the children of Joseph possessed it. ⁵And the border of the children of Ephraim was according to their kindreds: and their possession towards the east was Ataroth-addar unto Beth-horon the upper. ⁶And the confines go out unto the sea: but Machmethath looketh to the north, and it goeth round the borders eastward into Thanath-selo: and passeth along on the east side to Janoe. ⁷And it goeth down from Janoe into Ataroth and Naaratha: and it cometh to Jericho, and goeth out to the Jordan. ⁸From Taphua it passeth on towards the sea into the valley of reeds, and the goings out thereof are at the most salt sea. This is the possession of the tribe of the children of Ephraim by their families. ⁹And there were cities with their villages separated for the children of Ephraim in the midst of the possession of the children of Manasses. ¹⁰And the children of Ephraim slew not the Chanaanite, who dwelt in Gazer: and the Chanaanite dwelt in the midst of Ephraim until this day, paying tribute.

Chapter 17

¹And this lot fell to the tribe of Manasses (for he is the firstborn of Joseph) to Machir the firstborn of Manasses the father of Galaad, who was a warlike man, and had for possession Galaad and Basan. ²And to the rest of the children of Manasses according to their families: to the children of Abiezer, and to the children of Helec, and to the children of Esriel, and to the children of Sechem, and to the children of Hepher, and to the children of Semida: these are the male children of Manasses the son of Joseph, by their kindreds. ³But Salphaad the son of Hepher the son of Galaad the son of Machir the son of Manasses had no sons, but only daughters: whose names are these, Maala and Noa and Hegla and Melcha and Thersa. ⁴And they came in the presence of Eleazar the priest and of Josue the son of Nun, and of the princes, saying: The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, that a possession should be given us in the midst of our brethren. And he gave them according to the commandment of the Lord a possession amongst the brethren of their father. ⁵And there fell ten portions to Manasses, beside the land of Galaad and Basan beyond the Jordan. ⁶For the daughters of Manasses possessed inheritance in the midst of his sons. And the land of Galaad fell to the lot of the rest of the children of Manasses. ⁷And the border of Manasses was from Aser, Machmethath which looketh towards Sichem: and it goeth out on the right hand by the inhabitants of the fountain of Taphua. ⁸For the lot of Manasses took in the land of Taphua, which is on the borders of Manasses, and belongs to the children of Ephraim. ⁹And the border goeth down to the valley of the reeds, to the south of the torrent of the cities of Ephraim, which are in the midst of the cities of Manasses: the border of Manasses is on the north side of the torrent, and the outgoings of it are at the sea: ¹⁰So that the possession of Ephraim is on the south, and on the north that of Manasses, and the sea is the border of both, and they are joined together in the tribe of Aser on the north, and in the tribe of Issachar on the east. ¹¹And the inheritance of Manasses in Issachar and in Aser, was Bethsan and its villages, and Jeblaam with its villages, and the inhabitants of Dor, with the towns thereof: the inhabitants also of Endor with the villages thereof: and in like manner the inhabitants of Thenac with the villages thereof: and the inhabitants of Mageddo with their villages, and the third part of the city of Nopheth. ¹²Neither could the children of Manasses overthrow these cities, but the Chanaanite began to dwell in his land. ¹³But after that the children of Israel were grown strong, they subdued the Chanaanites, and made them their tributaries, and they did not kill them. ¹⁴And the children of Joseph spoke to Josue, and said: Why hast thou given me but one lot and one portion to possess, whereas I am of so great a multitude, and the Lord hath blessed me? ¹⁵And Josue said to them: If thou be a great people, go up into the woodland, and cut down room for thyself in the land of the Pherezite and the Raphaims: because the possession of mount Ephraim is too narrow for thee. ¹⁶And the children of Joseph answered him: We cannot go up to the mountains, for the Chanaanites that dwell in the low lands, wherein are situate Bethsan with its towns, and Jezrael in the midst of the valley, have chariots of iron ¹⁷And Josue said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasses: Thou art a great people, and of great strength, thou shalt not have one lot only: ¹⁸But thou shalt pass to the mountain, and shalt cut down the wood, and make thyself room to dwell in: and mayst proceed farther, when thou hast destroyed the Chanaanites, who as thou sayest have iron chariots, and are very strong.

Chapter 18

¹And all the children of Israel assembled together in Silo, and there they set up the tabernacle of the testimony, and the land was subdued before them. ²But there remained seven tribes of the children of Israel, which as yet had not received their possessions. ³And Josue said to them: How long are you indolent and slack, and go not in to possess the land which the Lord the God of your fathers hath given you? ⁴Choose of every tribe three men, that I may send them, and they may go and compass the land, and mark it out according to the number of each multitude: and bring back to me what they have marked out. ⁵Divide to yourselves the land into seven parts: let Juda be in his bounds on the south side, and the house of Joseph on the north. ⁶The land in the midst between these mark ye out into seven parts; and you shall come hither to me, that I may cast lots for you before the Lord your God. ⁷For the Levites have no part among you, but the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance. And Gad and Ruben, and the half tribe of Manasses have already received their possessions beyond the Jordan eastward: which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them. ⁸And when the men were risen up, to go to mark out the land, Josue commanded them, saying: Go round the land and mark it out, and return to me: that I may cast lots for you before the Lord in Silo. ⁹So they went: and surveying it divided it into seven parts, writing them down in a book. And they returned to Josue, to the camp in Silo. ¹⁰And he cast lots before the Lord in Silo, and divided the land to the children of Israel into seven parts. ¹¹And first came up the lot of the children of Benjamin by their families, to possess the land between the children of Juda, and the children of Joseph. ¹²And their border northward was from the Jordan: going along by the side of Jericho on the north side, and thence going up westward to the mountains, and reaching to the wilderness of Bethaven, ¹³And passing along southward by Luza, the same is Bethel: and it goeth down into Ataroth-addar to the mountain, that is on the south of the nether Beth-horon. ¹⁴And it bendeth thence going round towards the sea, south of the mountain that looketh towards Beth-horon to the southwest: and the outgoings thereof are into Cariathbaal, which is called also Cariathiarim, a city of the children of Juda. This is their coast towards the sea, westward. ¹⁵But on the south side the border goeth out from part of Cariathiarim towards the sea, and cometh to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoa. ¹⁶And it goeth down to that part of the mountain that looketh on the valley of the children of Ennom: and is over against the north quarter in the furthermost part of the valley of Raphaim, and it goeth down into Geennom (that is the valley of Ennom) by the side of the Jebusite to the south: and cometh to the fountain of Rogel, ¹⁷Passing thence to the north, and going out to Ensemes, that is to say, the fountain of the sue: ¹⁸And it passeth along to the hills that are over against the ascent of Adommim: and it goeth down to Abenboen, that is, the stone of Been the son of Ruben: and it passeth on the north side to the champaign countries; and goeth down into the plain, ¹⁹And it passeth by Bethhagla northward: and the outgoings thereof are towards the north of the most salt sea at the south end of the Jordan: ²⁰Which is the border of it on the east side. This is the possession of the children of Benjamin by their borders round about, and their families. ²¹And their cities were, Jericho and Bethhagla and Vale-Casis, ²²Betharaba and Samaraim and Bethel, ²³And Avim and Aphara and Ophera, ²⁴The town Emona and Ophni and Gabee: twelve cities, and their villages. ²⁵Gabam and Rama and Beroth, ²⁶26And Mesphe, and Caphara, and Amosa, ²⁷And Recem, Jarephel and Tharela, ²⁸And Sela, Eleph and Jebus, which is Jerusalem, Gabaath and Cariath: fourteen cities, and their villages. This is the possession of the children of Benjamin by their families.

Chapter 19

¹And the second lot came forth for the children of Simeon by their kindreds: and their inheritance was ²In the midst of the possession of the children of Juda: Bersabee and Sabee and Molada, ³And Hasersual, Bala and Asem, ⁴And Eltholad, Bethul and Harma, ⁵And Siceleg and Bethmarchaboth and Hasersusa, ⁶And Bethlebaoth and Sarohen: thirteen cities, and their villages. ⁷Ain and Remmon and Athor and Asan: four cities, and their villages. ⁸And all the villages round about these cities to Baalath Beer Ramath to the south quarter. This is the inheritance of the children of Simeon according to their kindreds, ⁹In the possession and lot of the children of Juda: because it was too great, and therefore the children of Simeon had their possession in the midst of their inheritance. ¹⁰And the third lot fell to the children of Zabulon by their kindreds: and the border of their possession was unto Sarid. ¹¹And it went up from the sea and from Merala, and came to Debbaseth: as far as the torrent, which is over against Jeconam. ¹²And it returneth from Sarid eastward to the borders of Ceseleththabor: and it goeth out to Dabereth, and ascendeth towards Japhie. ¹³And it passeth along from thence to the east side of Gethhepher and Thacasin: and goeth out to Remmon, Amthar and Noa. ¹⁴And it turneth about to the north of Hanathon: and the outgoings thereof are the valley of Jephtahel, ¹⁵And Cateth and Naalol and Semeron and Jedala and Bethlehem: twelve cities and their villages. ¹⁶This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Zabulon by their kindreds, the cities and their villages. ¹⁷The fourth lot came out to Issachar by their kindreds. ¹⁸And his inheritance was Jezrael and Casaloth and Sunem, ¹⁹And Hapharaim and Seen and Anaharath, ²⁰And Rabboth and Cesion, Abes, ²¹And Rameth and Engannim and Enhadda and Bethpheses. ²²And the border thereof cometh to Thabor and Sehesima and Bethsames: and the outgoings thereof shall be at the Jordan: sixteen cities, and their villages. ²³This is the possession of the sons of Issachar by their kindreds, the cities and their villages. ²⁴And the fifth lot fell to the tribe of the children of Aser by their kindreds: ²⁵And their border was Halcath and Chali and Beten and Axaph, ²⁶And Elmelech and Amaad and Messal: and it reacheth to Carmel by the sea and Sihor and Labanath, ²⁷And it returneth towards the east to Bethdagon: and passeth along to Zabulon and to the valley of Jephthael towards the north to Bethemec and Nehiel. And it goeth out to the left side of Cabul, ²⁸And to Abaran and Rohob and Hamon and Cana, as far as the great Sidon. ²⁹And it returneth to Horma to the strong city of Tyre, and to Hosa: and the outgoings thereof shall be at the sea from the portion of Achziba: ³⁰And Amma and Aphec and Rohob: twenty-two cities, and their villages. ³¹This is the possession of the children of Aser by their kindreds, and the cities and their villages. ³²The sixth lot came out to the sons of Nephtali by their families: ³³And the border began from Heleph and Elon to Saananim, and Adami, which is Neceb, and Jebnael even to Lecum: and their outgoings unto the Jordan: ³⁴And the border returneth westward to Azanotthabor, and goeth out from thence to Hucuca, and passeth along to Zabulon southward, and to Aser westward, and to Juda upon the Jordan towards the rising of the sun. ³⁵And the strong cities are Assedim, Ser, and Emath, and Reccath and Cenereth, ³⁶And Edema and Arama, Asor, ³⁷And Cedes and Edri, Enhasor, ³⁸And Jeron and Magdalel, Herem, and Bethanath and Bethsames: nineteen cities, and their villages. ³⁹This is the possession of the tribe of the children of Nephtali by their kindreds, the cities and their villages. ⁴⁰The seventh lot came out to the tribe of the children of Dan by their families: ⁴¹And the border of their possession was Saraa and Esthaol, and Hirsemes, that is, the city of the sun. ⁴²Selebin and Aialon and Jethela, ⁴³Elon and Themna and Acron, ⁴⁴Elthece, Gebbethon and Balaath, ⁴⁵And Jud and Bane and Barach and Gethremmon : ⁴⁶And Mejarcon and Arecon, with the border that looketh towards Joppe, ⁴⁷And is terminated there. And the children of Dan went up and fought against Lesem, and took it: and they put it to the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt in it, calling the name of it Lesem Dan, by the name of Dan their father. ⁴⁸This is the possession of the tribe of the sons of Dan, by their kindreds, the cities and their villages. ⁴⁹And when he had made an end of dividing the land by lot to each one by their tribes, the children of Israel gave a possession to Josue the son of Nun in the midst of them, ⁵⁰According to the commandment of the Lord, the city which he asked for, Thamnath Saraa, in mount Ephraim: and he built up the city, and dwelt in it. ⁵¹These are the possessions which Eleazar the priest, and Josue the son of Nun, and the princes of the families, and of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed by lot in Silo, before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and they divided the land.

Chapter 20

¹And the Lord spoke to Josue, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: ²Appoint cities of refuge, a of which I spoke to you by the hand of Moses: ³That whosoever shall kill a person unawares may flee to them: and may escape the wrath of the kinsman, who is the avenger of blood: ⁴And when he shall flee to one of these cities: he shall stand before the gate of the city, and shall speak to the ancients of that city, such things as prove him innocent: and so shall they receive him, and give him a place to dwell in. ⁵And when the avenger of blood shall pursue him, they shall not deliver him into his hands, because he slew his neighbour unawares, and is not proved to have been his enemy two or three days before. ⁶And he shall dwell in that city, till he stand before judgment to give an account of his fact, and till the death of the high priest, who shall be at that time: then shall the manslayer return, and go into his own city and house from whence he fled. ⁷And they appointed Cedes in Galilee of mount Nephtali, and Sichem in mount Ephraim, and Cariath-Arbe, the same is Hebron in the mountain of Juda. ⁸And beyond the Jordan to the east of Jericho, they appointed Bosor, which is upon the plain of the wilderness of the tribe of Ruben, and Ramoth in Galaad of the tribe of Cad, and Gaulon in Basan of the tribe of Manasses. ⁹These cities were appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the strangers, that dwelt among them: that whosoever had killed a person unawares might flee to them, and not die by the hand of the kinsman, coveting to revenge the blood that was shed, until he should stand before the people to lay open his cause.

Chapter 21

¹Then the princes of the families of Levi came to Eleazar the priest, and to Josue the son of Nun, and to the princes of the kindreds of all the tribes of the children of Israel: ²And they spoke to them in Silo in the land of Chanaan, and said: The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, that cities should be given us to dwell in, and their suburbs to feed our cattle. ³And the children of Israel gave out of their possessions according to the commandment of the Lord, cities and their suburbs. ⁴And the lot came out for the family of Caath of the children of Aaron the priest out of the tribes of Juda, and of Simeon, and of Benjamin, thirteen cities. ⁵And to the rest of the children of Caath, that is, to the Levites, who remained, out of the tribes of Ephraim, and of Dan, and the half tribe of Manasses, ten cities. ⁶And the lot came out to the children of Gerson, that they should take of the tribes of Issachar and of Aser and of Nephtali, and of the half tribe of Manasses in Basan, thirteen cities. ⁷And to the sons of Merari by their kindreds, of the tribes of Ruben and or Cad and of Zabulon, twelve cities. ⁸And the children of Israel gave to the Levites the cities and their suburbs, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, giving to every one by lot. ⁹Of the tribes of the children of Juda and of Simeon Josue gave cities: whose names are these, ¹⁰To the sons of Aaron, of the families of Caath of the race of Levi (for the first lot came out for them) ¹¹The city of Arbe the father of Enac, which is called Hebron, in the mountain of Juda, and the suburbs thereof round about. ¹²But the fields and the villages thereof he had given to Caleb the son of Jephone for his possession. ¹³He gave therefore to the children of Aaron the priest, Hebron a city of refuge, and the suburbs thereof: and Lobna with the suburbs thereof, ¹⁴And Jether and Estemo, ¹⁵And Holon, and Dabir, ¹⁶And Ain, and Jeta, and Bethsames, with their suburbs : nine cities out of the two tribes, as hath been said. ¹⁷And out of the tribe of the children of Benjamin, Gabaon, and Gabae, ¹⁸And Anathoth and Almon, with their suburbs: four cities. ¹⁹All the cities together of the children of Aaron the priest, were thirteen, with their suburbs. ²⁰And to the rest of the families of the children of Caath of the race of Levi was given this possession. ²¹Of the tribe of Ephraim, Sichem one of the cities of refuge, with the suburbs thereof in mount Ephraim, and Cater, ²²And Cibsaim, and Beth-horon, with their suburbs, four cities. ²³And of the tribe of Dan, Eltheco and Gabathon, ²⁴And Aialon and Gethremmon, with their suburbs, four cities. ²⁵And of the half tribe of Manasses, Thanac and Gethremmon, with their suburbs, two cities. ²⁶All the cities were ten, with their suburbs, which were given to the children of Caath, of the inferior degree. ²⁷To the children of Gerson also of the race of Levi out of the half tribe of Manasses, Gaulon in Basan, one of the cities of refuge, and Bosra, with their suburbs, two cities. ²⁸And of the tribe of Issachar, Cesion, and Dabereth, ²⁹And Jaramoth, and Engannim, with their suburbs, four cities. ³⁰And of the tribe of Aser, Masal and Abdon, ³¹31And Helcath, and Rohob, with their suburbs, four cities. ³²Of the tribe also of Nephtali, Cedes in Galilee, one of the cities of refuge: and Hammoth Dor, and Carthan, with their suburbs, three cities. ³³All the cities of the families of Gerson, were thirteen, with their suburbs. ³⁴And to the children of Merari, Levites of the inferior degree, by their families were given of the tribe of Zabulon, Jecnam and Cartha, ³⁵And Damna and Naalol, four cities with their suburbs; ³⁶Of the tribe of Ruben beyond the Jordan over against Jericho, Bosor in the wilderness, one of the cities of refuge, Miser and Jaser and Jethson and Mephaath, four cities with their suburbs. ³⁷Of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Galaad, one of the cities of refuge, and Manaim and Hesebon and Jaser, four cities with their suburbs. ³⁸All the cities of the children of Merari by their families and kindreds, were twelve. ³⁹So all the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight, ⁴⁰With their suburbs, each distributed by the families. ⁴¹And the Lord God gave to Israel all the land that he had sworn to give to their fathers: and they possessed it and dwelt in it. ⁴²And he gave them peace from all nations round about: and none of their enemies durst stand against them, but were brought under their dominion. ⁴³Not so much as one word, which he had promised to perform unto them, was made void, but all came to pass.

Chapter 22

¹At the same time Josue called the Rubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasses, ²And said to them: You have done all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you: you have also obeyed me in all things, ³Neither have you left your brethren this long time, until this present day, keeping the commandment of the Lord your God. ⁴Therefore as the Lord your God hath given your brethren rest and peace, as he promised: return, and go to your dwellings, and to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan: ⁵Yet so that you observe attentively, and in work fulfil the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you: that you love the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, and keep all his commandments, and cleave to him, and serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul. ⁶And Josue blessed them, and sent them away, and they returned to their dwellings. ⁷Now to half the tribe of Manasses, Moses had given a possession in Basan: and therefore to the half that remained, Josue gave a lot among the rest of their brethren beyond the Jordan to the west. And when he sent them away to their dwellings and had blessed them, ⁸He said to them : With much substance and riches, you return to your settlements, with silver and gold, brass and iron, and variety of raiment: divide the prey of your enemies with your brethren. ⁹So the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses returned, and parted from the children of Israel in Silo, which is in Chanaan, to go into Galaad the land of their possession, which they had obtained according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses. ¹⁰And when they were come to the banks of the Jordan, in the land of Chanaan, they built an altar immensely great near the Jordan. ¹¹And when the children of Israel had heard of it, and certain messengers had brought them an account that the children of Ruben, and of Cad, and the half tribe of Manasses had built an altar in the land of Chanaan, upon the banks of the Jordan, over against the children of Israel: ¹²They all assembled in Silo, to go up and fight against them. ¹³And in the mean time they sent to them into the land of Galaad, Phinees the son of Eleazar the priest, ¹⁴And ten princes with him, one of every tribe. ¹⁵Who came to the children of Ruben, and of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses, into the land of Galaad, and said to them: ¹⁶Thus saith all the people of the Lord: What meaneth this transgression? Why have you forsaken the Lord the God of Israel, building a sacrilegious altar, and revolting from the worship of him? ¹⁷Is it a small thing to you that you sinned with Beelphegor, and the stain of that crime remaineth in us to this day? and many of the people perished. ¹⁸And you have forsaken the Lord to day, and to morrow his wrath will rage against all Israel. ¹⁹But if you think the land of your possession to be unclean, pass over to the land wherein is the tabernacle of the Lord, and dwell among us: only depart not from the Lord, and from our society, by building an altar beside the altar of the Lord our God. ²⁰Did not Achan the son of Zare transgress the commandment of the Lord, and his wrath lay upon all the people of Israel? And he was but one man, and would to God he alone had perished in his wickedness. ²¹And the children of Ruben, and of Gad, and of the half tribe of Manasses answered the princes of the embassage of Israel: ²²The Lord the most mighty God, the Lord the most mighty God, he knoweth, and Israel also shall understand: If with the design of transgression we have set up this altar, let him not save us, but punish us immediately: ²³And if we did it with that mind, that we might lay upon it holocausts, and sacrifice, and victims of peace offerings, let him require and judge: ²⁴And not rather with this thought and design, that we should say: To morrow your children will say to our children: What have you to do with the Lord the God of Israel? ²⁵The Lord hath put the river Jordan for a border between us and you, O ye children of Ruben, and ye children of Gad: and therefore you have no part in the Lord. And by this occasion you children shall turn away our children from the fear of the Lord. We therefore thought, it best, ²⁶And said: Let us build us an altar, not for holocausts, nor to offer victims, ²⁷But for a testimony between us and you, and our posterity and yours, that we may serve the Lord, and that we may have a right to offer both holocausts, and victims and sacrifices of peace offerings: and that your children to morrow may not say to our children: You have no part in the Lord. ²⁸And if they will say so, they shall answer them: Behold the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for holocausts, nor for sacrifice, but for a testimony between us and you. ²⁹God keep us from any such wickedness that we should revolt from the Lord, and leave off following his steps, by building an altar to offer holocausts, and sacrifices, and victims, beside the altar of the Lord our God, which is erected before his tabernacle. ³⁰And when Phinees the priest, and the princes of the embassage, who were with him, had heard this, they were satisfied: and they admitted most willingly the words of the children of Ruben, and Gad, and of the half tribe of Manasses. ³¹And Phinees the priest the son of Eleazar said to them: Now we know that the Lord is with us, because you are not guilty of this revolt, and you have delivered the children of Israel from the hand of the Lord. ³²And he returned with the princes from the children of Ruben and Gad, out of the land of Galaad, into the land of Chanaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word again. ³³And the saying pleased all that heard it. And the children of Israel praised God, and they no longer said that they would go up against them, and fight, and destroy the land of their possession. ³⁴And the children of Ruben, and the children of Cad called the altar which they had built, Our testimony, that the Lord is God.

Chapter 23

¹And when a long time was passed, after that the Lord had given peace to Israel, all the nations round about being subdued, and Josue being now old, and far advanced in years: ²Josue called for all Israel, and for the elders, and for the princes, and for the judges, and for the masters, and said to them: I am old, and far advanced in years: ³And you see all that the Lord your God hath done to all the nations round about, how he himself hath fought for you: ⁴And now since he hath divided to you by lot all the land, from the east of the Jordan unto the great sea, and many nations yet remain: ⁵The Lord your God will destroy them, and take them away from before your face, and you shall possess the land as he hath promised you. ⁶Only take courage, and be careful to observe all things that are written in the book of the law of Moses: and turn not aside from them neither to the right hand nor to the left: ⁷Lest after that you are come in among the Gentiles, who will remain among you, you should swear by the name of their gods, and serve them, and adore them: ⁸But cleave ye unto the Lord your God: as you have done until this day. ⁹And then the Lord God will take away before your eyes nations that are great and very strong, and no man shall be able to resist you. ¹⁰One of you shall chase a thousand men of the enemies: because the Lord your God himself will fight for you, as he hath promised. ¹¹11This only take care of with all diligence, that you love the Lord your God. ¹²But if you will embrace the errors of these nations that dwell among you, and make marriages with them, and join friendships: ¹³Know ye for a certainty that the Lord your God will not destroy them before your face, but they shall be a pit and a snare in your way, and a stumblingblock at your side, and stakes in your eyes, till he take you away and destroy you from off this excellent land, which he hath given you. ¹⁴Behold this day I am going into the way of all the earth, and you shall know with all your mind that of all the words which the Lord promised to perform for you, not one hath failed. ¹⁵Therefore as he hath fulfilled in deed, what he promised, and all things prosperous have come: so Will he bring upon you all the evils he hath threatened, till he take you away and destroy you from off this excellent land, which he hath given you, ¹⁶When you shall have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which he hath made with you, and shall have served strange gods, and adored them : then shall the indignation of the Lord rise up quickly and speedily against you, and you shall be taken away from this excellent land, which he hath delivered to you.

Chapter 24

¹And Josue gathered together all the tribes of Israel in Sichem, and called for the ancients, and the princes, and the judges, and the masters: and they stood in the sight of the Lord: ²And he spoke thus to the people: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Your fathers dwelt of old on the other side of the river, Thare the father of Abraham, and Nachor: and they served strange gods. ³And I took your father Abraham from the borders of Mesopotamia: and brought him into the land of Chanaan: and I multiplied his seed, ⁴And gave him Isaac: and to him again I gave Jacob and Esau. And I gave to Esau mount Seir for his possession: but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. ⁵And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt with many signs and wonders. ⁶And I brought you and your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea: and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen, as far as the Red Sea. ⁷And the children of Israel cried to the Lord: and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them. Your eyes saw all that I did in Egypt, and you dwelt in the wilderness a long time: ⁸And I brought you into the land of the Amorrhite, who dwelt beyond the Jordan. And when they fought against you, I delivered them into your hands, and you possessed their land, and slew them. ⁹And Balac son of Sephor king of Moab arose and fought against Israel. And he sent and called for Balaam son of Beor, to curse you: ¹⁰And I would not hear him, but on the contrary I blessed you by him, and I delivered you out of his hand. ¹¹And you passed over the Jordan, and you came to Jericho. And the men of that city fought against you, the Amorrhite, and the Pherezite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, and the Gergesite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite: and I delivered them into your hands. ¹²And I sent before you hornets: and I drove them out from their places, the two kings of the Amorrhites, not with thy sword nor with thy bow. ¹³And I gave you a land, in which you had not laboured, and cities to dwell in which you built not, vineyards and oliveyards, which you planted not. ¹⁴Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him with a perfect and most sincere heart: and put away the gods which your fathers served in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵But if it seem evil to you to serve the Lord, you have your choice: choose this day that which pleaseth you, whom you would rather serve, whether the gods which your fathers served in Mesopotamia, or the gods of the Amorrhites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. ¹⁶And the people answered, and said: God forbid we should leave the Lord, and serve strange gods. ¹⁷The Lord our God he brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: and did very great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way by which we journeyed, and among all the people through whom we passed. ¹⁸And he hath cast out all the nations, the Amorrhite the inhabitant of the land into which we are come. Therefore we will serve the Lord, for he is our God. ¹⁹And Josue said to the people: You will not be able to serve the Lord: for he is a holy God, and mighty and jealous, and will not forgive your wickedness and sins. ²⁰If you leave the Lord, and serve strange gods, he will turn, and will afflict you, and will destroy you after all the good he hath done you. ²¹And the people said to Josue: No, it shall not be so as thou sayest, but we will serve the Lord. ²²And Josue said to the people: You are witnesses, that you yourselves have chosen you the Lord to serve him. And they answered: We are witnesses. ²³Now therefore, said he, put away strange gods from among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord the God of Israel. ²⁴And the people said to Josue: We will serve the Lord our God, and we will be obedient to his commandments. ²⁵Josue therefore on that day made a covenant, and set before the people commandments and judgments in Sichem. ²⁶And he wrote all these things in the volume of the law of the Lord: and he took a great stone, and set it under the oak that was in the sanctuary of the Lord. ²⁷And he said to all the people: Behold this stone shall be a testimony unto you, that it hath heard all the words of the Lord, which he hath spoken to you: lest perhaps hereafter you will deny it, and lie to the Lord your God. ²⁸And he sent the people away every one to their own possession. ²⁹And after these things Josue the son of Null the servant of the Lord died, being a hundred and ten years old: ³⁰And they buried him in the border of his possession in Thamnathsare, which is situate in mount Ephraim, on the north side of mount Gaas. ³¹31And Israel served the Lord all the days of Josue, and of the ancients that lived a long time after Josue, and that had known all the works of the Lord which he had done in Israel. ³²And the bones of Joseph which the children of Israel had taken out of Egypt, they buried in Sichem, in that part of the field which Jacob had bought of the sons of Hemor the father of Sichem, for a hundred young ewes, and it was in the possession of the sons of Joseph. ³³Eleazar also the son of Aaron died: and they buried him in Gabaath that belongeth to Phinees his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim.

The Book of Judges

This Book is called JUDGES, because it contains the history of what passed under the government of the judges, who ruled Israel before they had kings. The writer of it, according to the more general opinion, was the prophet Samuel.

Chapter 1

¹After the death of Josue the children of Israel consulted the Lord, saying: Who shall go up before us against the Chanaanite, and shall be the leader of the war? ²And the Lord said: Juda shall go up: behold I have delivered the land into his hands. ³And Juda said to Simeon his brother: Come up with me into my lot, and fight against the Chanaanite, that I also may go along with thee into thy lot. And Simeon went with him. ⁴And Juda went up, and the Lord delivered the Chanaanite, and the Pherezite into their hands: and they slew of them in Bezec ten thousand men. ⁵And they found Adonibezec in Bezec, and fought against him, and they defeated the Chanaanite, and the Pherezite. ⁶And Adonibezec fled: and they pursued after him and took him, and cut off his fingers and toes. ⁷And Adonibezec said: Seventy kings having their fingers and toes cut off, gathered up the leavings of the meat under my table: as I have done, so hath God requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there. ⁸And the children of Juda besieging Jerusalem, took it, and put it to the sword, and set the whole city on fire. ⁹And afterwards they went down and fought against the Chanaanite, who dwelt in the mountains, and in the south, and in the plains. ¹⁰And Juda going forward against the Chanaanite, that dwelt in Hebron (the name whereof was in former times Cariath-Arbe) slew Sesai, and Ahiman, and Tholmai: ¹¹And departing from thence he went to the inhabitants of Dabir, the ancient name of which was Cariath-Sepher, that is, the city of letters. ¹²And Caleb said: He that shall take Cariath-Sepher, and lay it waste, to him will I give my daughter Axa to wife. ¹³And Othoniel the son of Cenez, the younger brother of Caleb, having taken it, he gave him Axa his daughter to wife. ¹⁴And as she was going on her way her husband admonished her to ask a field of her father. And as she sighed sitting on her ass, Caleb said to her: What aileth thee? ¹⁵But she answered: Give me a blessing, for thou hast given me a dry land: give me also a watery land. So Caleb gave her the upper and the nether watery ground. ¹⁶And the children of the Cinite, the kinsman of Moses, went up from the city of palms, with the children of Juda into the wilderness of his lot, which is at the south side of Arad, and they dwelt with him. ¹⁷And Juda went with Simeon his brother, and they together defeated the Chanaanites that dwelt in Sephaath, and slew them. And the name of the city was called Horma, that is, Anathema. ¹⁸And Juda took Gaza with its confines, and Ascalon and Accaron with their confines. ¹⁹And the Lord was with Juda, and he possessed the hill country: but was not able to destroy the inhabitants of the valley, because they had many chariots armed with scythes. ²⁰And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said, who destroyed out of it the three sons of Enac. ²¹But the sons of Benjamin did not destroy the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem: and the Jebusite hath dwelt with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem until this present day. ²²The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them. ²³For when they were besieging the city, which before was called Luza, ²⁴They saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him: Shew us the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy. ²⁵And when he had shewn them, they smote the city with the edge of the sword: but that man and all his kindred they let go: ²⁶Who being sent away, went into the land of Hethim, and built there a city, and called it Luza: which is so called until this day. ²⁷Manasses also did not destroy Bethsan, and Thanac with their villages, nor the inhabitants of Dor, and Jeblaam, and Mageddo with their villages. And the Chanaanite began to dwell with them. ²⁸But after Israel was grown strong he made them tributaries, and would not destroy them. ²⁹Ephraim also did not slay the Chanaanite that dwelt in Gazer, but dwelt with him. ³⁰Zabulon destroyed not the inhabitants of Cetron, and Naalol: but the Chanaanite dwelt among them, and became their tributaries. ³¹Aser also destroyed not the inhabitants of Accho, and of Sidon, of Ahalab, and of Achazib, and of Helba, and of Aphec, and of Rohob: ³²And he dwelt in the midst of the Chanaanites the inhabitants of that land, and did not slay them. ³³Nephtali also destroyed not the inhabitants of Bethsames, and of Bethanath: and he dwelt in the midst of the Chanaanites the inhabitants of the land, and the Bethsamites and Bethanites were tributaries to him. ³⁴And the Amorrhite straitened the children of Dan in the mountain, and gave them not place to go down to the plain: ³⁵And he dwelt in the mountain Hares, that is, of potsherds, in Aialon and Salebim. And the hand of the house of Joseph was heavy upon him, and he became tributary to him. ³⁶And the border of the Amorrhite was from the ascent of the scorpion, the rock, and the higher places.

Chapter 2

¹And an angel of the Lord went up from Galgal to the place of weepers, and said: I made you go out of Egypt, and have brought you into the land for which I swore to your fathers: and I promised that I would not make void my covenant with you for ever: ²On condition that you should not make a league with the inhabitants of this land, but should throw down their altars: and you would not hear my voice: why have you done this? ³Wherefore I would not destroy them from before your face: that you may have enemies, and their gods may be your ruin. ⁴And when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, they lifted up their voice, and wept. ⁵And the name of that place was called, The place of weepers, or of tears: and there they offered sacrifices to the Lord. ⁶And Josue sent away the people, and the children of Israel went every one to his own possession to hold it: ⁷And they served the Lord all his days, and the days of the ancients, that lived a long time after him, and who knew all the works of the Lord, which he had done for Israel. ⁸And Josue the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being a hundred and ten years old, ⁹And they buried him in the borders of his possession in Thamnathsare in mount Ephraim, on the north side of mount Gaas. ¹⁰And all that generation was gathered to their fathers: and there arose others that knew not the Lord, and the works which he had done for Israel. ¹¹And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they served Baalim. ¹²And they left the Lord the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt: and they followed strange gods, and the gods of the people that dwelt round about them, and they adored them: and they provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³Forsaking him, and serving Baal and Astaroth. ¹⁴And the Lord being angry against Israel, delivered them into the hands of plunderers: who took them and sold them to their enemies, that dwelt round about: neither could they stand against their enemies: ¹⁵But whithersoever they meant to go, the hand of the Lord was upon them, as he had said, and as he had sworn to them: and they were greatly distressed. ¹⁶And the Lord raised up judges, to deliver them from the hands of those that oppressed them: but they would not hearken to them, ¹⁷Committing fornication with strange gods, and adoring them. They quickly forsook the way, in which their fathers had walked: and hearing the commandments of the Lord, they did all things contrary. ¹⁸And when the Lord raised them up judges, in their days he was moved to mercy, and heard the groanings of the afflicted, and delivered them from the slaughter of the oppressors. ¹⁹But after the judge was dead, they returned, and did much worse things than their fathers had done, following strange gods, serving them and adoring them. They left not their own inventions, and the stubborn way, by which they were accustomed to walk. ²⁰And the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said: Behold this nation hath made void my covenant, which I had made with their fathers, and hath despised to hearken to my voice: ²¹I also will not destroy the nations which Josue left, when he died: ²²That through them I may try Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord, and walk in it, as their fathers kept it, or not. ²⁹The Lord therefore left all these nations, and would not quickly destroy them, neither did he deliver them into the hands of Josue.

Chapter 3

¹These are the nations which the Lord left, that by them he might instruct Israel, and all that had not known the wars of the Chanaanites: ²That afterwards their children might learn to fight with their enemies, and to be trained up to war: ³The five princes of the Philistines, and all the Chanaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hevites that dwelt in mount Libanus, from mount Baal Hermon to the entering into Emath. ⁴And he left them, that he might try Israel by them, whether they would hear the commandments of the Lord, which he had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses, or not. ⁵So the children of Israel dwelt in the midst of the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, and the Amorrhite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite: ⁶And they took their daughters to wives, and they gave their own daughters to their sons, and they served their gods. ⁷And they did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they forgot their God, and served Baalim and Astaroth. ⁸And the Lord being angry with Israel, delivered them into the hands of Chusan Rasathaim king of Mesopotamia, and they served him eight years. ⁹And they cried to the Lord, who raised them up a saviour, and delivered them, to wit, Othoniel the son of Cenez, the younger brother of Caleb: ¹⁰And the spirit of the Lord was in him, and he judged Israel. And he went out to fight, and the Lord delivered into his hands Chusan Rasathaim king of Syria, and he overthrew him. ¹¹And the land rested forty years, and Othoniel the son of Cenez died. ¹²And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord: who strengthened against them Eglon king of Moab: because they did evil in his sight. ¹³And he joined to him the children of Ammon, and Amalec: and he went and overthrew Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. ¹⁴And the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years: ¹⁵And afterwards they cried to the Lord, who raised them up a saviour called Aod, the son of Gera, the son of Jemini, who used the left hand as well as the right. And the children of Israel sent presents to Eglon king of Moab by him. ¹⁶And he made himself a two-edged sword, with a haft in the midst of the length of the palm of the hand, and was girded therewith under his garment on the right thigh. ¹⁷And he presented the gifts to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was exceeding fat. ¹⁸And when he had presented the gifts unto him, he followed his companions that came along with him. ¹⁹Then returning from Galgal, where the idols were, be said to the king: I have a secret message to thee, O king. And he commanded silence: and all being gone out that were about him, ²⁰Aod went in to him: now he was sitting in a summer parlour alone, and he said: I have a word from God to thee. And he forthwith rose up from his throne, ²¹And Aod put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly, ²²With such force that the haft went in after the blade into the wound, and was closed up with the abundance of fat. So that he did not draw out the dagger, but left it in his body as he had struck it in. And forthwith by the secret parts of nature the excrements of the belly came out. ²³But Aod carefully shutting the doors of the parlour and locking them, ²⁴Went out by a postern door. And the king's servants going in, saw the doors of the parlour shut, and they said: Perhaps he is easing nature in his summer parlour. ²⁵And waiting a long time till they were ashamed, and seeing that no man opened the door, they took a key: and opening, they found their lord lying dead on the ground. ²⁶But Aod, while they were in confusion, escaped, and passed by the place of the idols, from whence he had returned. And he came to Seirath: ²⁷And forthwith he sounded the trumpet in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel went down with him, he himself going in the front. ²⁸And he said to them: Follow me: for the Lord hath delivered our enemies the Moabites into our hands. And they went down after him, and seized upon the fords of the Jordan, which are in the way to Moab: and they suffered no man to pass over. ²⁹But they slew of the Moabites at that time, about ten thousand, all strong and Valiant men: none of them could escape. ³⁰And Moab was humbled that day under the hand of Israel: and the land rested eighty years. ³¹After him was Samgar the son of Anath, who slew of the Philistines six hundred men with a ploughshare: and he also defended Israel.

Chapter 4

¹And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord after the death of Aod, ²And the Lord delivered them up into the hands of Jaban king of Chanaan, who reigned in Asor: and he had a general of his army named Sisara, and he dwelt in Haroseth of the Gentiles. ³And the children of Israel cried to the Lord: for he had nine hundred chariots set with scythes, and for twenty years had grievously oppressed them. ⁴And there was at that time Debbora a prophetess the wife of Lapidoth, who judged the people, ⁵And she sat under a palm tree, which was called by her name, between Rama and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for all judgment. ⁶And she sent and called Barac the son of Abinoem out of Cedes in Nephtali: and she said to him: The Lord God of Israel hath commanded thee: Go, and lead an army to mount Thabor, and thou shalt take with thee ten thousand fighting men of the children of Nephtali, and of the children of Zabulon: ⁷And I will bring unto thee in the place of the torrent Cison, Sisara the general of Jabin's army, and his chariots, and all his multitude, and will deliver them into thy hand. ⁸And Barac said to her: If thou wilt come with me, I will go: if thou wilt not come with me, I will not go. ⁹She said to him: I will go indeed with thee, but at this time the victory shall not be attributed to thee, because Sisara shall be delivered into the hand of a woman. Debbora therefore arose, and went with Barac to Cedes. ¹⁰And he called unto him Zabulon and Nepbtali, and went up with ten thousand fighting men, having Debbora in his company. ¹¹Now Haber the Cinite had some time before departed from the rest of the Cinites his brethren the sons of Hobab, the kinsman of Moses: and had pitched his tents unto the valley which is called Sellnim, and was near Cedes. ¹²And it was told Sisara, that Barac the son of Ablinoem was gone up to mount Thabor: ¹³And he gathered together his nine hundred chariots armed with scythes, and all his army from Haroseth of the Gentiles to the torrent Cison. ¹⁴And Debbora said to Barac: Arise, for this is the day wherein the Lord hath delivered Sisara into thy hands: behold he is thy leader. And Barac went down from mount Thabor, and ten thousand fighting men with him. ¹⁵And the Lord struck a terror into Sisara, and all his chariots, and all his multitude, with the edge of the sword, at the sight of Barac, insomuch that Sisara leaping down from off his chariot, fled away on foot. ¹⁶And Barac pursued after the fleeing chariots and the army unto Haroseth of the Gentiles, and all the multitude of the enemies was utterly destroyed. ¹⁷But Sisara fleeing came to the tent of Jahel the wife of Haber the Cinite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Asor, and the house of Haber the Cinite. ¹⁸And Jahel went forth to meet Sisara, and said to him: Come in to me, my lord, come in, fear not. He went in to her tent, and being covered by her with a cloak, ¹⁹Said to her: Give me, I beseech thee, a little water, for I am very thirsty. She opened a bottle of milk, and gave him to drink, and covered him. ²⁰And Sisara said to her: Stand before the door of the tent, and when any shall come and inquire of thee, saying: Is there any man here? thou shalt say: There is none. ²¹So Jahel Haber's wife took a nail of the tent, and taking also a hammer: and going in softly, and with silence, she put the nail upon the temples of his head, and striking it With the hammer, drove it through his brain fast into the ground: and so passing from deep sleep to death, he fainted away and died. ²²And behold Barac came pursuing after Sisara: and Jahel went out to meet him, and said to him: Come, and I will shew thee, the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, be saw Sisara lying dead, and the nail fastened in his temples. ²³So God that day humbled Jabin the king of Chanaan before the children of Israel: ²⁴Who grew daily stronger, and with a mighty hand overpowered Jabin king of Chanaan, till they quite destroyed him.

Chapter 5

¹In that day Debbora and Barac son of Abinoem sung, and said: ²O you of Israel, that have willingly offered your lives to danger, bless the Lord. ³Hear, O ye kings, give ear, ye princes: It is I, it is I, that will sing to the Lord, I will sing to the Lord the God of Israel. ⁴O Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, and passedst by the regions of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped water. ⁵The mountains melted before the face of the Lord, and Sinai before the face of the Lord the God of Israel. ⁶In the days of Samgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jahel the paths rested: and they that went by them, walked through by-ways. ⁷The valiant men ceased, and rested in Israel: until Debbora arose, a mother arose in Israel. ⁸The Lord chose new wars, and he himself overthrew the gates of the enemies: a shield and spear was not seen among forty thousand of Israel. ⁹My heart loveth the princes of Israel: O you that of your own good will offered yourselves to danger, bless the Lord. ¹⁰Speak, you that ride upon fair asses, and you that sit in judgment, and walk in the way. ¹¹Where the chariots were dashed together, and the army of the enemies was choked, there let the justices of the Lord be rehearsed, and his clemency towards the brave men of Israel: then the people of the Lord went down to the gates, and obtained the sovereignty. ¹²Arise, arise, O Debbora, arise, arise, and utter a canticle. Arise, Barac, and take hold of thy captives, O son of Abinoem. ¹³The remnants of the people are saved, the Lord hath fought among the valiant ones. ¹⁴Out of Ephraim he destroyed them into Amalec, and after him out of Benjamin into thy people, O Amalec: Out of Machir there came down princes, and out of Zabulon they that led the army to fight. ¹⁵The captains of Issachar were with Debbora, and followed the steps of Barac, who exposed himself to danger, as one going headlong, and into a pit. Ruben being divided against himself, there was found a strife of courageous men. ¹⁶Why dwellest thou between two borders, that thou mayest hear the bleatings of the flocks? Ruben being divided against himself, there was found a strife of courageous men. ¹⁷Galaad rested beyond the Jordan, and Dan applied himself to ships: Aser dwelt on the sea shore, and abode in the havens. ¹⁸But Zabulon and Nephtali offered their lives to death in the region of Merome. ¹⁹The kings came and fought, the kings of Chanaan fought in Thanach by the waters of Mageddo, and yet they took no spoils. ²⁰War from heaven was made against them, the stars remaining in their order and courses fought against Sisara. ²¹The torrent of Cison dragged their carcasses, the torrent of Cadumim, the torrent of Cisoii: tread thou, my soul, upon the strong ones. ²²The hoofs of the horses were broken whilst the stoutest of the enemies fled amain, and fell headlong down. ²³Curse ye the land of Meroz, said the angel of the Lord: curse the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to help his most valiant men. ²⁴Blessed among women be Jahel the wife of Haber the Cinite, and blessed be she in her tent. ²⁵He asked her water and she gave him milk, and offered him butter in a dish fit for princes. ²⁶She put her left hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workman's hammer, and she struck Sisara, seeking in his head a place for the wound, and strongly piercing through his temples. ²⁷At her feet he fell: he fainted, and he died: he rolled before her feet, and he lay lifeless and wretched. ²⁸His mother looked out at a window, and howled: and she spoke from the dining room: Why is his chariot so long in coming back? Why are the feet of his horses so slow? ²⁹One that was wiser than the rest of his wives, returned this answer to her mother in law: ³⁰Perhaps he is now dividing the spoils, and the fairest of the women is chosen out for him: garments of divers colours are given to Sisara for his prey, and furniture of different kinds is heaped together to adorn the necks. ³¹So let all thy enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love thee shine, as the sun shineth in his rising. ³²And the land rested for forty years.

Chapter 6

¹And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord: and he delivered them into the hand of Madian seven years. ²And they were grievously oppressed by them. And they made themselves dens and eaves in the mountains, and strong holds to resist. ³And when Israel had sown, Madian and Amalec, and the rest of the eastern nations came up: ⁴And pitching their tents among them, wasted all things as they were in the blade even to the entrance of Gaza: and they left nothing at all in Israel for sustenance of life, nor sheep, nor oxen, nor asses. ⁵For they and all their flocks came with their tents, and like locusts filled all places, an innumerable multitude of men, and of camels, wasting whatsoever they touched. ⁶And Israel was humbled exceedingly in the sight of Madian. ⁷And he cried to the Lord desiring help against the Madianites. ⁸And he sent unto them a prophet, and he spoke: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I made you to come up out of Egypt, and brought you out of the house of bondage, ⁹And delivered you out of the hands of the Egyptians, and of all the enemies that afflicted you: and I cast them out at your coming in, and gave you their land. ¹⁰And I said: I am the Lord your God, fear not the gods of the Amorrhites, in whose land you dwell. And you would not hear my voice. ¹¹And an angel of the Lord came, and sat under an oak, that was in Ephra, and belonged to Joas the father of the family of Ezri. And when Gedeon his son was threshing and cleansing wheat by the winepress, to flee from Madian, ¹²The angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said: The Lord is with thee, O most valiant of men. ¹³And Gedeon said to him: I beseech thee, my lord, if the Lord be with us, why have these evils fallen upon us? Where are his miracles, which our fathers have told us of, saying: The Lord brought us Out of Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the bands of Madian. ¹⁴And the Lord looked upon him, and said: Go in this thy strength, and then shalt deliver Israel out of the hand of Madian: know that I have sent thee. ¹⁵He answered and said: I beseech thee, my lord, wherewith shall I deliver Israel? Behold my family is the meanest in Manasses, and I am the least in my father's house. ¹⁶And the Lord said to him: I will be with thee: and thou shalt cut off Madian as one man. ¹⁷And he said: If I have found grace before thee, give me a sign that it is thou that speakest to me, ¹⁸And depart not hence, till I return to thee, and bring a sacrifice, and offer it to thee. And he answered: I will wait thy coming. ¹⁹So Gedeon went in, and boiled a kid, and made unleavened loaves of a measure of flour: and putting the flesh in a basket, and the broth of the flesh into a pot, he carried all under the oak, and presented to him. ²⁰And the angel of the Lord said to him: Take the flesh and the unleavened loaves, and lay them upon that rock, and pour out the broth thereon. And when he had done so, ²¹The angel of the Lord put forth the tip of the rod, which he held in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened loaves: and there arose a fire from the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened loaves: and the angel of the Lord vanished out of his sight. ²²And Gedeon seeing that it was the angel of the Lord, said: Alas, my Lord God: for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. ²³And the Lord said to him: Peace be with thee: fear not, thou shalt not die. ²⁴And Gedeon built there an altar to the Lord, and called it the Lord's peace, until this present day. And when he was yet in Ephra, which is of the family of Ezri, ²⁵That night the Lord said to him: Take a bullock of thy father's, and another bullock of seven years, and thou shalt destroy the altar of Baal, which is thy father's: and cut down the grove that is about the altar: ²⁶And thou shalt build an altar to the Lord thy God in the top of this rock, whereupon thou didst lay the sacrifice before: and thou shalt take the second bullock, and shalt offer a holocaust upon a pile of the wood, which thou shalt cut down out of the grove. ²⁷Then Gedeon taking ten men of his servants, did as the Lord had commanded him. But fearing his father's house, and the men of that city, he would not do it by day, but did all by night. ²⁸And when the men of that town were risen in the morning, they saw the altar of Baal destroyed, and the grove cut down, and the second bullock laid upon the altar, which then was built. ²⁹And they said one to another: Who hath done this? And when they inquired for the author of the fact, it was said: Gedeon the son of Joas did all this. ³⁰And they said to Joas: Bring out thy son hither, that he may die: because he hath destroyed the altar of Baal, and hath cut down his grove. ³¹He answered them: Are you the avengers of Baal, that you fight for him? he that is his adversary, let him die before to morrow light appear: if he be a god, let him revenge himself on him that hath cast down his altar. ³²From that day Gedeon was called Jerobaal, because Joss had said: Let Baal revenge himself on him that hath cast down his altar. ³³Now all Madian, and Amalec, and the eastern people were gathered together, and passing over the Jordan, camped in the valley of Jezrael. ³⁴But the spirit of the Lord came upon Gedeon, and be sounded the trumpet and called together the house of Abiezer, to follow him. ³⁵And he sent messengers into all Manasses, and they also followed him: and other messengers into Aser and Zabulon and Nephtali, and they came to meet him. ³⁶And Gedeon said to God: If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said, ³⁷I will put this fleece of wool on the floor: if there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry on all the ground beside, I, shall know that by my hand, as thou hast said, thou wilt deliver Israel. ³⁸And it was so. And rising before day wringing the fleece, he filled a vessel with the dew. ³⁹And he said again to God: let not thy wrath be kindled against me if I try once more, seeking a sign in the fleece. I pray that the fleece only may be dry, and all the ground wet with dew. ⁴⁰And God did that night as he had requested: and it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

Chapter 7

¹Then Jerobaal, who is the same as Gedeon, rising up early and all the people with him, came to the fountain that is called Harad. Now the camp of Madian was in the valley on the north side of the high hill. ²And the Lord said to Gedeon: The people that are with thee are many, and Madian shall not be delivered into their hands: lest Israel should glory against me, and say: I was delivered by my own strength. ³Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all, I Whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him return. So two and twenty thousand men went away from mount Galaad and returned home, and only ten thousand remained. ⁴And the Lord said to Gedeon: The people are still too many, bring them to the waters, and there I will try them: and of whom I shall say to thee, This shall go with thee, let him go: whom I shall forbid to go, let him return. ⁵And when the people were come down to the waters, the Lord said to Gedeon: They that shall lap the water with their tongues, as dogs are wont to lap, thou shalt set apart by themselves: but they that shall drink bowing down their knees, shall be on the other side. ⁶And the number of them that had lapped water, casting it with the hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: and all the rest of the multitude had drunk kneeling. ⁷And the Lord said to Gedeon: By the three hundred men, that lapped water, I will save you, and deliver Madian into thy hand: but let all the rest of the people return to their place. ⁸So taking victuals and trumpets according to their number, he ordered all the rest of the multitude to depart to their tents: and he with the three hundred gave himself to the battle. Now the camp of Madian was beneath him in the valley. ⁹The same night the Lord said to him: Arise, and go down into the camp: because I have delivered them into thy hand. ¹⁰But if thou be afraid to go alone, let Phara thy servant go down with thee. ¹¹And when thou shalt hear what they are saying, then shall thy hands be strengthened, and thou shalt go down more secure to the enemies' camp. And he went down with Phara his servant into part of the camp, where was the watch of men in arms. ¹²But Madian and Amalec, and all the eastern people lay scattered in the valley, as a multitude of locusts: their camels also were innumerable as the sand that lieth on the sea shore. ¹³And when Gedeon was come, one told his neighbour a dream: and in this manner related what he had seen: I dreamt a dream, and it seemed to me as if a hearth cake of barley bread rolled and came down into the camp of Madian: and when it was come to a tent it struck it, and beat it down flat to the ground. ¹⁴He to whom he spoke, answered: This is nothing else but the sword of Gedeon the son of Joas a man of Israel. For the Lord hath delivered Madian, and all their camp into his hand. ¹⁵And when Gedeon had heard the dream, and the interpretation thereof, he adored: and returned to the camp of Israel, and said: Arise, for the Lord hath delivered the camp of Madian into our hands. ¹⁶And he divided the three hundred men into three parts, and gave them trumpets in their hands, and empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. ¹⁷And he said to them: What you shall see me do, do you the same: I will go into one part of the camp, and do you as I shall do. ¹⁸When the trumpet shall sound in my hand, do you also blow the trumpets on every side of the camp. ¹⁹And Gedeon, and the three hundred men that were with him, went into part of the camp, at the beginning of the midnight watch, and the watchmen being alarmed, they began to sound their trumpets, and to clap the pitchers one against another. ²⁰And when they sounded their trumpets in three places round about the camp, and had broken their pitchers, they held their lamps in their left hands, and with their right hands the trumpets which they blew, and they cried out: The sword of the Lord and of Gedeon; ²¹Standing every man in his place round about the enemies' camp. So all the camp was troubled, and crying out and howling they fled away. ²²And the three hundred men nevertheless persisted sounding the trumpets. And the Lord sent the sword into all the camp, and they killed one another, ²³Fleeing as far as Bethsetta, and the border of Abelmahula in Tebbath. But the men of Israel shouting from Nephtali and Aser, and from all Manasses pursued after Madian. ²⁴And Gedeon sent messengers into all mount Ephraim, saying: Come down to meet Madian, and take the waters before them to Bethbera and the Jordan. And all Ephraim shouted, and took the waters before them and the Jordan as far as Bethbera. ²⁵And having taken two men of Madian, Oreb and Zeb: Oreb they slew in the rock of Oreb, and Zeb in the winepress of Zeb. And they pursued Madian, carrying the heads of Oreb and Zeb to Gedeon beyond the waters of the Jordan.

Chapter 8

¹And the men of Ephraim said to him: What is this that thou meanest to do, that thou wouldst not call us when thou wentest to fight against Madian? and they chid him sharply and almost offered violence. ²And he answered them: What could I have done like to that which you have done? Is not one bunch of grapes of Ephraim better than the vintages of Abiezer? ³The Lord hath delivered into your bands the princes of Madian, Oreb and Zeb: what could I have done like to what you have done? And when he had said this, their spirit was appeased, with which they swelled against him. ⁴And when Gedeon was come to the Jordan, he passed over it with the three hundred men, that were with him: who were so weary that they could not pursue after them that fled. ⁵And he said to the men of Soccoth: Give, I beseech you, bread to the people that is with me, for they are faint: that we may pursue Zebee, and Salmana the kings of Madian. ⁶The princes of Soccoth answered: Peradventure the palms of the hands of Zebee and Salmana are in thy hand, and therefore thou demandest that we should give bread to thy army. ⁷And he said to them: When the Lord therefore shall have delivered Zebee and Salmana into my hands, I will thresh your flesh with the thorns and briers of the desert. ⁸And going up from thence, he came to Phanuel: and he spoke the like things to the men of that place. And they also answered him, as the men of Soccoth had answered. ⁹He said therefore to them also: When I shall return a conqueror in peace, I will destroy this tower. ¹⁰But Zebee and Salmana were resting with all their army. For fifteen thousand men were left of all the troops of the eastern people, and one hundred and twenty thousand warriors that drew the sword, were slain. ¹¹And Gedeon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents, on the east of Nobe and Jegbaa, and smote the camp of the enemies, who were secure, and suspected no hurt. ¹²And Zebee and Salmana fled, and Gedeon pursued and took them, all their host being put in confusion. ¹³And returning from the battle before the sun rising, ¹⁴He took a boy of the men of Soccoth: and he asked him the names of the princes and ancients of Soccoth, and he described unto him seventy-seven men. ¹⁵And he came to Soccoth and said to them: Behold Zebee and Salmana, concerning whom you upbraided me, saying: Peradventure the hands of Zebee and Salmana, are in thy hands, and therefore thou demandest that we should give bread to the men that are weary and faint. ¹⁶So he took the ancients of the city and thorns and briers of the desert, and tore them with the same, and cut in pieces the men of Soccoth. ¹⁷And he demolished the tower of Phanuel, and slew the men of the city. ¹⁸And he said to Zebee and Salmana: What manner of men were they whom you slew in Thabor? They answered: They were like thee, and one of them as the son of a king. ¹⁹He answered them: They were my brethren, the sons of my mother. As the Lord liveth, if you had saved them, I would not kill you. ²⁰And he said to Jether his eldest son: Arise, and slay them. But he drew not his sword: for he was afraid, being but yet a boy. ²¹And Zebee and Salmana said: Do thou rise, and run upon us: because the strength of a man is according to his age: Gedeon rose up and slew Zebee and Salmana: and he took the ornaments and bosses, with which the necks of the camels of kings are wont to be adorned. ²²And all the men of Israel said to Gedeon: Rule thou over us and thy son, and thy son's son: because thou hast delivered us from the hand of Madian. ²³And he said to them: I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you, but the Lord shall rule over you. ²⁴And he said to them: I desire one request of you: Give me the earlets of your spoils. For the Ismaelites were accustomed to wear golden earlets. ²⁵They answered: We will give them most willingly. And spreading a mantle on the ground, they cast upon it the earlets of the spoils. ²⁶And the weight of the earlets that he requested, was a thousand seven hundred sicles of gold, besides the ornaments, and jewels, and purple raiment which the kings of Madian were went to use, and besides the golden chains that were about the camels' necks. ²⁷And Gedeon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city Ephra. And all Israel committed fornication with it, and it became a ruin to Gedeon and to all his house. ²⁸But Madian was humbled before the children of Israel, neither could they any more lift up their beads: but the land rested for forty years, while Gedeon presided. ²⁹So Jerobaal the son of Joas went, and dwelt in his own house. ³⁰And he had seventy sons, who came out of his thigh, for he had many wives. ³¹And his concubine, that he had in Sichem, bore him a son, whose name was Abimelech. ³²And Gedeon the son of Joas died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father in Ephra of the family of Ezri. ³³But after Gedeon was dead, the children of Israel turned again, and committed fornication with Baalim. And they made a covenant with Baal, that he should be their god: ³⁴And they remembered not the Lord their God, who delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies round about: ³⁵Neither did they shew mercy to the house of Jerobaal Gedeon, according to all the good things he had done to Israel.

Chapter 9

¹And Abimelech the son of Jerobaal went to Sichem to his mother's brethren and spoke to them, and to all the kindred of his mother's father, saying: ²Speak to all the men of Sichem: whether is better for you that seventy men all the sons of Jerobaal should rule over you, or that one man should rule over you? And withal consider that I am your bone, and your flesh. ³And his mother's brethren spoke of him to all the men of Sichem, all these words, and they inclined their hearts after Abimelech, saying: He is our brother: ⁴And they gave him seventy weight of silver out of the temple of Baalberith: wherewith he hired to himself men that were needy, and vagabonds, and they followed him. ⁵And he came to his father's house in Ephra, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerobaal, seventy men, upon one stone: and there remained only Joatham the youngest son of Jerobaal, who was hidden. ⁶And all the men of Sichem were gathered together, and all the families of the city of Mello: and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak that stood in Sichem. ⁷This being told to Joatham, he went and stood on the top of mount Garizim: and lifting up his voice, he cried, and said: Hear me, ye men of Sichem, so may God hear you. ⁸The trees went to anoint a king over them: and they said to the olive tree: Reign thou over us. ⁹And it answered: Can I leave my fatness, which both gods and men make use of, to come to be promoted among the trees? ¹⁰And the trees said to the fig tree: Come thou and reign over us. ¹¹And it answered them: Can I leave my sweetness, and my delicious fruits, and go to be promoted among the other trees? ¹²And the trees said to the vine: Come thou and reign over us. ¹³And it answered them: Can I forsake my wine, that cheereth God and men, and be promoted among the other trees? ¹⁴And all the trees said to the bramble: Come thou and reign over us. ¹⁵And it answered them: If indeed you mean to make me king, come ye and rest under my shadow: but if you mean it not, let fire come out from the bramble, and devour the cedars of Libanus. ¹⁶Now therefore if you have done well, and without sin in appointing Abimelech king over you, and have dealt well with Jerobaal, and with his house, and have made a suitable return for the benefits of him, who fought for you, ¹⁷And exposed his life to dangers, to deliver you from the hands of Madian, ¹⁸And you are now risen up against my father's house, and have killed his sons seventy men upon one stone, and have made Abimelech the son of his handmaid king over the inhabitants of Sichem, because he is your brother: ¹⁹If therefore you have dealt well, and without fault with Jerobaal, and his house, rejoice ye this day in Abimelech, and may he rejoice in you. ²⁰But if unjustly: let fire come out from him, and consume the inhabitants of Sichem, and the town of Mello: and let fire come out from the men of Sichem, and from the town of Mello, and devour Abimelech. ²¹And when he had said thus he fled, and went into Bera: and dwelt there for fear of Abimelech his brother. ²²So Abimelech reigned over Israel for three years. ²³And the Lord sent a very evil spirit between Abimelech and the inhabitants of Sichem: who began to detest him, ²⁴And to leave the crime of the murder of the seventy sons of Jerobaal, and the shedding of their blood upon Abimelech their brother, and upon the rest of the princes of the Sichemites, who aided him. ²⁵And they set an ambush against him on the top of the mountains: and while they waited for his coming, they committed robberies, taking spoils of all that passed by: and it was told Abimelech. ²⁶And Gaal the son of Obed came with his brethren, and went over to Sichem. And the inhabitants of Sichem taking courage at his coming, ²⁷Went out into the fields, wasting the vineyards, and treading down the grapes: and singing and dancing they went into the temple of their god, and in their banquets and cups they cursed Abimelech. ²⁸And Gaal the son of Obed cried: Who is Abimelech, and what is Sichem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerobaal, and hath made Zebul his servant ruler over the men of Emor the father of Sichem? Why then shall we serve him? ²⁹Would to God that some man would put this people under my hand, that I might remove Abimelech out of the way. And it was said to Abimelech: Gather together the multitude of an army, and come. ³⁰For Zebul the ruler of the city, hearing the words of Gaal, the son of Obed, was very angry, ³¹And sent messengers privately to Abimelech, saying: Behold Gaal the son of Obed is come into Sichem with his brethren, and endeavoureth to set the city against thee. ³²Arise therefore in the night with the people that is with thee and he hid in the field: ³³And betimes in the morning at sun rising set upon the city. And when he shall come out against thee with his people, do to him what thou shalt be able. ³⁴Abimelech therefore arose with all his army by night, and laid ambushes near Sichem in four places. ³⁵And Gaal the son of Obed went out, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city. And Abimelech rose up, and all his army with him from the places of the ambushes. ³⁶And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul: Behold a multitude cometh down from the mountains. And he answered him: Thou seest the shadows of the mountains as if they were the heads of men, and this is thy mistake. ³⁷Again Gaal said: Behold there cometh people down from the middle of the land, and one troop cometh by the way that looketh towards the oak. ³⁸And Zebul said to him: Where is now thy mouth wherewith thou saidst? Who is Abimelech that we should serve him? Is not this the people which thou didst despise? Go out, and fight against him. ³⁹So Gaal went out in the sight of the people of Sichem, and fought against Abimelech, ⁴⁰Who chased and put him to flight, and drove him to the city: and many were slain of his people, even to the gate of the city: ⁴¹And Abimelech sat down in Ruma: but Zebul drove Gaal, and his companions out of the city, and would not suffer them to abide in it. ⁴²So the day following the people went out into the field. And it was told Abimelech. ⁴³And he took his army, and divided it into three companies, and laid ambushes in the fields. And seeing that the people came out of the city, he arose and set upon them, ⁴⁴With his own company, assaulting and besieging the city: whilst the two other companies chased the enemies that were scattered about the field. ⁴⁵And Abimelech assaulted the city all that day: and took it, and killed the inhabitants thereof, and demolished it, so that he sowed salt in it. ⁴⁶And when they who dwelt in the tower of Sichem had heard this, they went into the temple of their god Berith where they had made a covenant with him, and from thence the place had taken its name, and it was exceeding strong. ⁴⁷Abimelech also hearing that the men of the tower of Sichem were gathered together, ⁴⁸Went up into mount Selmon he and all his people with him: and taking an axe, he cut down the bough of a tree, and laying it on his shoulder and carrying it, he said to his companions: What you see me do, do you out of hand. ⁴⁹So they cut down boughs from the trees, every man as fast as he could, and followed their leader. And surrounding the fort they set it on fire: and so it came to pass that with the smoke and with the fire a thousand persons were killed, men and women together, of the inhabitants of the tower of Sichem. ⁵⁰Then Abimelech departing from thence came to the town of Thebes, which he surrounded and besieged with his army. ⁵¹And there was in the midst of the city a high tower, to which both the men and the women were fled together, and all the princes of the city, and having shut and strongly barred the gate, they stood upon the battlements of the tower to defend themselves. ⁵²And Abimelech coming near the tower, fought stoutly: and approaching to the gate, endeavoured to set fire to it: ⁵³And behold a certain woman casting a piece of a millstone from above, dashed it against the head of Abimelech, and broke his skull. ⁵⁴And he called hastily to his armourbearer, and said to him: Draw thy sword, and kill me: lest it should be said that I was slain by a woman. He did as he was commanded, and slew him. ⁵⁵And when he was dead, all the men of Israel that were with him, returned to their homes. ⁵⁶And God repaid the evil, that Abimelech had done against his father, killing his seventy brethren. ⁵⁷The Sichemites also were rewarded for what they had done, and the curse of Joatham the son of Jerobaal came upon them.

Chapter 10

¹After Abimelech there arose a ruler in Israel, Thola son of Phua the uncle of Abimelech, a man of Issachar, who dwelt in Samir of mount Ephraim: ²And he judged Israel three and twenty years, and he died and was buried in Samir. ³To him succeeded Jair the Galaadite, who judged Israel for two and twenty years. ⁴Having thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and were princes of thirty cities, which from his name were called Havoth Jair, that is, the towns of Jair, until this present day in the land of Galaad. ⁵And Jair died: and was buried in the place which was called Camon. ⁶But the children of Israel, adding new sins to their old ones, did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served idols, Baalim and Astaroth, and the gods of Syria and of Sidon and of Moab and of the children of Ammon and of the Philistines: and they left the Lord, and did not serve him. ⁷And the Lord being angry with them, delivered them into the hands of the Philistines and of the children of Ammon. ⁸And they were afflicted, and grievously oppressed for eighteen years, all they that dwelt beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorrhite, who is in Galaad: ⁹Insomuch that the children of Ammon passing over the Jordan, wasted Juda and Benjamin and Ephraim: and Israel was distressed exceedingly. ¹⁰And they cried to the Lord, and said: We have sinned against thee, because we have forsaken the Lord our God, and have served Baalim. ¹¹And the Lord said to them: Did not the Egyptians and the Amorrhites, and the children of Ammon and the Philistines, ¹²The Sidonians also and Amalec and Chanaan oppress you, and you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand? ¹³And yet you have forsaken me, and have worshipped strange gods: therefore I will deliver you no more: ¹⁴Go and call upon the gods which you have chosen: let them deliver you in the time of distress. ¹⁵And the children of Israel said to the Lord: We have sinned, do thou unto us whatsoever pleaseth thee: only deliver us this time. ¹⁶And saying these things, they cast away out of their coasts all the idols of strange gods and served the Lord their God: and he was touched with their miseries. ¹⁷And the children of Ammon shouting together, pitched their tents in Galaad: against whom the children of Israel assembled themselves together and camped in Maspha. ¹⁸And the princes of Galaad said one to another: Whosoever of us shall first begin to fight against the children of Ammon, he shall be the leader of the people of Galaad.

Chapter 11

¹There was at that time Jephte the Galaadite, a most valiant man and a warrior, the son of a woman that was a harlot, and his father was Galaad. ²Now Galaad had a wife of whom he had sons: who after they were grown up, thrust out Jephte, saying: Thou canst not inherit in the house of our father, because thou art born of another mother. ³Then he fled and avoided them and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered to him needy men, and robbers, and they followed him as their prince. ⁴In those days the children of Ammon made war against Israel. ⁵And as they pressed hard upon them, the ancients of Galaad went to fetch Jephte out of the land of Tob to help them: ⁶And they said to him: Come thou and be our prince, and fight against the children of Ammon. ⁷And he answered them: Are not you the men that hated me, and cast me out of my father's house, and now you are come to me constrained by necessity? ⁸And the princes of Galaad said to Jephte: For this cause we are now come to thee, that thou mayst go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be head over all the inhabitants of Galaad. ⁹Jephte also said to them: If you be come to me sincerely, that I should fight for you against the children of Ammon, and the Lord shall deliver them into my band, shall I be your prince? ¹⁰They answered him: The Lord who heareth these things, he himself is mediator and witness that we will do as we have promised. ¹¹Jephte therefore went with the princes of Galaad, and all the people made him their prince. And Jephte spoke all his words before the Lord in Maspha. ¹²And he sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, to say in his name, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me, to waste my land? ¹³And he answered them: I Because Israel took away my land when he came up out of Egypt, from the confines of the Arnon unto the Jaboc and the Jordan: now therefore restore the same peaceably to me. ¹⁴And Jephte again sent word by them, and commanded them to say to the king of Ammon: ¹⁵Thus saith Jephte: Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon: ¹⁶But when they came up out of Egypt, he walked through the desert to the Red Sea and came into Cades. ¹⁷And he sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying: Suffer me to pass through thy land. But he would not condescend to his request. He sent also to the king of Moab, who likewise refused to give him passage. He abode therefore in Cades, ¹⁸And went round the land of Edom at the side, and the land of Moab: and came over against the east coast of the land of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon: and he would not enter the bounds of Moab. ¹⁹So Israel sent messengers to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, who dwelt in Hesebon, and they said to him: Suffer me to pass through thy land to the river. ²⁰But he also despising the words of Israel, suffered him not to pass through his borders: but gathering an infinite multitude, went out against him to Jasa, and made strong opposition. ²¹And the Lord delivered him with all his army into the hands of Israel, and he slew him, and possessed all the land of the Amorrhite the inhabitant of that country, ²²And all the coasts thereof from the Arnon to the Jaboc, and from the wilderness to the Jordan. ²³So the Lord the God of Israel destroyed the Amorrhite, his people of Israel fighting against him, and wilt thou now possess this land? ²⁴Are not those things which thy god Chamos possesseth, due to thee by right? But what the Lord our God hath obtained by conquest, shall be our possession: ²⁵Unless perhaps thou art better than Balac the son of Sephor king of Moab: or canst shew that he strove against Israel and fought against him, ²⁶Whereas he hath dwelt in Hesebon, and the villages thereof, and in Aroer, and its villages, and in all the cities near the Jordan, for three hundred years. Why have you for so long a time attempted nothing about this claim? ²⁷Therefore I do not trespass against thee, but thou wrongest me by declaring an unjust war against me. The Lord be judge and decide this day between Israel and the children of Ammon. ²⁸And the king of the children of Ammon would not hearken to the words of Jephte, which he sent him by the messengers. ²⁹Therefore the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephte, and going round Galaad, and Manasses, and Maspha of Galaad, and passing over from thence to the children of Ammon, ³⁰He made a vow to the Lord, saying: If thou wilt deliver the children of Ammon into my hands, ³¹Whosoever shall first come forth out of the doors of my house, and shall meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, the same will I offer a holocaust to the Lord. ³²And Jephte passed over to the children of Ammon, to fight against them: and the Lord delivered them into his hands. ³³And he smote them from Aroer till you come to Mennith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel, which is set with vineyards, with a very great slaughter: and the children of Ammon were humbled by the children of Israel. ³⁴And when Jephte returned into Maspha to his house, his only daughter met him with timbrels and with dances: for he had no other children. ³⁵And when he saw her, he rent his garments, and said: Alas! my daughter, thou hast deceived me, and thou thyself art deceived: for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I can do no other thing. ³⁶And she answered him: My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth to the Lord, do unto me whatsoever thou hast promised, since the victory hath been granted to thee, and revenge of thy enemies. ³⁷And she said to her father: Grant me only this which I desire: Let me go, that I may go about the mountains for two months, and may bewail my virginity with my companions. ³⁸And he answered her: Go. And he sent her away for two months. And when she was gone with her comrades and companions, she mourned her virginity in the mountains. ³⁹And the two months being expired, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed, and she knew no man. From thence came a fashion in Israel, and a custom has been kept: ⁴⁰That from year to year the daughters of Israel assemble together, and lament the daughter of Jephte the Galaadite for four days.

Chapter 12

¹But behold there arose a sedition in Ephraim. And passing towards the north, they said to Jephte: When thou wentest to fight against the children of Ammon, why wouldst thou not call us, that we might go with thee? Therefore we will burn thy house. ²And he answered them: I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon: and I called you to assist me, and you would not do it. ³And when I saw this, I put my life in my own hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hands. What have I deserved, that you should rise up to fight against me? ⁴Then calling to him all the men of Galaad, he fought against Ephraim: and the men of Galaad defeated Ephraim, because he had said: Galaad is a fugitive of Ephraim, and dwelleth in the midst of Ephraim and Manasses. ⁵And the Galaadites secured the fords of the Jordan, by which Ephraim was to return. And when any one of the number of Ephraim came thither in the flight, and said: I beseech you let me pass: the Galaadites said to him: Art thou not an Ephraimite? If he said: I am not: ⁶They asked him: Say then, Scibboleth, which is interpreted, An ear of corn. But he answered, Sibboleth, not being able to express an ear of corn by the same letter. Then presently they took him and killed him in the very passage of the Jordan. And there fell at that time of Ephraim two and forty thousand. ⁷And Jephte the Galaadite judged Israel six years: and he died, and was buried in his city of Galaad. ⁸After him Abesan of Bethlehem judged Israel: ⁹He had thirty sons, and as many daughters, whom he sent abroad, and gave to husbands, and took wives for his sons of the same number, bringing them into his house. And he judged Israel seven years: ¹⁰And he died, and was buried in Bethlehem. ¹¹To him succeeded Ahialon a Zahnlonite: and he judged Israel ten years: ¹²And he died, and was buried in ZahnIon. ¹³After him Abdon, the son of Illel, a Pharathonite, judged Israel: ¹⁴And he had forty sons, and of them thirty grandsons, mounted upon seventy ass colts, and he judged Israel eight years: ¹⁵And he died, and was buried in Pharathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of Amalech.

Chapter 13

¹And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord: and he delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years. ²Now there was a certain man of Saraa, and of the race of Dan, whose name was Manue, and his wife was barren. ³And an angel of the Lord appeared to her, and said: Thou art barren and without children: but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. ⁴Now therefore beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing. ⁵Because thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall touch his head: for he shall be a Nazarite of God, from his infancy, and from his mother's womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. ⁶And when she was come to her husband she said to him: A man of God came to me, having the countenance of an angel, very awful. And when I asked him who he was, and whence he came, and by what name he was called, he would not tell me. ⁷But he answered thus: Behold thou shalt conceive and bear a son: beware thou drink no wine, nor strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite of God from his infancy, from his mother's womb until the day of his death. ⁸Then Manue prayed to the Lord, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord, that the mail of God, whom thou didst send, may come again, and teach us what we ought to do concerning the child that shall be born. ⁹And the Lord heard the prayer of Manue, and the angel of the Lord appeared again to his wife as she was sitting in the field. But Manue her husband was not with her. And when she saw the angel, ¹⁰She made haste and ran to her husband: and told him saying: Behold the man hath appeared to me whom I saw before. ¹¹He rose up and followed his wife: and coming to the man, said to him: Art thou he that spoke to the woman? And he answered: I am. ¹²And Manue said to him: When thy word shall come to pass, what wilt thou that the child should do? or from what shall he keep himself? ¹³And the angel of the Lord said to Manue: From all the things I have spoken of to thy wife, let her refrain herself: ¹⁴And let her eat nothing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: and whatsoever I have commanded her, let her fulfil and observe. ¹⁵And Manue said to the angel of the Lord: I beseech thee to consent to my request, and let us dress a kid for thee. ¹⁶And the angel answered him: If thou press me, I will not eat of thy bread: but if thou wilt offer a holocaust, offer it to the Lord. And Manue knew not it was the angel of the Lord. ¹⁷And he said to him: What is thy name, that, if thy word shall come to pass, we may honour thee? ¹⁸And he answered him: Why askest thou my name, which is wonderful? ¹⁹Then Manue took a kid of the flocks, and the libations, and put them upon a rock, offering to the Lord, who doth wonderful things: and he and his wife looked on. ²⁰And when the flame from the altar went up towards heaven, the angel of the lord ascended also in the flame. And when Manue and his wife saw this, they fell flat on the ground. ²¹And the angel of the Lord appeared to them no more. And forthwith Manue understood that it was an angel of the Lord, ²²And he said to his wife: We shall certainly die, because we have seen God. ²³And his wife answered him: If the Lord had a mind to kill us, he would not have received a holocaust and libations at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor have told us the things that are to come. ²⁴And she bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. ²⁵And the spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the camp of Dan, between Saraa and Esthaol.

Chapter 14

¹Then Samson went down to Thamnatlia, and seeing there a woman of the daughters of the Philistines, ²He came up, and told his father and his mother, saying: I saw a woman in Thamnatha of the daughters of the Philistines: I beseech you, take her for me to wife. ³And his father and mother said to him: Is there no woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou wilt take a wife of the Philistines, who are uncircumcised? And Samson said to his father: Take this woman for me, for she hath pleased my eyes. ⁴Now his parents knew not that the thing was done by the Lord, and that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. ⁵Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Thamnatha. And when they were come to the vineyards of the town, behold a young lion met him raging and roaring. ⁶And the spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, and he tore the lion as he would have torn a kid in pieces, having nothing at all in his hand: and he would not tell this to his father and mother. ⁷And he went down and spoke to the woman that had pleased his eyes. ⁸And after some days returning to take her, he went aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold there was a swarm of bees in the mouth of the lion and a honeycomb. ⁹And when be had taken it in his hands, he went on eating: and coming to his father and mother, he gave them of it, and they ate: but he would not tell them, that he had taken the honey from the body of the lion. ¹⁰So his father went down to the woman, and made a feast for his son Samson: for so the young men used to do. ¹¹And when the citizens of that place saw him, they brought him thirty companions to be with him. ¹²And Samson said to them: I will propose to you a riddle, which if you declare unto me within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty shirts, and as many coats: ¹³But if you shall not be able to declare it, you shall give me thirty shirts and the same number of coats. They answered him: Put forth the riddle that we may hear it. ¹⁴And he said to them: Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle. ¹⁵And when the seventh day came, they said to the wife of Samson: Soothe thy husband, and persuade him to tell thee what the riddle meaneth. But if thou wilt not do it, we will burn thee, and thy father's house. Have you called us to the wedding on purpose to strip us? ¹⁶So she wept before Samson and complained, saying: Thou hatest me, and dost not love me: therefore thou wilt not expound to me the riddle which thou hast proposed to the sons of my people. But he answered: I would not tell it to my father and mother, and how can I tell it to thee? ¹⁷So she wept before him the seven days of the feast: and at length on the seventh day as she was troublesome to him, he expounded it. And she immediately told her countrymen. ¹⁸And they on the seventh day before the sun went down said to him: What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them: If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you had not found out my riddle. ¹⁹And the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ascalon, and slew there thirty men, whose garments he took away and gave to them that had declared the riddle. And being exceeding angry he went up to his father's house: ²⁰But his wife took one of his friends and bridal companions for her husband.

Chapter 15

¹And a while after, when the days of the wheat harvest were at hand, Samson came, meaning to visit his wife, and he brought her a kid of the flock. And when he would have gone into her chamber as usual, her father would not suffer him, saying: ²I thought thou hadst hated her, and therefore I gave her to thy friend: but she hath a sister, who is younger and fairer than she, take her to wife instead of her. ³And Samson answered him: From this day I shall be blameless in what I do against the Philistines: for I will do you evils. ⁴And he went and caught three hundred foxes, and coupled them tail to tail, and fastened torches between the tails. ⁵And setting them on fire he let the foxes go, that they might run about hither and thither. And they presently went into the standing corn of the Philistines. Which being set on fire, both the corn that was already carried together, and that which was yet standing, was all burnt, insomuch, that the flame consumed also the vineyards and the oliveyards. ⁶Then the Philistines said: Who hath done this thing? And it was answered: Samson the son in law of the Thamnathite, because he took away his wife, and gave her to another, hath done these things. And the Philistines went up and burnt both the woman and her father. ⁷But Samson said to them: Although you have done this, yet will I be revenged of you, and then I will be quiet. ⁸And he made a great slaughter of them, so that in astonishment they laid the calf of the leg upon the thigh. And going down he dwelt in a cavern of the rock Etam. ⁹Then the Philistines going up into the land of Juda, camped in the place which afterwards was called Lechi, that is, the Jawbone, where their army was spread. ¹⁰And the men of the tribe of Juda said to them: Why are you come up against us? They answered: We are come to bind Samson, and to pay him for what he hath done against us. ¹¹Wherefore three thousand men of Juda, went down to the cave of the rock Etam, and said to Samson: Knowest thou not that the Philistines rule over us? Why wouldst thou do thus? And he said to them: As they did to me, so have I done to them. ¹²And they said to him, We are come to bind thee and to deliver thee into the hands of the Philistines. And Samson said to them: Swear to me, and promise me, that you will not kill me. ¹³They said: We will not kill thee: but we will deliver thee up bound. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him from the rock Etam. ¹⁴Now when he was come to the place of the Jawbone, and the Philistines shouting went to meet him, the spirit of the Lord came strongly upon him: and as the flax is wont to be consumed at the approach of fire, so the bands with which he was bound were broken and loosed. ¹⁵And finding a jawbone, even the jawbone of an ass which lay there, catching it up, be slew therewith a thousand men. ¹⁶And he said: With the jawbone of an ass, with the jaw of the colt of asses I have destroyed them, and have slain a thousand men. ¹⁷And when he had ended these words singing, he threw the jawbone out of his hand, and called the name of that place Ramathlechi, which is interpreted the lifting up of the jawbone. ¹⁸Arid being very thirsty, he cried to the Lord, and said: Thou hast given this very great deliverance and victory into the hand of thy servant: and behold I die for thirst, and shall fall into the hands of the uncircumcised. ¹⁹Then the Lord opened a great tooth in the jaw of the ass, and waters issued out of it. And when he had drank them he refreshed his spirit, and recovered his strength. Therefore the name of that place was called, The Spring of him that invoked from the jawbone, until this present day. ²⁰And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Chapter 16

¹He went also into Gaza, and saw there a woman a harlot, and went in unto her. ²And when the Philistines had beard this, and it was noised about among them, that Samson was come into the city, they surrounded him, setting guards at the gate of the city, and watching there all the night in silence, that in the morning they might kill him as he went out. ³But Samson slept till midnight, and then rising he took both the doors of the gate, with the posts thereof, and the bolt, and laying them on his shoulders, carried them up to the top of the hill, which looketh towards Hebron. ⁴After this he loved a woman, who dwelt in the valley of Sorec, and she was called Dalila. ⁵And the princes of the Philistines came to her, and said: Deceive him, and learn of him wherein his great strength lieth, and how we may be able to overcome him, to bind and afflict him: which if thou shalt do, we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. ⁶And Dalila said to Samson: Tell me, I beseech thee, wherein thy greatest strength lieth, and what it is wherewith if thou wert bound thou couldst not break loose. ⁷And Samson answered her: If I shall be bound with seven cords made of sinews not yet dry, but still moist, I shall be weak like other men. ⁸And the princes of the Philistines brought unto her seven cords, such is he spoke of, with which she bound him; ⁹Men lying privately in wait with her, and in the chamber expecting the event of the thing, and she cried out to him: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he broke the bands, as a man would break a thread of tow twined with spittle, when it smelleth the fire: so it was not known wherein his strength Jay. ¹⁰And Dalila said to him: Behold thou hast mocked me, and hast told me a false thing: but now at least tell me wherewith thou mayest be bound. ¹¹And he answered her: If I shall be bound with new ropes, that were never in work, I shall be weak and like other men. ¹²Dalila bound him again with these, and cried out: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson, there being an ambush prepared for him in the chamber. But he broke the bands like threads of webs. ¹³And Dalila said to him again: How long dost thou deceive me, and tell me lies? Shew me wherewith thou mayest be bound. And Samson answered her: If thou plattest the seven locks of my head with a lace, and tying them round about a nail fastenest it in the ground, I shall be weak. ¹⁴And when Dalila had done this, she said to him: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And awaking out of his sleep he drew out the nail with the hairs and the lace. ¹⁵And Dalila said to him: How dost thou say thou lovest me, when thy mind is not with me? Thou hast told me lies these three times, and wouldst not tell me wherein thy great strength lieth. ¹⁶And when she pressed him much, and continually hung upon him for many days, giving him no time to rest, his soul fainted away, and was wearied even until death. ¹⁷Then opening the truth of the thing, he said to her: The razor hath never come upon my head, for I am a Nazarite, that is to say, consecrated to God from my mother's womb: if my head be shaven, my strength shall depart from me, and I shall become weak, and shall be like other men. ¹⁸Then seeing that be had discovered to her all his mind, she sent to the princes of the Philistines, saying: Come up this once more, for now he hath opened his heart to me. And they went up taking with them the money which they had promised. ¹⁹But she made him sleep upon her knees, and lay his head in her bosom. And she called a barber, and shaved his seven locks, and began to drive him away, and thrust him from her: for immediately his strength departed from him. ²⁰And she said: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And awaking from sleep, he said in his mind: I will go out as I did before, and shake myself, not knowing that the Lord was departed from him. ²¹Then the Philistines seized upon him, and forthwith pulled out his eyes, and led him bound in chains to Gaza, and shutting him up in prison made him grind. ²²And now his hair began to grow again. ²³And the princes of the Philistines assembled together, to offer great sacrifices to Dagon their god, and to make merry, saying: Our god hath delivered our enemy Samson into our hands. ²⁴And the people also seeing this, praised their god, and said the same: Our god hath delivered our adversary into our bands, him that destroyed our country and killed very many. ²⁵And rejoicing in their feasts, when they had now taken their good cheer, they commanded that Samson should be called, and should play before them. And being brought out of prison he played before them, and they made him stand between two pillars. ²⁶And he said to the lad that guided his steps: Suffer me to touch the pillars which support the whole house, and let me lean upon them, and rest a little. ²⁷Now the house was full of men and women, and all the princes of the Philistines were there. Moreover about three thousand persons of both sexes from the roof and the higher part of the house, were beholding Samson's play. ²⁸But he called upon the Lord, saying: O Lord God, remember me, and restore to me now my former strength, O my God, that I may revenge myself on my enemies, and for the loss of my two eyes I may take one revenge. ²⁹And laying hold on both the pillars on which the house rested, and holding the one with his right hand, and the other with his left, ³⁰He said: Let me die with the Philistines. And when he had strongly shook the pillars, the house fell upon all the princes, and the rest of the multitude that was there: and he killed many more at his death, than he had killed before in his life. ³¹And his brethren and all his kindred, going down took his body, and buried it between Saraa and Esthaol in the buryingplace of his father Manue: and he judged Israel twenty years.

Chapter 17

¹There was at that time a man of mount Ephraim whose name was Michas, ²Who said to his mother: The eleven hundred pieces of silver, which thou hadst put aside for thyself, and concerning which thou didst swear in my hearing, behold I have, and they are with me. And she said to him: Blessed be my son by the Lord. ³So he restored them to his mother, who said to him: I have consecrated and vowed this silver to the Lord, that my son may receive it at my hand, and make a graven and a molten god, so now I deliver it to thee. ⁴And he restored them to his mother: and she took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith, to make of them a graven and a molten god, which was in the house of Michas. ⁵And he separated also therein a little temple for the god, and made an ephod, and theraphim, that is to say, a priestly garment, and idols: and he filled the hand of one of his sons, and he became his priest. ⁶In those days there was no king in Israel, but every one did that which seemed right to himself. ⁷There was also another young man of Bethlehem Juda, of the kindred thereof: and he was a Levite, and dwelt there. ⁸Now he went out from the city of Bethlehem, and desired to sojourn wheresoever he should find it convenient for him. And when he was come to mount Ephraim, as he was on his journey, and had turned aside a little into the house of Michas, ⁹He was asked by him whence he came. And he answered: I am a Levite of Bethlehem Juda, and I am going to dwell where I can, and where I shall find a place to my advantage. ¹⁰And Michas said: Stay with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee every year ten pieces of silver, and a double suit of apparel, and thy victuals. ¹¹He was content, and abode with the man, and was unto him as one of his sons. ¹²And Michas filled his hand, and had the young man with him, for his priest, saying: ¹³Now I know God will do me good, since I have a priest of the race of the Levites.

Chapter 18

¹In those days there was no king in Israel, and the tribe of Dan sought them an inheritance to dwell in: for unto that day they had not received their lot among the other tribes. ²So the children of Dan sent five most valiant men of their stock and family from Saraa and Esthaol, to spy out the land, and to view it diligently: and they said to them: Go, and view the land. They went on their way, and when they came to mount Ephraim, they went into the house of Michas, and rested there: ³And knowing the voice of the young man the Levite, and lodging with him, they said to him: Who brought thee hither? what dost thou here? why wouldst thou come hither? ⁴He answered them: Michas hath done such and such things for me, and hath hired me to be his priest. ⁵Then they desired him to consult the Lord, that they might know whether their journey should be prosperous, and the thing should have effect. ⁶He answered them: Go in peace, the Lord looketh on your way, and the journey that you go. ⁷So the five men going on came to Lais: and they saw how the people dwelt therein without any fear, according to the custom of the Sidonians, secure and easy, having no man at all to oppose them, being very rich, and living separated, at a distance from Sidon and from all men. ⁸And they returned to their brethren in Saraa and Esthaol, who asked them what they had done? to whom they answered: ⁹Arise, and let us go up to them: for we have seen the land which is exceeding rich and fruitful: neglect not, lose no time: let us go and possess it, there will be no difficulty. ¹⁰We shall come to a people that is secure, into a spacious country, and the Lord will deliver the place to us, in which there is no want of any thing that groweth on the earth. ¹¹There went therefore of the kindred of Dan, to wit, from Saraa and Esthaol, six hundred men, furnished with arms for war, ¹²And going up they lodged in Cariathiarim of Juda: which place from that time is called the camp of Dan, and is behind Cariathiarim. ¹³From thence they passed into mount Ephraim. And when they were come to the house of Michas, ¹⁴The five men, that before had been sent to view the land of Lais, said to the rest of their brethren: You know that in these houses there is an ephod, and theraphim, and a graven, and a molten god: see what you are pleased to do. ¹⁵And when they had turned a little aside, they went into the house of the young man the Levite, who was in the house of Michas: and they saluted him with words of peace. ¹⁶And the six hundred men stood before the door, appointed with their arms. ¹⁷But they that were gone into the house of the young man, went about to take away the graven god, and the ephod, and the theraphim, and the molten god, and the priest stood before the door, the six hundred valiant men waiting not far off. ¹⁸So they that were gone in took away the graven thing, the ephod, and the idols, and the molten god. And the priest said to them: What are you doing? ¹⁹And they said to him: Hold thy peace and put thy finger on thy mouth and come with us, that we may have thee for a father, and a priest. Whether is better for thee, to be a priest in the house of one man, or in a tribe and family in Israel? ²⁰When he had heard this, he agreed to their words, and took the ephod, and the idols, and the graven god, and departed with them. ²¹And when they were going forward, and had put before them the children and the cattle and all that was valuable, ²²And were now at a distance from the house of Michas, the men that dwelt in the houses of Michas gathering together followed them, ²³And began to shout out after them. They looked back, and said to Michas: What aileth thee? Why dost thou cry? ²⁴And he answered: You have taken away my gods which I have made me and the priest, and all that I have, and do you say: What aileth thee? ²⁵And the children of Dan said to him: See thou say no more to us, lest men enraged come upon thee, and thou perish with all thy house. ²⁶And so they went on the journey they had begun. But Michas seeing that they were stronger than he, returned to his house. ²⁷And the six hundred men took the priest, and the things we spoke of before, and came to Lais to a people that was quiet and secure, and smote them with the edge of the sword: and the city was burnt with fire, ²⁸There being no man at all who brought them any succour, because they dwelt far from Sidon, and had no society or business with any man. And the city was in the land of Rohob: and they rebuilt it and dwelt therein. ²⁹Calling the name of the city Dan after the name of their father, who was the son of Israel, which before was called Lais. ³⁰And they set up to themselves the graven idol, and Jonathan the son of Gersam the son of Moses, he and his sons were priests in the tribe of Dan, until the day of their captivity. ³¹And the idol of Michas remained with them all the time that the house of God was in Silo. In those days there was no king in Israel.

Chapter 19

¹There was a certain Levite, who dwelt on the side of mount Ephraim, who took a wife of Bethlehem Juda: ²And she left him and returned to her father's house in Bethlehem, and abode with him four months. ³And her husband followed her, willing to be reconciled with her, and to speak kindly to her, and to bring her back with him, having with him a servant and two asses: and she received him, and brought him into her father's house. And when his father in law had heard this, and had seen him, he met him with joy, ⁴And embraced the man. And the son in law tarried in the house of his father in law three days, eating with him and drinking familiarly. ⁵But on the fourth day arising early in the morning he desired to depart. But his father in law kept him, and said to him: Taste first a little bread, and strengthen thy stomach, and so thou shalt depart. ⁶And they sat down together, and ate and drank. And the father of the young woman said to his son in law: I beseech thee to stay here to day, and let us make merry together. ⁷But he rising up began to be for departing. And nevertheless his father in law earnestly pressed him, and made him stay with him. ⁸But when morning was come, the Levite prepared to go on his journey. And his father in law said to him again: I beseech thee to take a little meat, and strengthening thyself, till the day be farther advanced, afterwards thou mayest depart. And they ate together. ⁹And the young man arose to set forward with his wife and servant. And his father in law spoke to him again: Consider that the day is declining, and draweth toward evening: tarry with me to day also, and spend the day in mirth, and to morrow thou shalt depart, that thou mayest go into thy house. ¹⁰His son in law would not consent to his words: but forthwith went forward and came over against Jebus, which by another name is called Jerusalem, leading with him two asses laden, and his concubine. ¹¹And now they were come near Jebus, and the day was far spent: and the servant said to his master: Come, I beseech thee, let us turn into the city of the Jebusites, and lodge there. ¹²His master answered him: I will not go into the town of another nation, who are not of the children of Israel, but I will pass over to Gabaa: ¹³And when I shall come thither, we will lodge there, or at least in the city of Rama. ¹⁴So they passed by Jebus, and went on their journey, and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gabaa, which is in the tribe of Benjamin: ¹⁵And they turned into it, to lodge there. And when they were come in, they sat in the street of the city, for no man would receive them to lodge. ¹⁶And behold they saw an old man, returning out of the field and from his work in the evening, and he also was of mount Ephraim, and dwelt as a stranger in Gabaa; but the men of that country were the children of Jemini. ¹⁷And the old man lifting up his eyes, saw the man sitting with his bundles in the street of the city, and said to him: Whence comest thou? and whither goest thou? ¹⁸He answered him: We came out from Bethlehem Juda, and we are going to our home, which is on the side of mount Ephraim, from whence we went to Bethlehem: and now we go to the house of God, and none will receive us under his roof: ¹⁹We have straw and hay for provender of the asses, and bread and wine for the use of myself and of thy handmaid, and of the servant that is with me: we want nothing but lodging. ²⁰And the old man answered him: Peace be with thee: I will furnish all things that are necessary: only I beseech thee, stay not in the street. ²¹And he brought him into his house, and gave provender to his asses: and after they had washed their feet, he entertained them with a feast. ²²While they were making merry, and refreshing their bodies with meat and drink, after the labour of the journey, the men of that city, sons of Belial, (that is, without yoke,) came and beset the old man's house, and began to knock at the door, calling to the master of the house, and saying: Bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may abuse him. ²³And the old man went out to them, and said: Do not so, my brethren, do not so wickedly: because this man is come into my lodging, and cease I pray you from this folly. ²⁴I have a maiden daughter, and this man hath a concubine, I will bring them out to you, and you may humble them, and satisfy your lust: only, I beseech you, commit not this crime against nature on the man. ²⁵They would not be satisfied with his words; which the man seeing, brought out his concubine to them, and abandoned her to their wickedness: and when they had abused her all the night, they let her go in the morning. ²⁶But the woman, at the dawning of the day, came to the door of the house where her lord lodged, and there fell down. ²⁷And in the morning the man arose, and opened the door that he might end the journey he had begun: and behold his concubine lay before the door with her hands spread on the threshold. ²⁸He thinking she was taking her rest, said to her: Arise, and let us be going. But as she made no answer, perceiving she was dead, he took her up, and laid her upon his ass, and returned to his house. ²⁹And when he was come home he took a sword, and divided the dead body of his wife with her bones into twelve parts, and sent the pieces into all the borders of Israel. ³⁰And when every one had seen this, they all cried out: There was never such a thing done in Israel from the day that our fathers came up out of Egypt, until this day: give sentence, and decree in common what ought to be done.

Chapter 20

¹Then all the children of Israel went out and gathered together as one man from Dan to Bersabee, with the land of Galaad, to the Lord in Maspha: ²And all the chiefs of the people, and all the tribes of Israel met together in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen fit for war. ³(Nor were the children of Benjamin ignorant that the children of Israel were come up to Maspha.) And the Levite the husband of the woman that was killed, being asked, how so great a wickedness had been committed, ⁴Answered: I came into Gabaa of Benjamin with my wife, and there I lodged: ⁵And behold the men of that city in the night beset the house wherein I was, intending to kill me, and abused my wife with an incredible fury of lust, so that at last she died. ⁶And I took her and cut her in pieces, and sent the, parts into all the borders of your possession: because there never was so heinous a crime, and so great an abomination committed in Israel. ⁷You are all here, O children of Israel, determine what you ought to do. ⁸And all the people standing, answered as by the voice of one man: We will not return to our tents, neither shall any one of us go into his own house: ⁹But this we will do in common against Gabaa: ¹⁰We will take ten men of a hundred out of all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to bring victuals for the army, that we might fight against Gabaa of Benjamin, and render to it for its wickedness, what it deserveth. ¹¹And all Israel were gathered together against the city, as one man, with one mind, and one counsel: ¹²And they sent messengers to all the tribe of Benjamin to say to them: Why hath so great an abomination been found among you? ¹³Deliver up the men of Gabaa, that have committed this heinous crime, that they may die, and the evil may be taken away out of Israel. But they would not hearken to the proposition of their brethren the children of Israel: ¹⁴But out of all the cities which were of their lot, they gathered themselves together into Gabaa, to aid them, and to fight against the whole people of Israel. ¹⁵And there were found of Benjamin five and twenty thousand men that drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gabaa, ¹⁶Who were seven hundred most valiant men, fighting with the left hand as well as with the right: and slinging stones so sure that they could hit even a hair, and not miss by the stone's going on either side. ¹⁷Of the men of Israel also, beside the children of Benjamin, were found four hundred thousand that drew swords, and were prepared to fight. ¹⁸And they arose and came to the house of God, that is, to Silo: and they consulted God, and said: Who shall be in our army the first to go to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord answered them: Let Juda be your leader. ¹⁹And forthwith the children of Israel rising in the morning, camped by Gabaa: ²⁰And going out from thence to fight against Benjamin, began to assault the city. ²¹And the children of Benjamin coming out of Gabaa, slew of the children of Israel that day two and twenty thousand men. ²²Again Israel trusting in their strength and their number, set their army in array in the same place, where they had fought before: ²³Yet so that they first went up and wept before the Lord until night: and consulted him, and said: Shall I go out any more to fight against the children of Benjamin my brethren, or not? And he answered them: Go up against them, and join battle. ²⁴And when the children of Israel went out the next day to fight against the children of Benjamin, ²⁵The children of Benjamin sallied forth out of the gates of Gabaa: and meeting them made so great a slaughter of them, as to kill eighteen thousand men that drew the sword. ²⁶Wherefore all the children of Israel came to the house of God, and sat and wept before the Lord: and they fasted that day till the evening, and offered to him holocausts, and victims of peace offerings, ²⁷And inquired of him concerning their state. At that time the ark of the covenant of the Lord was there, ²⁸And Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron was over the house. So they consulted the Lord and said: Shall we go out any more to fight against the children of Benjamin our brethren, or shall we cease? And the Lord said to them: Go up, for to morrow I will deliver them into your hands. ²⁹And the children of Israel set ambushes round about the city of Gabaa: ³⁰And they drew up their army against Benjamin the third time, as they had done the first and second. ³¹And the children of Benjamin boldly issued out of the city, and seeing their enemies flee, pursued them a long way, so as to wound and kill some of them, as they had done the first and second day, whilst they fled by two highways, whereof one goeth up to Bethel, and the other to Gabaa, and they slew about thirty men: ³²For they thought to cut them off, as they did before. But they artfully feigning a flight, designed to draw them away from the city, and by their seeming to flee to bring them to the highways aforesaid. ³³Then all the children of Israel rising up out of the places where they were, set their army in battle array, in the place which is called Baalthamar. The ambushes also which were about the city, began by little and little to come forth, ³⁴And to march from the west side of the city. And other ten thousand men chosen out of all Israel attacked the inhabitants of the city. And the battle grew hot against the children of Benjamin: and they understood not that present death threatened them on every side. ³⁵And the Lord defeated them before the children of Israel, and they slew of them in that day five and twenty thousand, and one hundred, all fighting men and that drew the sword. ³⁶But the children of Benjamin when they saw themselves to be too weak, began to flee. Which the children of Israel seeing, gave them place to flee, that they might come to the ambushes that were prepared, which they had set near the city. ³⁷And they that were in ambush arose on a sudden out of their coverts, and whilst Benjamin turned their backs to the slayers, went into the city, and smote it with the edge of the sword. ³⁸Now the children of Israel had given a sign to them, whom they had laid in ambushes, that after they had taken the city, they should make a fire: that by the smoke rising on high, they might shew that the city was taken. ³⁹And when the children of Israel saw this in the battle (for the children of Benjamin thought they fled and pursued them vigorously, killing thirty men of their army) ⁴⁰And perceived as it were a pillar of smoke rise up from the city; and Benjamin looking back, saw that the city was taken, and that the flames ascended on high: ⁴¹They that before had made as if they fled, turning their faces stood bravely against them; which the children of Benjamin seeing, turned their backs, ⁴²And began to go towards the way of the desert, the enemy pursuing them thither also. And they that fired the city came also out to meet them. ⁴³And so it was, that they were slain on both sides by the enemies, and there was no rest of their men dying. They fell and were beaten down on the east side of the city Gabaa. ⁴⁴And they that were slain in the same place were eighteen thousand men, all most valiant soldiers. ⁴⁵And when they that remained of Benjamin saw this, they fled into the wilderness and made towards the rock that is called Remmon. In that flight, also as they were straggling and going different ways, they slew of them five thousand men. And as they went farther, they still pursued them, and slew also other two thousand. ⁴⁶And so it came to pass, that all that were slain of Benjamin in divers places, were five and twenty thousand fighting men, most valiant for war. ⁴⁷And there remained of all the number of Benjamin only six hundred men that were able to escape, and flee to the wilderness: and they abode in the rock Remmon four months. ⁴⁸But the children of Israel returning, put all the remains of the city to the sword, both men and beasts, and all the cities and villages of Benjamin were consumed with devouring flames.

Chapter 21

¹Now the children of Israel had also sworn in Maspha, saying: None of us shall give of his daughters to the children of Benjamin to wife. ²And they all came to the house of God in Silo, and abiding before him till the evening, lifted up their voices, and began to lament and weep, saying: ³O Lord God of Israel, why is so great an evil come to pass in thy people, that this day one tribe should be taken away from among us? ⁴And rising early the next day, they built an altar: and offered there holocausts, and victims of peace, and they said: ⁵Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the army of the Lord? for they had bound themselves with a great oath, when they were in Maspha, that whosoever were wanting should be slain. ⁶And the children of Israel being moved with repentance for their brother Benjamin, began to say: One tribe is taken away from Israel. ⁷Whence shall they take wives? For we have all in general sworn, not to give our daughters to them. ⁸Therefore they said: Who is thereof all the tribes of Israel, that came not up to the Lord to Maspha. And behold the inhabitants of Jabes Galaad were found not to have been in that army. ⁹(At that time also when they were in Silo, no one of them was found there.) ¹⁰So they sent ten thousand of the most valiant men, and commanded them, saying: Go and put the inhabitants of Jabes Galaad to the sword, with their wives and their children. ¹¹And this is what you shall observe: Every male, and all women that have known men, you shall kill, but the virgins you shall save. ¹²And there were found of Jabes Galaad four hundred virgins, that had not known the bed of a man, and they brought them to the camp Silo, into the land of Chanaan. ¹³And they sent messengers to the children of Benjamin, that were in the rock Remmon, and commanded them to receive them in peace. ¹⁴And the children of Benjamin came at that time, and wives were given them of the daughters of Jabes Galaad: but they found no others, whom they might give in like manner. ¹⁵And all Israel was very sorry, and repented for the destroying of one tribe out of Israel. ¹⁶And the ancients said: What shall we do with the rest, that have not received wives? for all the women in Benjamin are dead. ¹⁷And we must use all care, and provide with great diligence, that one tribe be not destroyed out of Israel. ¹⁸For as to our own daughters we cannot give them, being bound with an oath and a curse, whereby we said: Cursed be he that shall give Benjamin any of his daughters to wife. ¹⁹So they took counsel, and said: Behold there is a yearly solemnity of the Lord in Silo, which is situate on the north of the city of Bethel, and on the east side of the way, that goeth from Bethel to Sichem, and on the south of the town of Lebona. ²⁰And they commanded the children of Benjamin, and said: Go, and lie hid in the vineyards, ²¹And when you shall see the daughters of Silo come out, as the custom is, to dance, come ye on a sudden out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife among them, and go into the land of Benjamin. ²²And when their fathers and their brethren shall come, and shall begin to complain against you, and to chide, we will say to them: Have pity on them for they took them not away as by the right of war or conquest, but when they asked to have them, you gave them not, and the fault was committed on your part. ²³And the children of Benjamin did, as they had been commanded: and according to their number, they carried off for themselves every man his wife of them that were dancing: and they went into their possession and built up their cities, and dwelt in them. ²⁴The children of Israel also returned by their tribes, and families, to their dwellings. In those days there was no king in Israel: but every one did that which seemed right to himself.

The Book of Ruth

This Book is called RUTH, from the name of the person whose history is here recorded: who, being a Gentile, became a convert to the true faith, and marrying Booz, the great-grandfather of David, was one of those from whom Christ sprung according to the flesh, and an illustrious figure of the Gentile church. It is thought this book was written by the prophet Samuel.

Chapter 1

¹In the days of one of the judges, when the judges ruled, there came a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem Juda, went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. ²He was named Elimelech, and his wife, Noemi: and his two sons, the one Mahalon, and the other Chelion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Juda. And entering into the country of Moab, they abode there. ³And Elimelech the husband of Noemi died: and she remained with her sons. ⁴And they took wives of the women of Moab, of which one was called Orpha, and the other Ruth. And they dwelt there ten years. ⁵And they both died, to wit, Mahalon and Chelion: and the woman was left alone, having lost both her sons and her husband. ⁶And she arose to go from the land of Moab to her own country with both her daughters in law: for she had heard that the Lord had looked upon his people, and had given them food. ⁷Wherefore she went forth out of the place of her sojournment, with both her daughters in law: and being now in the way to return into the land of Juda, ⁸She said to them: Go ye home to your mothers: the Lord deal mercifully with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. ⁹May he grant you to find rest in the houses of the husbands which you shall take. And she kissed them. And they lifted up their voice and began to weep, ¹⁰And to say: We will go on with thee to thy people. ¹¹But she answered them: Return, my daughters: why come ye with me? have I any more sons in my womb, that you may hope for husbands of me? ¹²Return again, my daughters, and go your ways: for I am now spent with age, and not fit for wedlock. Although I might conceive this night, and bear children, ¹³If you would wait till they were grown up, and come to man's estate, you would be old women before you marry. Do not so, my daughters, I beseech you: for I am grieved the more for your distress, and the hand of the Lord is gone out against me. ¹⁴And they lifted up their voice, and began to weep again: Orpha kissed her mother in law and returned: Ruth stuck close to her mother in law. ¹⁵And Noemi said to her: Behold thy kinswoman is returned to her people, and to her gods, go thou with her. ¹⁶She answered: Be not against me, to desire that I should leave thee and depart: for whithersoever thou shalt go, I will go: and where thou shalt dwell, I also will dwell. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. ¹⁷The land that shall receive thee dying, in the same will I die: and there will I be buried. The Lord do so and so to me, and add more also, if aught but death part me and thee. ¹⁸Then Noemi, seeing that Ruth was steadfastly determined to go with her, would not be against it, nor persuade her any more to return to her friends: ¹⁹So they went together and came to Bethlehem. And when they were come into the city, the report was quickly spread among all: and the women said: This is that Noemi. ²⁰But she said to them: Call me not Noemi, (that is, beautiful,) but call me Mara, (that is, bitter,) for the Almighty hath quite filled me with bitterness. ²¹I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me back empty. Why then do you call me Noemi, whom the Lord hath humbled and the Almighty hath afflicted? ²²So Noemi came with Ruth the Moabitess her daughter in law, from the land of her sojournment: and returned into Bethlehem, in the beginning of the barley harvest.

Chapter 2

¹Now her husband Elimelech had a kinsman, a powerful man, and very rich, whose name was Booz. ²And Ruth the Moabitess said to her mother in law: If thou wilt, I will go into the field, and glean the ears of corn that escape the hands of the reapers, wheresoever I shall find grace with a householder that will be favourable to me. And she answered her: Go, my daughter. ³She went therefore and gleaned the ears of corn after the reapers. And it happened that the owner of that field was Booz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. ⁴And behold, he came out of Bethlehem, and said to the reapers: The Lord be with you. And they answered him: The Lord bless thee. ⁵And Booz said to the young man that was set over the reapers: Whose maid is this? ⁶And he answered him: This is the Moabitess who came with Noemi, from the land of Moab, ⁷And she desired leave to glean the ears of corn that remain, following the steps of the reapers: and she hath been in the field from morning till now, and hath not gone home for one moment. ⁸And Booz said to Ruth: Hear me, daughter, do not go to glean in any other field, and do not depart from this place: but keep with my maids, ⁹And follow where they reap. For I have charged my young men, not to molest thee: and if thou art thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of the waters whereof the servants drink. ¹⁰She fell on her face and worshipping upon the ground, said to him: Whence cometh this to me, that I should find grace before thy eyes, and that thou shouldst vouchsafe to take notice of me a woman of another country? ¹¹And he answered her: All hath been told me, that thou hast done to thy mother in law after the death of thy husband: and how thou hast left thy parents, and the land wherein thou wast born, and art come to a people which thou knewest not heretofore. ¹²The Lord render unto thee for thy work, and mayest thou receive a full reward of the Lord the God of Israel, to whom thou art come, and under whose wings thou art fled. ¹³And she said: I have found grace in thy eyes, my lord, who hast comforted me and hast spoken to the heart of thy handmaid, who am not like to one of thy maids. ¹⁴And Booz said to her: At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. So she sat at the side of the reapers, and she heaped to herself frumenty, and ate and was filled, and took the leavings. ¹⁵And she arose from thence, to glean the ears of corn as before. And Booz commanded his servants, saying: If she would even reap with you, hinder her not: ¹⁶And let fall some of your handfuls of purpose, and leave them, that she may gather them without shame, and let no man rebuke her when she gathereth them. ¹⁷She gleaned therefore in the field till evening: and beating out with a rod and threshing what she had gleaned, she found about the measure of an ephi of barley, that is, three bushels: ¹⁸Which she took up and returned into the city, and shewed it to her mother in law: moreover she brought out, and gave her of the remains of her meat, wherewith she had been filled. ¹⁹And her mother in law said to her: Where hast thou gleaned to day, and where hast thou wrought? blessed be he that hath had pity on thee. And she told her with whom she had wrought: and she told the man's name, that he was called Booz. ²⁰And Noemi answered her: Blessed be he of the Lord: because the same kindness which he shewed to the living, he hath kept also to the dead. And again she said: The man is our kinsman. ²¹And Ruth said, He also charged me, that I should keep close to his reapers, till all the corn should be reaped. ²²And her mother in law said to her: It is better for thee, my daughter, to go out to reap with his maids, lest in another man's field some one may resist thee. ²³So she kept close to the maids of Booz: and continued to glean with them, till all the barley and the wheat were laid up in the barns.

Chapter 3

¹After she was returned to her mother in law, Noemi said to her: My daughter, I will seek rest for thee, and will provide that it may be well with thee. ²This Booz, with whose maids thou wast joined in the field, is our near kinsman, and behold this night he winnoweth barley in the threshingfloor. ³Wash thyself therefore and anoint thee, and put on thy best garments, and go down to the barnfloor: but let not the man see thee, till he shall have done eating and drinking. ⁴And when he shall go to sleep, mark the place wherein he sleepeth: and thou shalt go in, and lift up the clothes wherewith he is covered towards his feet, and shalt lay thyself down there: and he will tell thee what thou must do. ⁵She answered: Whatsoever thou shalt command, I will do. ⁶And she went down to the barnfloor, and did all that her mother in law had bid her. ⁷And when Booz had eaten, and drunk, and was merry, he went to sleep by the heap of sheaves, and she came softly and uncovering his feet, laid herself down. ⁸And behold, when it was now midnight the man was afraid, and troubled: and he saw a woman lying at his feet, ⁹And he said to her: Who art thou? And she answered: I am Ruth thy handmaid: spread thy coverlet over thy servant, for thou art a near kinsman. ¹⁰And he said: Blessed art thou of the Lord, my daughter, and thy latter kindness has surpassed the former: because thou hast not followed young men either poor or rich. ¹¹Fear not therefore, but whatsoever thou shalt say to me I will do to thee. For all the people that dwell within the gates of my city, know that thou art a virtuous woman. ¹²Neither do I deny myself to be near of kin, but there is another nearer than I. ¹³Rest thou this night: and when morning is come, if he will take thee by the right of kindred, all is well: but if he will not, I will undoubtedly take thee, as the Lord liveth: sleep till the morning. ¹⁴So she slept at his feet till the night was going off. And she arose before men could know one another, and Booz said: Beware lest any man know that thou camest hither. ¹⁵And again he said: Spread thy mantle, wherewith thou art covered, and hold it with both hands. And when she spread it and held it, he measured six measures of barley, and laid it upon her. And she carried it and went into the city, ¹⁶And came to her mother in law; who said to her: What hast thou done, daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her. ¹⁷And she said: Behold he hath given me six measures of barley: for he said: I will not have thee return empty to thy mother in law. ¹⁸And Noemi said: Wait my daughter, till we see what end the thing will have. For the man will not rest until he have accomplished what he hath said.

Chapter 4

¹Then Booz went up to the gate, and sat there. And when he had seen the kinsman going by, of whom he had spoken before, he said to him, calling him by his name: Turn aside for a little while, and sit down here. He turned aside, and sat down. ²And Booz taking ten men of the ancients of the city, said to them: Sit ye down here. ³They sat down, and he spoke to the kinsman: Noemi, who is returned from the country of Moab, will sell a parcel of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. ⁴I would have thee to understand this, and would tell thee before all that sit here, and before the ancients of my people. If thou wilt take possession of it by the right of kindred: buy it and possess it: but if it please thee not, tell me so, that I may know what I have to do. For there is no near kinsman besides thee, who art first, and me, who am second. But he answered: I will buy the field. ⁵And Booz said to him: When thou shalt buy the field at the woman's hand, thou must take also Ruth the Moabitess, who was the wife of the deceased: to raise up the name of thy kinsman in his inheritance. ⁶He answered: I yield up my right of next akin: for I must not cut off the posterity of my own family. Do thou make use of my privilege, which I profess I do willingly forego. ⁷Now this in former times was the manner in Israel between kinsmen, that if at any time one yielded his right to another: that the grant might be sure, the man put off his shoe, and gave it to his neighhour; this was a testimony of cession of right in Israel. ⁸So Booz said to his kinsman: Put off thy shoe. And immediately he took it off from his foot. ⁹And he said to the ancients and to all the people: You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and Chelion's, and Mahalon's, of the hand of Noemi: ¹⁰And have taken to wife Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahalon, to raise up the name of the deceased in his inheritance lest his name be cut off, from among his family and his brethren and his people. You, I say, are witnesses of this thing. ¹¹Then all the people that were in the gate, and the ancients answered: We are witnesses: The Lord make this woman who cometh into thy house, like Rachel, and Lia, who built up the house of Israel: that she may be an example of virtue in Ephrata, and may have a famous name in Bethlehem: ¹²And that the house may be, as the house of Phares, whom Thamar bore unto Juda, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. ¹³Booz therefore took Ruth, and married her: and went in unto her, and the Lord gave her to conceive and to bear a son. ¹⁴And the women said to Noemi: Blessed be the Lord, who hath not suffered thy family to want a successor, that his name should be preserved in Israel. ¹⁵And thou shouldst have one to comfort thy soul, and cherish thy old age. For he is born of thy daughter in law: who loveth thee: and is much better to thee, than if thou hadst seven sons. ¹⁶And Noemi taking the child laid it in her bosom, and she carried it, and was a nurse unto it. ¹⁷And the women her neighbours, congratulating with her and saying: There is a son born to Noemi: called his name Obed: he is the father of Isai, the father of David. ¹⁸These are the generations of Phares: Phares begot Esron, ¹⁹Esron begot Aram, Aram begot Aminadab, ²⁰Aminadab begot Nahasson, Nahasson begot Salmon, ²¹Salmon begot Booz, Booz begot Obed, ²²Obed begot Isai, Isai begot David.

The First Book of Samuel

otherwise called

The First Book of Kings

This and the following Book are called by the Hebrews the books of Samuel, because they contain the history of Samuel, and of the two kings, Saul and David, whom he anointed. They are more commonly named by the Fathers, the first and second book of Kings. As to the writer of them, it is the common opinion that Samuel composed the first book, as far as the twenty-fifth chapter; and that the prophets Nathan and Gad finished the first, and wrote the second book. See 1 Paralipomenon, alias 1 Chronicles, 29.29.

Chapter 1

¹There was a man of Ramathaimsophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elcana, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliu, the son of Thohu, the son of Suph, an Ephraimite: ²And he had two wives, the name of one was Anna, and the name of the other Phenenna. Phenenna had children: but Anna had no children. ³And this man went up out of his city upon the appointed days, to adore and to offer sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Silo. And the two sons of Heli, Ophni and Phinees, were there priests of the Lord. ⁴Now the day came, and Elcana offered sacrifice, and gave to Phenenna his wife, and to all her sons and daughters, portions: ⁵But to Anna he gave one portion with sorrow, because he loved Anna. And the Lord had shut up her womb. ⁶Her rival also afflicted her, and troubled her exceedingly, insomuch that she upbraided her, that the Lord had shut up her womb: ⁷And thus she did every year, when the time returned that they went up to the temple of the Lord: and thus she provoked her: but Anna wept, and did not eat. ⁸Then Elcana her husband said to her: Anna, why weepest thou? and why dost thou not eat? And why dost thou afflict thy heart? Am not I better to thee than ten children? ⁹So Anna arose after she had eaten and drunk in Silo: And Heli the priest sitting upon a stool, before the door of the temple of the Lord: ¹⁰As Anna had her heart full of grief, she prayed to the Lord, shedding many tears, ¹¹And she made a vow, saying: O Lord, of hosts, if thou wilt look down on the affliction of thy servant, and wilt be mindful of me, and not forget thy handmaid, and wilt give to thy servant a man child: I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head. ¹²And it came to pass, as she multiplied prayers before the Lord, that Heli observed her mouth. ¹³Now Anna spoke in her heart, and only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard at all. Heli therefore thought her to be drunk, ¹⁴And said to her: How long wilt thou, be drunk? digest a little the wine, of which thou hast taken too much. ¹⁵Anna answering, said: Not so, my lord: for I am an exceeding unhappy woman, and have drunk neither wine nor any strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord. ¹⁶Count not thy handmaid for one of the daughters of Belial: for out of the abundance of my sorrow and grief have I spoken till now. ¹⁷Then Heli said to her: Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition, which thou hast asked of him. ¹⁸And she said: Would to God thy handmaid may find grace in thy eyes. So the woman went on her way, and ate, and her countenance was no more changed. ¹⁹And they rose in the morning, and worshipped before the Lord: and they returned, and came into their house at Ramatha. And Elcana knew Anna his wife: and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰And it came to pass when the time was come about, Anna conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel: because she had asked him of the Lord. ²¹And Elcana her husband went up, and all his house, to offer to the Lord the solemn sacrifice, and his vow. ²²But Anna went not up: for she said to her husband: I will not go till the child be weaned, and till I may carry him, that he may appear before the Lord, and may abide always there. ²³And Elcana her husband said to her: Do what seemeth good to thee, and stay till thou wean him: and I pray that the Lord may fulfil his word. So the woman stayed at home, and gave her son suck, till she weaned him. ²⁴And after she had weaned him, she carried him with her, with three calves, and three bushels of flour, and a bottle of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord in Silo. Now the child was as yet very young: ²⁵And they immolated a calf, and offered the child to Heli. ²⁶And Anna said: I beseech thee, my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord: I am that woman who stood before thee here praying to the Lord. ²⁷For this child did I pray, and the Lord hath granted me my petition, which I asked of him. ²⁸Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord all the days of his life, he shall be lent to the Lord. And they adored the Lord there. And Anna prayed, and said:

Chapter 2

¹My heart hath rejoiced in the Lord, and my horn is exalted in my God: my mouth is enlarged over my enemies: because I have joyed in thy salvation. ²There is none holy as the Lord is: for there is no other beside thee, and there is none strong like our God. ³Do not multiply to speak lofty things, boasting: let old matters depart from your mouth: for the Lord is a God of all knowledge, and to him are thoughts prepared. ⁴The bow of the mighty is overcome, and the weak are girt with strength. ⁵They that were full before have hired out themselves for bread: and the hungry are filled, so that the barren hath borne many: and she that had many children is weakened. ⁶The Lord killeth and maketh alive, he bringeth down to hell and bringeth back again. ⁷The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he humbleth and he exalteth. ⁸He raiseth up the needy from the dust, and lifteth up the poor from the dunghill: that he may sit with princes, and hold the throne of glory. For the poles of the earth are the Lord's, and upon them he hath set the world. ⁹He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness, because no man shall prevail by his own strength. ¹⁰The adversaries of the Lord shall fear him: and upon them shall he thunder in the heavens. The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give empire to his king, and shall exalt the horn of his Christ. ¹¹And Elcana went to Ramatha, to his house: but the child ministered in the sight of the Lord before the face of Heli the priest. ¹²Now the sons of Heli were children of Belial, not knowing the Lord, ¹³Nor the office of the priests to the people: but whosoever had offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest came, while the flesh was in boiling, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand, ¹⁴And thrust it into the kettle, or into the caldron, or into the pot, or into the pan: and all that the fleshhook brought up, the priest took to himself. Thus did they to all Israel that came to Silo. ¹⁵Also before they burnt the fat, the servant of the priest came, and said to the man that sacrificed: Give me flesh to boil for the priest: for I will not take of thee sodden flesh, but raw. ¹⁶And he that sacrificed said to him: Let the fat first be burnt to day according to the custom, and then take as much as thy soul desireth. But he answered and said to him: Not so: but thou shalt give it me now, or else I will take it by force. ¹⁷Wherefore the sin of the young men was exceeding great before the Lord: because they withdrew men from the sacrifice of the Lord. ¹⁸But Samuel ministered before the face of the Lord: being a child girded with a linen ephod. ¹⁹And his mother made him a little coat, which she brought to him on the appointed days, when she went up with her husband, to offer the solemn sacrifice. ²⁰And Heli blessed Elcana and his wife: and he said to him: The Lord give thee seed of this woman, for the loan thou hast lent to the Lord. And they went to their own home. ²¹And the Lord visited Anna, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters: and the child Samuel became great before the Lord. ²²Now Heli was very old, and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel: and how they lay with the women that waited at the door of the tabernacle: ²³And he said to them: Why do ye these kinds of things, which I hear, very wicked things, from all the people? ²⁴Do not so, my sons: for it is no good report that I hear, that you make the people of the Lord to transgress. ²⁵If one man shall sin against another, God may be appeased in his behalf: but if a man shall sin against the Lord, who shall pray for him? And they hearkened not to the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them. ²⁶But the child Samuel advanced, and grew on, and pleased both the Lord and men. ²⁷And there came a man of God to Heli, and said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Did I not plainly appear to thy father's house, when they were in Egypt in the house of Pharao? ²⁸And I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my sitar, and burn incense to me, and to wear the ephod before me: and I gave to thy father's house of all the sacrifices of the children of Israel. ²⁹Why have you kicked away my victims, and my gifts which I commanded to be offered in the temple: and thou hast rather honoured thy sons than me, to eat the firstfruits of every sacrifice of my people Israel? ³⁰Wherefore thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father should minister in my sight, for ever. But now saith the Lord: Far be this from me: but whosoever shall glorify me, him will I glorify: but they that despise me, shall be despised. ³¹Behold the days come: and I will cut off thy arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thy house. ³²And thou shalt see thy rival in the temple, in all the prosperity of Israel, and there shall not be an old man in thy house for ever. ³³However I will not altogether take away a man of thee from my altar: but that thy eyes may faint and thy soul be spent: and a great part of thy house shall die when they come to man's estate. ³⁴And this shall be a sign to thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, Ophni and Phinees: In one day they shall both of them die. ³⁵And I will raise me up a faithful priest, who shall do according to my heart, and my soul, and I will build him a faithful house, and he shall walk all days before my anointed. ³⁶And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall remain in thy house, shall come that he may be prayed for, and shall offer a piece of silver, and a roll of bread, and shall say: Put me, I beseech thee, to somewhat of the priestly office, that I may eat a morsel of bread.

Chapter 3

¹Now the child Samuel ministered to the Lord before Heli, and the word of the Lord was precious in those days, there was no manifest vision. ²And it came to pass one day when Heli lay in his place, and his eyes were grown dim, that he could not see: ³Before the lamp of God went out, Samuel slept in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. ⁴And the Lord called Samuel. And he answered: Here am I. ⁵And he ran to Heli and said: Here am I: for thou didst call me. He said: I did not call: go back and sleep. And he went and slept. ⁶And the Lord called Samuel again. And Samuel arose and went to Heli, and said: Here am I: for thou calledst me. He answered: I did not call thee, my son: return and sleep. ⁷Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither had the word of the Lord been revealed to him. ⁸And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose up and went to Heli. ⁹And said: Here am I: for thou didst call me. Then Heli understood that the Lord called the child, and he said to Samuel: Go, and sleep: and if he shall call thee any more, thou shalt say: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and slept in his place. ¹⁰And the Lord came and stood: and he called, as he had called the other times: Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel said: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. ¹¹And the Lord said to Samuel: Behold I do a thing in Israel: and whosoever shall hear it, both his ears shall tingle. ¹²In that day I will raise up against Heli all the things I have spoken concerning his house: I will begin, and I will make an end. ¹³For I have foretold unto him, that I will judge his house for ever, for iniquity, because he knew that his sons did wickedly, and did not chastise them. ¹⁴Therefore have I sworn to the house of Hell, that the iniquity of his house shall not be expiated with victims nor offerings for ever. ¹⁵And Samuel slept till morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel feared to tell the vision to Hell. ¹⁶Then Heli called Samuel, and said: Samuel, my son. And he answered: Here am I. ¹⁷And he asked him: What is the word that the Lord hath spoken to thee? I beseech thee hide it not from me. May God do so and so to thee, and add so and so, if thou hide from me one word of all that were said to thee. ¹⁸So Samuel told him all the words, and did not hide them from him. And he answered: It is the Lord: let him do what is good in his sight. ¹⁹And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and not one of his words fell to the ground. ²⁰And all Israel from Dan to Bersabee, knew that Samuel was a faithful prophet of the Lord. ²¹And the Lord again appeared in Silo, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Silo, according to the word of the Lord. And the word of Samuel came to pass to all Israel.

Chapter 4

¹And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight: and Israel went out to war against the Philistines, and camped by the Stone of help. And the Philistines came to Aphec, ²And put their army in array against Israel. And when they had joined battle, Israel turned their backs to the Philistines, and there was slain in that fight here and there in the fields about four thousand men. ³And the people returned to the camp: and the ancients of Israel said: Why hath the Lord defeated us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch unto us the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Silo, and let it come in the midst of us, that it may save us from the hand of our enemies. ⁴So the people sent to Silo, and they brought from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts sitting upon the cherubims: and the two sons of Heli, Ophni and Phinees, were with the ark of the covenant of God. ⁵And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord was come into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, and the earth rang again. ⁶And the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, and they said: What is this noise of a great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. ⁷And the Philistines were afraid, saying: God is come into the camp. And sighing, they said: ⁸Woe to us: for there was no such great joy yesterday and the day before: Woe to us. Who shall deliver us from the hand of these high gods? these are the gods that struck Egypt with all the plagues in the desert. ⁹Take courage and behave like men, ye Philistines: lest you come to be servants to the Hebrews, as they have served you: take courage and fight. ¹⁰So the Philistines fought, and Israel was overthrown, and every man fled to his own dwelling: and there was an exceeding great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. ¹¹And the ark of God was taken: and the two sons of Heli, Ophni and Phinees, were slain. ¹²And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Silo the same day, with his clothes rent, and his head strewed with dust. ¹³And when he was come, Heli sat upon a stool over against the way watching. For his heart was fearful for the ark of God. And when the man was come into the city, he told it: and all the city cried out. ¹⁴And Heli heard the noise of the cry, and he said: What meaneth the noise of this uproar? But he made haste, and came, and told Heli. ¹⁵Now Heli was ninety and eight years old, and his eyes were dim, and he could not see. ¹⁶And he said to Heli: I am he that came from the battle, and have fled out of the field this day. And he said to him: What is there done, my son? ¹⁷And he that brought the news answered, and said: Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter of the people: moreover thy two sons, Ophni and Phinees, are dead: and the ark of God is taken. ¹⁸And when he had named the ark of God, he fell from his stool backwards by the door, and broke his neck, and died. For he was an old man, and far advanced in years: and he judged Israel forty years. ¹⁹And his daughter in law the wife of Phinees, was big with child, and near her time: and hearing the news that the ark of God was taken, and her father in law, and her husband, were dead, she bowed herself and fell in labour: for her pains came upon her on a sudden. ²⁰And when she was upon the point of death, they that stood about her said to her: Fear not, for thou hast borne a son. She answered them not, nor gave heed to them. ²¹And she called the child Ichabod, saying: The glory is gone from Israel, because the ark of God was taken, and for her father in law, and her husband: ²²And she said: The glory is departed from Israel, because the ark of God was taken.

Chapter 5

¹And the Philistines took the ark of God, and carried it from the Stone of help into Azotus. ²And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the temple of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. ³And when the Azotians arose early the next day, behold Dagon lay upon his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord: and they took Dagon, and set him again in his place. ⁴And the next day again, when they rose in the morning, they found Dagon lying upon his face on the earth before the ark of the Lord: and the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold: ⁵And only the stump of Dagon remained in its place. For this cause neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that go into the temple tread on the threshold of Dagon in Azotus unto this day. ⁶And the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Azotians, and he destroyed them, and afflicted Azotus and the coasts thereof with emerods. And in the villages and fields in the midst of that country, there came forth a multitude of mice, and there was the confusion of a great mortality in the city. ⁷And the men of Azotus seeing this kind of plague, said: The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us: for his hand is heavy upon us, and upon Dagon our god. ⁸And sending, they gathered together all the lords of the Philistines to them, and said: What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And the Gethrites answered: Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about. ⁹And while they were carrying it about, the band of the Lord came upon every city with an exceeding great slaughter: and he smote the men of every city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts. And the Gethrites consulted together, and made themselves seats of skins. ¹⁰Therefore they sent the ark of God into Accaron. And when the ark of God was come into Accaron, the Accaronites cried out, saying: They have brought 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 return into its own place, and not kill us and our people. ¹²For there was the fear of death in every city, and the hand of God was exceeding heavy. The men also that did not die, were afflicted with the emerods: and the cry of every city went up to heaven.

Chapter 6

¹Now the ark of God was in the land of the Philistines seven months. ²And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying: What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? tell us how we are to send it back to its place? And they said: ³If you send back the ark of the God of Israel, send it not away empty, but render unto him what you owe for sin, and then you shall be healed: and you shall know why his hand departeth not from you. ⁴They answered: What is it we ought to render unto him for sin? and they answered: ⁵According to the number of the provinces of the Philistines you shall make five golden emerods, and five golden mice: for the same plague hath been upon you all, and upon your lords. And you shall make the likeness of your emerods, and the likeness of the mice that have destroyed the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel: to see if he will take off his hand from you, and from your gods, and from your land. ⁶Why do you harden your hearts, as Egypt and Pharao hardened their hearts? did not he, after he was struck, then let them go, and they departed? ⁷Now therefore take and make a new cart: and two kine that have calved, on which there hath come no yoke, tie to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. ⁸And you shall take the ark of the Lord, and lay it on the cart, and the vessels of gold, which you have paid him for sin, you shall put into a little box, at the side thereof: and send it away that it may go. ⁹And you shall look: and if it go up by the way of his own coasts towards Bethsames, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, we shall know that it is not his hand hath touched us, but it hath happened by chance. ¹⁰They did therefore in this manner: and taking two kine, that had suckling calves, they yoked them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. ¹¹And they laid the ark of God upon the cart, and the little box that had in it the golden mice and the likeness of the emerods. ¹²And the kine took the straight way that leadeth to Bethsames, and they went along the way, lowing as they went: and turned not aside neither to the right hand nor to the left: and the lords of the Philistines followed them as far as the borders of Bethsames. ¹³Now the Bethsamites were reaping wheat in the valley: and lifting up their eyes they saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. ¹⁴And the cart came into the field of Josue a Bethsamite, and stood there. And there was a great stone, and they cut in pieces the wood of the cart, and laid the kine upon it a holocaust to the Lord. ¹⁵And the Levites took down the ark of God, and the little box that was at the side of it, wherein were the vessels of gold, and they put them upon the great stone. The men also of Bethsames offered holocausts and sacrificed victims that day to the Lord. ¹⁶And the five princes of the Philistines saw, and they returned to Accaron the same day. ¹⁷And these are the golden emerods, which the Philistines returned for sin to the Lord: For Azotus one, for Gaza one, for Ascalon one, for Geth one, for Accaron one: ¹⁸And the golden mice according to the number of the cities of the Philistines, of the five provinces, from the fenced city to the village that was without wall, and to the great Abel (the stone) whereon they set down the ark of the Lord, which was till that day in the field of Josue the Bethsamite. ¹⁹But he slew of the men of Bethsames, because they had seen the ark of the Lord: and he slew of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand of the common people. And the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten the people with a great slaughter. ²⁰And the men of Bethsames said: Who shall be able to stand before the Lord this holy God? and to whom shall he go up from us? ²¹And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Cariathiarim, saying: The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord, come ye down and fetch it up to you.

Chapter 7

¹And then men of Cariathiarim came and fetched up the ark of the Lord and carried it into the house of Abinadab in Gabaa: and they sanctified Eleazar his son, to keep the ark of the Lord. ²And it came to pass, that from the day the ark of the Lord abode in Cariathiarim days were multiplied, (for it was now the twentieth year,) and all the house of Israel rested following the Lord. ³And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying: If you turn to the Lord with all your heart, put away the strange gods from among you, Baalim and Astaroth: and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. ⁴Then the children of Israel put away Baalim and Astaroth, and served the Lord only. ⁵And Samuel said: Gather all Israel to Masphath, that I may pray to the Lord for you. ⁶And they gathered together to Masphath: and they drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and they fasted on that day, and they said there: We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Masphath. ⁷And the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Masphath, and the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard this, they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸And they said to Samuel: Cease not to cry to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us out of the hand of the Philistines. ⁹And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it whole for a holocaust to the Lord: and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him. ¹⁰And it came to pass, when Samuel was offering the holocaust, the Philistines began the battle against Israel: but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and terrified them, and they were overthrown before the face of Israel. ¹¹And the men of Israel going out of Masphath pursued after the Philistines, and made slaughter of them till they came under Bethchar. ¹²And Samuel took a stone, and laid it between Masphath and Sen: and he called the place, the Stone of help. And he said: Thus far the Lord hath helped us. ¹³And the Philistines were humbled, and they did not come any more into the borders of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines, all the days of Samuel. ¹⁴And the cities, which the Philistines had taken from Israel, were restored to Israel, from Accaron to Geth, and their borders: and he delivered Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and there was peace between Israel and the Amorrhites. ¹⁵And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life: ¹⁶And he went every year about to Bethel and to Galgal and to Masphath, and he judged Israel in the aforesaid places. ¹⁷And he returned to Ramatha, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel: he built also there an altar to the Lord.

Chapter 8

¹And it came to pass when Samuel was old, that he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel. ²Now the name of his firstborn son was Joel: and the name of the second was Abia, judges in Bersabee. ³And his sons walked not in his ways: but they turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. ⁴Then all the ancients of Israel being assembled, came to Samuel to Ramatha. ⁵And they said to him: Behold thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: make us a king, to judge us, as all nations have. ⁶And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: Give us a king, to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷And the Lord said to Samuel: Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee. For they have not rejected thee, but me, that I should not reign over them. ⁸According to all their works, they have done from the day that I brought them out of Egypt until this day: as they have forsaken me, and served strange gods, so do they also unto thee. ⁹Now therefore hearken to their voice: but yet testify to them, and foretell them the right of the king, that shall reign over them. ¹⁰Then Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people that had desired a king of him, ¹¹And said: This will be the right of the king, that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and put them in his chariots, and will make them his horsemen, and his running footmen to run before his chariots, ¹²And he will appoint of them to be his tribunes, and centurions, and to plough his fields, and to reap his corn, and to make him arms and chariots. ¹³Your daughters also he will take to make him ointments, and to be his cooks, and bakers. ¹⁴And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your best oliveyards, and give them to his servants. ¹⁵Moreover he will take the tenth of your corn, and of the revenues of your vineyards, to give his eunuchs and servants. ¹⁶Your servants also and handmaids, and your goodliest young men, and your asses he will take away, and put them to his work. ¹⁷Your flocks also he will tithe, and you shall be his servants. ¹⁸And you shall cry out in that day from the face of the king, whom you have chosen to yourselves. and the Lord will not hear you in that day, because you desired unto yourselves a king. ¹⁹But the people would not hear the voice of Samuel, and they said: Nay: but there shall be a king over us. ²⁰And we also will be like all nations: and our king shall judge us, and go out before us, and tight our battles for us. ²¹And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. ²²And the Lord said to Samuel: Hearken to their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said to the men of Israel: Let every man go to his city.

Chapter 9

¹Now I there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Cis, the son of Abiel, the son of Seror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphia, the son of a man of Jemini, valiant and strong. ²And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice and goodly man, and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he appeared above all the people. ³And the asses of Cis, Sauls father, were lost: and Cis said to his son Saul: Take one of the servants with thee, and arise, go, and seek the asses. And when they had passed through mount Ephraim, ⁴And through the land of Salisa, and had not found them, they passed also through the land of Salim, and they were not there: and through the land of Jemini, and found them not. ⁵And when they were come to the land of Suph, Saul said to the servant that was with him: Come, let us return, lest perhaps my father forget the asses, and be concerned for us. ⁶And he said to him: Behold there is a man of God in this city, a famous man: all that he saith, cometh certainly to pass. Now therefore let us go thither, perhaps he may tell us of our way, for which we are come. ⁷And Saul said to his servant: Behold we will go: but what shall we carry to the man of God? the bread is spent in our bags: and we have no present to make to the man of God, nor any thing at all. ⁸The servant answered Saul again, and said: Behold there is found in my hand the fourth part of a sicle of silver, let us give it to the man of God, that he may tell us our way. ⁹Now in time past, in Israel when a man went to consult God he spoke thus: Come, let us go to the seer. For he that is now called a prophet, in time past was called a seer. ¹⁰And Saul said to his servant: Thy word is very good, come, let us go. And they went into the city, where the man of God was. ¹¹And when they went up the ascent to the city, they found maids coming out to draw water, and they said to them: Is the seer here? ¹²They answered and said to them: He is: behold he is before you, make haste now: for he came to day into the city, for there is a sacrifice of the people to day in the high place. ¹³As soon as you come into the city, you shall immediately find him, before he go up to the high place to eat: for the people will not eat till he come: because he blesseth the victim, and afterwards they eat that are invited. Now therefore go up, for to day you shall find him. ¹⁴And they went up into the city. And when they were walking in the midst of the city, behold Samuel was coming out over against them, to go up to the high place. ¹⁵Now the Lord had revealed to the ear of Samuel the day before Saul came, saying: ¹⁶To morrow about this same hour I will send thee a man of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel: and he shall save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked down upon my people, because their cry is come to me. ¹⁷And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him: Behold the man, of whom I spoke to thee, this man shall reign over my people. ¹⁸And Saul came to Samuel in the midst of the gate and said: Tell me, I pray thee, where is the house of the seer? ¹⁹And Samuel answered Saul, saying: I am the seer, go up before me to the high place, that you may eat with me to day, and I will let thee go in the morning: and tell thee all that is in thy heart. ²⁰And as for the asses, which were lost three days ago, be not solicitous, because they are found. And for whom shall be all the best things of Israel? Shall they not be for thee and for all thy father's house? ²¹And Saul answering, said: Am not I a son of Jemini of the least tribe of Israel, and my kindred the last among all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then hast thou spoken this word to me? ²²Then Samuel taking Saul and his servant, brought them into the parlour, and gave them a place at the head of them that were invited. For there were about thirty men. ²³And Samuel said to the cook: Bring the portion, which I gave thee, and commanded thee to set it apart by thee. ²⁴And the cook took up the shoulder, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said: Behold what is left, set it before thee, and eat: because it was kept of purpose for thee, when I invited the people. And Saul ate with Samuel that day. ²⁵And they went down from the high place into the town, and he spoke with Saul upon the top of the house: and he prepared a bed for Saul on the top of the house, and he slept. ²⁶And when they were risen in the morning, and it began now to be light, Samuel called Saul on the top of the house, saying: Arise, that I may let thee go. And Saul arose: and they went out both of them, to wit, he and Samuel. ²⁷And as they were going down in the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul: Speak to the servant to go before us, and pass on: but stand thou still a while, that I may tell thee the word of the Lord.

Chapter 10

¹And Samuel took a little vial of oil and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said: Behold, the Lord hath anointed thee to be prince over his inheritance, and thou shalt deliver his people out of the hands of their enemies, that are round about them. And this shall be a sign unto thee, that God hath anointed thee to be prince. ²When thou shalt depart from me this day, thou shalt find two men by the sepulchre of Rachel in the borders of Benjamin to the south, and they shall say to thee: The asses are found which thou wentest to seek: and thy father thinking no more of the asses is concerned for you, and saith: What shall I do for my son? ³And when thou shalt depart from thence, and go farther on, and shalt come to the oak of Thabor, there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine. ⁴And they will salute thee, and will give thee two loaves, and thou shalt take them at their hand. ⁵After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is: and when thou shalt be come there into the city, thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place, with a psaltery and a timbrel, and a pipe, and a harp before them, and they shall be prophesying. ⁶And the spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be changed into another man. ⁷When therefore these signs shall happen to thee, do whatsoever thy hand shall find, for the Lord is with thee. ⁸And thou shalt go down before me to Galgal, (for I will come down to thee,) that thou mayest offer an oblation, and sacrifice victims of peace: seven days shalt thou wait, O till I come to thee, and I will shew thee what thou art to do. ⁹So when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave unto him another heart, and all these things came to pass that day. ¹⁰And they came to the foresaid hill, and behold a company of prophets met him: and the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he prophesied in the midst of them. ¹¹And all that had known him yesterday and the day before, seeing that he was with the prophets, and prophesied, said to each other: What is this that hath happened to the son of Cis? Is Saul also among the prophets? ¹²And one answered another, saying: 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: Whither went you? They answered: To seek the asses: and not finding them we went to Samuel. ¹⁵And his uncle said to him: Tell me what Samuel said to thee. ¹⁶And Saul said to his uncle: He told us that the asses were found. But of the matter of the kingdom of which Samuel had spoken to him, he told him not. ¹⁷And Samuel called together the people to the Lord in Maspha: ¹⁸And he said to the children of Israel: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all the kings who afflicted you. ¹⁹But you this day have rejected your God, who only hath saved you out of all your evils and your tribulations: and you have said: Nay: but set a king over us. Now therefore stand before the Lord by your tribes, and by your families. ²⁰And Samuel brought to him all the tribes of Israel, and the lot fell on the tribe of Benjamin. ²¹And he brought the tribe of Benjamin and the kindreds thereof, and the lot fell Upon the kindred of Metri, and it came to Saul the son of Cis. They sought him therefore and he was not found. ²²And after this they consulted the Lord whether he would come thither. And the Lord answered: Behold he is hidden at home. ²³And they ran and fetched him thence: and he stood in the midst of the people, and he was higher than any of the people from the shoulders and upward. ²⁴And Samuel said to all the people: Surely you see him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people. And all the people cried and said: God save the king. ²⁵And Samuel told the people the law of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord: and Samuel sent away all the people, every one to his own house. ²⁶Saul also departed to his own house in Gabaa: and there went with him a part of the army, whose hearts God had touched. ²⁷But the children of Belial said: Shall this fellow be able to save us? And they despised him, and brought him no presents, but he dissembled as though he heard not.

Chapter 11

¹And it came to pass about a month after this that Naas, the Ammonite came up, and began to fight against Jabes Galaad. And all the men of Jabes said to Naas: Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. ²And Naas the Ammonite answered them: On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may pluck out all your right eyes, and make you a reproach in all Israel. ³And the ancients of Jabes said to him: Allow us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the coasts of Israel: and if there be no one to defend us, we will come out to thee. ⁴The messengers therefore came to Gabaa of Saul: and they spoke these words in the hearing of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept. ⁵And behold Saul came, following oxen out of the field, and he said: What aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the words of the men of Jabes. ⁶And the spirit of the Lord came upon Saul, when he had heard these words, and his anger was exceedingly kindled. ⁷And taking both the oxen, he cut them in pieces, and sent them into all the coasts of Israel by messengers, saying: Whosoever shall not come forth, and follow Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell upon the people, and they went out as one man. ⁸And he numbered them in Bezec: and there were of the children of Israel three hundred thousand: and of the men of Juda thirty thousand. ⁹And they said to the messengers that came: Thus shall you say to the men of Jabes Galaad: Tomorrow, when the sun shall be hot, you shall have relief. The messengers therefore came, and told the men of Jabes: and they were glad. ¹⁰And they said: In the morning we will come out to you: and you shall do what you please with us. ¹¹And it came to pass, when the morrow was come that Saul put the people in three companies: and he came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and he slew the Ammonites until the day grew hot, and the rest were scattered, so that two of them were not left together. ¹²And the people said to Samuel: Who is he that said: Shall Saul reign over us? Bring the men and we will kill them. ¹³And Saul said: No man shall be killed this day, because the Lord this day hath wrought salvation in Israel: ¹⁴And Samuel said to the people: Come and let us go to Galgal, and let us renew the kingdom there. ¹⁵And all the people went to Galgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Galgal, and they sacrificed there victims of peace before the Lord. And there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced exceedingly

Chapter 12

¹And Samuel said to all Israel: Behold I have hearkened to your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you. ²And now the king goeth before you: but I am old and greyheaded: and my sons are with you: having then conversed with you from my youth unto this day, behold here I am. ³Speak of me before the Lord, and before his anointed, whether I have taken any man's ox, or ass: If I have wronged any man, if I have oppressed any man, if I have taken a bribe at any man's hand: and I will despise it this day, and will restore it to you. ⁴And they said: Thou hast not wronged us, nor oppressed us, nor taken ought at any man's hand. ⁵And he said to them: The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found any thing in my hand. And they said: He is witness. ⁶And Samuel said to the people: It is the Lord, who made Moses and Aaron, and brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt. ⁷Now therefore stand up, that I may plead in judgment against you before the Lord, concerning all the kindness of the Lord, which he hath shewn to you, and to your fathers: ⁸How Jacob went into Egypt, and your fathers cried to the Lord: and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and brought your fathers out of Egypt: and made them dwell in this place. ⁹And they forgot the Lord their God, and he delivered them into the hands of Sisara, captain of the army of Hasor, and into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. ¹⁰But afterwards they cried to the Lord, and said: We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord, and have served Baalim and Astaroth: but now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee. ¹¹And the Lord sent Jerobaal, and Badan, and Jephte, and Samuel, and delivered you from the hand of your enemies round about, and you dwelt securely. ¹²But seeing that Naas king of the children of Ammon was come against you, you said to me: Nay, but a king shall reign over us: whereas the Lord your God was your king. ¹³Now therefore your king is here, whom you have chosen and desired: Behold the Lord hath given you a king. ¹⁴If you will fear the Lord, and serve him, and hearken to his voice, and not provoke the mouth of the Lord: then shall both you, and the king who reigneth over you, be followers of the Lord your God. ¹⁵But if you will not hearken to the voice of the Lord, but will rebel against his words, the hand of the Lord shall be upon you, and upon your fathers. ¹⁶Now then stand, and see this great thing which the Lord will do in your sight. ¹⁷Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call upon the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain: and you shall know and see that you yourselves have done a great evil in the sight of the Lord, in desiring a king over you. ¹⁸And Samuel cried unto the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day. ¹⁹And all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And all the people said to Samuel: Pray for thy servants to the Lord thy God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for a king. ²⁰And Samuel said to the people: Fear not, you have done all this evil: but yet depart not from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. ²¹And turn not aside after vain things which shall never profit you, nor deliver you, because they are vain. ²²And the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because the Lord hath sworn to make you his people. ²³And far from me be this sin against the Lord, that I should cease to pray for you, and I will teach you the good and right way. ²⁴Therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in truth and with your whole heart, for you have seen the great works which he hath done among you. ²⁵But if you will still do wickedly: both you and your king shall perish together.

Chapter 13

¹Saul was a child of one year when he began to reign, and he reigned two years over Israel. ²And Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel: and two thousand were with Saul in Machmas, and in mount Bethel: and a thousand with Jonathan in Gabaa of Benjamin, and the rest of the people he sent back every man to their dwellings. ³And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines which was in Gabaa. And when the Philistines had heard of it, Saul sounded the trumpet over all the land, saying: Let the Hebrews hear. ⁴And all Israel heard this report: Saul hath smitten the garrison of the Philistines: and Israel took courage against the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Galgal. ⁵The Philistines also were assembled to fight against Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and a multitude of people besides, like the sand on the sea shore for number. And going up they camped in Machmas at the east of Bethaven. ⁶And when the men of Israel saw that they were straitened, (for the people were distressed,) they hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in dens, and in pits. ⁷And some of the Hebrews passed over the Jordan into the land of Gad and Galaad. And when Saul was yet in Galgal, all the people that followed him were greatly afraid. ⁸And he waited seven days according to the appointment of Samuel, I and Samuel came not to Galgal, and the people slipt away from him. ⁹Then Saul said: Bring me the holocaust, and the peace offerings. And he offered the holocaust. ¹⁰And when he had made an end of offering the holocaust, behold Samuel came: and Saul went forth to meet him and salute him. ¹¹And Samuel said to him: What hast thou done? Saul answered: Because I saw that the people slipt from me, and thou wast not come according to the days appointed, and the Philistines were gathered together in Machmas, ¹²I said: Now will the Philistines come down upon me to Galgal, and I have not appeased the face of the Lord. Forced by necessity, I offered the holocaust. ¹³And Samuel said to Saul: Thou hast done foolishly, and hast not kept the commandments of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee. And if thou hadst not done thus, the Lord would now have established thy kingdom over Israel for ever. ¹⁴But thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord hath sought him a man according to his own heart: and him hath the Lord commanded to be prince over his people, because thou hast not observed that which the Lord commanded. ¹⁵And Samuel arose and went up from Galgal to Gabaa of Benjamin. And the rest of the people went up after Saul, to meet the people who fought against them, going from Galgal to Gabaa in the hill of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people, that were found with him, about six hundred men. ¹⁶And Saul and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, were in Gabaa of Benjamin: but the Philistines encamped in Machmas. ¹⁷And there went out of the camp of the Philistines three companies to plunder. One company went towards the way of Ephra to the land of Sual; ¹⁸And another went by the way of Beth-horon, and the third turned to the way of the border, above the valley of Seboim towards the desert. ¹⁹Now there was no smith to be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had taken this precaution, lest the Hebrews should make them swords or spears. ²⁰So all Israel went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his ploughshare, and his spade, and his axe, and his rake. ²¹So that their shares, and their spades, and their forks, and their axes were blunt, even to the goad, which was to be mended. ²²And when the day of battle was come, there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan, except Saul and Jonathan his son. ²³And the army of the Philistines went out in order to advance further in Machmas.

Chapter 14

¹Now it came to pass one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man that bore his armour: Come, and let us go over to the garrison of the Philistines, which is on the other side of yonder place. But he told not this to his father. ²And Saul abode in the uttermost part of Gabaa under the pomegranate tree, which was in Magron: and the people with him were about six hundred men. ³And Achias the son of Achitob brother to Ichabod the son of Phinees, the son of Heli the priest of the Lord in Silo, wore the ephod. And the people knew not whither Jonathan was gone. ⁴Now there were between the ascents, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the garrison of the Philistines, rocks standing up on both sides, and steep cliffs like teeth on the one side, and on the other, the name of the one was Boses, and the name of the other was Sene: ⁵One rock stood out towards the north over against Machmas, and the other to the south over against Gabaa. ⁶And Jonathan said to the young man that bore his armour: Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised, it may be the Lord will do for us, because it is easy for the Lord to save either by many, or by few. ⁷And his armourbearer said to him: Do all that pleaseth thy mind: go whither thou wilt, and I will be with thee wheresoever thou hast a mind. ⁸And Jonathan said: Behold we will go over to these men. And when we shall be seen by them, ⁹If they shall speak thus to us: Stay till we come to you: let us stand still in our place, and not go up to them. ¹⁰But if they shall say: Come up to us: let us go up, because the Lord hath delivered them into our hands, this shall be a sign unto us. ¹¹So both of them discovered themselves to the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said: Behold the Hebrews come forth out of the holes wherein they were hid. ¹²And the men of the garrison spoke to Jonathan, and to his armourbearer, and said: Come up to us, and we will shew you a thing. And Jonathan said to his armourbearer: Let us go up, follow me: for the Lord hath delivered them into the hands of I srael. ¹³And Jonathan went up creeping on his hands and feet, and his armourbearer after him. And some fell before Jonathan, others his armourbearer slew as he followed him. ¹⁴And the first slaughter which Jonathan and his armourbearer made, was of about twenty men, within half an acre of land, which a yoke of oxen is wont to plough in a day. ¹⁵And there was a miracle in the camp, through the fields: yea and all the people of their garrison, who had gone out to plunder, were amazed, and the earth trembled: and it happened as a miracle from God. ¹⁶And the watchmen of Saul, who were in Gabaa of Benjamin looked, and behold a multitude overthrown, and fleeing this way and that. ¹⁷And Saul said to the people that were with him: Look, and see who is gone from us. And when they had sought, it was found that Jonathan and his armourbearer were not there. ¹⁸And Saul said to Achias: Bring the ark of the Lord. (For the ark of God was there that day with the children of Israel.) ¹⁹And while Saul spoke to the priest, there arose a great uproar in the camp of the Philistines: and it increased by degrees, and was heard more clearly. And Saul said to the priest: Draw in thy hand. ²⁰Then Saul and all the people that were with him, shouted together, and they came to the place of the fight: and behold every man's sword was turned upon his neighbour, and there was a very great slaughter. ²¹Moreover the Hebrews that had been with the Philistines yesterday and the day before, and went up with them into the camp, returned to be with the Israelites, who were with Saul and Jonathan. ²²And all the Israelites that had hid themselves in mount Ephraim, hearing that the Philistines fled, joined themselves with their countrymen in the fight. And there were with Saul about ten thousand men. ²³And the Lord saved Israel that day. And the fight went on as far as Bethaven. ²⁴And the men of Israel were joined together that day; and Saul adjured the people, saying: Cursed be the man that shall eat food till evening, till I be revenged of my enemies. So none of the people tasted any food: ²⁵And all the common people came into a forest, in which there was honey upon the ground. ²⁶And when the people came into the forest, behold the honey dropped, but no man put his hand to his mouth. For the people feared the oath. ²⁷But Jonathan had not heard when his father adjured the people: and he put forth the end of the rod, which he had in his hand, and dipt it in a honeycomb: and he carried his hand to his mouth, and his eyes were enlightened. ²⁸And one of the people answering, said: Thy father hath bound the people with an oath, saying: Cursed be the man that shall eat any food this day. (And the people were faint.) ²⁹And Jonathan said: My father hath troubled the land: you have seen yourselves that my eyes are enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey: ³⁰How much more if the people had eaten of the prey of their enemies, which they found? had there not been made a greater slaughter among the Philistines? ³¹So they smote that day the Philistines from Machmas to Ailon. And the people were wearied exceedingly. ³²And falling upon the spoils, they took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people ate them with the blood. ³³And they told Saul that the people had sinned against the Lord, eating with the blood. And he said: You have transgressed: roll here to me now a great stone. ³⁴And Saul said: Disperse yourselves among the people, and tell them to bring me every man his ox and his ram, and slay them upon this stone, and eat, and you shall not sin against the Lord in eating with the blood. So all the people brought every man his ox with him till the night: and slew them there. ³⁵And Saul built an altar to the Lord and he then first began to build an altar to the Lord. ³⁶And Saul said: Let us fall upon the Philistines by night, and destroy them till the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them. And the people said: Do all that seemeth good in thy eyes. And the priest said: Let us draw near hither unto God. ³⁷And Saul consulted the Lord: Shall I pursue after the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into the hands of Israel? And he answered him not that day. ³⁸And Saul said: Bring hither all the corners of the people: and know, and see by whom this sin hath happened to day. ³⁹As the Lord liveth who is the saviour of Israel, if it was done by Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. In this none of the people gainsaid him. ⁴⁰And he said to all Israel: Be you on one side, and I with Jonathan my son will be on the other side. And the people answered Saul: Do what seemeth good in thy eyes. ⁴¹And Saul said to the Lord: O Lord God of Israel, give a sign, by which we may know, what the meaning is, that thou answerest not thy servant to day. If this iniquity be in me, or in my son Jonathan, give a proof: or if this iniquity be in thy people, give holiness. And Jonathan and Saul were taken, and the people escaped. ⁴²And Saul said: Cast lots between me, and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken. ⁴³And Saul said to Jonathan: Tell me what thou hast done. And Jonathan told him, and said: I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod, which was in my hand, and behold I must die. ⁴⁴And Saul said: May God do so and so to me, and add still more: for dying thou shalt die, O Jonathan. ⁴⁵And the people said to Saul: Shall Jonathan then die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? This must not be. As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people delivered Jonathan, that he should not die. ⁴⁶And Saul went back, and did not pursue after the Philistines: and the Philistines went to their own places. ⁴⁷And Saul having his kingdom established over Israel, fought against all his enemies round about, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and Edom, and the kings of Soba, and the Philistines; and whithersoever he turned himself, he overcame. ⁴⁸And gathering together an army, he defeated Amalec, and delivered Israel from the hand of them that spoiled them. ⁴⁹And the sons of Saul, were Jonathan, and Jessui, and Melchisua: and the names of his two daughters, the name of the firstborn was Merob, and the name of the younger Michol. ⁵⁰And the name of Saul's wife, was Achinoam the daughter of Achimaas; and the name of the captain of his army was Abner, the son of Ner, the cousin german of Saul. ⁵¹For Cis was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner, was son of Abiel. ⁵²And there was a great war against the Philistines all the days of Saul. For whomsoever Saul saw to be a valiant man, and fit for war, he took him to himself.

Chapter 15

¹And Samuel said to Saul: The Lord sent me to anoint thee king over his People Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the Lord: ²Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have reckoned up all that Amalec hath done to Israel: I how he opposed them in the way when they came up out of Egypt. ³Now therefore go, and smite Amalec, and utterly destroy all that he hath: spare him not, nor covet any thing that is his: but slay both man and woman, child and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. ⁴So Saul commanded the people, and numbered them as lambs: two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand of the men of Juda. ⁵And when Saul was come to the city of Amalec, he laid ambushes in the torrent. ⁶And Saul said to the Cinite: Go, depart and get ye down from Amalec: lest I destroy thee with him. For thou hast shewn kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. And the Cinite departed from the midst of Amalec. ⁷And Saul smote Amalec from Hevila, until thou comest to Sur, which is over against Egypt. ⁸And he took Agag the king of Amalec alive: but all the common people he slew with the edge of the sword. ⁹And Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the flocks of sheep and of the herds, and the garments and the rams, and all that was beautiful, and would not destroy them: but every thing that was vile and good for nothing, that they destroyed. ¹⁰And the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying: ¹¹It repenteth me that I have made Saul king: for he hath forsaken me, and hath not executed my commandments. And Samuel was grieved, and he cried unto the Lord all night. ¹²And when Samuel rose early, to go to Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, that Saul was come to Carmel, and had erected for himself a triumphant arch, and returning had passed on, and gone down to Galgal. And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul was offering a holocaust to the Lord out of the choicest of the spoils which he had brought from Amalec. ¹³And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said to him: Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have fulfilled the word of the Lord. ¹⁴And Samuel said: What meaneth then this bleating of the flocks, which soundeth in my ears, and the lowing of the herds, which I hear? ¹⁵And Saul said: They have brought them from Amalec: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the herds that they might be sacrificed to the Lord thy God, but the rest we have slain. ¹⁶And Samuel said to Saul: Suffer me, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said to him: Speak. ¹⁷And Samuel said: When thou wast a little one in thy own eyes, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee to be king over Israel. ¹⁸And the Lord sent thee on the way, and said: Go, and kill the sinners of Amalec, and thou shalt fight against them until thou hast utterly destroyed them. ¹⁹Why then didst thou not hearken to the voice of the Lord: but hast turned to the prey, and hast done evil in the eyes of the Lord. ²⁰And Saul said to Samuel: Yea I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord, and have walked in the way by which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalec, and Amalec I have slain. ²¹But the people took of the spoils sheep and oxen, as the firstfruits of those things that were slain, to offer sacrifice to the Lord their God in Galgal. ²²And Samuel said: Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams. ²³Because it is like the sin of witchcraft, to rebel: and like the crime of idolatry, to refuse to obey. Forasmuch therefore as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee from being king. ²⁴And Saul said to Samuel: I have sinned because I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words, fearing the people, and obeying their voice. ²⁵But now bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord. ²⁶And Samuel said to Saul: I will not return with thee, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. ²⁷And Samuel turned about to go away: but he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. ²⁸And Samuel said to him: The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to thy neighbour who is better than thee. ²⁹But the triumpher in Israel will riot spare, and will not be moved to repentance: for he is not a mail that he should repent. ³⁰Then he said: I have sinned: yet honour me now before the ancients of my people, and before Israel, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord thy God. ³¹So Samuel turned again after Saul: and Saul adored the Lord. ³²And Samuel said: Bring hitherto me Agag the king of Amalec. And Agag was presented to him very fat, and trembling. And Agag said: Doth bitter death separate in this manner? ³³And Samuel said: As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed him in pieces before the Lord in Galgal. ³⁴And Samuel departed to Ramatha: but Saul went up to his house in Gabaa. ³⁵And Samuel saw Saul no more till the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, because the Lord repented that he had made him king over Israel.

Chapter 16

¹And the Lord said to Samuel. How It long wilt thou mourn for Saul, whom I have rejected from reigning over Israel? fill thy horn with oil, and come, that I may send thee to Isai the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. ²And Samuel said: How shall I go? for Saul will hear of it, and he will kill me. And the Lord said: Thou shalt take with thee a calf of the herd, and thou shalt say: I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. ³And thou shalt call Isai to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou art to do, and thou shalt anoint him whom I shall shew to thee. ⁴Then Samuel did as the Lord had said to him. And he came to Bethlehem, and the ancients of the city wondered, and meeting him, they said: Is thy coming hither peaceable? ⁵And he said: It is peaceable: I am come to offer sacrifice to the Lord, be ye sanctified, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Isai and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. ⁶And when they were come in, he saw Eliab, and said: Is the Lord's anointed before him? ⁷And the Lord said to Samuel: Look not on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature: because I have rejected him, nor do I judge according to the look of man: for man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart. ⁸And Isai called Abinadab, and brought him before Samuel. And he said: Neither hath the Lord chosen this. ⁹And Isai brought Samma, and he said of him: Neither hath the Lord chosen this. ¹⁰Isai therefore brought his seven sons before Samuel: and Samuel said to Isai: The Lord hath not chosen any one of these. ¹¹And Samuel said to Isai: Are here all thy sons? He answered: There remaineth yet a young one, who keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said to Isai: Send, and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither. ¹²He sent therefore and brought him Now he was ruddy and beautiful to behold, and of a comely face. And the Lord said: Arise, and anoint him, for this is he. ¹³Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward: and Samuel rose up, and went to Ramatha. ¹⁴But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. ¹⁵And the servants of Saul said to him: Behold now an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. ¹⁶Let our lord give orders, and thy servants who are before thee will seek out a man skilful in playing on the harp, that when the evil spirit from the Lord is upon thee, he may play with his hand, and thou mayest bear it more easily. ¹⁷And Saul said to his servants: Provide me then some man that can play well, and bring him to me. ¹⁸And one of the servants answering, said: Behold I have seen a son of Isai the Bethlehemite, a skilful player, and one of great strength, and a man fit for war, and prudent in his words, and a comely person: and the Lord is with him. ¹⁹Then Saul sent messengers to Isai, saying: Send me David thy son, who is in the pastures. ²⁰And Isai took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid of the flock, and sent them by the hand of David his son to Saul. ²¹And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him exceedingly, and made him his armourbearer. ²²And Saul sent to Isai, saying: Let David stand before me: for he hath found favour in my sight. ²³So whensoever the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, David took his harp, and played with his hand, and Saul was refreshed, and was better, for the evil spirit departed from him.

Chapter 17

¹Now the Philistines gathering together their troops to battle, assembled at Socho of Juda, and camped between Socho and Azeca in the borders of Dommim. ²And Saul and the children of Israel being gathered together came to the valley of Terebinth, and they set the army in array to fight against the Philistines. ³And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. ⁴And there went out a man baseborn from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, of Geth, whose height was six cubits and a span: ⁵And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail with scales, and the weight of his coat of mail was five thousand sicles of brass: ⁶And he had greaves of brass on his legs, and a buckler of brass covered his shoulders. ⁷And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred sicles of iron: and his armourbearer went before him. ⁸And standing he cried out to the bands of Israel, and said to them: Why are you come out prepared to fight? am not I a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose out a man of you, and let him come down and fight hand to hand. ⁹If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, we will be servants to you: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, you shall be servants, and shall serve us. ¹⁰And the Philistine said: I have defied the bands of Israel this day: Give me a man, and let him fight with me hand to hand. ¹¹And Saul and all the Israelites hearing these words of the Philistine were dismayed, and greatly afraid. ¹²Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Juda before mentioned, whose name was Isai, who had eight sons, and was an old man in the days of Saul, and of great age among men. ¹³And his three eldest sons followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle, were Eliab the firstborn, and the second Abinadab, and the third Samma. ¹⁴But David was the youngest. So the three eldest having followed Saul, ¹⁵David went, and returned from Saul, to feed his father's flock at Bethlehem. ¹⁶Now the Philistine came out morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. ¹⁷And Isai said to David his son: Take for thy brethren an ephi of frumenty, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren. ¹⁸And carry these ten little cheeses to the tribune: and go see thy brethren, if they are well: and learn with whom they are placed. ¹⁹But Saul, and they, and all the children of Israel were in the valley of Terebinth fighting against the Philistines. ²⁰David therefore arose in the morning, and gave the charge of the flock to the keeper: and went away loaded as Isai had commanded him. And he came to the place of Magala, and to the army, which was going out to fight, and shouted for the battle. ²¹For Israel had put themselves in array, and the Philistines who stood against them were prepared. ²²And David leaving the vessels which he had brought, under the care of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the place of the battle and asked if all things went well with his brethren. ²³And as he talked with them, that baseborn man whose name was Goliath, the Philistine, of Geth, shewed himself coming up from the camp of the Philistines: and he spoke according to the same words, and David heard them. ²⁴And all the Israelites when they saw the man, fled from his face, fearing him exceedingly. ²⁵And some one of Israel said: Have you seen this man that is come up, for he is come up to defy Israel. And the man that shall slay him, the king will enrich with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and will make his father's house free from tribute in Israel. ²⁶And David spoke to the men that stood by him, saying: What shall be given to the man that shall kill this Philistine, and shall take 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 the same words saying: These things shall be given to the man that shall slay him. ²⁸Now when Eliab his eldest brother heard this, when he was speaking with others, he was angry with David, and said: Why earnest thou hither? and why didst thou leave those few sheep in the desert? I know thy pride, and the wickedness of thy heart: that thou art come down to see the battle. ²⁹And David said: What have I done? is there not cause to speak? ³⁰And he turned a little aside from him to another: and said the same word. And the people answered him as before. ³¹And the words which David spoke were heard, and were rehearsed before Saul. ³²And when he was brought to him, he said to him: Let not any man's heart be dismayed in him: I thy servant will go, and will fight against the Philistine. ³³And Saul said to David: Thou art not able to withstand this Philistine, nor to fight against him: for thou art but a boy, but he is a warrior from his youth. ³⁴And David said to Saul: Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, or a bear, and took a ram out of the midst of the flock: ³⁵And I pursued after them, and struck them, and delivered it out of their mouth: and they rose up against me, and I caught them by the throat, and I strangled and killed them. ³⁶For I thy servant have killed both a lion and a bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be also as one of them. I will go now, and take away the reproach of the people: for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, who hath dared to curse the army of the living God? ³⁷And David said: The Lord 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 the Lord be with thee. ³⁸And Saul clothed David with his garments, and put a helmet of brass upon his head, and armed him with a coat of mail. ³⁹And David having girded his sword upon his armour, began to try if he could walk in armour: for he was not accustomed to it. And David said to Saul: I cannot go thus, for I am not used to it. And he laid them off, ⁴⁰And he took his staff, which he had always in his hands: and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them into the shepherd's scrip, which he had with him, and he took a sling in his hand, and went forth against the Philistine. ⁴¹And the Philistine came on, and drew nigh against David, and his armourbearer before him. ⁴²And when the Philistine looked, and beheld David, he despised him. For he was a young man, ruddy, and of a comely countenance. ⁴³And the Philistine said to David: Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with a staff? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴And he said to David: Come to me, and I will give thy flesh to the birds of the air, and to the beasts of the earth. ⁴⁵And David said to the Philistine: Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which thou hast defied. ⁴⁶This day, and the Lord will deliver thee into my hand, and I will slay thee, and take away thy head from thee: and I will give the carcasses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air, and to the beasts of the earth: that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷And all this assembly shall know, that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for it is his battle, and he will deliver you into our hands. ⁴⁸And when the Philistine arose and was coming, and drew nigh to meet David, David made haste, and ran to the fight to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹And he put his hand into his scrip, and took a stone, and cast it with the sling, and fetching it about struck the Philistine in the forehead: and the stone was fixed in his forehead, and he fell on his face upon the earth. ⁵⁰And David prevailed over the Philistine, with a sling and a stone, and he struck, and slew the Philistine. And as David had no sword in his hand, ⁵¹He ran, and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath, and slew him, and cut off his head. And the Philistines seeing that their champion was dead, fled away. ⁵²And the men of Israel and Juda rising up shouted, and pursued after the Philistines till they came to the valley and to the gates of Accaron, and there fell many wounded of the Philistines in the way of Saraim, and as far as Geth, and as far as Accaron. ⁵³And the children of Israel returning, after they had pursued the Philistines, fell upon their camp. ⁵⁴And David taking the head of the Philistine brought it to Jerusalem: but his armour he put in his tent. ⁵⁵Now at the time that Saul saw David going out against the Philistines, he said to Abner the captain of the army: Of what family is this young man descended, Abner? And Abner said: As thy soul liveth, O king, I know not. ⁵⁶And the king said: Inquire thou, whose son this man is. ⁵⁷And when David was returned, after the Philistine was slain, Abner took him, and brought him in before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand. ⁵⁸And Saul said to him: Young man, of what family art thou? And David said: I am the son of thy servant Isai the Bethlehemite.

Chapter 18

¹And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul, 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 not let him return to his father's house. ³And David and Jonathan made a covenant, for be loved him as his own soul. ⁴And Jonathan stripped himself of the coat with which he was clothed, and gave it to David, and the rest of his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. ⁵And David went out to whatsoever business Saul sent him, and he behaved himself prudently: and Saul set him over the soldiers, and he was acceptable in the eyes of all the people, and especially in the eyes of Saul's servants. ⁶Now when David returned, after be slew the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with timbrels of joy, and cornets. ⁷And the women sung as they played, and they said: I Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands. ⁸And Saul was exceeding angry, and this word was displeasing in his eyes, and he said: They have given David ten thousands, and to me they have given but a thousand; what can he have more but the kingdom? ⁹And Saul did not look on David with a good eye from that day and forward. ¹⁰And the day after the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of his house. And David played with his hand as at other times. And Saul held a spear in his hand, ¹¹And threw it, thinking to nail David to the wall: and David stept aside out of his presence twice. ¹²And Saul feared David, because the Lord was with him, and was departed from himself. ¹³Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him a captain over a thousand men, and he went out and came in before the people. ¹⁴And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. ¹⁵And Saul saw that he was exceeding prudent, and began to beware of him. ¹⁶But all Israel and Juda loved David, for he came in and went out before them. ¹⁷And Saul said to David: Behold my elder daughter Merob, her will I give thee to wife: only be a valiant man, and fight the battles of the Lord. Now Saul said within himself: Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hands of the Philistines be upon him. ¹⁸And David said to Saul: Who am I, or what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son in law of the king? ¹⁹And it came to pass at the time when Merob the daughter of Saul should have been given to David, that she was given to Hadriel the Molathite to wife. ²⁰But Michol the other daughter of Saul loved David. And it was told Saul, and it pleased him. ²¹And Saul said: I will give her to him, that she may be a stumblingblock to him, and that the band of the Philistines may be upon him. And Saul said to David: In two things thou shalt be my son in law this day. ²²And Saul commanded his servants to speak to David privately, saying: Behold thou pleasest the king, and all his servants love thee. Now therefore be the king's son in law. ²³And the servants of Saul spoke all these words in the ears of David. And David said: Doth it seem to you a small matter to be the king's son in law? But I am a poor man, and of small ability. ²⁴And the servants of Saul told him, saying: Such words as these hath David spoken. ²⁵And Saul said: Speak thus to David: The king desireth not any dowry, but only a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. Now Saul thought to deliver David into the hands of the Philistines. ²⁶And when his servants had told David the words that Saul had said, the word was pleasing in the eyes of David to be the king's son in law. ²⁷And after a few days David rose up, and went with the men that were under him, and he slew of the Philistines two hundred men, and brought their foreskins and numbered them out to the king, that he might be his son in law. Saul therefore gave him Michol his daughter to wife. ²⁸And Saul saw, and understood that the Lord was with David. And Michol the daughter of Saul loved him. ²⁹And Saul began to fear David more: and Saul became David's enemy continually. ³⁰And the princes of the Philistines went forth: and from the beginning of their going forth, David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul, and his name became very famous.

Chapter 19

¹And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan the son of Saul loved David exceedingly. ²And Jonathan told David, saying: Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: wherefore look to thyself, I beseech thee, in the morning, and thou shalt abide in a secret place and shalt be hid. ³And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art: and I will speak of thee to my father, and whatsoever I shall see, I will tell thee. ⁴And Jonathan spoke good things of David to Saul his father: and said to him: Sin not, O king, against thy servant, David, because he hath not sinned against thee, and his works are very good towards thee. ⁵And he put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the Lord wrought great salvation for all Israel. Thou sawest it and didst rejoice. Why therefore wilt thou sin against innocent blood by killing David, who is without fault? ⁶And when Saul heard this he was appeased with the words of Jonathan, and swore: As the Lord liveth he shall not be slain. ⁷Then Jonathan called David and told him all these words: and Jonathan brought in David to Saul, and he was before him, as he had been yesterday and the day before. ⁸And the war began again, and David went out and fought against the Philistines, and defeated them with a great slaughter, and they fled from his face. ⁹And the evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, and he sat in his house, and held a spear in his hand: and David played with his hand. ¹⁰And Saul endeavoured to nail David to the wall with his spear. And David slipt away out of the presence of Saul: and the spear missed him, and was fastened in the wall, and David fled and escaped that night. ¹¹Saul therefore sent his guards to David's house to watch him, that he might be killed in the morning. And when Michol David's wife had told him this, saying: Unless thou save thyself this night, to morrow thou wilt die, ¹²She let him down through a window. And he went and fled away and escaped. ¹³And Michol took an image and laid it on the bed, and put a goat's skin with the hair at the head of it, and covered it with clothes. ¹⁴And Saul sent officers to seize David: and it was answered that he was sick. ¹⁵And again Saul sent to see David, saying: Bring him to me in the bed, that he may be slain. ¹⁶And when the messengers were come in, they found an image upon the bed, and a goat's skin at its head. ¹⁷And Saul said to Michol: Why hast thou deceived me so, and let my enemy go and flee away? And Michol answered Saul: Because he said to me: Let me go, or else I will kill thee. ¹⁸But David fled and escaped, and came to Samuel in Ramatha, and told him all that Saul had done to him: and he and Samuel went and dwelt in Najoth. ¹⁹And it was told Saul by some, saying: Behold David is in Najoth in Ramatha. ²⁰So Saul sent officers to take David: and when they saw a company of prophets prophesying, and Samuel presiding over them, the spirit of the Lord came also upon them, and they likewise began to prophesy. ²¹And when this was told Saul, he sent other messengers: but they also prophesied. And again Saul sent messengers the third time: and they prophesied also. And Saul being exceedingly angry, ²²Went also himself to Ramatha, and came as far as the great cistern, which is in Socho, and he asked, and said: In what place are Samuel and David? And it was told him: Behold they axe in Najoth in Ramatha. ²³And he went to Najoth in Ramatha, and the spirit of the Lord came upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied till he came to Najoth in Ramatha. ²⁴And he stripped himself also of his garments, and prophesied with the rest before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and night. This gave occasion to a proverb: What! is Saul too among the prophets?

Chapter 20

¹But David fled from Najoth, which is in Ramatha, and came and said to Jonathan: What have I done? what is my iniquity, and what is my sin against thy father, that he seeketh my life? ²And he said to him: God forbid, thou shalt not die: for my father will do nothing great or little, without first telling me: hath then my father hid this word only from me? no, this shall not be. ³And he swore again to David. And David said: Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, and he will say: Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly as the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, there is but one step (as I may say) between me and death. ⁴And Jonathan said to David: Whatsoever thy soul shall say to me, I will do for thee. ⁵And David said to Jonathan: Behold to morrow is the new moon, and I according to custom am wont to sit beside the king to eat: let me go then that I may be hid in the field till the evening of the third day. ⁶If thy father look and inquire for me, thou shalt answer him: David asked me that he might run to Bethlehem his own city: because there are solemn sacrifices there for all his tribe. ⁷If he shall say, It is well: thy servant shall have peace: but if he be angry, know that his malice is come to its height. ⁸Deal mercifully then with thy servant: for thou hast brought me thy servant into a covenant of the Lord with thee. But if there be any iniquity in me, do thou kill me, and bring me not in to thy father. ⁹And Jonathan said: Far be this from thee: for if I should certainly know that evil is determined by my father against thee, I could do no otherwise than tell thee. ¹⁰And David answered Jonathan: Who shall bring me word, if thy father should answer thee harshly concerning me? ¹¹And Jonathan said to David: Come and let us go out into the field. And when they were both of them gone out into the field, ¹²Jonathan said to David: O Lord God of Israel, if I shall discover my father's mind, to morrow or the day after, and there be any thing good for David, and I send not immediately to thee, and make it known to thee, ¹³May the Lord do so and so to Jonathan and add still more. But if my father shall continue in malice against thee, I will discover it to thy ear, and will send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace, and the Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father. ¹⁴And if I live, thou shalt shew me the kindness of the Lord: but if I die, ¹⁵Thou shalt not take away thy kindness from my house for ever, when the Lord shall have rooted out the enemies of David, every one of them from the earth, may he take away Jonathan from his house, and may the Lord require it at the hands of David's enemies. ¹⁶Jonathan therefore made a covenant with the house of David: and the Lord required it at the hands of David's enemies. ¹⁷And Jonathan swore again to David, because he loved him: for he loved him as his own soul. ¹⁸And Jonathan said to him: To morrow is the new moon, and thou wilt be missed: ¹⁹For thy seat will be empty till after tomorrow. So thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place, where thou must be hid on the day when it is lawful to work, and thou shalt remain beside the stone, which is called Ezel. ²⁰And I will shoot three arrows near it, and will shoot as if I were exercising myself at a mark. ²¹And I will send a boy, saying to him: Go and fetch me the arrows. ²²If I shall say to the boy: Behold the arrows are on this side of thee, take them up: come thou to me, because, there is peace to thee, and there is no evil, as the Lord liveth. But if I shall speak thus to the boy: Behold the arrows are beyond thee: go in peace, for the Lord hath sent thee away. ²³And concerning the word which I and thou have spoken, the Lord be between thee and me for ever. ²⁴So David was hid in the field, and the new moon came, and the king sat down to eat bread. ²⁵And when the king sat down upon his chair (according to custom) which was beside the wall, Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place appeared empty. ²⁶And Saul said nothing that day, for he thought it might have happened to him, that he was not clean, nor purified. ²⁷And when the second day after the new moon was come, David's place appeared empty again. And Saul said to Jonathan his son: Why cometh not the son of Isai to meat neither yesterday nor to day? ²⁸And Jonathan answered Saul: He asked leave of me earnestly to go to Bethlehem, ²⁹And he said: Let me go, for there is a solemn sacrifice in the city, one of my brethren hath sent for me: and now if I have found favour in thy eyes, I will go quickly, and see my brethren. For this cause he came not to the king's table. ³⁰Then Saul being angry against Jonathan said to him: Thou son of a woman that is the ravisher of a man, do I not know that thou lovest the son of Isai to thy own confusion and to the confusion of thy shameless mother? ³¹For as long as the son of Isai liveth upon earth, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Therefore now presently send, and fetch him to me: for he is the son of death. ³²And Jonathan answering Saul his father, said: Why shall he die: what hath he done? ³³And Saul caught up a spear to strike him. And Jonathan understood that it was determined by his father to kill David. ³⁴So Jonathan rose from the table in great anger, and did not eat bread on the second day after the new moon. For he was grieved for David, because his father had put him to confusion. ³⁵And when the morning came, Jonathan went into the field, according to the appointment with David, and a little boy with him. ³⁶And he said to his boy: Go, and fetch me the arrows which I shoot. And when the boy ran, he shot another arrow beyond the boy. ³⁷The boy therefore came to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot: and Jonathan cried after the boy, and said: Behold the arrow is there further beyond thee. ³⁸And Jonathan cried again after the boy, saying: Make haste speedily, stand not. And Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows, and brought them to his master: ³⁹And he knew not at all what was doing: for only Jonathan and David knew the matter. ⁴⁰Jonathan therefore gave his arms to the boy, and said to him: Go, and carry them into the city. ⁴¹And when the boy was gone, David rose out of his place, which was towards the south, and falling on his face to the ground, adored thrice: and kissing one another, they wept together, but David more. ⁴²And Jonathan said to David: Go in peace: and let all stand that we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying: The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. ⁴³And David arose, and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.

Chapter 21

¹And David came to Nobe to Achimelech the priest: and Achimelech was astonished at David's coming. And he said to him: Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? ²And David said to Achimelech the priest: The king hath commanded me a business, and said: Let no man know the thing for which thou art sent by me, and what manner of commands I have given thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place. ³Now therefore if thou have any thing at hand, though it were but five loaves, give me, or whatsoever thou canst find. ⁴And the priest answered David, saying: I have no common bread at hand, but only holy bread, if the young men be clean, especially from women? ⁵And David answered the priest, and said to him: Truly, as to what concerneth women, we have refrained ourselves from yesterday and the day before, when we came out, and the vessels of the young men were holy. Now this way is defiled, but it shall also be sanctified this day in the vessels. ⁶The priest therefore gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there, but only the loaves of proposition, which had been taken away from before the face of the Lord, that hot loaves might be set up. ⁷Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, within the tabernacle of the Lord: and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of Saul's herdsmen. ⁸And David said to Achimelech: Hast thou here at hand a spear, or a sword? for I brought not my own sword, nor my own weapons with me, for the king's business required haste. ⁹And the priest said: Lo, here is the sword of Goliath the Philistine whom thou slewest in the valley of Terebinth, wrapped up in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take this, take it, for here is no other but this. And David said: There is none like that, give it me. ¹⁰And David arose and fled that day from the face of Saul: and came to Achis the king of Geth: ¹¹And the servants of Achis, when they saw David, said to him: Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to him in their dances, saying: Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? ¹²But David laid up these words in his heart, and was exceedingly afraid at the face of Achis the king of Geth. ¹³And he changed his countenance before them, and slipt down between their hands: and he stumbled against the doors of the gate, and his spittle ran down upon his beard. ¹⁴And Achis said to his servants: You saw the man was mad: why have you brought him to me? ¹⁵Have we need of madmen, that you have brought in this fellow, to play the madman in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?

Chapter 22

¹David therefore went from thence and fled to the cave of Odollam. And when his brethren, and all his father's house had heard of it, they went down to him thither; ²And all that were in distress and oppressed with debt, and under affliction of mind gathered themselves unto him: and he became their prince, and there were with him about four hundred men. ³And David departed from thence into Maspha of Moab: and he said to the king of Moab: Let my father and my mother tarry with you, I beseech thee, till I know what God will do for me. ⁴And he left them under the eyes of the king of Moab, and they abode with him all the days that David was in the hold. ⁵And Gad the prophet said to David: Abide not in the hold, depart, and go into the land of Juda. And David departed, and came into the forest of Haret. ⁶And Saul heard that David was seen, and the men that were with him. Now whilst Saul abode in Gabaa, and was in the wood, which is by Rama, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him, ⁷He said to his servants that stood about him: Hear me now, ye sons of Jemini: will the son of Isai give everyone of you fields, and vineyards, and make you all tribunes, and centurions: ⁸That all of you have conspired against me, and there is no one to inform me, especially when even my son hath entered into league with the soil of Isai? There is not one of you that pitieth my case, nor that giveth me any information: because my son hath raised up my servant against me, plotting against me to this day. ⁹And Doeg the Edomite who stood by, and was the chief among the servants of Saul, answering, said: I saw the son of Isai, in Nobe with Achimelech the son of Achitob the priest. ¹⁰And he consulted the Lord for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine. ¹¹Then the king sent to call for Achimelech the priest the son of Achitob, and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nobe, and they came all of them to the king. ¹²And Saul said to Achimelech: Hear, thou son of Achitob. He answered: Here I am, my lord. ¹³And Saul said to him: Why have you conspired against me, thou, and the son of Isai, and thou hast given him bread and a sword, and hast consulted the Lord for him, that he should rise up against me, continuing a traitor to this day. ¹⁴And Achimelech answering the king, said: And who amongst all thy servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son in law, and goeth forth at thy bidding, and is honourable in thy house? ¹⁵Did I begin to day to consult the Lord for him? far be this from me: let not the king suspect such a thing against his servant, or any one in all my father's house: for thy servant knew nothing of this matter, either little or great. ¹⁶And the king said: Dying thou shalt die, Achimelech, thou and all thy father's house. ¹⁷And the king said to the messengers that stood about him: Turn, and kill the priests of the Lord, for their hand is with David, because they knew that he was fled, and they told it not to me. And the king's servants would not put forth their hands against the priests of the Lord. ¹⁸And the king said to Doeg: Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and fell upon the priests and slew in that day eighty-five men that wore the linen ephod. ¹⁹And Nobe the city of the priests he smote with the edge of his sword, both men and women, children, and sucklings, and ox and ass, and sheep with the edge of the sword. ²⁰But one of the sons of Achimelech the son of Achitob, whose name was Abiathar, escaped, and fled to David, ²¹And told him that Saul had slain the priests of the Lord. ²²And David said to Abiathar: I knew that day when Doeg the Edomite was there, that without doubt he would tell Saul: I have been the occasion of the death of all the souls of thy father's house. ²³Abide thou with me, fear not: for he that seeketh my life, seeketh thy life also, and with me thou shalt be saved.

Chapter 23

¹And they told David, saying: Behold the Philistines fight against Ceila, and they rob the barns. ²Therefore David consulted the Lord, saying: Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said to David: Go, and thou shalt smite the Philistines, and shalt save Ceila. ³And the men that were with David, said to him: Behold we are in fear here in Judea, how much more if we go to Ceila against the hands of the Philistines? ⁴Therefore David consulted the Lord again. And he answered and said to him: Arise, and go to Ceila: for I will deliver the Philistines into thy hand. ⁵David therefore, and his men, went to Ceila, and fought against the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and made a great slaughter of them: and David saved the inhabitants of Ceila. ⁶Now at that time, when Abiathar the son of Achimelech fled to David to Ceila, he came down having an ephod with him. ⁷And it was told Saul that David was come to Ceila: and Saul said: The Lord hath delivered him into my hands, and he is shut up, being come into a city, that hath gates and bars. ⁸And Saul commanded all the people to go down to fight against Ceila, and to besiege David, and his men. ⁹Now when David understood, that Saul secretly prepared evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest: Bring hither the ephod. ¹⁰And David said: O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath heard a report, that Saul designeth to come to Ceila, to destroy the city for my sake: ¹¹Will the men of Ceila deliver me into his hands? and will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, tell thy servant. And the Lord said: He will come down. ¹²And David said: Will the men of Ceila deliver me, and my men, into the hands of Saul? And the Lord said: They will deliver thee up. ¹³Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose, and departing from Ceila, wandered up and down uncertain where they should stay: and it was told Saul that David was fled from Ceila, and had escaped: wherefore he forbore to go out. ¹⁴But David abode in the desert in strong holds, and he remained in a mountain of the desert of Ziph, in a woody hill. And Saul sought him always: but the Lord delivered him not into his hands. ¹⁵And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life. And David was in the desert of Ziph, in a wood. ¹⁶And Jonathan the son of Saul arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hands in God: and he said to him: ¹⁷Fear not: for the hand of my father Saul shall not find thee, and thou shalt reign over Israel, and I shall be next to thee, yea, and my father knoweth this. ¹⁸And the two made a covenant before the Lord: and David abode in the wood: but Jonathan returned to his house. ¹⁹And the Ziphites went up to Saul in Gabaa, saying: Lo, doth not David lie hid with us in the strong holds of the wood, in mount Hachila, which is on the right hand of the desert. ²⁰Now therefore come down, as thy soul hath desired to come down: and it shall be our business to deliver him into the king's hands. ²¹And Saul said: Blessed be ye of the Lord, for you have pitied my case. ²²Go therefore, I pray you, and use all diligence, and curiously inquire, and consider the place where his foot is, and who hath seen him there: for he thinketh of me, that I lie craftily in wait for him. ²³Consider and see all his lurking holes, wherein he is bid, and return to me with the certainty of the thing, that I may go with you. And if be should even go down into the earth to hide himself, I will search him out in all the thousands of Juda. ²⁴And they arose and went to Ziph before Saul: and David and his men were in the desert of Maon, in the plain at the right hand of Jesimon. ²⁵Then Saul and his men went to seek him: and it was told David, and forthwith he went down to the rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon: and when Saul had heard of it he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. ²⁶And Saul went on this side of the mountain: and David and his men were on the other side of the mountain: and David despaired of being able to escape from the face of Saul: and Saul and his men encompassed David and his men round about to take them. ²⁷And a messenger came to Saul, saying: Make haste to come, for the Philistines have poured in themselves upon the land. ²⁸Wherefore Saul returned, leaving the pursuit of David, and went to meet the Philistines. For this cause they called that place, the Rock of division.

Chapter 24

¹Then David went up from thence, and dwelt in strong holds of Engaddi. ²And when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, they told him, saying: Behold, David is in the desert of Engaddi. ³Saul therefore took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went out to seek after David, and his men, even upon the most craggy rocks, which are accessible only to wild goats. ⁴And he came to the sheepcotes, which were in his way. And there was a cave, into which Saul went, to ease nature: now David and his men lay hid in the inner part of the cave. ⁵And the servants of David said to him: Behold the day, of which the Lord said to thee: I will deliver thy enemy unto thee, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good in thy eyes. Then David arose, and secretly cut off the hem of Saul's robe. ⁶After which David's heart struck him, because he had cut off the hem of Saul's robe. ⁷And he said to his men: The Lord be merciful unto me, that I may do no such thing to my master the Lord's anointed, as to lay my hand upon him, because he is the Lord's anointed. ⁸And David stopped his men with his words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rising up out of the cave, went on his way. ⁹And David also rose up after him: and going out of the cave cried after Saul, saying: My lord the king. And Saul looked behind him: and David bowing himself down to the ground, worshipped, ¹⁰And said to Saul: Why dost thou hear the words of men that say David seeketh thy hurt? ¹¹Behold this day thy eyes have seen, that the Lord hath delivered thee into my hand, in the cave, and I had a thought to kill thee, but my eye hath spared thee. For I said: I will not put out my hand against my lord, because he is the Lord's anointed. ¹²Moreover see and know, O my father, the hem of thy robe in my hand, that when I cut, off the hem of thy robe, I would not put out my hand against thee. Reflect, and see, that there is no evil in my hand, nor iniquity, neither have I sinned against thee: but thou liest in wait for my life, to take it away. ¹³The Lord judge between me and thee, and the Lord revenge me of thee: but my hand shall not be upon thee. ¹⁴As also it is said in the old proverb: From the wicked shall wickedness come forth: therefore my hand shall not be upon thee. After whom dost thou come out, O king of Israel? ¹⁵After whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea. ¹⁶Be the Lord judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and judge my cause, and deliver me out of thy hand. ¹⁷And when David had made an end of speaking these words to Saul, Saul said: Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. ¹⁸And he said to David: Thou art more just than I: for thou hast done good to me, and I have rewarded thee with evil. ¹⁹And thou hast shewn this day what good things thou hast done to me: how the Lord delivered me into thy hand, and thou hast not killed me. ²⁰For who when he hath found his enemy, will let him go well away? But the Lord reward thee for this good turn, for what thou hast done to me this day. ²¹And now as I know that thou shalt surely be king, and have the kingdom of Israel in thy hand: ²²Swear to me by the Lord, that thou wilt not destroy my seed after me, nor take away my name from the house of my father. ²³And David swore to Saul. So Saul went home: and David and his men went up into safer places.

Chapter 25

¹And Samuel died, and all Israel was gathered together, and they mourned for him, and buried him in his house in Ramatha. And David rose and went down into the wilderness of Pharan. ²Now there was a certain man in the wilderness of Maon, and his possessions were in Carmel, and the man was very great: and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and it happened that he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³Now the name of the man was Nabal: and the name of his wife was Abigail. And she was a prudent and very comely woman, but her husband was churlish, and very bad and ill natured: and he was of the house of Caleb. ⁴And when David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep, ⁵He sent ten young men, and said to them: Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and salute him in my name with peace. ⁶And you shall say: Peace be to my brethren, and to thee, and peace to thy house, and peace to all that thou hast. ⁷I heard that thy shepherds that were with us in the desert were shearing: we never molested them, neither was there ought missing to them of the flock at any time, all the while they were with us in Carmel. ⁸Ask thy servants, and they will tell thee. Now therefore let thy servants find favour in thy eyes: for we are come in a good day, whatsoever thy hand shall find give to thy servants, and to thy son David. ⁹And when David's servants came, they spoke to Nabal all these words in David's name: and then held their peace. ¹⁰But Nabal answering the servants of David, said: Who is David? and what is the son of Isai? servants are multiplied now a days who flee from their masters. ¹¹Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and the flesh of my cattle, which I have killed for my shearers, and give to men whom I know not whence they are? ¹²So the servants of David went back their way, and returning came and told him all the words that he said. ¹³Then David said to his young men: Let every man gird on his sword. And they girded on every man his sword. And David also girded on his sword: and there followed David about four hundred men: and two hundred remained with the baggage. ¹⁴But one of the servants told Abigail the wife of Nabal, saying: Behold David sent messengers out of the wilderness, to salute our master: and he rejected them. ¹⁵These men were very good to us, and gave us no trouble: neither did we ever lose any thing all the time that we conversed with them in the desert. ¹⁶They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. ¹⁷Wherefore consider, and think what thou hast to do: for evil is determined against thy husband, and against thy house, and he is a son of Belial, so that no man can speak to him. ¹⁸Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves, and two vessels of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of dry figs, and laid them upon asses: ¹⁹And she said to her servants: Go before me: behold I will follow after you: but she told not her husband Nabal. ²⁰And when she had gotten upon an ass, and was coming down to the foot of the mountain, David and his men came down over against her, and she met them. ²¹And David said: Truly in vain have I kept all that belonged to this man in the wilderness, and nothing was lost of all that pertained unto him: and he hath returned me evil for good. ²²May God do so and so, and add more to the foes of David, if I leave of all that belong to him till the morning, any that pisseth against the wall. ²³And when Abigail saw David she made haste and lighted off the ass, and fell before David, on her face, and adored upon the ground. ²⁴And she fell at his feet, and said: Upon me let this iniquity be, my lord: let thy handmaid speak, I beseech thee, in thy ears: and hear the words of thy servant. ²⁵Let not my lord the king, I pray, regard this naughty man Nabal: for according to his name, he is a fool, and folly is with him: but I thy handmaid did not see thy servants, my lord, whom thou sentest. ²⁶Now therefore, my lord, the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, who hath withholden thee from coming to blood, and hath saved thy hand to thee: and now let thy enemies be as Nabal, and all they that seek evil to my lord. ²⁷Wherefore receive this blessing, which thy handmaid hath brought to thee, my lord: and give it to the young men that follow thee, my lord. ²⁸Forgive the iniquity of thy handmaid: for the Lord will surely make for my lord a faithful house, because thou, my lord, fightest the battles of the Lord: let not evil therefore be found in thee all the days of thy life. ²⁹For if a man at any time shall rise, and persecute thee, and seek thy life, the soul of my lord shall be kept, as in the bundle of the living, with the Lord thy God: but the souls of thy enemies shall be whirled, as with the violence and whirling of a sling. ³⁰And when the Lord shall have done to thee, my lord, all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have made thee prince over Israel, ³¹This shall not be an occasion of grief to thee, and a scruple of heart to my lord, that thou hast shed innocent blood, or hast revenged thyself: and when the Lord shall have done well by my lord, thou shalt remember thy handmaid. ³²And David said to Abigail: Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me, and blessed be thy speech: ³³And blessed be thou, who hast kept me to day, from coming to blood, and revenging me with my own hand. ³⁴Otherwise as the Lord liveth the God of Israel, who hath withholden me from doing thee any evil: if thou hadst not quickly come to meet me, there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. ³⁵And David received at her hand all that she had brought him, and said to her: Go in peace into thy house, behold I have heard thy voice, and have honoured thy face. ³⁶And Abigail came to Nabal: and behold he had a feast in his house, like the feast of a king, and Nabal's heart was merry: for he was very drunk: and she told him nothing less or more until morning. ³⁷But early in the morning when Nabal had digested his wine, his wife told him these words, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. ³⁸And after ten days had passed, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died. ³⁹And when David had heard that Nabal was dead, he said: Blessed be the Lord, who hath judged the cause of my reproach at the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil, and the Lord hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his head. The n David sent and treated with Abigail, that he might take her to himself for a wife. ⁴⁰And David's servants came to Abigail to Carmel, and spoke to her, saying: David hath sent us to thee, to take thee to himself for a wife. ⁴¹And she arose and bowed herself down with her face to the earth, and said: Behold, let thy servant be a handmaid, to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. ⁴²And Abigail arose, and made haste, and got upon an ass, and five damsels went with her, her waiting maids, and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife. ⁴³Moreover David took also Achinoam of Jezrahel: and they were both of them his wives. ⁴⁴But Saul gave Michol his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti, the son of Lais, who was of Gallium.

Chapter 26

¹And the men of Ziph came to Saul in Gabaa, saying: Behold David is hid in the hill of Hachila, which is over against the wilderness. ²And Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having with him three thousand chosen men of Israel, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. ³And Saul encamped in Gabaa Hachila, which was over against the wilderness in the way: and David abode in the wilderness. And seeing that Saul was come after him into the wilderness, ⁴He sent spies, and learned that he was most certainly come thither. ⁵And David arose secretly, and came to the place where Saul was: and when he had beheld the place, wherein Saul slept, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his army, and Saul sleeping in a tent, and the rest of the multitude round about him, ⁶David spoke to Achimelech the Hethite, and Abisai the son of Sarvia the brother of Joab, saying: Who will go down with me to Saul into the camp? And Abisai said: I will go with thee. ⁷So David and Abisai came to the people by night, and found Saul lying and sleeping in the tent, and his spear fixed in the ground at his head: and Abner and the people sleeping round about him. ⁸And Abisai said to David: God hath shut up thy enemy this day into thy hands: now then I will run him through with my spear even to the earth at once, and there shall be no need of a second time. ⁹And David said to Abisai: Kill him not: for who shall put forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and shall be guiltless? ¹⁰And David said: As the Lord liveth, unless the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go down to battle and perish: ¹¹The Lord be merciful unto me, that I extend not my hand upon the Lord's anointed. But now take the spear, which is at his head, and the cup of water, and let us go. ¹²So David took the spear, and the cup of water which was at Saul's head, and they went away: and no man saw it, or knew it, or awaked, but they were all asleep, for a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them. ¹³And when David was gone over to the other side. and stood on the top of the hill afar off, and a good space was between them, ¹⁴David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying: Wilt thou not answer, Abner? And Abner answering, said: Who art thou, that criest, and disturbest the king? ¹⁵And David said to Abner: Art not thou a man? and who is like thee in Israel? why then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to kill the king thy lord. ¹⁶This thing is not good, that thou hast done: as the Lord liveth, you are the sons of death, who have not kept your master, the Lord's anointed. And now where is the king's spear, and the cup of water, which 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 the king. ¹⁸And he said: Wherefore doth my lord persecute his servant? What have I done? or what evil is there in my hand? ¹⁹Now therefore hear, I pray thee, my lord the king, the words of thy servant: If the Lord stir thee up against me, let him accept of sacrifice: but if the sons of men, they are cursed in the sight of the Lord, who have cast me out this day, that I should not dwell in the inheritance of the Lord, saying: Go, serve strange gods. ²⁰And now let not my blood be shed upon the earth before the Lord: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as the partridge is hunted in the mountains. ²¹And Saul said: I have sinned, return, my son David, for I will no more do thee harm, because my life hath been precious in thy eyes this day: for it appeareth that I have done foolishly, and have been ignorant in very many things. ²²And David answering, said: Behold the king's spear: let one of the king's servants come over and fetch it. ²³And the Lord will reward every one according to his justice, and his faithfulness: for the Lord hath delivered thee this day into my hand, and I would not put forth my hand against the Lord's anointed. ²⁴And as thy life hath been much set by this day in my eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord, and let him deliver me from all distress. ²⁵Then Saul said to David: Blessed art thou, my son David: and truly doing thou shalt do, and prevailing thou shalt prevail. And David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

Chapter 27

¹And David said in his heart: I shall gone day or other fall into the hands of Saul: is it not better for me to flee, and to be saved in the land of the Philistines, that Saul may despair of me, and cease to seek me in all the coasts of Israel? I will flee then out of his hands. ²And David arose and went away, both he and the six hundred men that were with him, to Achis the son of Maoch, king of Geth. ³And David dwelt with Achis at Geth, he and his men: every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Achinoam the Jezrahelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal of Carmel. ⁴And it was told Saul that David was fled to Geth, and he sought no more after him. ⁵And David said to Achis: If I have found favour in thy sight, let a place be given me in one of the cities of this country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee? ⁶Then Achis gave him Siceleg that day: for which reason Siceleg belongeth to the kings of Juda unto this day. ⁷And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines, was four months. ⁸And David and his men went up, and pillaged Gessuri, and Gerzi, and the Amalecites: for these were of old the inhabitants of the countries, as men go to Sur, even to the land of Egypt. ⁹And David wasted all the land, and left neither man nor woman alive: and took away the sheep and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned and came to Achis. ¹⁰And Achis said to him: Whom hast thou gone against to day? David answered: Against the south of Juda, and against the south of Jerameel, and against the south of Ceni. ¹¹And David saved neither man nor woman, neither brought he any of them to Geth, saying: Lest they should speak against us. So did David, and such was his proceeding all the days that he dwelt in the country of the Philistines. ¹²And Achis believed David, saying: He hath done much harm to his people Israel: therefore he shall be my servant for ever.

Chapter 28

¹And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered together their armies to be prepared for war against Israel: and Achis said to David: Know thou now assuredly, that thou shalt go out with me to the war, thou, and thy men. ²And David said to Achis: Now thou shalt know what thy servant will do. And Achis said to David: And I will appoint thee to guard my life for ever. ³Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel mourned for him, and buried him in Ramatha his city. And Saul had put away all the magicians and soothsayers out of the land. ⁴And the Philistines were gathered together, and came and camped in Sunam: and Saul also gathered together all Israel, and came to Gelboe. ⁵And Saul saw the army of the Plilistines, and was afraid, and his heart was very much dismayed. ⁶And he consulted the Lord, and he answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by priests, nor by prophets. ⁷And Saul said to his servants: Seek me a woman that hath a divining spirit, and I will go to her, and inquire by her. And his servants said to him: There is a woman that hath a divining spirit at Endor. ⁸Then he disguised himself: and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night, and he said to her: Divine to me by thy divining spirit, and bring me up him whom I shall tell thee. ⁹And the woman said to him: Behold thou knowest all that Saul hath done, and how he hath rooted out the magicians and soothsayers from the land: why then dost thou lay a snare for my life, to cause me to be put to death? ¹⁰And Saul swore unto her by the Lord, saying: As the Lord liveth there shall no evil happen to thee for this thing. ¹¹And the woman said to him: Whom shall I bring up to thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. ¹²And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice, and said to Saul: Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. ¹³And the king said to her: Fear not: what hast thou seen? And the woman said to Saul: I saw gods ascending out of the earth. ¹⁴And he said to her: What form is he of? And she said: An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul understood that it was Samuel, and he bowed himself with his face to the ground, and adored. ¹⁵And Samuel said to Saul: Why hast thou disturbed my rest, that I should be brought up? And Saul said, I am in great distress: for the Philistines fight against me, and God is departed from me, and would not hear me, neither by the hand of prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest shew me what I shall do. ¹⁶And Samuel said: Why askest thou me, seeing the Lord has departed from thee, and is gone over to thy rival: ¹⁷For the Lord will do to thee as he spoke by me, and he will rend thy kingdom out of thy hand, and will give it to thy neighbour David: ¹⁸Because thou didst not obey the voice of the Lord, neither didst thou execute the wrath of his indignation upon Amalec. Therefore hath the Lord done to thee what thou sufferest this day. ¹⁹And the Lord also will deliver Israel with thee into the hands of the Philistines: and to morrow thou and thy sons shall be with me: and the Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines. ²⁰And forthwith Saul fell all along on the ground, for he was frightened with the words of Samuel, and there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all that day. ²¹And the woman came to Saul (for he was very much troubled) and said to him: Behold thy handmaid hath obeyed thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand: and I hearkened unto the words which thou spokest to me. ²²Now therefore hear thou also the voice of thy handmaid, and let me set before thee a morsel of bread, that thou mayest eat and recover strength, and be able to go on thy journey. ²³But he refused, and said: I will not eat. But his servants and the woman forced him, and at length hearkening to their voice, he arose from the ground and sat upon the bed. ²⁴Now the woman had a fatted calf in the house, and she made haste and killed it: and taking meal kneaded it, and baked some unleavened bread, ²⁵And set it before Saul, and before his servants. And when they had eaten they rose up, and walked all that night.

Chapter 29

¹Now all the troops of the Philistines were gathered together to Aphec: and Israel also camped by the fountain which is in Jezrahel. ²And the lords of the Philistines marched with their hundreds and their thousands: but David and his men were in the rear with Achis. ³And the princes of the Philistines said to Achis: What mean these Hebrews? And Achis said to the princes of the Philistines: Do you not know David, who was the servant of Saul the king of Israel, and hath been with me many days, or years, and I have found no fault in him, since the day that he fled over to me until this day? ⁴But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him, and they said to him: Let this man return, and abide in his place, which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest he be an adversary to us, when we shall begin to fight: for how can he otherwise appease his master, but with our heads? ⁵Is not this David, to whom they sung in their dances, saying: Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands? ⁶Then Achis called David, and said to him: As the Lord liveth, thou art upright and good in my sight: and so is thy going out, and thy coming in with me in the army: and I have not found my evil in thee, since the day that thou camest to me unto this day: but thou pleasest not the lords. ⁷Return therefore, and go in peace, and offend not the eyes of the princes of the Philistines. ⁸And David said to Achis: But what have I done, and what hast thou found in me thy servant, from the day that I have been in thy sight until this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king? ⁹And Achis answering said to David: I know that thou art good in my sight, as an angel of God: but the princes of the Philistines have said: He shall not go up with us to the battle. ¹⁰Therefore arise in the morning, thou, and the servants of thy lord, who came with thee: and when you are up before day, and it shall begin to be light, go on your way. ¹¹So David and his men arose in the night, that they might set forward in the morning, and returned to the land of the Philistines: and the Philistines went up to Jezrahel.

Chapter 30

¹Now when David and his men were come to Siceleg on the third day, the Amalecites had made an invasion on the south side upon Siceleg, and had smitten Siceleg, and burnt it with fire. ²And had taken the women captives that were in it, both little and great: and they had not killed any person, but had carried them with them, and went on their way. ³So when David and his men came to the city, and found it burnt with fire, and that their wives and their sons, and their daughters were taken captives, ⁴David and the people that were with him, lifted up their voices, and wept till they had no more tears. ⁵For the two wives also of David were taken captives, Achinoam the Jezrahelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal of Carmel. ⁶And David was greatly afflicted: for the people had a mind to stone him, for the soul of every man was bitterly grieved for his sons, and daughters: but David took courage in the Lord his God. ⁷And he said to Abiathar the priest the son of Achimelech: Bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. ⁸And David consulted the Lord, saying: Shall I pursue after these robbers, and shall I overtake them, or not? And the Lord said to him: Pursue after them: for thou shalt surely overtake them and recover the prey. ⁹So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and they came to the torrent Besor: and some being weary stayed there. ¹⁰But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred stayed, who being weary could not go over the torrent Besor. ¹¹And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David: and they gave him bread to eat, and water to drink, ¹²As also a piece of a cake of figs, and two bunches of raisins. And when he had eaten them his spirit returned, and he was refreshed: for he had not eaten bread, nor drunk water three days, and three nights. ¹³And David said to him: To whom dost thou belong? or whence dost thou come? and whither art thou going? He said: I am a young man of Egypt, the servant of an Amalecite, and my master left me, because I began to be sick three days ago. ¹⁴For we made an invasion on the south side of Cerethi, and upon Juda, and upon the south of Caleb, and we burnt Siceleg with fire. ¹⁵And David said to him: Canst thou bring me to this company? And he said: Swear to me by God, that thou wilt not kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee to this company. And David swore to him. ¹⁶And when he had brought him, behold they were lying spread upon all the ground, eating and drinking, and as it were keeping a festival day, for all the prey, and the spoils which they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Juda. ¹⁷And David slew them from the evening unto the evening of the next day, and there escaped not a man of them, but four hundred young men, who had gotten upon camels, and fled. ¹⁸So David recovered all that the Amalecites had taken, and he rescued his two wives. ¹⁹And there was nothing missing small or great, neither of their sons or their daughters, nor of the spoils, and whatsoever they had taken: David recovered all. ²⁰And he took all the flocks and the herds, and made them go before him: and they said: This is the prey of David. ²¹And David came to the two hundred men, who being weary had stayed, and were not able to follow David, and he had ordered them to abide at the torrent Besor: and they came out to meet David, and the people that were with him. And David coming to the people saluted them peaceably. ²²Then all the wicked and unjust men that had gone with David answering, said: Because they came not with us, we will not give them any thing of the prey which we have recovered: but let every man take his wife and his children, and be contented with them, and go his way. ²³But David said: You shall not do so, my brethren, with these things, which the Lord hath given us, who hath kept us, and hath delivered the robbers that invaded us into our hands. ²⁴And no man shall hearken to you in this matter. But equal shall be the portion of him that went down to battle and of him that abode at the baggage, and they shall divide alike. ²⁵And this hath been done from that day forward, and since was made a statute, and an ordinance, and as a law in Israel. ²⁶Then David came to Siceleg, and sent presents of the prey to the ancients of Juda his neighbours, saying: Receive a blessing of the prey of the enemies of the Lord. ²⁷To them that were in Bethel, and that were in Ramoth to the south, and to them that were in Jether, ²⁸And to them that were in Aroer and that were in Sephamoth, and that were in Esthamo, ²⁹And that were in Rachal, and that were in the cities of Jerameel, and that were in the cities of Ceni, ³⁰And that were in Arama, and that were in the lake Asan, and that were in Athach, ³¹And that were in Hebron, and to the rest that were in those places, in which David had abode with his men.

Chapter 31

¹And the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gelboe. ²And the Philistines fell upon Saul, and upon his sons, and they slew Jonathan, and Abinadab and Melchisua the sons of Saul. ³And the whole weight of the battle was turned upon Saul: and the archers overtook him, and he was grievously wounded by the archers. ⁴Then Saul said to his armourbearer: Draw thy sword, and kill me: lest these uncircumcised come, and slay me, and mock at me. And his armourbearer would not: for he was struck with exceeding great fear. Then Saul took his sword, and fell upon it. ⁵And when his armourbearer saw this, to wit, that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. ⁶So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men that same day together. ⁷And the men of Israel, that were beyond the valley, and beyond the Jordan, seeing that the Israelites were fled, and that Saul was dead, and his sons, forsook their cities, and fled: and the Philistines came, and dwelt there. ⁸And on the morrow the Philistines came to strip the slain, and they found Saul and his three sons lying in mount Gelboe. ⁹And they cut off Saul's head, and stripped him of his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the temples of their idols, and among their people. ¹⁰And they put his armour in the temple of Astaroth, but his body they hung on the wall of Bethsan. ¹¹Now when the inhabitants of Jabes Galaad had heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹²All the most valiant men arose, and walked all the night, and took the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, from the wall of Bethsan: and they came to Jabes Galaad, and burnt them there: ¹³And they took their bones and buried them in the wood of Jabes: and fasted seven days.

The Second Book of Samuel

otherwise called

The Second Book of Kings

Chapter 1

¹Now it came to pass, after Saul was dead, that David returned from the slaughter of the Amalecites, and abode two days in Siceleg. ²And on the third day, there appeared a man who came out of Saul's camp, with his garments rent, and dust strewed on his head: and when he came to David, he fell upon his face, and adored. ³And David said to him: From whence comest thou? And he said to him: I am fled out of the camp of Israel. ⁴And David said unto him: What is the matter that is come to pass? tell me. He said: The people are fled from the battle, and many of the people are fallen and dead: moreover Saul and Jonathan his son are slain. ⁵And David said to the young man that told him: How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan his son, are dead? ⁶And the young man that told him, said: I came by chance upon mount Gelboe, and Saul leaned upon his spear: and the chariots and horsemen drew nigh unto him, ⁷And looking behind him, and seeing me, he called me. And I answered, Here am I. ⁸And he said to me: Who art thou? And I said to him: I am an Amalecite. ⁹And he said to me: Stand over me, and kill me: for anguish is come upon me, and as yet my whole life is in me. ¹⁰So standing over him, I killed him: for I knew that he could not live after the fall: and I took the diadem that was on his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm and have brought them hither to thee, my lord. ¹¹Then David took hold of his garments and rent them, and likewise all the men that were with him. ¹²And they mourned, and wept, and fasted until evening for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel, because they were fallen by the sword. ¹³And David said to the young man that told him: Whence art thou? He answered: I am the son of a stranger of Amalee. ¹⁴David said to him: Why didst thou not fear to put out thy hand to kill the Lord's anointed? ¹⁵And David calling one of his servants, said: Go near and fall upon him. And he struck him so that he died. ¹⁶And David said to him: Thy blood be upon thy own head: for thy own mouth hath spoken against thee, saying: I have slain the Lord's anointed. ¹⁷And David made this kind of lamentation over Saul, and over Jonathan his son. ¹⁸(Also he commanded that they should teach the children of Juda the use of the bow, as it is written in the book of the just.) And he said: Consider, O Israel, for them that are dead, wounded on thy high places. ¹⁹The illustrious of Israel are slain upon thy mountains: how are the valiant fallen? ²⁰Tell it not in Geth, publish it not in the streets of Ascalon: lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph, ²¹Ye mountains of Gelboe, let neither dew, nor rain come upon you, neither be they fields of firstfruits: for there was cast away the shield of the valiant, the shield of Saul as though he had not been anointed with oil. ²²From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the valiant, the arrow of Jonathan never turned back, and the sword of Saul did not return empty. ²³Saul and Jonathan, lovely, and comely in their life, even in death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions. ²⁴Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you with scarlet in delights, who gave ornaments of gold for your attire. ²⁵How are the valiant fallen in battle? Jonathan slain in the high places? ²⁶I grieve for thee, my brother Jonathan: exceeding beautiful, and amiable to me above the love of women. As the mother loveth her only son, so did I love thee. ²⁷How are the valiant fallen, and the weapons of war perished?

Chapter 2

¹And after these things David consulted the Lord, saying: Shall I go up into one of the cities of Juda? And the Lord said to him: Go up. And David said: Whither shall I go up? And he answered him: Into Hebron. ²So David went up, and his two wives, Achinoam the Jezrahelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal of Carmel: ³And the men also that were with him, David brought up every man with his household: and they abode in the towns of Hebron. ⁴And the men of Juda came, and anointed David there, to be king over the house of Juda. And it was told David, that the men of Jabes Galaad had buried Saul. ⁵David therefore sent messengers to the men of Jabes Galaad, and said to them: Blessed be you to the Lord, who have shewn this mercy to your master Saul, and have buried him. ⁶And now the Lord surely will render you mercy and truth, and I also will, requite you for this good turn, because you have done this thing. ⁷Let your hands be strengthened, and be ye men of valour: for although your master Saul be dead, yet the house of Juda hath anointed me to be their king. ⁸But Abner the son of Ner, general of Saul's army, took Isboseth the son of Saul, and led him about through the camp? ⁹And made him king over Galaad, and, over Gessuri, and over Jezrahel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel. ¹⁰Isboseth the son of Saul was forty years old when he began to reign over, Israel, and he reigned two years: and only the house of Juda followed David. ¹¹And the number of the days that David abode, reigning in Hebron over the house of Juda, was seven years and six months. ¹²And Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Isboseth the son of Saul, went out from the camp to Gabaon ¹³And Joab the son of Sarvia, and the servants of David went out, and met them by the pool of Gabaon. And when they were come together, they sat down over against one another: the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side. ¹⁴And Abner said to Joab: Let the young men rise, and play before us. And Joab answered: Let them rise. ¹⁵Then there arose and went over twelve in number of Benjamin, of the part of Isboseth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. ¹⁶And every one catching his fellow, by the head, thrust his sword into the side of his adversary, and they fell down together: and the name of the place was called: The field of the valiant, in Gabaon. ¹⁷And there was a very fierce battle that day: and Abner was put to flight, with the men of Israel, by the servants of David. ¹⁸And there were the three sons of Sarvia there, Joab, and Abisai, and Asael: now Asael was a most swift runner, like one of the roes that abide in the woods. ¹⁹And Asael pursued after Abner, and turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. ²⁰And Abner looked behind him, and said: Art thou Asael? And he answered: I am. ²¹And Abner said to him: Go to the right hand or to the left, and lay hold on one of the young men and take thee his spoils. But Asael would not leave off following him close. ²²And again Abner said to Asael: Go off, and do not follow me, lest I be obliged to stab thee to the ground, and I shall not be able to hold up my face to Joab thy brother. ²³But he refused to hearken to him, and would not turn aside: wherefore Abner struck him with his spear with a back stroke in the groin, and thrust him through, and he died upon the spot: and all that came to the place where Asael fell down and died stood still. ²⁴Now while Joab and Abisai pursued after Abner, the sun went down: and they came as far as the hill of the aqueduct, that lieth over against the valley by the way of the wilderness in Gabaon. ²⁵And the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together to Abner: and being joined in one body, they stood on the top of a hill. ²⁶And Abner cried out to Joab, and said: Shall thy sword rage unto utter destruction? knowest thou not that it is dangerous to drive people to despair? how long dost thou defer to bid the people cease from pursuing after their brethren? ²⁷And Joab said: As the Lord liveth, if thou hadst spoke sooner, even in the morning the people should have retired from pursuing after their brethren. ²⁸Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and all the army stood still, and did not pursue after Israel any farther, nor fight any more. ²⁹And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plains: and they passed the Jordan, and having gone through all Beth-horon, came to the camp. ³⁰And Joab returning, after he had left Abner, assembled all the people: and there were wanting of David's servants nineteen men, beside Asael. ³¹But the servants of David had killed of Benjamin, and of the men that were with Abner, three hundred and sixty, who all died. ³²And they took Asael, and buried him in the sepulchre of his father in Bethlehem, and Joab, and the men that were with him, marched all the night, and they came to Hebron at break of day.

Chapter 3

¹Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: David prospering and growing always stronger and stronger, but the house of Saul decaying daily. ²And sons were born to David in Hebron: and his firstborn was Amnon of Achinoam the Jezrahelitess: ³And his second Cheleab of Abigail the wife of Nabal of Carmel: and the third Absalom the son of Maacha the daughter of Tholmai king of Gessur: ⁴And the fourth Adonias, the son of Haggith: and the fifth Saphathia the son of Abital: ⁵And the sixth Jethraam of Egla the wife of David: these were born to David in Hebron. ⁶Now while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner the son of Ner ruled the house of Saul. ⁷And Saul had a concubine named Respha, the daughter of Aia. And Isboseth said to Abner: ⁸Why didst thou go in to my father's concubine? And he was exceedingly angry for the words of Isboseth, and said: Am I a dog's head against Juda this day, who have shewn mercy to the house of Saul thy father, and to his brethren and friends, and have not delivered thee into the hands of David, and hast thou sought this day against me to charge me with a matter concerning a woman? ⁹So do God to Abner, and more also, unless as the Lord hath sworn to David, so I do to him, ¹⁰That the kingdom be translated from the house of Saul, and the throne of David be set up over Israel, and over Juda from Dan to Bersabee. ¹¹And he could not answer him a word, because he feared him. ¹²Abner therefore sent messengers to David for himself, saying: Whose is the land? and that they should say: Make a league with me, and my hand shall be with thee: and I will bring all Israel to thee. ¹³And he said: Very well: I will make a league with thee: but one thing I require of thee, saying: Thou shalt not see my face before thou bring Michol the daughter of Saul: and so thou shalt come, and see me. ¹⁴And David sent messengers to Isboseth the son of Saul, saying: Restore my wife Michol, whom I espoused to me for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. ¹⁵And Isboseth sent, and took her from her husband Phaltiel, the son of Lais. ¹⁶And her husband followed her, weeping as far as Bahurim: and Abner said to him: Go and return. And he returned. ¹⁷Abner also spoke to the ancients of Israel, saying: Both yesterday and the day before you sought for David that he might reign over you. ¹⁸Now then do it: because the Lord hath spoken to David, saying: By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hands of the Philistines, and of all their enemies. ¹⁹And Abner spoke also to Benjamin. And he went to speak to David in Hebron all that seemed good to Israel, and to all Benjamin. ²⁰And he came to David in Hebron with twenty men: and David made a feast for Abner, and his men that came with him. ²¹And Abner said to David: I will rise, that I may gather all Israel unto thee my lord the king, and may enter into a league with thee, and that thou mayst reign over all as thy soul desireth. Now when David bad brought Abner on his way, and he was gone in peace, ²²Immediately David's servants and Joab came, after having slain the robbers, with an exceeding great booty: and Abner, was not with David in Hebron, for he had now sent him away, and he was gone in peace. ²³And Joab and all the army that was with him, came afterwards: and it was told Joab, that Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he hath sent him away, and he is gone in peace. ²⁴And Joab went in to the king, and said: What hast thou done? Behold Abner came to thee: Why didst thou send him away, and he is gone and departed? ²⁵Knowest thou not Abner the son of Ner, that to this end he came to thee, that he might deceive thee, and to know thy going out, and thy coming in, and to know all thou dost? ²⁶Then Joab going out from David, sent messengers after Abner, and brought him back from the cistern of Sira, David knowing nothing of it. ²⁷And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside to the middle of the gate, to speak to him treacherously: and he stabbed him there in the groin, and he died, in revenge of the blood of Asael his brother. ²⁸And when David heard of it, after the thing was now done, he said: I, and my kingdom are innocent before the Lord for ever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner: ²⁹And may it come upon the head of Joab, and upon all his father's house: and let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue of seed, or that is a leper, or that holdeth the distaff, or that falleth by the sword, or that wanteth bread. ³⁰So Joab and Abisai his brother slew Abner, because he had killed their brother Asael at Gabaon in the battle. ³¹And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him: Rend your garments, and gird yourselves with sackcloths, and mourn before the funeral of Abner. And king David himself followed the bier. ³²And when they had buried Abner in Hebron, king David lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner: and all the people also wept. ³³And the king mourning and lamenting over Abner, said: Not as cowards are wont to die, hath Abner died. ³⁴Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet laden with fetters: but as men fall before the children of iniquity, so didst thou fall. And all the people repeating it wept over him. ³⁵And when all the people came to take meat with David, while it was yet broad day, David swore, saying: So do God to me, and more also, if I taste bread or any thing else before sunset. ³⁶And all the people heard, and they were pleased, and all that the king did seemed good in the sight of all the people. ³⁷And all the people, and all Israel understood that day that it was not the king's doing, that Abner the son of Ner was slain. ³⁸The king also said to his servants: Do you not know that a prince and great man is slain this day in Israel? ³⁹But I as yet am tender, though anointed king. And these men the sons of Sarvia are too hard for me: the Lord reward him that doth evil according to his wickedness.

Chapter 4

¹And Isboseth the son of Saul heard that Abner was slain in Hebron: and his hands were weakened, and all Israel was troubled. ²Now the son of Saul had two men captains of his bands, the name of the one was Baana, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Remmon a Berothite of the children of Benjamin: for Beroth also was reckoned in Benjamin. ³And the Berothites fled into Gethaim, and were sojourners there until that time. ⁴And Jonathan the son of Saul bad a son that was lame of his feet: for he was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan from Jezrahel. And his nurse took him up and fled: and as she made haste to flee, he fell and became lame: and his name was Miphiboseth. ⁵And the sons of Remmon the Berothite, Rechab and Baana coming, went into the house of Isboseth in the heat of the day: and he was sleeping upon his bed at noon. And the doorkeeper of the house, who was cleansing wheat, was fallen asleep. ⁶And they entered into the house secretly taking ears of corn, and Rechab and Baana his brother stabbed him in the groin, and fled away. ⁷For when they came into the house, be was sleeping upon his bed in a parlour, and they struck him and killed him: and taking away his head they went off by the way of the wilderness, walking all night. ⁸And they brought the head of Isboseth to David to Hebron: and they said to the king: Behold the head of Isboseth the son of Saul thy enemy who sought thy life: and the Lord hath revenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed. ⁹But David answered Rechab, and Baana his brother, the sons of Remmon the Berothite, and said to them: As the Lord liveth, who hath delivered my soul out of all distress, ¹⁰The man that told me, and said: Saul is dead, who thought he brought good tidings, I apprehended, and slew him in Siceleg, who should have been rewarded for his news. ¹¹How much more now when wicked men have slain an innocent man in his own house, upon his bed, shall I not require his blood at your hand, and take you away from the earth? ¹²And David commanded his servants and they slew them: and cutting off their hands and feet, hanged them up over the pool in Hebron: but the head of Isboseth they took and buried in the sepulchre of Abner in Hebron.

Chapter 5

¹Then all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron, saying: Behold we are thy bone and thy flesh. ²Moreover yesterday also and the day before, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that did lead out and bring in Israel: and the Lord said to thee: Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince over Israel. ³The ancients also of Israel came to the king to Hebron, and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord: and they anointed David to be king over Israel. ⁴David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. ⁵In Hebron he reigned over Juda seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned three and thirty years over all Israel and Juda. ⁶And the king and all the men that were with him went to Jerusalem to the Jebusites the inhabitants of the land: and they said to David: Thou shalt not come in hither unless thou take away the blind and the lame that say: David shall not come in hither. ⁷But David took the castle of Sion, the same is the city of David. ⁸For David had offered that day a reward to whosoever should strike the Jebusites and get up to the gutters of the tops of the houses, and take away the blind and the lame that hated the soul of David: therefore it is said in the proverb: The blind and the lame shall not come into the temple. ⁹And David dwelt in the castle, and called it, The city of David: and built round about from Mello and inwards. ¹⁰And he went on prospering and growing up, and the Lord God of hosts was with him. ¹¹And Hiram the king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons for walls: and they built a house for David. ¹²And David knew that the Lord bad confirmed him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom over his people Israel. ¹³And David took more concubines and wives of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron: and there were born to David other sons also and daughters: ¹⁴And these are the names of them, that were born to him in Jerusalem, Samua, and Sobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, ¹⁵And Jebahar, and Elisua, and Nepheg, ¹⁶And Japhia, and Elisama, and Elioda, and Eliphaleth. ¹⁷And the Philistines heard that they had anointed David to be king over Israel: and they all came to seek David: and when David heard of it, he went down to a strong hold. ¹⁸And the Philistines coming spread themselves in the valley of Raphaim. ¹⁹And David consulted the Lord, saying: Shall I go up to the Philistines? and wilt thou deliver them into my hand? And the Lord said to David: Go up, for I will surely deliver the Philistines into thy hand. ²⁰And David came to Baal Pharisim: and defeated them there, and he said: The Lord hath divided my enemies before me, as waters are divided. Therefore the name of the place was called Baal Pharisim. ²¹And they left there their idols: which David and his men took away. ²²And the Philistines came up again and spread themselves in the valley of Raphaim. ²³And David consulted the Lord: Shall I go up against the Philistines, and wilt thou deliver them into my hands? He answered: Go not up against them, but fetch a compass behind them, and thou shalt come upon them over against the pear trees. ²⁴And when thou shalt hear the sound of one going in the tops of the pear trees, then shalt thou join battle: for then will the Lord go out before thy face to strike the army of the Philistines. ²⁵And David did as the Lord had commanded him, and he smote the Philistines from Gabaa 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 that were with him of the men of Juda to fetch the ark of God, upon which the name of the Lord of hosts is invoked, who sitteth over it upon the cherubims. ³And they laid the ark of God upon a new cart: and took it out of the house of Abinadab, who was in Gabaa: and Oza, and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. ⁴And when they had taken it out of the house of Abinadab, who was in Gabaa, Ahio having care of the ark of God went before the ark. ⁵But David and all Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of wood, on harps and lutes and timbrels and cornets and cymbals. ⁶And when they came to the floor of Nachon, Oza put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it: because the oxen kicked and made it lean aside. ⁷And the indignation of the Lord was enkindled against Oza, and he struck him for his rashness: and he died there before the ark of God. ⁸And David was grieved because the Lord had struck Oza, and the name of that place was called: The striking of Oza, to this day. ⁹And David was afraid of the Lord that day, saying: How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? ¹⁰And he would not have the ark of the Lord brought in to himself into the city of David: but he caused it to be carried into the house of Obededom the Gethite. ¹¹And the ark of the Lord abode in the house of Obededom the Gethite three months: and the Lord blessed Obededom, and all his household. ¹²And it was told king David, that the Lord had blessed Obededom, and all that he had, because of the ark of God. So David went, and brought away the ark of God out of the house of Obededom into the city of David with joy. And there were with David seven choirs, and calves for victims. ¹³And when they that carried the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a ram: ¹⁴And David danced with all his might before the Lord: and David was girded with a linen ephod. ¹⁵And David and all the house of Israel brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord with joyful shouting, and with sound of trumpet. ¹⁶And when the ark of the Lord was come into the city of David, Michol the daughter of Saul, looking out through a window, saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord: and she despised him in her heart. ¹⁷And they brought the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle, which David had pitched for it: and David offered holocausts, and peace offerings before the Lord. ¹⁸And when he had made an end of offering holocausts and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. ¹⁹And he distributed to all the multitude of Israel both men and women, to every one, a cake of bread, and a piece of roasted beef, and fine flour fried with oil: and all the people departed every one to his house. ²⁰And David returned to bless his own house: and Michol the daughter of Saul coming out to meet David, said: How glorious was the king of Israel to day, uncovering himself before the handmaids of his servants, and was naked, as if one of the buffoons should be naked. ²¹And David said to Michol: Before the Lord, who chose me rather than thy father, and than all his house, and commanded me to be ruler over the people of the Lord in Israel, ²²I will both play and make myself meaner than I have done: and I will be little in my own eyes: and with the handmaid of whom thou speakest, I shall appear more glorious. ²³Therefore Michol the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

Chapter 7

¹And it came to pass when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, ²He said to Nathan the prophet: Dost thou see that I dwell in a house of cedar, and the ark of God is lodged within skins? ³And Nathan said to the king: Go, do all that is in thy heart: because the Lord is with thee. ⁴But it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: ⁵Go, and say to my servant David: Thus saith the Lord: Shalt thou build me a house to dwell in? ⁶Whereas I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt even to this day: but have walked in a tabernacle, and in a tent. ⁷In all the places that I have gone through with all the children of Israel, did ever I speak a word to any one of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying: Why have you not built me a house of cedar? ⁸And now thus shalt thou speak to my servant David: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: a I took thee out of the pastures from following the sheep to be ruler over my people Israel: ⁹And I have been with thee wheresoever thou hast walked, and have slain all thy enemies from before thy face: and I have made thee a great man, like unto the name of the great ones that are on the earth. ¹⁰And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, and they shall dwell therein, and shall be disturbed no more: neither shall the children of iniquity afflict them any more as they did before, ¹¹From the day that I appointed judges over my people Israel: and I will give thee rest from all thy enemies. And the Lord foretelleth to thee, that the Lord will make thee a house. ¹²And when thy days shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³He shall build a house to my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. ¹⁴I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son: and if he commit any iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men. ¹⁵But my mercy I will not take away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before my face. ¹⁶And thy house shall be faithful, and thy kingdom for ever before thy face, and thy throne shall be firm for ever. ¹⁷According to all these words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak to David. ¹⁸And David went in, and sat before the Lord, and said: Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far? ¹⁹But yet this hath seemed little in thy sight, O Lord God, unless thou didst also speak of the house of thy servant for a long time to come: for this is the law of Adam, O Lord God. ²⁰And what can David say more unto thee? for thou knowest thy servant, O Lord God: ²¹For thy word's sake, and according to thy own heart thou hast done all these great things, so that thou wouldst make it known to thy servant. ²²Therefore thou art magnified, O Lord God, because there is none like to thee, neither is there any God besides thee, in all the things that we have heard with our ears. ²³And what nation is there upon earth, as thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for them great and terrible things, upon the earth, before the face of thy people, whom thou redeemedst to thyself out of Egypt, from the nations and their gods. ²⁴For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be an everlasting people: and thou, O Lord God, art become their God. ²⁵And now, O Lord God, raise up for ever the word that thou hast spoken, concerning thy servant and concerning his house: and do as thou hast spoken, ²⁶That thy name may be magnified for ever, and it may be said: The Lord of hosts is God over Israel. And the house of thy servant David shall be established before the Lord. ²⁷Because thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to the ear of thy servant, saying: I will build thee a house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer to thee. ²⁸And now, O Lord God, thou art God, and thy words shall be true: for thou hast spoken to thy servant these good things. ²⁹And now begin, and bless the house of thy servant, that it may endure for ever before thee: because thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it, and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.

Chapter 8

¹And it came to pass after this that David defeated the Philistines, and brought them down, and David took the bridle of tribute out of the hand of the Philistines. ²And he defeated Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the earth: and he measured with two lines, one to put to death, and one to save alive: and Moab was made to serve David under tribute. ³David defeated also Adarezer the son of Rohob king of Soba, when he went to extend his dominion over the river Euphrates. ⁴And David took from him a thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen, and houghed all the chariot horses: and only reserved of them for one hundred chariots. ⁵And the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Adarezer the king of Soba: and David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men. ⁶And David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and Syria served David under tribute: and the Lord preserved David in all his enterprises, whithersoever he went. ⁷And David took the arms of gold, which the servants of Adarezer wore, and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸And out of Bete, and out of Beroth, cities of Adarezer, king David took an exceeding great quantity of brass. ⁹And Thou the king of Emath heard that David had defeated all the forces of Adarezer. ¹⁰And Thou sent Joram his son to king David, to salute him, and to congratulate with him, and to return him thanks: because he had fought against Adarezer, and had defeated him. For Thou was an enemy to Adarezer, and in his hand were vessels of gold, and vessels of silver, and vessels of brass: ¹¹And king David dedicated them to the Lord, together with the silver and gold that he had dedicated of all the nations, which he had subdued: ¹²Of Syria, and of Moab, and of the children of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalec, and of the spoils of Adarezer the son of Rohob king of Soba. ¹³David also made himself a name, when he returned after taking Syria in the valley of the saltpits, killing eighteen thousand: ¹⁴And he put guards in Edom, and placed there a garrison: and all Edom was made to serve David: and the Lord preserved David in all enterprises he went about. ¹⁵And David reigned over all Israel: and David did judgment and justice to all his people. ¹⁶And Joab the son of Sarvia was over the army: and Josaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder: ¹⁷And Sadoc the son of Achitob, and Achimelech the son of Abiathar, were the priests: and Saraias was the scribe: ¹⁸And Banaias the son of Joiada was over the Cerethi and Phelethi: and the sons of David were the princes.

Chapter 9

¹And David said: Is there any one, think you, left of the house of Saul, that I may shew kindness to him for Jonathan's sake? ²Now there was of the house of Saul, a servant named Siba: and when the king had called him to him, he said to him: Art thou Siba? And he answered: I am Siba thy servant. ³And the king said: Is there any one left of the house of Saul, that I may shew the mercy of God unto him? And Siba said to the king: There is a son of Jonathan left, who is lame of his feet. ⁴Where is he? said he. And Siba said to the king: Behold he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lodabar. ⁵Then king David sent, and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodabar. ⁶And when Miphiboseth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul was come to David, he fell on his face and worshipped. And David said: Miphiboseth? And he answered: Behold thy servant. ⁷And David said to him: Fear not, for I will surely shew thee mercy for Jonathan thy father's sake, and I will restore the lands of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table always. ⁸He bowed down to him, and said: Who am I thy servant, that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am? ⁹Then the king called Siba the servant of Saul, and said to him: All that belonged to Saul, and all his house, I have given to thy master's son. ¹⁰Thou therefore and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him: and thou shalt bring in food for thy master's son, that he may be maintained: and Miphiboseth the son of thy master shall always eat bread at my table. And Siba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. ¹¹And Siba said to the king: As thou my lord the king hast commanded thy servant, so will thy servant do: and Miphiboseth shall eat at my table, as one of the sons of the king. ¹²And Miphiboseth had a young son whose name was Micha: and all the kindred of the house of Siba served Miphiboseth. ¹³But Miphiboseth dwelt in Jerusalem: because he ate always of the king's table: and he was lame of both feet.

Chapter 10

¹And it came to pass after this, that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanon his son reigned in his stead. ²And David said: I Will shew kindness to Hanon the son of Daas, as his father shewed kindness to me. So David sent his servants to comfort him for the death of his father. But when the servants of David were come into the land of the children of Ammon, ³The princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanon their lord: Thinkest thou that for the honour of thy father, David hath sent comforters to thee, and hath not David rather sent his servants to thee to search, and spy into the city, and overthrow it? ⁴Wherefore Hanon took the servants of David, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut away half of their garments even to the buttocks, and sent them away. ⁵When this was told David, he sent to meet them: for the men were sadly put to confusion, and David commanded them, saying: Stay at Jericho, till your beards be grown, and then return. ⁶And the children of Ammon seeing that they had done an injury to David, Bent and hired the Syrians of Rohob, and the Syrians of Soba, twenty thousand footmen, and of the king of Maacha a thousand men, and of Istob twelve thousand men. ⁷And when David heard this, he sent Joab and the whole army of warriors. ⁸And the children of Ammon came out, and set their men in array at the entering in of the gate: but the Syrians of Soba, and of Rohob, and of Istob, and of Maacha were by themselves in the field. ⁹Then Joab seeing that the battle was prepared against him, both before and behind, chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians: ¹⁰And the rest of the people he delivered to Abisai his brother, who set them in array against the children of Ammon. ¹¹And Joab said: If the Syrians are too strong for me, then thou shalt help me: but if the children of Ammon are too strong for thee, then I will help thee. ¹²Be of good courage, and let us fight for our people, and for the city of our God: and the Lord will do what is good in his sight. ¹³And Joab and the people that were with him, began to fight against the Syrians: and they immediately fled before him. ¹⁴And the children of Ammon seeing that the Syrians were fled, they fled also before Abisai, and entered into the city: and Joab returned from the children of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem. ¹⁵Then the Syrians seeing that they had fallen before Israel, gathered themselves together. ¹⁶And Adarezer sent and fetched the Syrians, that were beyond the river, and brought over their army: and Sobach, the captain of the host of Adarezer, was their general. ¹⁷And when this was told David, 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 against him. ¹⁸And the Syrians fled before Israel, and David slew of the Syrians the men of seven hundred chariots, and forty thousand horsemen: and smote Sobach the captain of the army, who presently died. ¹⁹And all the kings that were auxiliaries of Adarezer, seeing themselves overcome by Israel, were afraid and fled away, eight and fifty thousand men before Israel. And they made peace with Israel: and served them, and all the Syrians were afraid to help the children of Ammon any more.

Chapter 11

¹And it came to pass at the return of the year, at the time when kings go forth to war, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they spoiled the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabba: but David remained in Jerusalem. ²In the mean time it happened that David arose from his bed after noon, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and he saw from the roof of his house a woman washing herself, over against him: and the woman was very beautiful. ³And the king sent, and inquired who the woman was. And it was told him, that she was Bethsabee the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Urias the Hethite. ⁴And David sent messengers, and took her, and she came in to him, and he slept with her: and presently she was purified from her uncleanness: ⁵And she returned to her house having conceived. And she sent and told David, and said: I have conceived. ⁶And David sent to Joab, saying: Send me Urias the Hethite. And Joab sent Urias to David. ⁷And Urias came to David. And David asked how Joab did, and the people, and how the war was carried on. ⁸And David said to Urias: Go into thy house, and wash thy feet. And Urias went out from the king's house, and there went out after him a mess of meat from the king. ⁹But Urias slept before the gate of the king's house, with the other servants of his lord, and went not down to his own house. ¹⁰And it was told David by some that said: Urias went not to his house. And David said to Urias: Didst thou not come from thy journey? why didst thou not go down to thy house? ¹¹And Urias said to David: The ark of God and Israel and Juda dwell in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord abide upon the face of the earth: and shall I go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to sleep with my wife? By thy welfare and by the welfare of thy soul I will not do this thing. ¹²Then David said to Urias: Tarry here to day, and to morrow I will send thee away. Urias tarried in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³And David called him to eat and to drink before him, and he made him drunk: and he went out in the evening, and slept on his couch with the servants of his lord, and went not down into his house. ¹⁴And when the morning was come, David wrote a letter to Joab: and sent it by the hand of Urias, ¹⁵Writing in the letter: Set ye Urias in the front of the battle, where the fight is strongest: and leave ye him, that he may be wounded and die. ¹⁶Wherefore as Joab was besieging the city, he put Urias in the place where he knew the bravest men were. ¹⁷And the men coming out of the city, fought against Joab, and there fell some of the people of the servants of David, and Urias the Hethite was killed also. ¹⁸Then Joab sent, and told David all things concerning the battle. ¹⁹And he charged the messenger, saying: When thou hast told all the words of the battle to the king, ²⁰If thou see him to be angry, and he shall say: Why did you approach so near to the wall to fight? knew you not that many darts are thrown from above off the wall? ²¹Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerobaal? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, and slew him in Thebes? Why did you go near the wall? Thou shalt say: Thy servant Urias the Hethite is also slain. ²²So the messenger departed, and came and told David all that Joab had commanded him. ²³And the messenger said to David: The men prevailed against us, and they came out to us into the field: and we vigorously charged and pursued them even to the gate of the city. ²⁴And the archers shot their arrows at thy servants from off the wall above: and some of the king's servants are slain, and thy servant Urias the Hethite is also dead. ²⁵And David said to the messenger: Thus shalt thou say to Joab: Let not this thing discourage thee: for various is the event of war: and sometimes one, sometimes another is consumed by the sword: encourage thy warriors against The city, and exhort them that thou mayest overthrow it. ²⁶And the wife of Urias heard that Urias her husband was dead, and she mourned for him. ²⁷And the mourning being over, David sent and brought her into his house, and she became his wife, and she bore him a son: and this thing which David had done, was displeasing to the Lord.

Chapter 12

¹And the Lord sent Nathan to David: and when he was come to him, he said to him: There were two men in one city, the one rich, and the other poor. ²The rich man had exceeding many sheep and oxen. ³But the poor man had nothing at all but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up, and which had grown up in his house together with his children, eating of his bread, and drinking of his cup, and sleeping in his bosom: and it was unto him as a daughter. ⁴And when a certain stranger was come to the rich man, he spared to take of his own sheep and oxen, to make a feast for that stranger, who was come to him, but took the poor man's ewe, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. ⁵And David's anger being exceedingly kindled against that man, he said to Nathan: As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this is a child of death. ⁶He shall restore the ewe fourfold, because he did this thing, and had no pity. ⁷And Nathan said to David: Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee from the hand of Saul, ⁸And gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and Juda: and if these things be little, I shall add far greater things unto thee. ⁹Why therefore hast thou despised the word of the Lord, to do evil in my sight? Thou hast killed Urias the Hethite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. ¹⁰Therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house, because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Urias the Hethite to be thy wife. ¹¹Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thy own house, and I will take thy wives before thy eyes I and give them to thy neighhour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. ¹²For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun. ¹³And David said to Nathan: I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David: The Lord also hath taken away thy sin: thou shalt not die. ¹⁴Nevertheless, because thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, for this thing, the child that is born to thee, shall surely die. ¹⁵And Nathan returned to his house. The Lord also struck the child which the wife of Urias had borne to David, and his life was despaired of. ¹⁶And David besought the Lord for the child: and David kept a fast, and going in by himself lay upon the ground. ¹⁷And the ancients of his house came, to make him rise from the ground: but he would not, neither did he eat meat 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 when the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he would not hearken to our voice: how much more will he afflict himself if we tell him that the child is dead? ¹⁹But when David saw his servants whispering, he understood that the child was dead: and he said to his servants: Is the child dead? They answered him: He is dead. ²⁰Then David arose from the ground, and washed and anointed himself: and when he had changed his apparel, he went into the house of the Lord: and worshipped, and then he came into his own house, and he called for bread, and ate. ²¹And his servants said to him: What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive, but when the child was dead, thou didst rise up, and eat bread. ²²And he said: While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept for him: for I said: Who knoweth whether the Lord may not give him to me, and the child may live? ²³But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Shall I be able to bring him back any more? I shall go to him rather: but he shall not return to me. ²⁴And David comforted Bethsabee his wife, and went in unto her, and slept with her: I and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon, and the Lord loved him. ²⁵And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and called his name, Amiable to the Lord, because the Lord loved him. ²⁶And Joab fought against Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and laid close siege to the royal city. ²⁷And Joab sent messengers to David, saying: I have fought against Rabbath, and the city of waters is about to be taken. ²⁸Now therefore gather thou the rest of the people together, and besiege the city and take it: lest when the city shall be wasted by me, the victory be ascribed to my name. ²⁹Then David gathered all the people together, and went out against Rabbath: and after fighting, he took it. ³⁰And he took the crown of their king from his head, the weight of which was a talent of gold, set with most precious stones, and it was put upon David's head, and the spoils of the city which were very great he carried away. ³¹And bringing forth the people thereof he sawed them, and drove over them chariots armed with iron: and divided them with knives, and made them pass through brickkilns: so did he to all the cities of the children of Ammon: and David returned, with all the army to Jerusalem.

Chapter 13

¹And it came to pass after this, that Amnon the son of David loved the sister of Absalom the son of David, who was very beautiful, and her name was Thamar. ²And he was exceedingly fond of her, so that he fell sick for the love of her: for as she was a virgin, he thought it hard to do any thing dishonestly with her. ³Now Amnon had a friend, named Jonadab the son of Semmaa the brother of David, a very wise man: ⁴And he said to him: Why dost thou grow so lean from day to day, O son of the king? why dost thou not tell me the reason of it? And Amnon said to him: I am in love with Thamar the sister of my brother Absalom. ⁵And Jonadab said to him: Lie down upon thy bed, and feign thyself sick: and when thy father shall come to visit thee, say to him: Let my sister Thamar, I pray thee, come to me, to give me to eat, and to make me a mess, that I may eat it at her hand. ⁶So Amnon lay down, and made as if he were sick: and when the king came to visit him, Amnon said to the king: I pray thee let my sister Thamar come, and make in my sight two little messes, that I may eat at her hand. ⁷Then David sent home to Thamar, saying: Come to the house of thy brother Amnon, and make him a mess. ⁸And Thamar came to the house of Amnon her brother: but he was laid down: and she took meal and tempered it: and dissolving it in his sight she made little messes. ⁹And taking what she had boiled, she poured it out, and set it before him, but he would not eat: and Amnon said: Put out all persons from me. And when they had put all persons out, ¹⁰Amnon said to Thamar: Bring the mess into the chamber, that I may eat at thy hand. And Thamar took the little messes which she had made, and brought them in to her brother Amnon in the chamber. ¹¹And when she had presented him the meat, he took hold of her, and said: Come lie with me, my sister. ¹²She answered him: Do not so, my brother, do not force me: for no such thing must be done in Israel. Do not thou this folly. ¹³For I shall not be able to bear my shame, and thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel: but rather speak to the king, and he will not deny me to thee. ¹⁴But he would not hearken to her prayers, but being stronger overpowered her and lay with her. ¹⁵Then Amnon hated her with an exceeding great hatred: so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her before, And Amnon said to her: Arise, and get thee gone. ¹⁶She answered him: This evil which now thou dost against me, in driving me away, is greater than that which thou didst before. And he would not hearken to her: ¹⁷But calling the servants that ministered to him, he said: Thrust this woman out from me: and shut the door after her. ¹⁸And she was clothed with along robe: for the king's daughters that were virgins, used such kind of garments. Then his servant thrust her out: and shut the door after her. ¹⁹And she put ashes on her head, and rent her long robe and laid her hands upon her head, and went on crying. ²⁰And Absalom her brother said to her: Hath thy brother Amnon lain with thee? but now, sister, hold thy peace, he is thy brother: and afflict not thy heart for this thing. So Thamar remained pining away in the house of Absalom her brother. ²¹And when king David heard of these things he was exceedingly grieved: and he would not afflict the spirit of his son Amnon, for he loved him, because he was his firstborn. ²²But Absalom spoke not to Amnon neither good nor evil: for Absalom hated Amnon because he had ravished his sister Thamar. ²³And it came to pass after two years, that the sheep of Absalom were shorn in Baalhasor, which is near Ephraim: and Absalom invited all the king's sons: ²⁴And he came to the king, and said to him: Behold thy servant's sheep are shorn. Let the king, I pray, with his servants come to his servant. ²⁵And the king said to Absalom: Nay, my son, do not ask that we should all come, and be chargeable to thee. And when he pressed him, and he would not go, he blessed him. ²⁶And Absalom said: If thou wilt not come, at least let my brother Amnon, I beseech thee, come with us. And the king said to him: It is not necessary that he should go with thee. ²⁷But Absalom pressed him, so that he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him. And Absalom made a feast as it were the feast of a king. ²⁸And Absalom had commanded his servants, saying: Take notice when Amnon shall be drunk with wine, and when I shall say to you: Strike him, and kill him, fear not: for it is I that command you: take courage, and be valiant men. ²⁹And the servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded them. And all the king's sons arose and got up every man upon his mule, and fled. ³⁰And while they were yet in the way, a rumour came to David, saying: Absalom hath slain all the king's sons, and there is not one of them left. ³¹Then the king rose up, and rent his garments: and fell upon the ground, and all his servants, that stood about him, rent their garments. ³²But Jonadab the son of Semmaa David's brother answering, said: Let not my lord the king think that all the king's sons are slain: Amnon only is dead, for he was appointed by the mouth of Absalom from the day that he ravished his sister Thamar. ³³Now therefore let not my lord the king take this thing into his heart, saying: All the king's sons are slain: for Amnon only is dead. ³⁴But Absalom fled away: and the young man that kept the watch, lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold there came much people by a by-way on the side of the mountain. ³⁵And Jonadab said to the king: Behold the king's sons are come: as thy servant said, so it is. ³⁶And when he made an end of speaking, the king's sons also appeared: and coming in they lifted up their voice, and wept: and the king also and all his servants wept very much. ³⁷But Absalom fled, and went to Tholomai the son of Ammiud the king of Gessur. And David mourned for his son every day. ³⁸And Absalom after he was fled, and come into Gessur, was there three years. And king David ceased to pursue after Absalom, because he was comforted concerning the death of Amnon.

Chapter 14

¹And Joab the son of Sarvia, understanding that the king's heart was turned to Absalom, ²Sent to Thecua, and fetched from thence a wise woman: and said to her: Feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel, and be not anointed with oil, that thou mayest be as a woman that had a long time been mourning for one dead. ³And thou shalt go in to the king, and shalt speak to him in this manner. And Joab put the words in her mouth. ⁴And when the woman of Thecua was come in to the king, she fell before him upon the ground, and worshipped, and said: Save me, O king. ⁵And the king said to her: What is the matter with thee? She answered: Alas, I am a widow woman: for my husband is dead. ⁶And thy handmaid had two sons: and they quarrelled with each other in the field, and there was none to part them: and the one struck the other, and slew him. ⁷And behold the whole kindred rising against thy handmaid, saith: Deliver him that hath slain his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother, whom he slew, and that we may destroy the heir: and they seek to quench my spark which is left, and will leave my husband no name, nor remainder upon the earth. ⁸And the king said to the woman: Go to thy house, and I will give charge concerning thee. ⁹And the woman of Thecua said to the king: Upon me, my lord, be the iniquity, and upon the house of my father: but may the king and his throne be guiltless. ¹⁰And the king said: If any one shall say ought against thee, bring him to me, and be shall not touch thee any more. ¹¹And she said: Let the king remember the Lord his God, that the next of kin be not multiplied to take revenge, and that they may not kill my son. And he said: As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth. ¹²Then the woman said: Let thy handmaid speak one word to my lord the king. And he said: Speak. ¹³And the woman said: Why hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God, and why hath the king spoken this word, to sin, and not bring home again his own exile? ¹⁴We all die, and like waters that return no more, we fall down into the earth: neither will God have a soul to perish, but recalleth, meaning that he that is cast off should not altogether perish. ¹⁵Now therefore I am come, to speak this word to my lord the king before the people. And thy handmaid said: I will speak to the king, it maybe the king will perform the request of his handmaid. ¹⁶And the king hath hearkened to me to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of all that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God. ¹⁷Then let thy handmaid say, that the word of the Lord the king be made as a sacrifice. For even as an angel of God, so is my lord the king, that he is neither moved with blessing nor cursing: wherefore the Lord thy God is also with thee. ¹⁸And the king answering, said to the woman: Hide not from me the thing that I ask thee. And the woman said to him: Speak, my lord the king. ¹⁹And the king said: Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? The woman answered, and said: By the health of thy soul, my lord, O king, it is neither on the left hand, nor on the right, in all these things which my lord the king hath spoken: for thy servant Joab, he commanded me, and he put all these words into the mouth of thy handmaid. ²⁰That I should come about with this form of speech, thy servant Joab, commanded this: but thou, my lord, O king, art wise, according to the wisdom of ail angel of God, to understand all things upon earth. ²¹And the king said to Joab: Behold I am appeased and have granted thy request: Go therefore and fetch back the boy Absalom. ²²And Joab falling down to the ground upon his face, adored, and blessed the king: and Joab said: This day thy servant hath understood, that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king: for thou hast fulfilled the request of thy servant. ²³Then Joab arose and went to Gessur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. ²⁴But the king said: Let him return into his house, and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned into his house, and saw not the king's face. ²⁵But in all Israel there was not a man so comely, and so exceedingly beautiful as Absalom: from the sole of the foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. ²⁶And when he polled his hair (now he was polled once a year, because his hair was burdensome to him) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred sicles, according to the common weight. ²⁷And there were born to Absalom three sons: and one daughter, whose, name was Thamar, and she was very beautiful. ²⁸And Absalom dwelt two years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king's face. ²⁹He sent therefore to Joab, to send him to the king: but he would not come to him. And when he had sent the second time, and he would not come to him, ³⁰He said to his servants: You know the field of Joab near my field, that hath a crop of barley: go now and set it on fire. So the servants of Absalom set the corn on fire. And Joab's servants coming with their garments rent, said: The servants of Absalom have set part of the field on fire. ³¹Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom to his house, and said: Why have thy servants set my corn on fire? ³²And Absalom answered Joab: I sent to thee beseeching thee to come to me, that I might send thee to the king, to say to him: Wherefore am I come from Gessur? it had been better for me to be there: I beseech thee therefore that I may see the face of the king: and if he be mindful of my iniquity, let him kill me. ³³So Joab going in to the king, told him all: and Absalom was called for, and he went in to the king: and prostrated himself on the ground before him: and the king kissed Absalom.

Chapter 15

¹Now after these things Absalom made himself chariots, and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. ²And Absalom rising up early stood by the entrance of the gate, and when any man had business to come to the king's judgment, Absalom called him to him, and said: Of what city art thou? He answered, and said: Thy servant is of such a tribe of Israel. ³And Absalom answered him: Thy words seem to me good and just. But there is no man appointed by the king to hear thee. And Absalom said: ⁴O that they would make me judge over the land, that all that have business might come to me, that I might do them justice. ⁵Moreover when any man came to him to salute him, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him. ⁶And this he did to all Israel that came for judgment, to be heard by the king, and he enticed the hearts of the men of Israel. ⁷And after forty years, Absalom said to king David: Let me go, and pay my vows which I have vowed to the Lord in Hebron. ⁸For thy servant made avow, when he was in Gessur of Syria, saying: If the Lord shall bring me again into Jerusalem I will offer sacrifice to the Lord. ⁹And king David said to him: Go in peace. And he arose, and went to Hebron. ¹⁰And Absalom sent spies into all the tribes of Israel, saying: As soon as you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, say ye: Absalom reigneth in Hebron. ¹¹Now there went with Absalom two hundred men out of Jerusalem that were called, going with simplicity of heart, and knowing nothing of the design. ¹²Absalom also sent for Achitophel the Gilonite, David's counsellor, from his city Gilo. And while he was offering sacrifices, there was a strong conspiracy, and the people running together increased with Absalom. ¹³And there came a messenger to David, saying: All Israel with their whole heart followeth Absalom. ¹⁴And David said to his servants, that were with him in Jerusalem: Arise and let us flee: for we shall not escape else from the face of Absalom: make haste to go out, lest he come and overtake us, and bring ruin upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword. ¹⁵And the king's servants said to him: Whatsoever our lord the king shall command, we thy servants will willingly execute. ¹⁶And the king went forth, and all his household on foot: and the king left ten women his concubines to keep the house: ¹⁷And the king going forth and all Israel on foot, stood afar off from the house: ¹⁸And all his servants walked by him, and the bands of the Cerethi, and the Phelethi, and all the Gethites, valiant warriors, six hundred men who had followed him from Geth on foot, went before the king. ¹⁹And the king said to Ethai the Gethite: Why comest thou with us? return and dwell with the king, for thou art a stranger, and art come out of thy own place. ²⁰Yesterday thou camest, and to day shalt thou be forced to go forth with us? but I shall go whither I am going: return thou, and take back thy brethren with thee, and the Lord will shew thee mercy, and truth, because thou hast shewn grace and fidelity. ²¹And Ethai answered the king, saying: As the Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth: in what place soever thou shalt be, my lord, O king, either in death, or in life, there will thy servant be. ²²And David said to Ethai: Come, and pass over. And Ethai the Gethite passed, and all the men that were with him, and the rest of the people. ²³And they all wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself went over the brook Cedron, and all the people marched towards the way that looketh to the desert. ²⁴And Sadoc the priest also came, and all the Levites with him carrying the ark of the covenant of God, and they set down the ark of God: and Abiathar went up, till all the people that was come out of the city had done passing. ²⁵And the king said to Sadoc: Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find grace in the sight of the Lord, he will bring me again, and he will shew me it, and his tabernacle. ²⁶But if he shall say to me: Thou pleasest me not: I am ready, let him do that which is good before him. ²⁷And the king said to Sadoc the priest: O seer, return into the city in peace: and let Achimaas thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar, your two sons, be with you. ²⁸Behold I will lie hid in the plains of the wilderness, till there come word from you to certify me. ²⁹So Sadoc and Abiathar carried back the ark of God into Jerusalem: and they tarried there. ³⁰But David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, going up and weeping, walking barefoot, and with his head covered, and all the people that were with them, went up with their heads covered weeping. ³¹And it was told David that Achitophel also was in the conspiracy with Absalom, and David said: Infatuate, O Lord, I beseech thee, the counsel of Achitophel. ³²And when David was come to the top of the mountain, where he was about to adore the Lord, behold Chusai the Arachite, came to meet him with his garment rent and his head covered with earth. ³³And David said to him: If thou come with me, thou wilt be a burden to me: ³⁴But if thou return into the city, and wilt say to Absalom: I am thy servant, O king: as I have been thy father's servant, so I will be thy servant: thou shalt defeat the counsel of Achitophel. ³⁵And thou hast with thee Sadoc, and Abiathar the priests: and what thing soever thou shalt hear out of the king's house, thou shalt tell it to Sadoc and Abiathar the priests. ³⁶And there are with them their two sons Achimaas the son of Sadoc, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar: and you shall send by them to me every thing that you shall hear. ³⁷Then Chusai the friend of David went into the city, and Absalom came into Jerusalem.

Chapter 16

¹And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold Siba the servant of Miphiboseth came to meet him with two asses, laden with two hundred loaves of bread, and a hundred bunches of raisins, a hundred cakes of figs, and a vessel of wine. ²And the king said to Siba: What mean these things? And Siba answered: The asses are for the king's household to sit on: and the loaves and the figs for thy servants to eat, and the wine to drink if any man be faint in the desert. ³And the king said: Where is thy master's son? And Siba answered the king: He remained in Jerusalem, saying: To day will the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father. ⁴And the king said to Siba: I give thee all that belonged to Miphiboseth. And Siba said: I beseech thee let me find grace before thee, my lord, O king. ⁵And king David came as far as Bahurim: and behold there came out from thence a man of the kindred of the house of Saul named Semei, the son of Gera, and coming out he cursed as he went on, ⁶And he threw stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people, and all the warriors walked on the right, and on the left side of the king. ⁷And thus said Semei when he cursed the king: Come out, come out, thou man of blood, and thou man of Belial. ⁸The Lord hath repaid thee for all the blood of the house of Saul: because thou hast usurped the kingdom in his stead, and the Lord hath given the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and behold thy evils press upon thee, because thou art a man of blood. ⁹And Abisai the son of Sarvia said to the king: Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? I will go, and cut off his head. ¹⁰And the king said: What have I to do with you, ye sons of Sarvia? Let him alone and let him curse: for the Lord hath bid him curse David: and who is he that shall dare say, why hath he done so? ¹¹And the king said to Abisai, and to all his servants: Behold my son, who came forth from my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now a son of Jemini? let him alone that he may curse as the Lord hath bidden him. ¹²Perhaps the Lord may look upon my affliction, and the Lord may render me good for the cursing of this day. ¹³And David and his men with him went by the way. And Semei by the hill's side went over against him, cursing, and casting stones at him, and scattering earth. ¹⁴And the king and all the people with him came weary, and refreshed themselves there. ¹⁵But Absalom and all his people came into Jerusalem, and Achitophel was with him. ¹⁶And when Chusai the Arachite, David's friend, was come to Absalom, he said to him: God save thee, O king, God save thee, O king. ¹⁷And Absalom said to him: Is this thy kindness to thy friend? Why wentest thou not with thy friend? ¹⁸And Chusai answered Absalom: Nay: for I will be his, whom the Lord hath chosen, and all this people, and all Israel, and with him will I abide. ¹⁹Besides this, whom shall I serve? is it not the king's son? as I have served thy father, so will I serve thee also. ²⁰And Absalom said to Achitophel: Consult what we are to do. ²¹And Achitophel said to Absalom: Go in to the concubines of thy father, whom he hath left to keep the house: that when all Israel shall hear that thou hast disgraced thy father, their hands may be strengthened with thee. ²²So they spread a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and he went in to his father's concubines before all Israel. ²³Now the counsel of Achitophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man should consult God: so was all the counsel of Achitophel, both when he was with David, and when he was with Absalom.

Chapter 17

¹And Achitophel said to Absalom: I will choose me twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night. ²And coming upon him (for he is now weary, and weak handed) I will defeat him: and when all the people is put to flight that is with him, I will kill the king who will be left alone. ³And I will bring back all the people, as if they were but one man: for thou seekest but one man: and all the people shall be in peace. ⁴And his saying pleased Absalom, and all the ancients of Israel. ⁵But Absalom said: Call Chusai the Arachite, and let us hear what he also saith. ⁶And when Chusai was come to Absalom, Absalom said to him: Achitophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do it or not? what counsel dost thou give? ⁷And Chusai said to Absalom: The counsel that Achitophel hath given this time is not good. ⁸And again Chusai said: Thou knowest thy father, and the men that are with him, that they are very valiant, and bitter in their mind, as a bear raging in the wood when her whelps are taken away: and thy father is a warrior, and will not lodge with the people. ⁹Perhaps he now lieth hid in pits, or in some other place where he list: and when any one shall fall at the first, every one that heareth it shall say: There is a slaughter among the people that followed Absalom. ¹⁰And the most valiant man whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall melt for fear: for all the people of Israel know thy father to be a valiant man, and that all who are with him are valiant. ¹¹But this seemeth to me to be good counsel: Let all Israel be gathered to thee, from Dan to Bersabee, as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered: and thou shalt be in the midst of them. ¹²And we shall come upon him in what place soever he shall be found: and we shall cover him, as the dew falleth upon the ground, and we shall not leave of the men that are with him, not so much as one. ¹³And if he shall enter into any city, all Israel shall cast ropes round about that city, and we will draw it into the river, so that there shall not be found so much as one small stone thereof. ¹⁴And Absalom, and all the men of Israel said: The counsel of Chusai the Arachite is better than the counsel of Achitophel: and by the will of the Lord the profitable counsel of Achitophel was defeated, that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom. ¹⁵And Chusai said to Sadoc and Abiathar the priests: Thus and thus did Achitophel counsel Absalom, and the ancients of Israel: and thus and thus did I counsel them. ¹⁶Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying: Tarry not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but without delay pass over: lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that is with him. ¹⁷And Jonathan and Achimaas stayed by the fountain Rogel: and there went a maid and told them: and they went forward, to carry the message to king David, for they might not be seen, nor enter into the city. ¹⁸But a certain boy saw them, and told Absalom: but they making haste went into the house of a certain man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court, and they went down into it. ¹⁹And a woman took, and spread a covering over the mouth of the well, as it were to dry sodden barley: and so the thing was not known. ²⁰And when Absalom's servants were come into the house, they said to the woman: Where is Achimaas and Jonathan? and the woman answered them: They passed on in haste, after they had tasted a little water. But they that sought them, when they found them not, returned into Jerusalem. ²¹And when they were gone, they came up out of the well, and going on told king David, and said: Arise, and pass quickly over the river: for this manner of counsel has Achitophel given against you. ²²So David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over the Jordan, until it grew light, and not one of them was left that was not gone over the river. ²³But Achitophel seeing that his counsel was not followed, saddled his ass, and arose and went home to his house and to his city, and putting his house in order, hanged himself, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father. ²⁴But David came to the camp, and Absalom passed over the Jordan, be and all the men of Israel with him. ²⁵Now Absalom appointed Amasa in Joab's stead over the army: and Amasa was the son of a man who was called Jethra of Jezrael, who went in to Abigail the daughter of Naas, the sister of Sarvia who was the mother of Joab. ²⁶And Israel camped with Absalom in the land of Galaad. ²⁷And when David was come to the camp, Sobi the son of Naas of Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammihel of Lodabar, and Berzellai the Galaadite of Rogelim, ²⁸Brought him beds, and tapestry, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and parched corn, and beans, and lentils, and fried pulse, ²⁹And honey, and butter, and sheep, and fat calves, and they gave to David and the people that were with him, to eat: for they suspected that the people were faint with hunger and thirst in the wilderness.

Chapter 18

¹And David having reviewed his people, appointed over them captains of thousands and of hundreds, ²And sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abisai the son of Sarvia Joab's brother, and a third part under the hand of Ethai, who was of Geth: and the king said to the people: I also will go forth with you. ³And the people answered: Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not much mind us: or if half of us should fall, they will not greatly care: for thou alone art accounted for ten thousand: it is better therefore that thou shouldst be in the city to succour us. ⁴And the king said to them: What seemeth good to you, that will I do. And the king stood by the gate: and all the people went forth by their troops, by hundreds and by thousands. ⁵And the king commanded Joab, and Abisai, and Ethai, saying: Save me the boy Absalom. And all the people heard the king giving charge to all the princes concerning Absalom. ⁶So the people went out into the field against Israel and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim. ⁷And the people of Israel were defeated there by David's army, and a great slaughter was made that day of twenty thousand men. ⁸And the battle there was scattered over the face of all the country, and there were many more of the people whom the forest consumed, than whom the sword devoured that day. ⁹And it happened that Absalom met he servants of David, riding on a mule: and as the mule went under a thick and large oak, his head stuck in the oak: and while he hung between the heaven and he earth, the mule on which he rode passed on. ¹⁰And one saw this and told Joab, saying: I saw Absalom hanging upon an oak. ¹¹And Joab said to the man that told him: If thou sawest him, why didst thou not stab him to the ground, and I would have given thee ten sicles of silver, and belt? ¹²And he said to Joab: If thou wouldst have paid down in my hands a thousand pieces of silver, I would not lay my hands upon the king's son: for in our hearing he king charged thee, and Abisai, and Ethai, saying: Save me the boy Absalom. ¹³Yea and if I should have acted boldly against my own life, this could not have been hid from the king, and wouldst thou have stood by me? ¹⁴And Joab said: Not as thou wilt, but will set upon him in thy sight. So he took three lances in his hand, and thrust them into the heart of Absalom: and whilst he yet panted for life, sticking on the oak, ¹⁵Ten young men, armourbearers of Joab, ran up, and striking him slew him. ¹⁶And Joab sounded the trumpet, and kept back the people from pursuing after Israel in their flight, being willing to spare he multitude. ¹⁷And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the forest, and they laid an exceeding great heap of stories upon him: but all Israel fled to their own dwellings. ¹⁸Now Absalom had reared up for himself, in his lifetime, a pillar, which is in the king's valley: for he said: I have no son, and this shall be the monument of my name. And he called the pillar by is own name, and it is called the hand of Absalom, to this day. ¹⁹And Achimaas the son of Sadoc said: I will run and tell the king, that the Lord hath done judgment for him from the hand of his enemies. ²⁰And Joab said to him: Thou shalt not be the messenger this day, but shalt bear tidings another day: this day I will not have thee bear tidings, because the king's son is dead. ²¹And Joab said to Chusai: Go, and tell the king what thou hast seen. Chusai bowed down to Joab, and ran. ²²Then Achimaas the son of Sadoc said to Joab again: Why might not I also run after Chusai? And Joab said to him: Why wilt thou run, my son? thou wilt not be the bearer of good tidings. ²³He answered: But what if I run? And he said to him: Run. Then Achimaas running by a nearer way passed Chusai. ²⁴And David sat between the two gates: and the watchman that was on the top of the gate upon the wall, lifting up his eyes, saw a man running alone. ²⁵And crying out he told the king: and the king said: If he be alone, there are good tidings in his mouth. And as he was coming apace, and drawing nearer, ²⁶The watchman saw another man running, and crying aloud from above, he said: I see another man running alone. And the king said: He also is a good messenger. ²⁷And the watchman said: The running of the foremost seemeth to me like the running of Achimaas the son of Sadoc. And the king said: He is a good man: and cometh with good news. ²⁸And Achimaas crying out, said to the king: God save thee, O king. And falling down before the king with his face to the ground, he said: Blessed be the Lord thy God, who hath shut up the men that have lifted up their hands against the lord my king. ²⁹And the king said: Is the young man Absalom safe? And Achimaas said: I saw a great tumult, O king, when thy servant Joab sent me thy servant: I know nothing else. ³⁰And the king said to him: Pass, and stand here. ³¹And when he bad passed, and stood still, Chusai appeared: and coming up he said: I bring good tidings, my lord, the king, for the Lord hath judged for thee this day from the hand of all that have risen up against thee. ³²And the king said to Chusai: Is the young man Absalom safe? And Chusai answering him, said: Let the enemies of my lord, the king, and all that rise against him unto evil, be as the young man is. ³³The king therefore being much moved, went up to the high chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went he spoke in this manner: My son Absalom, Absalom my son: would to God that I might die for thee, Absalom my son, my son Absalom.

Chapter 19

¹And it was told Joab, that the king wept and mourned for his son: ²And the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people: for the people heard say that day: The king grieveth for his son. ³And the people shunned the going into the city that day as a people would do that hath turned their backs, and fled away from the battle. ⁴And the king covered his head, and cried with a loud voice: O my son Absalom, O Absalom my son, O my son. ⁵Then Joab going into the house to the king, said: Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, that 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. ⁶Thou lovest them that hate thee, and thou hatest them that love thee: and thou hast shewn this day that thou carest not for thy nobles, nor for thy servants: and I now plainly perceive that if Absalom had lived, and all we had been slain, then it would have pleased thee. ⁷Now therefore arise, and go out, and speak to the satisfaction of thy servants: for I swear to thee by the Lord, that if thou wilt not go forth, there will not tarry with thee so much as one this night: and that will be worse to thee, than all the evils that have befallen thee from thy youth until now. ⁸Then the king arose and sat in the gate: and it was told to all the people that the king sat in the gate: and all the people came before the king, but Israel fled to their own dwellings. ⁹And all the people were at strife in 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 is fled out of the land for Absalom. ¹⁰But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in the battle: how long are you silent, and bring not back the king? ¹¹And king David sent to Sadoc, and Abiathar the priests, saying: Speak to the ancients of Juda, saying: Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house? (For the talk of all Israel was come to the king in his house.) ¹²You are my brethren, you are my bone, and my flesh, why are you the last to bring back the king? ¹³And say ye to Amasa: Art not thou my bone, and my flesh? So do God to me and add more, if thou be not the chief captain of the army before me always in the place of Joab. ¹⁴And be inclined the heart of all the men of Juda, as it were of one man: and they sent to the king, saying: Return thou, and all thy servants. ¹⁵And the king returned and came as far as the Jordan, and all Juda came as far as Galgal to meet the king, and to bring him over the Jordan. ¹⁶And Semei the son of Gera the son of Jemini of Bahurim, made haste and went down with the men of Juda to meet king David, ¹⁷With a thousand men of Benjamin, and Siba the servant of the house of Saul: and his fifteen sons, and twenty servants were with him: and going over the Jordan, ¹⁸They passed the fords before the king, that they might help over the king's household, and do according to his commandment. And Semei the son of Gera falling down before the king, when he was come over the Jordan, ¹⁹Said to him: Impute not to me, my lord, the iniquity, nor remember the injuries of thy servant on the day that thou, my lord, the king, wentest out of Jerusalem, nor lay it up in thy heart, O king. ²⁰For I thy servant acknowledge my sin: and therefore I am come this day the first of all the house of Joseph, and am come down to meet my lord the king. ²¹But Abisai the son of Sarvia answering, said: Shall Semei for these words not be put to death, because he cursed the Lord's anointed? ²²And David said: What have I to do with you, ye sons of Sarvia? why are you a satan this day to me? shall there any man be killed this day in Israel? do not I know that this day I am made king over Israel? ²³And the king said to Semei: Thou shalt not die. And he swore unto him. ²⁴And Miphiboseth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and he had neither washed his feet, nor trimmed his beard: nor washed his garments from the day that the king went out, until the day of his return in peace. ²⁵And when he met the king at Jerusalem, the king said to him: Why camest thou not with me, Miphiboseth? ²⁶And he answering, said: My lord, O king, my servant despised me: for I thy servant spoke to him to saddle me an ass, that I might get on and go with the king: for I thy servant am lame. ²⁷Moreover he hath also accused me thy servant to thee, my lord the king: but thou my lord the king art as an angel of God, do what pleaseth thee. ²⁸For all of my father's house were no better than worthy of death before my lord the king; and thou hast set me thy servant among the guests of thy table: what just complaint therefore have I? or what right to cry any more to the king? ²⁹Then the king said to him: Why speakest thou any more? what I have said is determined: thou and Siba divide the possessions. ³⁰And Miphiboseth answered the king: Yea, let him take all, for as much as my lord the king is returned peaceably into his house. ³¹Berzellai also the Galaadite coming down from Rogelim, brought the king over the Jordan, being ready also to wait on him beyond the river. ³²Now Berzellai the Galaadite was of a great age, that is to say, fourscore years old, and he provided the king with sustenance when he abode in the camp: for he was a man exceeding rich. ³³And the king said to Berzellai: Come with me that thou mayest rest secure with me in Jerusalem. ³⁴And Berzellai 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 fourscore years old, are my senses quick to discern sweet and bitter? or can meat or drink delight thy servant? or can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? why should thy servant be a burden to my lord, the king? ³⁶I thy servant will go on a little way from the Jordan with thee: I need not this recompense. ³⁷But I beseech thee let thy servant return, and die in my own city, and be buried by the sepulchre of my father, and of my mother. But there is thy servant Chamaam, let him go with thee, my lord, the king, and do to him whatsoever seemeth good to thee. ³⁸Then the king said to him: Let Chamaam go over with me, and I will do for him whatsoever shall please thee, and all that thou shalt ask of me, thou shalt obtain. ³⁹And when all the people and the king had passed over the Jordan, the king kissed Berzellai, and blessed him: and he returned to his own place. ⁴⁰So the king went on to Galgal, and Chamaam with him. Now all the people of Juda had brought the king over, and only half of the people of Israel were there. ⁴¹Therefore all the men of Israel running together to the king, said to him: Why have our brethren the men of Juda stolen thee away, and have brought the king and his household over the Jordan, and all the men of David with him? ⁴²And all the men of Juda answered the men of Israel: Because the king is nearer to me: why art thou angry for this matter? have we eaten any thing of the king's, or have any gifts been given us? ⁴³And the men of Israel answered the men of Juda, and said: I have ten parts in the king more than thou, and David belongeth to me more than to thee: why hast thou done me a wrong, and why was it not told me first, that I might bring back my king? And the men of Juda answered more harshly than the men of Israel.

Chapter 20

¹And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Seba, the son of Bochri, a man of Jemini: and he sounded the trumpet, and said: We have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Isai: return to thy dwellings, O Israel. ²And all Israel departed from David, and followed Seba the son of Bochri: but the men of Juda stuck to their king from the Jordan unto Jerusalem. ³And when the king was come into his house at Jerusalem, he took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, allowing them provisions: and he went not in unto them, but they were shut up unto the day of their death living in widowhood. ⁴And the king said to Amasa: Assemble to me all the men of Juda against the third day, and be thou here present. ⁵So Amasa went to assemble the men of Juda, but he tarried beyond the set time which the king had appointed him. ⁶And David said to Abisai: Now will Seba the son of Bochri do us more harm than did Absalom: take thou therefore the servants of thy lord, and pursue after him, lest he find fenced cities, and escape us. ⁷So Joab's men went out with him, and the Cerethi and the Phelethi: and all the valiant men went out of Jerusalem to pursue after Seba the son of Bochri. ⁸And when they were at the great stone which is in Gabaon, Amasa coming met them. And Joab had on a close coat of equal length with his habit, and over it was girded with a sword hanging down to his flank, in a scabbard, made in such manner as to come out with the least motion and strike. ⁹And Joab said to Amasa: God save thee, my brother. And he took Amasa by the chin with his right hand to kiss him. ¹⁰But Amasa did not take notice of the sword, which Joab had, and he struck him in the side, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and gave him not a second wound, and he died. And Joab, and Abisai his brother pursued after Seba the son of Bochri. ¹¹In the mean time some men of Joab's company stopping at the dead body of Amasa, said: Behold he that would have been in Joab's stead the companion of David. ¹²And Amasa imbrued with blood, lay in the midst of the way. A certain man saw this that all the people stood still to look upon him, so he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and covered him with a garment, that they who passed might not stop on his account. ¹³And when he was removed out of the way, all the people went on following Joab to pursue after Seba the son of Bochri. ¹⁴Now he had passed through all the tribes of Israel unto Abela and Bethmaacha: and all the chosen men were gathered together unto him. ¹⁵And they came, and besieged him in Abela, and in Bethmaacha, and they cast up works round the city, and the city was besieged: and all the people that were with Joab, laboured to throw down the walls. ¹⁶And a wise woman cried out from the city: Hear, hear, and say to Joab: Come near hither, and I will speak with thee. ¹⁷And when he was come near to her, she said to him: Art thou Joab? And he answered: I am. And she spoke thus to him: Hear the words of thy handmaid. He answered: I do hear. ¹⁸And she again said: A saying was used in the old proverb: They that inquire, let them inquire in Abela: and so they made an end. ¹⁹Am not I she that answer truth in Israel, and thou seekest to destroy the city, and to overthrow a mother in Israel? Why wilt thou throw down the inheritance of the Lord? ²⁰And Joab answering said: God forbid, God forbid that I should, I do not throw down, nor destroy. ²¹The matter is not so, but a man of mount Ephraim, Seba the son of Bochri by name, hath lifted up his hand against king David: deliver him only, and we will depart from the city. And the woman said to Joab: Behold his head shall be thrown to thee from the wall. ²²So she went to all the people, and spoke to them wisely: and they cut off the head of Seba the son of Bochri, and cast it out to Joab. And he sounded the trumpet, and they departed from the city, every one to their home: and Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king. ²³So Joab was over all the army of Israel: and Banaias the son of Joiada was over the Cerethites and Phelethites, ²⁴But Aduram over the tributes: and Josaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder. ²⁵And Siva was scribe: and Sadoc and Abiathar, priests. ²⁶And Ira the Jairite was the priest of David.

Chapter 21

¹And there was a famine in the days of David for three years successively: and David consulted the oracle of the Lord. And the Lord said: It is for Saul, and his bloody house, because he slew the Gabaonites. ²Then the king, calling for the Gabaonites, said to them: (Now the Gabaonites were not of the children of Israel, but the remains of the Amorrhites: I and the children of Israel had sworn to them, and Saul sought to slay them out of zeal, as it were for the children of Israel and Juda:) ³David therefore said to the Gabaonites: What shall I do for you? and what shall be the atonement for you, that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord? ⁴And the Gabaonites said to him: We have no contest about silver and gold, but against Saul and against his house: neither do we desire that any man be slain of Israel. And the king said to them: What will you then that I should do for you? ⁵And they said to the king: The man that crushed us and oppressed us unjustly, we must destroy in such manner that there be not so much as one left of his stock in all the coasts of Israel. ⁶Let seven men of his children be delivered unto us, that we may crucify them to the Lord in Gabaa of Saul, once the chosen of the Lord. And the king said: I will give them. ⁷And the king spared Miphiboseth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the oath of the Lord, that had been between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. ⁸So the king took the two sons of Respha the daughter of Aia, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni, and Miphiboseth: and the five sons of Michol the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Hadriel the son of Berzellai, that was of Molathi: ⁹And gave them into the hands of the Gabaonites: and they crucified them on a hill before the Lord: and these seven died together in the first days of the harvest, when the barley began to be reaped. ¹⁰And Respha the daughter of Aia took haircloth, and spread it under her upon the rock from the beginning of the harvest, till water dropped upon them out of heaven: and suffered neither the birds to tear them by day, nor the beasts by night. ¹¹And it was told David, what Respha the daughter of Aia, 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 Jabes Galaad, who had stolen them from the street of Bethsan, where the Philistines had hanged them when they had slain Saul in Gelboe. ¹³And he brought from thence the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, and they gathered up the bones of them that were crucified, ¹⁴And they buried them with the bones of Saul, and of Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin, in the side, in the sepulchre of Cis his father: and they did all that the king had commanded, and God shewed mercy again to the land after these things. ¹⁵And the Philistines made war again against Israel, and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. And David growing faint, ¹⁶Jesbibenob, who was of the race of Arapha, the iron of whose spear weighed three hundred ounces, being girded with a new sword, attempted to kill David. ¹⁷And Abisai the son of Sarvia rescued him, and striking the Philistine killed him. Then David's men swore unto him, saying: Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, lest thou put out the lamp of Israel. ¹⁸There was also a second battle in Gob against the Philistines: then Sobochai of Husathi slew Saph of the race of Arapha of the family of the giants. ¹⁹And there was a third battle in Gob against the Philistines, in which Adeodatus the son of the Forrest an embroiderer of Bethlehem slew Goliath the Gethite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. ²⁰A fourth battle was in Geth. where there was a man of great stature, that had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, four and twenty in all, and he was of the race of Arapha. ²¹And he reproached Israel: and Jonathan the son of Samae the brother of David slew him. ²²These four were born of Arapha in Geth, and they fell by the hand of David, and of his servants.

Chapter 22

¹And David spoke to the Lord the words of this canticle, in the day that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul, ²And he said: The Lord is my rock, and my strength, and my saviour. ³God is my strong one, in him will I trust: my shield, and the horn of my salvation: he lifteth me up, and is my refuge: my saviour, thou wilt deliver me from iniquity. ⁴I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised: and I shall be saved from my enemies. ⁵For the pangs of death have sur rounded me: the floods of Belial have made me afraid. ⁶The cords of hell compassed me: the snares of death prevented me. ⁷In my distress I will call upon the Lord, and I will cry to my God: and he will hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry shall come to his ears. ⁸The earth shook and trembled, the foundations of the mountains were moved, and shaken, because he was angry with them. ⁹A smoke went up from his nostrils, and a devouring fire out of his mouth: coals were kindled by it. ¹⁰He bowed the heavens, and came down: and darkness was under his feet. ¹¹And he rode upon the cherubims, and flew: and slid upon the wings of the wind. ¹²He made darkness a covering round about him: dropping waters out of the clouds of the heavens. ¹³By the brightness before him, the coals of fire were kindled. ¹⁴The Lord shall thunder from heaven: and the most high shall give forth his voice. ¹⁵He shot arrows and scattered them: lightning, and consumed them. ¹⁶And the overflowings of the sea appeared, and the foundations of the world were laid open at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the spirit of his wrath. ¹⁷He sent from on high, and took me, and drew me out of many waters. ¹⁸He delivered me from my most mighty enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me. ¹⁹He prevented me in the day of my affliction, and the Lord became my stay. ²⁰And he brought me forth into a large place, he delivered me, because I pleased him. ²¹The Lord will reward me according to my justice: and according to the cleanness of my hands he will render to me. ²²Because I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. ²³For all his judgments are in my sight: and his precepts I have not removed from me. ²⁴And I shall be perfect with him: and shall keep myself from my iniquity. ²⁵And the Lord will recompense me according to my justice: and according to the cleanness of my hands in the sight of his eyes. ²⁶With the holy one thou wilt be holy: and with the valiant perfect. ²⁷With the elect thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted. ²⁸And the poor people thou wilt save: and with thy eyes thou wilt humble the haughty. ²⁹For thou art my lamp, O Lord: and thou, O Lord, wilt enlighten my darkness. ³⁰For in thee I will run girded: in my God I will leap over the wall. ³¹God, his way is immaculate, the word of the Lord is tried by fire: he is the shield of all that trust in him. ³²Who is God but the Lord: and who is strong but our God? ³³God who hath girded me with strength, and made my way perfect. ³⁴Making my feet like the feet of harts, and setting me upon my high places. ³⁵He teacheth my bands to war: and maketh my arms like a bow of brass. ³⁶Thou hast given me the shield of my salvation: and thy mildness hath multiplied me. ³⁷Thou shalt enlarge my steps under me: and my ankles shall not fail. ³⁸I will pursue after my enemies, and crush them: and will not return again till I consume them. ³⁹I will consume them and break them in pieces, so that they shall not rise: they shall fall under my feet. ⁴⁰Thou hast girded me with strength to battle: thou hast made them that resisted me to bow under me. ⁴¹My enemies thou hast made to turn their back to me: them that hated me, and I shall destroy them. ⁴²They shall cry, and there shall be none to save: to the Lord, and he shall not hear them. ⁴³I shall beat them as small as the dust of the earth: I shall crush them and spread them abroad like the mire of the streets. ⁴⁴Thou wilt save me from the contradictions of my people: thou wilt keep me to be the head of the Gentiles: the people which I know not, shall serve me, ⁴⁵The sons of the stranger will resist me, at the hearing of the ear they will obey me. ⁴⁶The strangers are melted away, and shall be straitened in their distresses. ⁴⁷The Lord liveth, and my God is blessed: and the strong God of my salvation shall be exalted: ⁴⁸God who giveth me revenge, and bringest down people under me, ⁴⁹Who bringest me forth from my enemies, and liftest me up from them that resist me: from the wicked man thou shalt deliver me. ⁵⁰Therefore will I give thanks to thee. O Lord, among the Gentiles, and will sing to thy name. ⁵¹Giving great salvation to his king, and shewing mercy to David his anointed, and to his seed for ever.

Chapter 23

¹Now these are David's last words. David the son of Isai said: The man to whom it was appointed concerning the Christ of the God of Jacob, the excellent psalmist of Israel said: ²The spirit of the Lord hath spoken by me and his word by my tongue. ³The God of Israel said to me, the strong one of Israel spoke, the ruler of men, the just ruler in the fear of God. ⁴As the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, shineth in the morning without clouds, and as the grass springeth out of the earth by rain. ⁵Neither is my house so great with God, that he should make with me an eternal covenant, firm in all things and assured. For he is all my salvation, and all my will: neither is there ought thereof that springeth not up. ⁶But transgressors shall all of them be plucked up as thorns: which are not taken away with hands. ⁷And if a man will touch them, he must be armed with iron and with the staff of a lance: but they shall be set on fire and burnt to nothing. ⁸These are the names of the valiant men of David. Jesbaham sitting in the chair was the wisest chief among the three, he was like the most tender little worm of the wood, who killed eight hundred men at one onset. ⁹After him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three valiant men that were with David when they defied the Philistines, and they were there gathered together to battle. ¹⁰And when the men of Israel were gone away, he stood and smote the Philistines till his hand was weary, and grew stiff with the sword: and the Lord wrought a great victory that day: and the people that were fled away, returned to take spoils of them that were slain. ¹¹And after him was Semma the son of Age of Arari. And the Philistines were gathered together in a troop: for there was a field full of lentils. And when the people were fled from the face of the Philistines, ¹²He stood in the midst of the field, and defended it, and defeated the Philistines: and the Lord gave a great victory. ¹³Moreover also before this the three who were princes among the thirty, went down and came to David in the harvest time into the cave of Odollam: and the camp of the Philistines was in the valley of the giants. ¹⁴And David was then in a hold. and there was a garrison of the Philistines then in Bethlehem. ¹⁵And David longed, and said: O that some man would get me a drink of the water out of the cistern, that is in Bethlehem, by the gate. ¹⁶And the three valiant men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water out of the cistern of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and brought it to David: but he would not drink, but offered it to the Lord, ¹⁷Saying: The Lord be merciful to me, that I may not do this: shall I drink the blood of these men that went, and the peril of their lives? therefore he would not drink. These things did these three mighty men. ¹⁸Abisai also the brother of Joab, the son of Sarvia, was chief among three: and he lifted up his spear against three hundred whom he slew, and he was renowned among the three, ¹⁹And the noblest of three, and was their chief, but to the three first he attained not. ²⁰And Banaias the son of Joiada a most valiant man, of great deeds, of Cabseel: he slew the two lions of Moab, and he went down, and slew a lion in the midst of a pit, in the time of snow. ²¹He also slew an Egyptian, a man worthy to be a sight, having a spear in his hand: but he went down to him with a rod, and forced the spear out of the hand of the Egyptian, and slew him with his own spear. ²²These things did Banaias the son of Joiada. ²³And he was renowned among the three valiant men, who were the most honourable among the thirty: but he attained riot to the first three: and David made him of his privy council. ²⁴Asael the brother of Joab was one of the thirty, Elehanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem. ²⁵Semma of Harodi, Elica of Harodi, ²⁶Heles of Phalti, Hira the son of Acces of Thecua, ²⁷Abiezer of Anathoth, Mobonnai of Husati, ²⁸Selmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, ²⁹Heled the son of Baana, also a Netophathite, Ithai the son of Ribai of Gabaath of the children of Benjamin, ³⁰Banaia the Pharathonite, Heddai of the torrent Gaas, ³¹Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth of Beromi, ³²Eliaba of Salaboni. The sons of Jassen, Jonathan, ³³Semma of Orori, Aliam the son of Sarar the Arorite, ³⁴Eliphelet the son of Aasbai the son of Machati, Eliam the son of Achitophel the Gelonite, ³⁵Hesrai of Carmel, Pharai of Arbi, ³⁶Igaal the son of Nathan of Soba, Bonni of Gadi, ³⁷Selec of Ammoni, Naharai the Berothite, armourbearer of Joab the son of Sarvia, ³⁸Ira the Jethrite, Gareb also a Jethrite; ³⁹Urias the Hethite, thirty and seven in all.

Chapter 24

¹And the anger of the Lord was again kindled against Israel, and stirred up David among them, saying: Go, number Israel and Juda. ²And the king said to Joab the general of his army: Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Bersabee, and number ye the people that I may know the number of them. ³And Joab said to the king: The Lord thy God increase thy people, and make them as many more as they are now, and again multiply them a hundredfold in the sight of my lord the king: but what meaneth my lord the king by this kind of thing? ⁴But the king's words prevailed over the words of Joab, and of the captains of the army: and Joab, and the captains of the soldiers went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel. ⁵And when they had passed the Jordan, they came to Aroer to the right side of the city, which is in the vale of Gad. ⁶And by Jazer they passed into Galaad, and to the lower land of Hodsi, and they came into the woodlands of Dan. And going about by Sidon, ⁷They passed near the walls of Tyre, and all the land of the Hevite, and the Chanaanite, and they came to the south of Juda into Bersabee: ⁸And having gone through the whole land, after nine months and twenty days, they came to Jerusalem. ⁹And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people to the king, and there were found of Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword: and of Juda five hundred thousand fighting men. ¹⁰But David's heart struck him, after the people were numbered: and David said to the Lord: I have sinned very much in what I have done: but I pray thee, O Lord, to take away the iniquity of thy servant, because I have done exceeding foolishly. ¹¹And David arose in the morning, and the word of the Lord came to Gad the prophet and the seer of David, saying: ¹²Go, and say to David: Thus saith the Lord: I give thee thy choice of three things, choose one of them which thou wilt, that I may do it to thee. ¹³And when Gad was come to David, he told him, saying: Either seven years of famine shall come to thee in thy land: or thou shalt flee three months before thy adversaries, and they shall pursue thee: or for three days there shall be a pestilence in thy land. Now therefore deliberate, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. ¹⁴And David said to Gad: I am in a great strait: but it is better that I should fall into the hands of the Lord (for his mercies are many) than into the hands of men. ¹⁵And the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, from the morning unto the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan to Bersabee seventy thousand men. ¹⁶And when the angel of the Lord had stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord had pity on the affliction, and said to the angel that slew the people: It is enough: now hold thy hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite. ¹⁷And David said to the Lord, when he saw the angel striking the people: It is I; I am he that have sinned, I have done wickedly: these that are the sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I beseech thee, be turned against me, and against my father's house. ¹⁸And Gad came to David that day, and said: Go up, and build an altar to the Lord in the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite. ¹⁹And David went up according to the word of Gad which the Lord had commanded him. ²⁰And Areuna looked, and saw the king and his servants coming towards him: ²¹An going out he worshipped the king, bowing with his face to the earth, and said: Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? Arid David said to him: To buy the thrashingfloor of thee, and build an altar to the Lord, that the plague, which rageth among the people, may cease. ²²And Areuna said to David: Let my lord the king take, and offer, as it seemeth good to him: thou hast here oxen for a holocaust, and the wain, and the yokes of the oxen for wood. ²³All these things Areuna as a king gave to the king: and Areuna said to the king: The Lord thy God receive thy vow. ²⁴And the king answered him, and said: Nay, but I will buy it of thee at a price, and I will not offer to the Lord my God holocausts free cost. So David bought the floor, and the oxen, for fifty sicles of silver: ²⁵And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered holocausts and peace offerings: and the Lord became merciful to the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

The Third Book of Kings

This and the following Book are called by the holy fathers the third and fourth books of Kings; but by the Hebrews, the first and second. They contain the history of the kingdoms of Israel and Juda, from the beginning of the reighn of Solomon, to the captivity. As to the writer of these books, it seems most probable they were not written by one man; nor at one time; but as there was all along a succession of prophets in Israel, who recorded, by divine inspiration, the most remarkable things that happened in their days, these books seem to have been written by these prophets. See 2 Paralip. alias 2 Chron. 9.29; 12.15; 13.22; 20.34; 26.22; 32.32.

Chapter 1

¹Now king David was old, and advanced in years: and when he was covered with clothes, he was not warm. ²His servants therefore said to him: Let us seek for our lord the king, a young virgin, and let her stand before the king, and cherish him, and sleep in his bosom, and warm our lord the king. ³So they sought a beautiful young woman in all the coasts of Israel, and they found Abisag a Sunamitess, and brought her to the king. ⁴And the damsel was exceeding beautiful, and she slept with the king: and served him, but the king did not know her. ⁵And Adonias the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying: I will be king. And he made himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. ⁶Neither did his father rebuke him at any time, saying: Why hast thou done this? And he also was very beautiful, the next in birth after Absalom. ⁷And he conferred with Joab the son of Sarvia, and with Abiathar the priest, who furthered Adonias's side. ⁸But Sadoc the priest, and Banaias the son of Joiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Semei, and Rei, and the strength of David's army was not with Adonias. ⁹And Adonias having slain rams and calves, and all fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, which was near the fountain Rogel, invited all his brethren the king's sons, and all the men of Juda, the king's servants: ¹⁰But Nathan the prophet, and Banaias, and all the valiant men, and Solomon his brother, he invited not. ¹¹And Nathan said to Bethsabee the mother of Solomon: Hast thou not heard that Adonias the son of Haggith reigneth, and our lord David knoweth it not? ¹²Now then come, take my counsel and save thy life, and the life of thy son Solomon. ¹³Go, and get thee in to king David, and say to him: Didst not thou, my lord O king, swear to me thy handmaid, saying: Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne? why then doth Adonias reign? ¹⁴And while thou art yet speaking there with the king, I will come in after thee, and will fill up thy words. ¹⁵So Bethsabee went in to the king into the chamber: now the king was very old, and Abisag the Sunamitess ministered to him. ¹⁶Bethsabee bowed herself, and worshipped the king. And the king said to her: What is thy will? ¹⁷She answered and said: My lord, thou didst swear to thy handmaid by the Lord thy God, saying: Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne. ¹⁸And behold now Adonias reigneth, and thou, my lord the king, knowest nothing of it. ¹⁹He hath killed oxen, and all fat cattle, and many rams, and invited all the king's sons, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the general of the army: but Solomon thy servant he invited not. ²⁰And now, my lord O king, the eyes of all Israel are upon thee, that thou shouldst tell them, who shall sit on thy throne, my lord the king, after thee. ²¹Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king sleepeth with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders. ²²As she was yet speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came. ²³And they told the king, saying: Nathan the prophet is here. And when he was come in before the king, and had worshipped, bowing down to the ground, ²⁴Nathan said: My lord O king, hast thou said: Let Adonias reign after me, and let him sit upon my throne? ²⁵Because he is gone down to day, and hath killed oxen, and fatlings, and many rams, and invited all the king's sons, and the captains of the army, and Abiathar the priest: and they are eating and drinking before him, and saying: God save king Adonias: ²⁶But me thy servant, and Sadoc the priest, and Banaias the son of Joiada, and Solomon thy servant he hath not invited. ²⁷Is this word come out from my lord the king, and hast thou not told me thy servant who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him? ²⁸And king David answered and said: Call to me Bethsabee. And when she was come in to the king, and stood before him, ²⁹The king swore and said: As the Lord liveth, who hath delivered my soul out of all distress, ³⁰Even as I swore to thee by the Lord the God of Israel, saying: Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead, so will I do this day. ³¹And Bethsabee bowing with her face to the earth worshipped the king, saying: May my lord David live for ever. ³²King David also said: Call me Sadoc the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Banaias the son of Joiada. And when they were come in before the king, ³³He said to them: Take with you the servants of your lord, and set my son Solomon upon my mule: and bring him to Gihon. ³⁴And let Sadoc the priest, and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and you shall sound the trumpet, and shall say: God save king Solomon. ³⁵And you shall come up after him, and he shall come, and shall sit upon my throne, and he shall reign in my stead: and I will appoint him to be ruler over Israel, and over Juda. ³⁶And Banaias the son of Joiada answered the king, saying: Amen: so say the Lord the God of my lord the king. ³⁷As the Lord hath been with my lord the king, so be he with Solomon, and make his throne higher than the throne of my lord king David. ³⁸So Sadoc the priest, and Nathan the prophet went down, and Banaias the son of Joiada, and the Cerethi, and Phelethi: and they set Solomon upon the mule of king David, and brought him to Gihon. ³⁹And Sadoc the priest took a horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon: and they sounded the trumpet, and all the people said: God save king Solomon. ⁴⁰And all the multitude went up after him, and the people played with pipes, and rejoiced with a great joy, and the earth rang with the noise of their cry. ⁴¹And Adonias, and all that were invited by him, heard it, and now the feast was at an end: Joab also hearing the sound of the trumpet, said: What meaneth this noise of the city in an uproar? ⁴²While he yet spoke, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came: and Adonias said to him: Come in, because thou art a valiant man, and bringest good news. ⁴³And Jonathan answered Adonias: Not so: for our lord king David hath appointed Solomon king. ⁴⁴And hath sent with him Sadoc the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Banaias the son of Joiada, and the Cerethi, and Phelethi, and they have set him upon the king's mule. ⁴⁵And Sadoc the priest, and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon: and they are gone up from thence rejoicing, so that the city rang again: this is the noise that you have heard. ⁴⁶Moreover Solomon sitteth upon the throne of the kingdom, ⁴⁷And the king's servants going in have blessed our lord king David, saying: May God make the name of Solomon greater than thy name, and make his throne greater than thy throne. And the king adored in his bed: ⁴⁸And he said: Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who hath given this day one to sit on my throne, my eyes seeing ⁴⁹Then all the guests of Adonias were afraid, and they all arose and every man went his way. ⁵⁰And Adonias fearing Solomon, arose, and went, and took hold on the horn of the altar. ⁵¹And they told Solomon, saying: Behold Adonias, fearing king Solomon, hath taken hold of the horn of the altar, saying: Let king Solomon swear to me this day, that he will not kill his servant with the sword. ⁵²And Solomon said: If he be a good man, there shall not so much as one hair of his head fall to the ground: but if evil be found in him, he shall die. ⁵³Then king Solomon sent, and brought him out from the altar: and going in he worshipped king Solomon: and Solomon said to him: Go to thy house.

Chapter 2

¹And the days of David drew nigh that he should die, and he charged his son Solomon, saying: ²I am going the way of all flesh: take thou courage, and shew thyself a man. ³And keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and observe his ceremonies, and his precepts, and judgments, and testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses: that thou mayest understand all thou dost, and whithersoever thou shalt turn thyself : ⁴That the Lord may confirm his words, which he hath spoken of me, saying: If thy children shall take heed to their ways, and shall walk before me in truth, with all their heart, and with all their soul, there shall not be taken away from thee a man on the throne of Israel. ⁵Thou knowest also what Joab the son of Sarvia hath done to me, what he did to the two captains of the army of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether: whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet. ⁶Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoary head go down to hell in peace. ⁷But shew kindness to the sons of Berzellai the Galaadite, and let them eat at thy table: t for they met me when I fled from the face of Absalom thy brother. ⁸Thou hast also with thee Semei the son of Gera the son of Jemini of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse, when I went to the camp: but because he came down to meet me when I passed over the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying: I will not kill thee with a sword: ⁹Do not thou hold him guiltless. But thou art a wise man, and knowest what to do with him, and thou shalt bring down his grey hairs with blood to hell. ¹⁰So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. ¹¹And the days that David reigned in Israel, were forty gears: in Hebron he reigned seven years, in Jerusalem thirty-three. ¹²And Solomon sat upon the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was strengthened exceedingly. ¹³And Adonias the son of Haggith came to Bethsabee the mother of Solomon. And she said to him: Is thy coming peaceable? he answered: Peaceable. ¹⁴And he added: I have a word to speak with thee. She said to him: Speak. And he said: ¹⁵Thou knowest that the kingdom was nine, and all Israel had preferred me to be their king: but the kingdom is transferred, and is become my brother's: for it was appointed him by the Lord. ¹⁶Now therefore I ask one petition of thee: turn not away my face. And she said to him: Say on. ¹⁷And he said: I pray thee speak to king Solomon (for he cannot deny thee any thing) to give me Abisag the Sunamitess to wife. ¹⁸And Bethsabee said: Well, I will speak for thee to the king. ¹⁹Then Bethsabee came to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonias: and the king arose to meet her, and bowed to her, and sat down upon his throne: and a throne was set for the king's mother, and she sat on his right hand. ²⁰And she said to him: I desire one small petition of thee, do not put me to confusion. And the king said to her: My mother, ask: for I must not turn away thy face. ²¹And she said: Let Abisag the Sunamitess be given to Adonias thy brother to wife. ²²And king Solomon answered, and said to his mother: Why dost thou ask Abisag the Sunamitess for Adonias? ask for him also the kingdom: for he is my elder brother, and hath Abiathar the priest, and Joab the son of Sarvia. ²³Then king Solomon swore by the Lord, saying: So and so may God do to me, and add more, if Adonias hath not spoken this word against his own life. ²⁴And now as the Lord liveth, who hath established me, and placed me upon the throne of David my father, and who hath made me a house, as he promised, Adonias shall be put to death this day. ²⁵And king Solomon sent by the hand of Banaias the son of Joiada, who slew him, and he died. ²⁶And the king said also to Abiathar the priest: Go to Anathoth to thy lands, for indeed thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou didst carry the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and hast endured trouble in all the troubles my father endured. ²⁷So Solomon cast out Abiathar, from being the priest of the Lord, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he spoke concerning the house of Deli in Silo. ²⁸And the news came to Joab, because Joab had turned after Adonias, and had not turned after Solomon: and Joab fled into the tabernacle of the Lord and laid hold on the horn of the altar. ²⁹And it was told king Solomon, that Joab was fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and was by the altar: and Solomon sent Banaias the son of Joiada, saying: Go, kill him. ³⁰And Banaias came to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said to him: Thus saith the king: Come forth. And he said: I will not come forth, but here I will die. Banaias brought word back to the king, saying: Thus saith Joab, and thus he answered me. ³¹And the king said to him: Do as he hath said: and kill him, and bury him, and thou shalt remove the innocent blood which hath been shed by Joab, from me, and from the house of my father. ³²And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head, because he murdered two men, just and better than himself: and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing it, Abner the son of Ner, general of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, general of the army of Juda. ³³And their blood shall return the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever. But to David and his seed and his house, and to his throne be peace for ever from the Lord. ³⁴So Banaias the son of Joiada went up, and setting upon him slew him, and he was buried in his house in the desert. ³⁵And the king appointed Banaias the son of Joiada in his room over the army, and Sadoc the priest he put in the place of Abiathar. ³⁶The king also sent, and called for Semei, and said to him: Build thee a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there: and go not out from thence any whither. ³⁷For on what day soever thou shalt go out, and shalt pass over the brook Cedron, know that thou shalt be put to death: thy blood shall be upon thy own head: ³⁸And Semei said to the king: The saying is good : as my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant do. And Semei dwelt in Jerusalem, many days. ³⁹And it came to pass after three years, that the servants of Semei ran away to Achis the son of Maacha the king of Geth: and it was told Semei that his servants were gone to Geth. ⁴⁰And Semei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Achis to Geth to seek his servants, and he brought them out of Geth. ⁴¹And it was told Solomon that Semei had gone from Jerusalem to Geth, and was come back. ⁴²And sending he called for him, and said to him: Did I not protest to thee by the Lord, and tell thee before: On what day soever thou shalt go out and walk abroad any whither, know that thou shalt die? And thou answeredst me: The word that I have heard is good. ⁴³Why then hast thou not kept the oath of the Lord, and the commandment that I laid upon thee? ⁴⁴And the king said to Semei: Thou knowest all the evil, of which thy heart is conscious, which thou didst to David my father: the Lord hath returned thy wickedness upon thy own head: ⁴⁵And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord for ever. ⁴⁶So the king commanded Banaias the son of Joiada: and he went out and struck him, and he died.

Chapter 3

¹And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon, and he made affinity with Pharao the king of Egypt: for he took his daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. ²But yet the people sacrificed in the high places: far there was no temple built to the name of the Lord until that day. ³And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the precepts of David his father, only he sacrificed in the high places: and burnt incense. ⁴He went therefore to Gabaon, to sacrifice there: for that was the great high place: a thousand victims for holocausts did Solomon offer upon that altar in Gabaon. ⁵And the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, saying : Ask what thou wilt that I should give thee. ⁶And Solomon said: Thou hast shewn great mercy to thy servant David my father, even at, he walked before thee in truth, and justice, and an upright heart with thee: and thou hast kept thy great mercy for him, and hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. ⁷And now, O Lord God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a child, and know not how to go out and come in. ⁸And thy servant is in the midst of the people which thou hast chosen, an immense people, which cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. ⁹Give therefore to thy servant an understanding heart, to judge thy people, and discern between good and evil. For who shall be able to judge this people, thy people which is so numerous? ¹⁰And the word was pleasing to the Lord that Solomon had asked such a thing. ¹¹And the Lord said to Solomon: Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life or riches, nor the lives of thy enemies, but hast asked for thyself wisdom to discern judgment, ¹²Behold I have done for thee according to thy words, and have given thee a wise and understanding heart, insomuch that there hath been no one like thee before thee, nor shall arise after thee. ¹³Yea and the things also which thou didst not ask, I have given thee: to wit riches and glory, as that no one hath been like thee among the kings in all days heretofore. ¹⁴And if thou wilt walk in my ways, and Beep my precepts, and my commandments, as thy father walked, I will lengthen thy days. ¹⁵And Solomon awaked, and perceived that it was a dream: and when he was come to Jerusalem, he stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered holocausts, and sacrificed victims of peace offerings, and made a great feast for all his servants. ¹⁶Then there came two women that were harlots, to the king, and stood before him: ¹⁷And one of them said: I beseech thee, my lord, I and this woman dwelt in one house, and I was delivered of a child with her in the chamber. ¹⁸And the third day, after that I was delivered, she also was delivered, and we were together, and no other person with us in the house, only we two. ¹⁹And this woman's child died in the night: for in her sleep she overlaid him. ²⁰And rising in the dead time of the night, she took my child from my side, while I thy handmaid was asleep, 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 considering him more diligently when it was clear day, I found that it was not mine which I bore. ²²And the other woman answered: It is not so as thou sayest, but thy child is dead, and mine is alive. On the contrary she said: Thou liest: for my child liveth, and thy child is dead. And in this manner they strove before the king. ²³Then said the king: The one saith, My child is alive, and thy child is dead. And the other answereth: Nay, but thy child is dead, and mine liveth. ²⁴The king therefore said: Bring me a sword. And when they had brought a sword before the king, ²⁵Divide, said he, the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. ²⁶But the woman whose child was alive, said to the king, (for her bowels were moved upon her child,) I beseech thee, my lord, give her the child alive, and do not kill it. But the other said: Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. ²⁷The king answered, and said: Give the living child to this woman, and let it not be killed, for she is the mother thereof. ²⁸And all Israel heard the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king, seeing that the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment.

Chapter 4

¹And king Solomon reigned over all Israel: ²And these were the princes which he had: Azarias the son of Sadoc the priest: ³Elihoreph, and Ahia, the sons of Sisa, scribes: Josaphat the son of Ahilud, recorder: ⁴Banaias the son of Joiada, over the army: and Sadoc and Abiathar priests. ⁵Azarias the son of Nathan, over them that were about the king: Zabud, the son of Nathan the priest, the king's friend: ⁶And Ahisar governor of the house: and Adoniram the son of Abda over the tribute. ⁷And Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel, who provided victuals for the king and for his household: for every one provided necessaries, each man his month in the year. ⁸And these are their names: Benhur, in mount Ephraim, ⁹Bendecar, in Macces, and in Salebim, and in Bethsames, and in Elon, and in Bethanan. ¹⁰Benhesed in Aruboth: his was Socho, and all the land of Epher. ¹¹11Benabinadab, to whom belonged all Nephath-Dor, he had Tapheth the daughter of Solomon to wife. ¹²Bana the son of Ahilud, who governed Thanac and Mageddo, and all Bethsan, which is by Sarthana beneath Jezrael, from Bethsan unto Abelmehula over against Jecmaan. ¹³Bengaber in Ramoth Galaad: he had the towns of Jair the son of Manasses in Galaad, he was chief in all the country of Argob, which is in Basan, threescore great cities with walls, and brazen bolts. ¹⁴Abinadab the son of Addo was chief in Manaim. ¹⁵Achimaas in Nephtali: he also had Basemath the daughter of Solomon to wife. ¹⁶Baana the son of Husi, in Aser and in Baloth. ¹⁷Josaphat the son of Pharue, in Issachar. ¹⁸Semei the son of Ela in Benjamin. ¹⁹Gaber the son of Uri, in the land of Galaad, in the land of Sehon the king of the Amorrhites and of Og the king of Basan, over all that were in that land. ²⁰Juda and Israel were innumerable, as the sand of the sea in multitude: eating and drinking, and rejoicing. ²¹And Solomon had under him all the kingdoms from the river to the land of the Philistines,. even to the border of Egypt: and they brought him presents, and served him, all the days of his life. ²²And the provision of Solomon for each day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, ²³Ten fat oxen and twenty out of the pastures, and a hundred rams, besides venison of harts, roes, and buffles, and fatted fowls. ²⁴For he had all the country which was beyond the river, from Thaphsa to Gazan, and all the kings of those countries: and he had peace on every side round about. ²⁵And Juda and Israel dwelt without any fear, every one under his vine, and under his fig tree, from Dan to Bersabee, all the days of Solomon. ²⁶And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of chariot horses, and twelve thousand for the saddle. ²⁷And the foresaid governors of the king fed them: and they furnished the necessaries also for king Solomon's table, with great care in their time. ²⁸They brought barley also and straw for the horses, and beasts, to the place where the king was, according as it was appointed them. ²⁹And God gave to Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart as the sand that is on the sea shore. ³⁰And the wisdom of Solomon surpassed the wisdom of all the Orientals, and of the Egyptians, ³¹And he was wiser than all men: wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Dorda the sons of Mahol, and he was renowned in all nations round about. ³²Solomon also spoke three thousand parables: and his poems were a thousand and five. ³³And he treated about trees from the cedar that is in Libanus, unto the hyssop that cometh out of the wall: and he discoursed of beasts, and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes. ³⁴And they came from all nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who heard of his wisdom.

Chapter 5

¹And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon: for he heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram had always been David's friend. ²And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying: ³Thou knowest the will of David my father, and that he could not build a house to the name of the Lord his God, because of the wars that were round about him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. ⁴But now the Lord my God hath given me rest round about: and there is no adversary nor evil occurrence. ⁵Wherefore I purpose to build a temple to the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spoke to David my father, saying: my son, whom I will set upon the throne in thy piece, he shall build a house to my name. ⁶Give orders therefore that thy servants cut me down cedar trees out of Libanus, and let my servants be with thy servants: and I will give thee the hire of thy servants whatsoever thou wilt ask, for thou knowest how there is not among my people a man that has skill to hew wood like to the Sidonians. ⁷Now when Hiram had heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced exceedingly, and said: Blessed be the Lord God this day, who hath given to David a very wise son over this numerous people. ⁸And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: I have heard all thou hast desired of me: and I will do all thy desire concerning cedar trees, and fir trees. ⁹My servants shall bring them down from Libanus to the sea: and I will put them together in floats in the sea, and convey them to the place, which thou shalt signify to me; and will land them there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt allow me necessaries, to furnish food for my household. ¹⁰So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees, and fir trees, according to all his desire. ¹¹And Solomon allowed Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat, for provision for his house, and twenty measures of the purest oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram every year. ¹²And the Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, as he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they two made a league together. ¹³And king Solomon chose workmen cut of all Israel, and the levy was of thirty thousand men. ¹⁴And he sent them to Libanus, ten thousand every month by turns, so that two months they were at home: and Adoniram was over this levy. ¹⁵And Solomon had seventy thousand to carry burdens, and eighty thousand to hew stones in the mountain: ¹⁶Besides the overseers who were over every work, in number three thousand, and three hundred that ruled over the people, and them that did the work. ¹⁷And the king commanded, that they should bring great stones, costly stones, for the foundation of the temple, and should square them: ¹⁸And the masons of Solomon, and the masons of Hiram hewed them: and the Giblians prepared timber and stones to build the house.

Chapter 6

¹And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of the reign of Solomon over Israel, in the month Zio (the same is the second month), he began to build a house to the Lord. ²And the house, which king Solomon built to the Lord, was threescore cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits in height. ³And there was a porch before the temple of twenty cubits in length, according to the measure of the breadth of the temple: and it was ten cubits in breadth before the face of the temple. ⁴And he made in the temple oblique windows. ⁵And upon the wall of the temple he built floors round about, in the walls of the house round about the temple and the oracle, and he made sides round about. ⁶The floor that was underneath, was five cubits in breadth, and the middle floor was six cubits in breadth, and the third door was seven cubits in breadth. And he put beams in the house round about on the outside, that they might not be fastened in the walls of the temple. ⁷And the house, when it was in building, was built of stones hewed and made ready: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house when it was in building. ⁸The door for the middle side was on the right hand of the house : and by winding stairs they went up to the middle room, and from the middle to the third. ⁹So he built the house, and finished it: end he covered the house with roofs of cedar. ¹⁰And he built a floor over all the house five cubits in height, and he covered the house with timber of cedar. ¹¹And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying: ¹²This house, which thou buildest, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments, walking in them, I will fulfil my word to thee which I spoke to David thy father. ¹³And I will dwell in the midst of the children 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 on the inside, with boards of cedar, from the floor of the house to the top of the walls, and to the roots, he covered it with boards of cedar on the inside: and he covered the floor of the house with planks of fir. ¹⁶And he built up twenty cubits with boards of cedar at the hinder part of the temple, from the floor to the top: and made the inner house of the oracle to be the holy of holies. ¹⁷And the temple itself before the doors of the oracle was forty cubits long. ¹⁸And all the house was covered within with cedar, having the turnings, and the joints thereof artfully wrought and carvings projecting out: all was covered with boards of cedar: and no stone could be seen in the wall at all. ¹⁹And he made the oracle in the midst of the house, in the inner part, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. ²⁰Now the oracle was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in height. And he covered and overlaid it with most pure gold. And the altar also he covered with cedar. ²¹And the house before the oracle he overlaid with most pure gold, and fastened on the plates with nails of gold. ²²And there was nothing in the temple that was not covered with gold: the whole altar of the oracle he covered also with gold. ²³And he made in the oracle two cherubims of olive tree, of ten cubits in height. ²⁴One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub was five cubits: that is, in all ten cubits, from the extremity of one wing to the extremity of the other wing. ²⁵The second cherub also was ten cubits: and the measure, and the work was the same in both the cherubims: ²⁶That is to say, one cherub was ten cubits high, and in like manner the other cherub. ²⁷And he set the cherubims in the midst of the inner temple: and the cherubims stretched forth their wings, and the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall: and the other wings in the midst of the temple touched one another. ²⁸And he overlaid the cherubims with gold. ²⁹And all the walls of the temple round about he carved with divers figures and carvings: and he made in them cherubims and palm trees, and divers representations, as it were standing out, and coming forth from the wall. ³⁰And the floor of the house he also overlaid with gold within and without. ³¹And in the entrance of the oracle he made little doors of olive tree, and posts of five corners, ³²And two doors of olive tree: and he carved upon them figures of cherubims, and figures of palm trees, and carvings very much projecting: and he overlaid them with gold: and he covered both the cherubims and the palm trees, and the other things with gold. ³³And he made in the entrance of the temple posts of olive tree foursquare: ³⁴And two doors of fir tree, one of each side : and each door was double, and so opened with folding leaves. ³⁵And he carved cherubims, and palm trees, and carved work standing very much out: and he overlaid all with golden plates in square work by rule. ³⁶And he built the inner court with three rows of polished stones, and one row of beams of cedar. ³⁷In the fourth year was the house of the Lord founded in the month Zio: ³⁸And in the eleventh year in the month Bul (which is the eighth month) the house was finished in all the works thereof, and in all the appurtenances thereof: and he was seven years in building it.

Chapter 7

¹And Solomon built his own house in thirteen years, and brought it to perfection. ²He built also the house of the forest of Libanus, the length of it was a hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty cubits, and the height thirty cubits: and four galleries between pillars of cedar: for he had cut cedar trees into pillars. ³And he covered the whole vault with boards of cedar, and it was held up with five and forty pillars. And one row had fifteen pillars, ⁴Set one against another, ⁵And looking one upon another, with equal space between the pillars, and over the pillars were square beams in all things equal. ⁶And he made a porch of pillars of fifty cubits in length, and thirty cubits in breadth: and another porch before the greater porch: and pillars, and chapiters upon the pillars. ⁷He made also the porch of the throne, wherein is the seat of judgment: and covered it with cedar wood from the floor to the top. ⁸And in the midst of the porch, was a small house where he sat in judgment, of the like work. He made also a house for the daughter of Pharao (whom Solomon had taken to wife) of the same work, as this porch, ⁹All of costly stones, which were sawed by a certain rule and measure both within and without: from the foundation to the top of the walls, and without unto the great court. ¹⁰And the foundations were of costly stones, great stones of ten cubits or eight cubits: ¹¹And above there were costly stones, or equal measure, hewed; and, in like manner, planks of cedar: ¹²And the greater court was made round with three rows of hewed stones, and one row of planks of cedar, moreover also in the inner court of the house of the Lord, and in the porch of the house. ¹³And king Solomon sent, and brought Hiram from Tyre, ¹⁴The son of a widow woman of the tribe of Nephtali, whose father was a Tyrian, an artificer in brass, and full of wisdom, and understanding, and skill to work all work in brass. And when he was come to king Solomon, he wrought all his work. ¹⁵And he cast two pillars in brass, each pillar was eighteen cubits high: and a line of twelve cubits compassed both the pillars. ¹⁶He made also two chapiters of molten brass, to be set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits: ¹⁷And a kind of network, and chain work wreathed together with wonderful art. Both the chapiters of the pillars were cast : seven rows of nets were on one chapiter, and seven nets on the other chapiter. ¹⁸And he made the pillars, and two rows round about each network to cover the chapiters, that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and in like manner did he to the other chapiter. ¹⁹And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars, were of lily work in the porch, of four cubits. ²⁰And again other chapiters in the top of the pillars above, according to the measure of the pillar over against the network: and of pomegranates there were two hundred in rows round about the other chapiter. ²¹And he set up the two pillars in the porch of the temple: and when he had set up the pillar on the right hand, he called the name thereof Jachin: in like manner he set up the second pillar, and called the name thereof Booz. ²²And upon the tops of the pillars he made lily work: so the work of the pillars was finished. ²³He made also a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round all about; the height of it was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits compassed it round about. ²⁴And a graven work under the brim of it compassed it, for ten cubits going about the sea: there were two rows cast of chamfered sculptures. ²⁵And it stood upon twelve oxen, of which three looked towards the north, and three towards the west, and three towards the south, and three towards the east, and the sea was above upon them, and their hinder parts were all hid within. ²⁶And the laver was a handbreadth thick: and the brim thereof was like the brim of a cup, or the leaf of a crisped lily: it contained two thousand bates. ²⁷And he made ten bases of brass, every base was four cubits in length, and four cubits in breadth, and three cubits high. ²⁸And the work itself of the bases, was intergraven: and there were gravings between the joinings. ²⁹And between the little crowns and the ledges were lions, and oxen, and cherubims: and in the joinings likewise above: and under the lions and oxen, as it were bands of brass hanging down. ³⁰And every base had four wheels, and axletrees of brass: and at the four sides were undersetters under the laver molten, looking one against another. ³¹The mouth also of the laver within, was in the top of the chapiter: and that which appeared without, was of one cubit all round, and together it was one cubit and a half: and in the corners of the pillars were divers engravings: and the spaces between the pillars were square, not round. ³²And the four wheels, which were at the four corners of the base, were joined one to another under the base: the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half. ³³And they were such wheels as are used to be made in a chariot: and their axletrees, and spokes, and strakes, and naves, were all east. ³⁴And the four undersetters that were at every corner of each base, were of the base itself cast and joined together. ³⁵And in the top of the base there was a round compass of half a cubit, so wrought that the laver might be set thereon, having its gravings, and divers sculptures of itself. ³⁶He engraved also in those plates, which were of brass. and in the corners, cherubims, and lions, and palm trees, in likeness of a man standing, so that they seemed not to be engraven, but added round about. ³⁷After this manner he made ten bases, of one casting and measure, and the like graving. ³⁸He made also ten lavers of brass: one laver contained four bases, and was of four cubits: and upon every base, in all ten, he put as many lavers. ³⁹And he set the ten bases, five on the right side of the temple, and five on the left: and the sea he put on the right side of the temple over against the east southward. ⁴⁰And Hiram made caldrons, and shovels, and basins, and finished all the work of king Solomon in the temple of the Lord. ⁴¹The two pillars and the two cords of the chapiters, upon the chapiters of the pillars: and the two networks, to cover the two cords, that were upon the top of the pillars. ⁴²And four hundred pomegranates for the two networks: two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the cords of the chapiters, which were upon the tops of the pillars. ⁴³And the ten bases, and the ten lavers on the bases. ⁴⁴And one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea. ⁴⁵And the caldrons, and the shovels, and the basins. All the vessels that Hiram made for king Solomon for the house of the Lord, were of fine brass. ⁴⁶In the plains of the Jordan did the king cast them in a clay ground, between Socoth and Sartham. ⁴⁷And Solomon placed all the vessels: but for exceeding great multitude the brass could not be weighed. ⁴⁸And Solomon made all the vessels for the house of the Lord: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, upon which the leaves of proposition should be set: ⁴⁹And the golden candlesticks, five on the right hand, and five on the left, over against the oracle, of pure gold: and the flowers like lilies, and the lamps over them of gold: and golden snuffers, ⁵⁰And pots, and fleshhooks, and bowls, and mortars, and censers, of most pure gold: and the hinges for the doors of the inner house of the holy of holies, and for the doors of the house of the temple were of gold. ⁵¹And Solomon finished all the work that he made in the house of the Lord, and brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, the silver and the gold, and the vessels, and laid them up in the treasures of the house of the Lord.

Chapter 8

¹Then all the ancients of Israel with the princes of the tribes, and the heads of the families of the children of Israel were assembled to king Solomon in Jerusalem: that they might carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, that is, out of Sion. ²And all Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon on the festival day in the month of Ethanim, the same is the seventh month. ³And all the ancients of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark, ⁴And carried the ark of the Lord, and the tabernacle of the covenant, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, that were in the tabernacle: and the priests and the Levites carried them. ⁵And king Solomon, and all the multitude of Israel, that were assembled unto him went with him before the ark, and they sacrificed sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered. ⁶And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place, into the oracle of the temple, into the holy of holies under the wings of the cherubims. ⁷For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and covered the art, and the staves thereof above. ⁸And whereas the staves stood out, the ends of them were seen without in the sanctuary before the oracle, but were not seen farther out, and there they have been unto this day. ⁹Now in the ark there was nothing else but the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the sanctuary, that a cloud filled the house of the Lord, ¹¹And the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. ¹²Then Solomon said: The Lord said that he would dwell in a cloud. ¹³Building I have built a house for thy dwelling, to be thy most firm throne for ever. ¹⁴And the king turned his face, and blessed all the assembly of Israel: for all the assembly of Israel stood. ¹⁵And Solomon said: Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and with his own hands hath accomplished it, saying: ¹⁶Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel, for a house to be built, that my name might be there: but I chose David to be over my people Israel. ¹⁷And David my father would have built a house to the name of the Lord the God of Israel: ¹⁸And the Lord said to David my father: Whereas thou hast thought in thy heart to build a house to my name, thou hast done well in having this same thing in thy mind. ¹⁹Nevertheless thou shalt not build me a house, but thy son, that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build a house to my name. ²⁰The Lord hath performed his word which he spoke : and I stand in the room of David my father, and sit upon the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised: and have built a house to the name of the Lord the God of Israel. ²¹And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers, when they came out of the land of Egypt. ²²And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the sight of the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands towards heaven; ²³And said: Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above, or on earth beneath: who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that have walked before thee with all their heart. ²⁴Who hast kept with thy servant David my father what thou hast promised him: with thy mouth thou didst speak, and with thy hands thou hast performed, as this day proveth. ²⁵Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father what thou hast spoken to him, saying: There shall not be taken away of thee a man in my sight, to sit on the throne of Israel: yet so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked in my sight. ²⁶And now, Lord God of Israel, let thy words be established, which thou hast spoken to thy servant David my father ²⁷Is it then to be thought that God should indeed dwell upon earth? for if heaven, and the heavens of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house which I have built? ²⁸But have regard to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, O Lord my God: hear the hymn and the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee this day: ²⁹That thy eyes may be open upon this house night and day: upon the house of which thou hast said: My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth in this place to thee. ³⁰That thou mayest hearken to the supplication of thy servant and of thy people Israel, whatsoever they shall pray for in this place, and hear them in the place of thy dwelling in heaven; and when thou hearest, shew them mercy. ³¹If any man trespass against his neighbour, and have an oath upon him, wherewith he is bound: and come because of the oath before thy altar to thy house, ³²Then hear thou in heaven: and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, and bringing his way upon his own head, and justifying the just, and rewarding him according to his justice. ³³If thy people Israel shall fly before their enemies, (because they will sin against thee,) and doing penance, and confessing to thy name, shall come, and pray, and make supplications to thee in this house: ³⁴Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them back to the land which thou gavest to their fathers. ³⁵If heaven shall be shut up, and there shall be no rain, because of their sins, and they praying in this place, shall do penance to thy name, and shall be converted from their sins, by occasion of their afflictions: ³⁶Then hear thou them in heaven, and forgive the sins of thy servants, and of thy people Israel: and shew them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people in possession. ³⁷If a famine arise in the land, or a pestilence, or corrupt air, or blasting, or locust, or mildew, if their enemy afflict them besieging the gates, whatsoever plague, whatsoever infirmity, ³⁸Whatsoever curse or imprecation shall happen to any man of thy people Israel: when a man shall know the wound of his own heart, and shall spread forth his hands in this house, ³⁹Then hear thou in heaven, in the place of thy dwelling, and forgive, and do so as to give to every one according to his ways, as thou shalt see his heart (for thou only knowest the heart of all the children of men) ⁴⁰That they may fear thee all the days that they live upon the face of the land, which thou hast given to our fathers. ⁴¹Moreover also the stranger, who is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for thy name's sake, (for they shall hear every where of thy great name and thy mighty hand, ⁴²And thy stretched out arm,) so when he shall come, and shall pray in this place, ⁴³Then hear thou in heaven, in the firmament of thy dwelling place, and do all those things, for which that stranger shall call upon thee: that all the people of the earth may learn to fear thy name, as do thy people Israel, and may prove that thy name is called upon on this house, which I have built. ⁴⁴If thy people go out to war against their enemies, by what way soever thou shalt send them, they shall pray to thee towards the way of the city, which thou hast chosen, and towards the house, which I have built to thy name: ⁴⁵And then hear thou in heaven their prayers, and their supplications, and do judgment for them. ⁴⁶But if they sin against thee (for there is no man who sinneth not) and thou being angry deliver them up to their enemies, so that they be led away captives into the land of their enemies far or near; ⁴⁷Then if they do penance in their heart in the place of captivity, and being converted make supplication to thee in their captivity, saying: We have sinned, we have done unjustly, we have committed wickedness: ⁴⁸And return to thee with all their heart, and all their soul, in the land of their enemies, to which they had been led captives: and pray to thee towards the way of their land, which thou gavest to their fathers, and of the city which thou hast chosen, and of the temple which I have built to thy name: ⁴⁹Then hear thou in heaven, in the firmament of thy throne, their prayers, and their supplications, and do judgment for them: ⁵⁰And forgive thy people, that have sinned against thee, and all their iniquities, by which they have transgressed against thee: and give them mercy before them that have made them captives, that they may have compassion on them. ⁵¹For they are thy people, and thy inheritance, whom thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron. ⁵²That thy eyes may be open to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, to hear them in all things for which they shall call upon thee. ⁵³For thou hast separated them to thyself for an inheritance from among all the people of the earth, as thou hast spoken by Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God. ⁵⁴And it came to pass, when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication to the Lord, that he rose from before the altar of the Lord: for he had fixed both knees on the ground, and had spread his hands towards heaven. ⁵⁵And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a, loud voice, saying: ⁵⁶Blessed be the Lord, who hath given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed so much as one word of all the good things that he promised by his servant Moses. ⁵⁷The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers, and not leave us, nor cast us off: ⁵⁸But may he incline our hearts to himself, that we may walk in all his ways, and keep his commandments, and his ceremonies, and all his judgments which he commanded our fathers. ⁵⁹And let these my words, wherewith I have prayed before the Lord, he nigh unto the Lord our God day and night, that he may do judgment for his servant, and for his people Israel day by day: ⁶⁰That all the people of the earth may know, that the Lord he is God, and there is no other besides him. ⁶¹Let our hearts also be perfect with the Lord our God, that we may walk in his statutes, and keep his commandments, as at this day. ⁶²And the king, and all Israel him, offered victims before the Lord. ⁶³And Solomon slew victims of peace offerings, which he sacrificed to the Lord, two and twenty thousand oxen, and hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king, and the children of Israel dedicated the temple of the Lord. ⁶⁴In that day the king sanctified the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord: for there he offered the holocaust, and sacrifice, and fat of the peace offerings: because the brazen altar that was before the Lord, was too little to receive the holocaust, and sacrifice, and fat of the peace offerings. ⁶⁵And Solomon made at the same time a solemn feast, and all Israel with him, a great multitude from the entrance of Emath to the river of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and seven days, that is, fourteen days. ⁶⁶And on the eighth day he sent away the people: and they blessed the king, and went to their dwellings rejoicing, and glad in heart for all the good things that the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.

Chapter 9

¹And it came to pass when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all that he desired, and was pleased to do, ²That the Lord appeared to him the second time, as he had appeared to him in Gabaon. ³And the Lord said to him: I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, which thou hast made before me: I have sanctified this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever, and my eyes and my heart shall be there always. ⁴And if thou wilt walk before me, as thy father walked, in simplicity of heart, and in uprightness: and wilt do all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my ordinances and my judgments, ⁵I will establish the throne of thy kingdom over Israel for ever, as I promised David thy father, saying: There shall not fail a man of thy race upon the throne of Israel. ⁶But if you and your children revolting shall turn away from following me, and will not keep my commandments, and my ceremonies, which I have set before you, but will go and worship strange gods, and adore them: ⁷I will take away Israel from the face of the land which I have given them; and the temple which I have sanctified to my name, I will cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb, and a byword among all people. ⁸And this house shall be made an example of: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and shall hiss, and say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house: ⁹And they shall answer: Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and followed strange gods, and adored them, and worshipped them: therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil. ¹⁰And when twenty years were ended after Solomon had built the two houses, that is, the house of the Lord, and the house of the king, ¹¹11(Hiram the king of Tyre furnishing Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and gold according to all he had need of.) then Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. ¹²And Hiram came out of Tyre, to see the towns which Solomon had given him, and they pleased him not, ¹³And he said: Are these the cities which thou hast given me, brother? And he called them the land of Chabul, unto this day. ¹⁴And Hiram sent to king Solomon a hundred and twenty talents of gold. ¹⁵This is the sum of the expenses, which king Solomon offered to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and Mello, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Heser, and Mageddo, and Gazer. ¹⁶Pharao the king of Egypt came up and took Gazer, and burnt it with fire: and slew the Chanaanite that dwelt in the city, and gave it for a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife. ¹⁷So Solomon built: Gazer, and Beth-horon the nether, ¹⁸And Baalath, and Palmira in the land of the wilderness. ¹⁹And all the towns that belonged to himself, and were not walled, he fortified, the cities also of the chariots, and the cities of the horsemen, and whatsoever he had a mind to build in Jerusalem, and in Libanus, and in all the land of his dominion. ²⁰All the people that were left of the Amorrhites, and Hethites, and Pherezites, and Hevites, and Jebusites, that are not of the children of Israel: ²¹Their children, that were left in the land, to wit, such as the children of Israel had not been able to destroy, Solomon made tributary unto this day. ²²But of the children of Israel Solomon made not any to be bondmen, but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and captains, and overseers of the chariots and horses. ²³And there were five hundred and fifty chief officers set over all the works of Solomon, and they had people under them, and had charge over the appointed works. ²⁴And the daughter of Pharao came up out of the city of David to her house, which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Mello. ²⁵Solomon also offered three times every year holocausts, and victims of peace offerings upon the altar which he had built to the Lord, and he burnt incense before the Lord: and the temple was finished. ²⁶And king Solomon made a fleet in Asiongaber, which is by Ailath on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. ²⁷And Hiram sent his servants in the fleet, sailors that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸And they came to Ophir, and they brought from thence to king Solomon four hundred and twenty talents of gold.

Chapter 10

¹And the queen of Saba, having; heard of the fame of Solomon in the name of the Lord, came to try him with hard questions. ²And entering into Jerusalem with a great train, and riches, and camels that carried spices, and an immense quantity of gold, and precious stones, she came to king Solomon, and spoke to him all that she had in her heart. ³And Solomon informed her of all the things she proposed to him: there was not any word the king was ignorant of, and which he could not answer her. ⁴And when the queen of Saba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house which he had built, ⁵And the meat of his table, and the apartments of his servants, and the order of his ministers, and their apparel, and the cupbearers, and the holocausts, which he offered in the house of the Lord: she had no longer any spirit in her, ⁶And she said to the king: The report is true, which I heard in my own country, ⁷Concerning thy words, and concerning thy wisdom. And I did not believe them that told me, till I came myself, and saw with my own eyes, and have found that the half hath not been told me: thy wisdom and thy works, exceed the fame which I heard. ⁸Blessed are thy men, and blessed are thy servants, who stand before thee always, and hear thy wisdom. ⁹Blessed be the Lord thy God, whom thou hast pleased, and who hath set thee upon the throne of Israel, because the Lord hath loved Israel for ever, and hath appointed thee king, to do judgment and justice. ¹⁰And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices a very great store, and precious stones: there was brought no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Saba gave to king Solomon. ¹¹(The navy also of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir great plenty of thyine trees, and precious stones. ¹²And the king made of the thyine trees the rails of the house of the Lord, and of the king's house, and citterns and harps for singers: there were no such thyine trees as these brought, nor seen unto this day.) ¹³And king Solomon gave the queen of Saba all that she desired, and asked of him: besides what he offered he himself of his royal bounty. And she returned, and went to her own country with her servants. ¹⁴And the weight of the gold that was brought to Solomon every year, was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold: ¹⁵Besides that which the men brought him that were over the tributes, and the merchants, and they that sold by retail, and all the kings of Arabia, and the governors of the country. ¹⁶And Solomon made two hundred shields of the purest gold: he allowed six hundred sides of gold for the plates of one shield. ¹⁷And three hundred targets of fine gold: three hundred pounds of gold covered one target: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Libanus. ¹⁸King Solomon also made a great throne of ivory: and overlaid it with the finest gold. ¹⁹It had six steps: and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were two hands on either side holding the seat: and two lions stood, one at each hand. ²⁰And twelve little lions stood upon the six steps on the one side and on the other: there was no such work made in any kingdom. ²¹Moreover all the vessels, out of which king Solomon drank, were of gold: and all the furniture of the house of the forest of Libanus was of most pure gold: there was no silver, nor was any account made of it in the days of Solomon: ²²For the king's navy, once in three years, went with the navy of Hiram by sea to Tharsis, and brought from thence gold, and silver, and elephants' teeth, and apes, and peacocks. ²³And king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches, and wisdom. ²⁴And all the earth desired to see Solomon's face, to hear his wisdom, which God had given in his heart. ²⁵And every one brought him presents, vessels of silver and of gold, garments and armour, and spices, and horses and mules every year. ²⁶And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen, and he had a thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horseman: and he bestowed them in fenced cities, and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁷And he made silver to be as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones: and cedars to be as common as sycamores which grow in the plains. ²⁸And horses were brought for Solomon out of Egypt, and Coa: for the king's merchants brought them out of Coa, and bought them at a set price. ²⁹And a chariot of four horses came out of Egypt, for six hundred sides of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. And after this manner did all the kings of the Hethites, and of Syria, sell horses.

Chapter 11

¹And king Solomon loved many strange women besides the daughter of Pharao, and women of Moab, and of Ammon, and of Edom, and of Sidon, and of the Hethites: ²Of the nations concerning which the Lord said to the children of Israel: You shall not go in unto them, neither shall any of them come in to yours: for they will most certainly turn away your heart to follow their gods. And to these was Solomon joined with a most ardent love. ³And he had seven hundred wives as queens, and three hundred concubines: and the women turned away his heart. ⁴And when he was now old, his heart was turned away by women to follow strange gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. ⁵But Solomon worshipped Astarthe the goddess of the Sidonians, and Moloch the idol of the ammonites. ⁶And Solomon did that which was net pleasing before the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as David his father. ⁷Then Solomon built a temple for Chamos the idol of Moab, on the hill that is over against Jerusalem, and for Moloch the idol of the children of Ammon. ⁸And he did in this manner for all his wives that were strangers, who burnt incense, and offered sacrifice to their gods. ⁹And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his mind was turned away from the Lord the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, ¹⁰And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not follow strange gods: but he kept not the things which the Lord commanded him. ¹¹The Lord therefore said to Solomon: Because thou hast done this, and hast not kept my covenant, and my precepts, which I have commanded thee, I will divide and rend thy kingdom, and will give it to thy servant. ¹²Nevertheless in thy days I will not do it, for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. ¹³Neither will I take away the whole kingdom, but I will give one tribe to thy son for the sake of David my servant, and Jerusalem which I have chosen. ¹⁴And the Lord raised up an adversary to Solomon, Adad the Edomite of the king's seed, in Edom. ¹⁵For when David was in Edom, and Joab the general of the army was gone up to bury them that were slain, and had killed every male in Edom, ¹⁶(For Joab remained there six months with all Israel, till he had slain every male in Edom,) ¹⁷Then Adad fled, he and certain Edomites, of his father's servants with him, to go into Egypt: and Adad was then a little boy. ¹⁸And they arose out of Madian, and came into Pharan, and they took men with them from Pharan, and went into Egypt to Pharao the king of Egypt: who gave him a house, and appointed him victuals, and assigned him land. ¹⁹And Adad found great favour before Pharao, insomuch that he gave him to wife, the own sister of his wife Taphnes the queen. ²⁰And the sister of Taphnes bore him his son Genubath, and Taphnes brought him up in the house of Pharao: and Genubath dwelt with Pharao among his children. ²¹And when Adad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the general of the army was dead, he add to Pharao: Let me depart, that I may go to my own country. ²²And Pharao said to him: Why, what is wanting to thee with me, that thou seekest to go to thy own country? But he answered: Nothing: yet I beseech thee to let me go. ²³God also raised up against him an adversary, Razon the son of Eliada, 'who had fled from his master Adarezer the king of Soba: ²⁴And he gathered men against him, and he became a captain of robbers, when David slew them of Soba: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt there, and they made him king in Damascus. ²⁵And he was an adversary to Israel, all the days of Solomon: and this is the evil of Adad, and his hatred against Israel, and he reigned in Syria. ²⁶Jeroboam also the son of Nabat an Ephrathite of Sareda, a servant of Solomon, whose mother was named Sarua, a widow woman, lifted up his hand against the king. ²⁷And this is the cause of his rebellion against him, for Solomon built Mello, and filled up the breach of the city of David his father. ²⁸And Jeroboam was a valiant and mighty man: and Solomon seeing him a young man ingenious and industrious, made him chief over the tributes of all the house of Joseph. ²⁹So it came to paste at that time, that Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahias the Silonite, clad with a new garment, found him in the way: and they two were alone in the held. ³⁰And Ahias taking his new garment, wherewith he was clad, divided it into twelve parts: ³¹31And he said to Jeroboam: Take to thee ten pieces: for thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Behold I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give thee ten tribes. ³²But one tribe shall remain to him for the sake of my servant David, and Jerusalem the city, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel: ³³Because he hath forsaken me, and hath adored Astarthe the goddess of the Sidonians, and Chamos the god of Moab, and Moloch the god of the children of Ammon: and hath not walked in my ways, to do justice before me, and to keep my precepts, and judgments as did David his father. ³⁴Yet I will not take away all the 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 precepts. ³⁵But I will take away the kingdom out of his son's hand and will give thee ten tribes: ³⁶And to his son I will give one tribe, that there may remain a lamp for my servant David before me always in Jerusalem the city which I have chosen, that my name might be there. ³⁷And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign over all that thy soul desireth, and thou shalt be king over Israel. ³⁸If then thou wilt hearken to all that I shall command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do what is right before me, keeping my commandments and my precepts, as David my servant did: I will be with thee, and will build thee up a faithful house, as I built a house for David, and I will deliver Israel to thee: ³⁹And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but yet not for ever. ⁴⁰Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam: but he arose, and fled into Egypt to Sesac the king of Egypt, and was in Egypt till the death of Solomon. ⁴¹And the rest of the words of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom: behold they are all written in the book of the words of the days of Solomon. ⁴²And the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel, were forty years. ⁴³And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father, and Roboam his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 12

¹And Roboam went to Sichem: for thither were all Israel come together to make him king. ²But Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who was yet in Egypt, a fugitive from the face of king Solomon, hearing of his death, returned out of Egypt. ³And they sent and called him: and Jeroboam came, and all the multitude of Israel, and they spoke to Roboam, saying: ⁴Thy father laid a grievous yoke upon us: now therefore do thou take off a little of the grievous service of thy father, and of his most heavy yoke, which he put upon us, and we will serve thee. ⁵And he said to them: Go till the third day, and come to me again. And when the people was gone, ⁶King Roboam took counsel with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and he said: What counsel do you give me, that I may answer this people? ⁷They said to him: If thou wilt yield to this people to day, and condescend to them, and grant their petition, and wilt speak gentle words to them, they will be thy servants always. ⁸But he left the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men, that had been brought up with him, and stood before him. ⁹And he said to them: What counsel do you give me, that I may answer this people, who have said to me: Make the yoke which thy father put upon us lighter? ¹⁰And the young men that had been brought up with him, said: Thus shalt thou speak to this people, who have spoken to thee, saying: Thy father made our yoke heavy, do thou ease us. Thou shalt say to them: My little finger is thicker than the back of my father. ¹¹And now my father put a, heavy yoke upon you, but I will add to your yoke: my father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions. ¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Roboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying: Come to me again the third day. ¹³And the king answered the people roughly, leaving the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, ¹⁴And he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying: My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke: my father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions. ¹⁵And the king condescended not to the people: for the Lord was turned away from him, to make good his word, which he had spoken in the hand of Ahias the Silonite, to Jeroboam the son of Nabat. ¹⁶Then the people seeing that the king would not hearken to them, answered him, saying : What portion have we in David? or what inheritance in the son of Isai? Go home to thy dwellings, O Israel, now David look to thy own house. So Israel departed to their dwellings. ¹⁷But as for all the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Juda, Roboam reigned over them. ¹⁸Then king Roboam sent Aduram, who was over the tribute: and all Israel stoned him, and he died. Wherefore king Roboam made haste to get him up into his chariot, and he fled to Jerusalem: ¹⁹And Israel revolted from the house of David, unto this day. ²⁰And it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they gathered an assembly, and sent and called him, and made him king over all Israel, and there was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Juda only. ²¹And Roboam came to Jerusalem, and gathered together all the house of Juda, and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred fourscore thousand chosen men for war, to fight against the house of Israel and to bring the kingdom again under Roboam the son of Solomon. ²²But the word of the Lord came to Semeias the man of God, saying: ²³Speak to Roboam the son of Solomon, the king of Juda, and to all the house of Juda, and Benjamin, and the rest of the people, saying: ²⁴Thus saith the Lord: You shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: let every man return to his house, for this thing is from me. They hearkened to the word of the Lord, and returned from their journey, as the Lord had commanded them. ²⁵And Jeroboam built Sichem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt there, and going out from thence he built Phanuel. ²⁶And Jeroboam said in his heart: Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David, ²⁷If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem: and the heart of this people will turn to their lord Roboam the king of Juda, and they will kill me, and return to him. ²⁸And finding out a device he made two golden calves, and said to them: Go ye up no more to Jerusalem: Behold thy gods, O Israel, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt. ²⁹And he set the one in Bethel, and the other in Dan: ³⁰And this thing became an occasion of sin: for the people went to adore the calf as far as Dan. ³¹And he made temples in the high places, and priests of the lowest of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi. ³²And he appointed a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, after the manner of the feast that was celebrated in Juda. And going up to the altar, he did in like manner in Bethel, to sacrifice to the calves, which he had made : and he placed in Bethel priests of the high places, which he had made. ³³And he went up to the altar, which he had built in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, which he had devised of his own heart: and he ordained a feast to the children of Israel, and went upon the altar to burn incense.

Chapter 13

¹And behold there came a man of God out of Juda, by the word of the Lord to Bethel, when Jeroboam was standing upon the altar, and burning incense. ²And he cried out against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said: O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord: Behold a child shall be born to the house of David, Josias by name, and he shall immolate upon thee the priests of the high places, who now burn incense upon thee, and he shall burn men's bones upon thee. ³And he gave a sign the same day, saying: This shall be the sign, that the Lord hath spoken: Behold the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. ⁴And when the king had heard the word of the man of God, which he had cried out against the altar in Bethel, he stretched forth his hand from the altar, saying: Lay hold on him. And his hand which he stretched forth against him withered: and he was not able to draw it back again to him. ⁵The altar also was rent, and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given before in the word of the Lord. ⁶And the king said to the man of God: Entreat the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me. And the man of God besought the face of the Lord, and the king's hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before. ⁷And the king said to the man of God: Come home with me to dine, and I will make thee presents. ⁸And the man of God answered the king: If thou wouldst give me half thy house I will not go with thee, nor eat bread, nor drink water in this place: ⁹For so it was enjoined me by the word of the Lord commanding me: Thou shalt not eat bread nor drink water, nor return by the same way that thou camest. ¹⁰So he departed by another way, and returned not by the way that he came into Bethel. ¹¹Now a certain old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came to him and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: and they told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. ¹²And their father said to them: What way went he? His sons shewed him the way by which the man of God went, who came out of Juda. ¹³And he said to his sons: Saddle me the ass. And when they had saddled him, he got up, ¹⁴And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under a turpentine tree: and he said to him: Art thou the man of God that camest from Juda? He answered: I am. ¹⁵And he said to him: Come home with me, to eat bread. ¹⁶But he said: I must not return, nor go with thee, neither will I eat bread, nor drink water in this place : ¹⁷Because the Lord spoke to me in the word of the Lord, saying: Thou shalt not eat bread, and thou shalt not drink water there, nor return by the way thou wentest. ¹⁸He said to him: I also am a prophet like unto thee: and an angel spoke to me in the word of the Lord, saying: Bring him back with thee into thy house, that he may eat bread, and drink water. He deceived him, ¹⁹And brought him back with him: so he ate bread and drank water in his house. ²⁰And as they sat at table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet that brought him back: ²¹And he cried out to the man of God who came out of Juda, saying : Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast not been obedient to the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, ²²And hast returned and eaten bread, and drunk water in the place wherein he commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat bread, nor drink water, thy dead body shall not be brought into the sepulchre of thy fathers. ²³And when he had eaten and drunk, he saddled his ass for the prophet, whom he had brought back. ²⁴And when he was gone, a lion found him in the way, and killed him, and his body was cast in the way: and the ass stood by him, and the lion stood by the dead body. ²⁵And behold, men passing by saw the dead body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city, wherein that old prophet dwelt. ²⁶And when that prophet, who had brought him back out of the way, heard of it, he said: It is the man of God, that was disobedient to the mouth of the Lord, and the Lord hath delivered him to the lion, and he hath torn him, and killed him according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to him. ²⁷And he said to his sons: Saddle me an ass. And when they had saddled it, ²⁸And he was gone, he found the dead body cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass: the lion had not eaten of the dead body, nor hurt the ass. ²⁹And the prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and going back brought it into the city of the old prophet, to mourn for him. ³⁰And he laid his dead body in his own sepulchre: and they mourned over him, saying: Alas! alas ! my brother. ³¹And when they had mourned over him, he said to his sons: When I am dead, bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried: lay my bones beside his bones. ³²For assuredly the word shall come to pass which he hath foretold in the word of the Lord against the altar that is in Bethel: and against all the temples of the high places, that are in the cities of Samaria. ³³After these words Jeroboam came not back from his wicked way: but on the contrary he made of the meanest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he filled his hand, and he was made a priest of the high places. ³⁴And for this cause did the house of Jeroboam sin, and was cut off and destroyed from the face of the earth.

Chapter 14

¹At that time Abia the son of Jeroboam fell sick. ²And Jeroboam said to his wife: Arise, and change thy dress, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Silo, where Ahias the prophet is, who told me, that I should reign over this people. ³Take also with thee ten leaves, and cracknels, and a pot of honey, and go to him: for he will tell thee what shall become of this child. ⁴Jeroboam's wife did as he told her: and rising up went to Silo, and came to the house of Ahias: but he could not see, for his eyes were dim by reason of his age. ⁵And the Lord said to Ahias: Behold the wife of Jeroboam cometh in, to consult thee concerning her son that is sick: thus and thus shalt thou speak to her. So when she was coming in, and made as if she were another woman, ⁶Ahias heard the sound of her feet coming in at the door, and said: Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam: why dost thou feign thyself to be another? But I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. ⁷Go, and tell Jeroboam: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel: ⁸And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to thee, and thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and followed me with all his heart, doing that which was well pleasing in my sight: ⁹But hast done evil above all that were before thee, and hast made thee strange gods and molten gods, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back: ¹⁰Therefore behold I will bring evils upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut of from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up, and the last in Israel: and I will sweep away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as dung is swept away till all be clean. ¹¹Them that shall die of Jeroboam in the city, the dogs shall eat: and them that shall die in the field, the birds of the air shall devour: for the Lord hath spoken it. ¹²Arise thou therefore, and go to thy house: and when thy feet shall be entering into the city, the child shall die, ¹³And all Israel shall mourn for him, and shall bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall be laid in a sepulchre, because in his regard there is found a good word from the Lord the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. ¹⁴And the Lord hath appointed himself a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam in this day, and in this time: ¹⁵And the Lord God shall strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water: and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river: because they have made to themselves groves, to provoke the Lord. ¹⁶And the Lord shall give up Israel for the sins of Jeroboam, who hath sinned, and made Israel to sin. ¹⁷And the wife of Jeroboam arose, and departed, and came to Thersa: and when she was coming in to the threshold of the house, the child died; ¹⁸And they buried him. And all Israel mourned for him according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Ahias the prophet. ¹⁹And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he fought, and how he reigned, behold they are written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel. ²⁰And the days that Jeroboam reigned, were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers: and Nadab his son reigned in his stead. ²¹And Roboam the son of Solomon reigned in Juda: Roboam was one and forty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem the city, which the Lord chose out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. And his mother's name wee Naama an Ammonitess. ²²And Juda did evil in the sight of the Lord, and provoked him above all that their fathers had done, in their sins which they committed. ²³For they also built them altars, and statues, and groves upon every high hill and under every green tree: ²⁴There were also the effeminate in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the people whom the Lord had destroyed before the face of the children of Israel. ²⁵And in the fifth year of the reign of Roboam, Sesac king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. ²⁶And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the king's treasures, and carried all off: as also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. ²⁷And Roboam made shields of brass instead of them, and delivered them into the. hand of the captains of the shieldbearers, and of them that kept watch before the gate of the king's house. ²⁸And when the king went into the house of the Lord, they whose office it was to go before him, carried them: and afterwards they brought them back to the armoury of the shieldbearers. ²⁹Now the rest of the sets of Roboam, end all that he did, behold they are written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda. ³⁰And there was war between Roboam and Jeroboam always. ³¹And Roboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David: and his mother's name was Naama an Ammonitess: and Abiam his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 15

¹Now in the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, Abiam reigned over Juda. ²He reigned three years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Maacha the daughter of Abessalom. ³And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: end his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. ⁴But for David's sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem: ⁵Because David had done that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from any thing that he commanded him, all the days of his life, except the matter of Urias the Hethite. ⁶But there was war between Roboam and Jeroboam all the time of his life. ⁷And the rest of the words of Abiam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? And there was war between Abiam and Jeroboam. ⁸And Abiam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and Asa his son reigned in his stead. ⁹So in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, reigned Asa king of Juda, ¹⁰And he reigned one end forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacha, the daughter of Abessalom. ¹¹And Asa did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, as did David his father: ¹²And he took away the effeminate out of the land, and he removed all the filth of the idols, which his fathers had made. ¹³Moreover he also removed his mother Maacha, from being the princess in the sacrifices of Priapus, and in the grove which she had consecrated to him: and he destroyed her den, and broke in pieces the filthy idol, and burnt it by the torrent Cedron: ¹⁴But the high places he did not take away. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with the Lord all his days: ¹⁵And he brought in the things which his father had dedicated, and he had vowed, into the house of the Lord, silver and gold, and vessels. ¹⁶And there was war between Asa, and Baasa king of Israel all their days. ¹⁷And Baasa king of Israel went up against Juda, and built Rama, that no man might go out or come in, of the side of Asa king of Juda. ¹⁸Then Asa took all the silver and gold that remained in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house, and delivered it into the hands of his servants : and sent them to Benadad son of Tabremon the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying: ¹⁹There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: therefore I have sent thee presents of silver and gold: and I desire thee to come, and break thy league with Baasa king of Israel, that he may depart from me. ²⁰Benadad hearkening to king Asa, sent the captains of his army against the cities of Israel, and they smote Ahion, and Dan, and Abeldomum Maacha, and all Cenneroth, that is all the land of Nephtali. ²¹And when Baasa had heard this, he left off building Rama, and returned into Thersa. ²²But king Asa sent word into all Juda, saying: Let no man be excused: and they took away the stones from Rama, and the timber thereof wherewith Baasa had been building, and with them Asa built Gabaa of Benjamin, and Maspha. ²³But the rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his strength, and all that he did and the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. ²⁴And he slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David his father. And Josaphat his son reigned in his place. ²⁵But Nadab the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel the second year of Asa king of Juda: and he reigned over Israel two years. ²⁶And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father, and in his sins, wherewith he made Israel to sin. ²⁷And Baasa the son of Ahias of the house of Issachar, conspired against him, and slew him in Gebbethon, which is a city of the Philistines: for Nadab and all Israel besieged Gebbethon. ²⁸So Baasa slew him in the third year of Asa king of Juda, and reigned in his place. ²⁹And when he was king he cut off all the house of Jeroboam: he left not so much as one soul of his seed, till he had utterly destroyed him, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken in the hand of Ahias the Silonite: ³⁰Because of the sin of Jeroboam, which he had sinned, and wherewith he had made Israel to sin, and for the offence, wherewith he provoked the Lord the God of Israel. ³¹But the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ³²And there was war between Asa and Baasa the king of Israel all their days. ³³In the third year of Asa king of Juda, Baasa the son of Ahias reigned over all Israel, in Thersa, four and twenty years. ³⁴And he did evil before the Lord, and walked in the ways of Jeroboam, and in his sins, wherewith he made Israel to sin.

Chapter 16

¹Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasa, saying : ²Forasmuch as I have exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel, and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins: ³Behold, I will cut down the posterity of Baasa, and the posterity of his house, and I will make thy house as the house of Jeroboam the son of Nabat. ⁴Him that dieth of Baasa in the city, the dogs shall eat: and him that dieth of his in the country, the fowls of the air shall devour. ⁵But the rest of the acts of Baasa and all that he did, and his battles, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ⁶So Baasa slept with his fathers, and was buried in Thersa: and Ela his son reigned in his stead. ⁷And when the word of the Lord came in the hand of Jehu the son of Hanani the prophet, against Baasa, and against his house, and against all the evil that he had done before the Lord, to provoke him to anger by the works of his hands, to become as the house of Jeroboam: for this cause he slew him, that is to say, Jehu the son of Hanani, the prophet. ⁸In the six and twentieth year of Asa king of Juda, Ela the son of Baasa reigned over Israel in Thersa two years. ⁹And his servant Zambri, who was captain of half the horsemen, rebelled against him: now Ela was drinking in Thersa, and drunk in the house of Arsa the governor of Thersa. ¹⁰And Zambri rushing in, struck him and slew him in the seven and twentieth year of Asa king of Juda, and he reigned in his stead. ¹¹And when he was king and sat upon his throne, he slew all the house of Baasa, and he left not one thereof to piss against a wall, and all his kinsfolks and friends. ¹²And Zambri destroyed all the house of Baasa, according to the word of the Lord, that he had spoken to Baasa in the hand of Jehu the prophet, ¹³For all the sins of Baasa, and the sins of Ela his son, who sinned, and made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord the God of Israel with their vanities. ¹⁴But the rest of the acts of Ela, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ¹⁵In the seven and twentieth year of Asa king of Juda, Zambri reigned seven days in Thersa: now the army was besieging Gebbethon a city of the Philistines. ¹⁶And when they heard that Zambri had rebelled, and slain the king, all Israel made Amri their king, who was general over Israel in the camp that day. ¹⁷And Amri went up, and all Israel with him from Gebbethon, and they besieged Thersa. ¹⁸And Zambri seeing that the city was about to be taken, went into the palace and burnt himself with the king's house: and he died ¹⁹In his sins, which he had sinned, doing evil before the Lord, and walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin, wherewith he made Israel to sin. ²⁰But the rest of the acts of Zambri, and of his conspiracy and tyranny, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ²¹Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts: one half of the people followed Thebni the son of Gineth, to make him king: and one half followed Amri. ²²But the people that were with Amri, prevailed over the people that followed Thebni the son of Gineth: and Thebni died, and Amri reigned. ²³In the one and thirtieth year of Asa king of Juda, Amri reigned over Israel twelve years: in Thersa he reigned six years. ²⁴And he bought the hill of Samaria of Semer for two talents of silver: and he built upon it, and he called the city which he built Samaria, after the name of Semer the owner of the hill. ²⁵And Amri did evil in the sight of the Lord, and acted wickedly above all that were before him. ²⁶And he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, and in his sins wherewith he made Israel to sin: to provoke the Lord the God of Israel to anger with their vanities. ²⁷Now the rest of the acts of Amri, and the battles he fought, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ²⁸And d Amri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria, and Achab his son reigned in his stead. ²⁹Now Achab the son of Amri reigned over Israel in the eight and thirtieth year of Asa king of Juda. And Achab the son of Amri reigned over Israel in Samaria two and twenty years. ³⁰And Achab the son of Amri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. ³¹Nor was it enough for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat: but he also took to wife Jezabel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians. And he went, and served Baal, and adored him. ³²And he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria, ³³And he planted a grove: and Achab did more to provoke the Lord the God of Israel, than all the kings of Israel that were before him. ³⁴In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho: in Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundations: and in his youngest son Segub he set up the gates thereof: according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke in the hand of Josue the son of Nun.

Chapter 17

¹And Elias the Thesbite of the inhabitants of Galaad said to Achab: As the Lord liveth the God of Israel, in whose sight I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to the words of my mouth. ²And the word of the Lord came to him, saying: ³Get thee hence, and go towards the east and hide thyself by the torrent of Carith, which is over against the Jordan, ⁴And there thou shalt drink of the torrent: and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. ⁵So he went, and did according to the word of the Lord: and going, he dwelt by the torrent Carith, which is over against the Jordan. ⁶And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of tile torrent. ⁷But after some time the torrent was dried up, for it had not rained upon the earth. ⁸Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying: ⁹Arise, and go to Sarephta of the Sidonians, and dwell there: for I have commanded a widow woman there to feed thee. ¹⁰He arose, and went to Sarephta. And when he was come to the gate of the city, he saw the widow woman gathering sticks, and he called her, and said to her: Give me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. ¹¹And when she was going to fetch it he called after her, saying: Bring me also, I beseech thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand. ¹²And she answered: As the Lord thy God liveth, I have no bread, but only a handful of meal in a pot, and a little oil in a cruse: 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 Elias said to her: Fear not, but go, and do as thou hast said: but first make for me of the same meal a little hearth cake, and bring it to me: and after make for thyself and thy son. ¹⁴For thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: The pot of meal shall not waste, nor the cruse of oil be diminished, until the day wherein the Lord will give rain upon the face of the earth. ¹⁵She went and did according to the word of Elias: and he ate, and she, and her house: and from that day ¹⁶The pot of meal wasted not, and the cruse of oil was not diminished, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke in the hand of Elias. ¹⁷And it came to pass after this that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and the sickness was very grievous, so that there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸And she said to Elias: What have I to do with thee, thou man of God? art thou come to me that my iniquities should be remembered, and that thou shouldst kill my son? ¹⁹And Elias said to her: Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him into the upper chamber where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. ²⁰And he cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord my God, hast thou afflicted also the widow, with whom I am after a so maintained, so as to kill her son? ²¹And he stretched, and measured himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said: Lord my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech thee, return into his body. ²²And the Lord heard the voice of Elias: and the soul of the child returned into him, and he revived. ²³And Elias took the child, and brought him down from the upper chamber to the house below, and delivered him to his mother, and said to her: Behold thy son liveth. ²⁴And the woman said to Elias: Now, by this I know that thou art a man of God, and the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true.

Chapter 18

¹After many days the word of the Lord came to Elias, in the third year, saying: Go and shew thyself to Achab, that I may give rain upon the face of the earth. ²And Elias went to shew himself to Achab, and there was a grievous famine in Samaria. ³And Achab called Abdias the governor of his house: now Abdias feared the Lord very much. ⁴For when Jezabel killed the prophets of the Lord, he took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifty and fifty in caves, and fed them with bread and water. ⁵And Achab said to Abdias: Go into the land unto all fountains of waters, and into all valleys, to see if we can find grass, and save the horses and mules, that the beasts may not utterly perish. ⁶And they divided the countries between them, that they might go round about them: Achab went one way, and Abdias another way by himself. ⁷And as Abdias was in the way, Elias met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said: Art thou my lord Elias? ⁸And he answered: I am. Go, and tell thy master: Elias is here. ⁹And he said: What have I sinned, that thou wouldst deliver me thy servant into the hand of Achab, that he should kill me? ¹⁰As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee : and when all answered: He is not here: he took an oath of every kingdom and nation, because thou wast not found. ¹¹And now thou sayest to me: Go, and tell thy master: Elias is here. ¹²And when I am gone from thee, the spirit of the Lord will carry thee into a place that I know not: and I shall go in and tell Achab, and he not finding thee, will kill me: but thy servant feareth the Lord from his infancy. ¹³Hath it not been told thee, my lord, what I did when Jezabel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the prophets of the Lord, by fifty and fifty in caves, and fed them with bread and water? ¹⁴And now thou sayest: Go, and tell thy master: Elias is here: that he may kill me. ¹⁵And Elias said: As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whose face I stand, this day I will shew myself unto him. ¹⁶Abdias therefore went to meet Achab, and told him: and Achab came to meet Elias. ¹⁷And when he had seen him, he said: Art thou he that troublest Israel? ¹⁸And he said: I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, who have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and have followed Baalim. ¹⁹Nevertheless send now, and gather unto me all Israel, unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, who eat at Jezabel's table. ²⁰Achab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered together the prophets unto mount Carmel. ²¹And Elias coming to all the people, said: How long do you halt between two sides? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word. ²²And Elias said again to the people: I only remain a prophet of the Lord: but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men. ²³Let two bullocks be given us, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces and lay it upon wood, but put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. ²⁴Call ye on the names of your gods, and I will call on the name of my Lord: and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God. And all the people answering said: A very good proposal. ²⁵Then Elias said to the prophets of Baal: Choose you one bullock and dress it first, because you are many: and call on the names of your gods, but put no fire under. ²⁶And they took the bullock which he gave them, and dressed it: and they called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying: O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered: and they leaped over the altar that they had made. ²⁷And when it was now noon, Elias jested at them, saying: Cry with a louder voice: for he is a God, and perhaps he is talking, or is in an inn, or on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awaked. ²⁸So they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till they were all covered with blood. ²⁹And after midday was past, and while they were prophesying, the time was come of offering sacrifice, and there was no voice heard, nor did any one answer, nor regard them as they prayed: ³⁰Elias said to all the people: Come se unto me. And the people coming near unto him, he repaired the altar of the Lord, that was broken down: ³¹And he took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying: Israel shall be thy name. ³²And he built with the stones an altar to the name of the Lord: and he made a trench for water, of the breadth of two furrows round about the altar. ³³And he laid the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it upon the wood. ³⁴And he said: Fill four buckets with water, and pour it upon the burnt offering, and upon the wood. And again he said: Do the same the second time. And when they had done it the second time, he said: Do the same also the third time. And they did so the third time. ³⁵And the water run round about the altar, and the trench was filled with water. ³⁶And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias the prophet came near and said: O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, shew this day that thou art the God of Israel, and I thy servant, and that according to thy commandment I have done all these things. ³⁷Hear me, O Lord, hear me: that this people may learn, that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart again. ³⁸Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, 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 this, they fell on their faces, and they said: The Lord he is God, the Lord he is God. ⁴⁰And Elias said to them: Take the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape. And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent Cison, and killed them there. ⁴¹And Elias said to Achab: Go up, eat, and drink: for there is a sound of abundance of rain. ⁴²Achab went up to eat and drink: and Elias went up to the top of Carmel, and casting himself down upon the earth put his face between his knees, ⁴³And he said to his servant: Go up, and look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said: There is nothing. And again he said to him: Return seven times. ⁴⁴And at the seventh time, behold, a little cloud arose out of the sea like a man's foot. And he said: Go up and say to Achab: Prepare thy chariot and go down, lest the rain prevent thee. ⁴⁵And while he turned himself this way and that way, behold the heavens grew dark, with clouds, and wind, and there fell a great rain. And Achab getting up went away to Jezrahel: ⁴⁶And the hand of the Lord was upon Elias, and he girded up his loins and ran before Achab, till he came to Jezrahel.

Chapter 19

¹And Achab told Jezabel all that Elias had done, and how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. ²And Jezabel sent a messenger to Elias, saying: Such and such things may the gods do to me, and add still more, if by this hour to morrow I make not thy life as the life of one of them. ³Then Elias was afraid, and rising up he went whithersoever he had a mind: and he came to Bersabee of Juda, and left his servant there, ⁴And he went forward, one day's journey into the desert. And when he was there, and sat under a juniper tree, he requested for his soul that he might die, and said: It is enough for me, Lord, take away my soul: for I am no better than my fathers. ⁵And he cast himself down, end slept in the shadow of the juniper tree: and behold an angel of the Lord touched him, and said to him: Arise and eat. ⁶He looked, and behold there was at his head a hearth cake, and a vessel of water: and he ate and drank, and he fell asleep again. ⁷And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said to him: Arise, eat: for thou hast yet a great way to go. ⁸And he arose, and ate, and drank, and walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, unto the mount of God, Horeb. ⁹And when he was come thither, he abode in a cave: and behold the word of the Lord came unto him, and he said to him: What dost thou here, Elias? ¹⁰And he answered: With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant: they have thrown down thy altars, they have slain thy prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away. ¹¹And he said to him: Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord: and behold the Lord passeth, and a great and strong wind before the Lord over throwing the mountains, and breaking the rocks in pieces: the Lord is not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake: the Lord is not in the earthquake. ¹²And after the earthquake a fire: the Lord is not in the fire, and after the fire a whistling of a gentle air. ¹³And when Elias heard it, he covered his face with his mantle, and coming forth stood in the entering in of the cave, and behold a voice unto him, saying: What dost thou here, Elias? And he answered: ¹⁴With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant: they have destroyed thy altars, they have slain thy prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away. ¹⁵And the Lord said to him: Go, and return on thy way through the desert to Damascus: and when thou art come thither, thou shalt anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. ¹⁶And thou shalt anoint Jehu the son of Namsi to be king over Israel: and Eliseus the son of Saphat, of Abelmeula, thou shalt anoint to be prophet in thy room. ¹⁷And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall escape the sword of Hazael, shall be slain by Jehu: and whosoever shall escape the sword of Jehu, shall be slain by Eliseus. ¹⁸And I will leave me seven thousand men in Israel, whose knees have not been bowed before Baal, and every mouth that hath not worshipped him kissing the hands. ¹⁹And Elias departing from thence, found Eliseus the son of Saphat, ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen: and he was one of them that were ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen: and when Elias came up to him, he cast his mantle upon him. ²⁰And he forthwith left the oxen and ran after Elias, 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, and return back: for that which was my part, I have done to thee. ²¹And returning back from him, he took a yoke of oxen, and killed them, and boiled the flesh with the plough of the oxen, and gave to the people, and they ate: and rising up he went away, and followed Elias, and ministered to him.

Chapter 20

¹And Benadad, king of Syria, gathered together all his host, and there were two and thirty kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and going up, he fought against Samaria, and besieged it. ²And, sending messengers to Achab king of Israel into the city, ³He said: Thus saith Benadad: Thy silver, and thy gold is mine: and thy wives, and thy goodliest children are mine. ⁴And the king of Israel answered: According to thy word, my lord king, I am thine, and all that I have. ⁵And the messengers came again, and said: Thus saith Benadad, who sent us unto thee: Thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children thou shalt deliver up to me. ⁶To morrow therefore at this same hour I will send my servants to thee, and they shall search thy house, and the houses of thy servants: and all that pleaseth them, they shall put in their hands, and take away. ⁷And the king of Israel called all the ancients of the land, and said: Mark, and see that he layeth snares for us. For he sent to me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver and gold: and I said not nay. ⁸And all the ancients, and all the people said to him: Hearken not to him, nor consent to him. ⁹Wherefore he answered the messengers of Benadad: Tell my lord the king: All that thou didst send for to me thy servant at first, I will do: but this thing I cannot do. ¹⁰And the messengers returning brought him word. And he sent again and said: Such and such things may the gods do to me, and more may they add, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me. ¹¹And the king of Israel answering, said: Tell him: Let not the girded boast himself as the ungirded. ¹²And it came to pass, when Benadad heard this word, that he and the kings were drinking in pavilions, and he said to his servants: Beset the city. And they beset it. ¹³And behold a prophet coming to Achab king of Israel, said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Hast thou seen all this exceeding great multitude, behold I will deliver them into thy hand this day: that thou mayest know that I am the Lord. ¹⁴And Achab said: By whom? And he said to him: Thus saith the Lord: By the servants of the princes of the provinces. And he said: Who shall begin to fight? And he said: Thou. ¹⁵So he mustered the servants of the princes of the provinces, and he found the number of two hundred and thirty-two: and he mustered after them the people, all the children of Israel, seven thousand: ¹⁶And they went out at noon. But Benadad was drinking himself drunk in his pavilion, and the two and thirty kings with him, who were come to help him. ¹⁷And the servants of the princes of the provinces went out first. And Benadad sent. And they told him, saying: There are men come out of Samaria. ¹⁸And he said: Whether they come for peace, take them alive: or whether they come to fight, take them alive. ¹⁹So the servants of the princes of the provinces went out, and the rest of the army followed: ²⁰And every one slew the man that came against him: and the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued after them. And Benadad king of Syria fled away on horseback with his horsemen. ²¹But the king of Israel going out overthrew the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter. ²²(And a prophet coming to the king of Israel, said to him: Go, and strengthen thyself, and know, and see what thou dost: for the next year the king of Syria will come up against thee.) ²³But the servants of the king of Syria said to him: Their gods are gods of the hills, therefore they have overcome us: but it is better that we should fight against them in the plains, and we shall overcome them. ²⁴Do thou therefore this thing: Remove all the kings from thy army, and put captains in their stead: ²⁵And make up the number of soldiers that have been slain of thine, and horses according to the former horses, and chariots according to the chariots which thou hadst before: and we will fight against them in the plains, and thou shalt see that we shall overcome them. He believed their counsel and did so. ²⁶Wherefore at the return of the year, p Benadad mustered the Syrians, ancient up to Aphec, to fight against Israel. ²⁷And the children of Israel were mustered, and taking victuals went out on the other side, and camped over against them, like two little hocks of goats: but the Syrians filled the land. ²⁸(And a man of God coming, said to the king of Israel: Thus saith the Lord: Because the Syrians have said: The Lord is God of the hills, but is not God of the valleys: I will deliver all this great multitude into thy hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.) ²⁹And both sides set their armies in array one against the other seven days, and on the seventh day the battle was fought: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians a hundred thousand footmen in one day. ³⁰And they that remained fled to Aphec, into the city: and the wall fell upon seven and twenty thousand men, that were left. And Benadad fleeing went into the city, into a chamber that was within a chamber. ³¹And his servants said to him: Behold, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful: so let us put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: perhaps he will save our lives. ³²So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said to him: Thy servant Benadad saith: I beseech thee let me have my life. And he said: If he be yet alive he is my brother. ³³The men took this for a sign: and in haste caught the word out of his mouth, and said: Thy brother Benadad. And he said to them: Go, and bring him to me. Then Benadad came out to him, and he lifted him up into his chariot. ³⁴And he said to him: The cities which my father took from thy father, I will restore: and do thou make thee streets in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria, and having made a league I will depart from thee. So he made a league with him, and let him go. ³⁵Then a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his companion in the word of the Lord: Strike me. But he would not strike. ³⁶Then he said to him: Because thou wouldst not hearken to the word of the Lord, behold then shalt depart from me, and a lion shall slay thee. And when he was gone a little from him, a lion found him, and slew him. ³⁷Then he found another man, and said to him: Strike me. And he struck him, and wounded him. ³⁸So the prophet went, and met the king in the way, and disguised himself by sprinkling dust on his face and his eyes. ³⁹And as the king passed by, he cried to the king, and said: Thy servant went out to fight hand to hand: and when a certain man was run away, one brought him to me, and said: Keep this man: and if he shall slip away, thy life shall be for his life, or thou shalt pay a talent of silver. ⁴⁰And whilst I in a hurry turned this way and that, on a sudden he was not to be seen. And the king of Israel said to him: This is thy judgment, which thyself hast decreed. ⁴¹But he forthwith wiped off the dust from his face, and the king of Israel knew him, that he was one of the prophets. ⁴²And he said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a mall worthy of death, thy life shall be for his life, and thy people for his people. ⁴³And the king of Israel returned to his house, slighting to hear, and raging came into Samaria.

Chapter 21

¹And after these things, Naboth the Jezrahelite, who was in Jezrahel, had at that time a vineyard near the palace of Achab king of Samaria. ²And Achab spoke to Naboth, saying: Give me thy vineyard, that I may make me a garden of herbs, because it is nigh, and adjoining to my house, and I will give thee for it a better vineyard: or if thou think it more convenient for thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. ³Naboth answered him: The Lord be merciful to me, and not let me give thee the inheritance of my fathers. ⁴And Achab came into his house angry and fretting, because of the word that Naboth the Jezrahelite had spoken to him, saying: I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And casting himself upon his bed, he turned away his face to the wall, and would eat no bread. ⁵And Jezabel his wife went in to him, and said to him: What is the matter that thy soul is so grieved? and why eatest thou no bread ? ⁶And he answered her: I spoke to Naboth the Jezrahelite, and said to him: Give me thy vineyard, and take money for it: or if it please thee, I will give thee a better vineyard for it. And he said: I will not give thee my vineyard. ⁷Then Jezabel his wife said to him: Thou art of great authority indeed, and governest well the kingdom of Israel. Arise, and eat bread, and be of good cheer, I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezrahelite. ⁸So she wrote letter's in Achab's name, and sealed them with his ring, and sent them to the ancients, and the chief men that were in his city, and that dwelt with Naboth. ⁹And this was the tenor of the letters: Proclaim a fast, and make Naboth sit among the chief of the people, ¹⁰And suborn two men, sons of Belial against him, and let them bear false witness: that he hath blasphemed God and the king: and then carry him out, and stone him, and so let him die. ¹¹And the men of his city, the ancients and nobles, that dwelt with him in the city, did as Jezabel had commanded them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them: ¹²They proclaimed a fast, and made Naboth sit among the chief of the people. ¹³And bringing two men, sons of the devil, they made them sit against him: and they, like men of the devil, bore witness against him before the people, saying: Naboth hath blasphemed God and the king: wherefore they brought him forth without the city, and stoned him to death. ¹⁴And they sent to Jezabel, saying: Naboth is stoned, and is dead. ¹⁵And it came to pass when Jezabel heard that Naboth was stoned, and dead, that she said to Achab: Arise and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezrahelite, who would not agree with thee, and give it thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead. ¹⁶And when Achab heard this, to wit, that Naboth was dead, he arose, and went down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezrahelite, to take possession of it. ¹⁷And the word of the Lord came to Elias the Thesbite, saying: ¹⁸Arise, and go down to meet Achab king of Israel, who is in Samaria: behold he is going down to the vineyard of Naboth, to take possession of it: ¹⁹And thou shalt speak to him, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast slain, moreover also thou hast taken possession. And after these words thou shalt add: Thus saith the Lord: In this place, wherein the dogs have licked the blood of Naboth, they shall lick thy blood also. ²⁰And Achab said to Elias: Hast thou found me thy enemy? He said: I have found thee, because thou art sold, to do evil in the sight of the Lord. ²¹Behold I will bring evil upon thee, and I will cut down thy posterity, and I will kill of Achab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up, and the last in Israel. ²²And I will make thy house like the t house of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, and like the house of Baasa the son of Ahias: for what thou hast done, to provoke me to anger, and for making Israel to sin. ²³And of Jezabel also the Lord spoke, saying: The dogs shall eat Jezabel in the field of Jezrahel. ²⁴If Achab die in the city, the dogs shall eat him: but if he die in the field, the birds of the air shall eat him. ²⁵Now there was not such another as Achab, who was sold to do evil in the sight of the Lord: for his wife Jezabel set him on, ²⁶And he became abominable, insomuch that he followed the idols which the Amorrhites had made, whom the Lord destroyed before the face of the children of Israel. ²⁷And when Achab had heard these words, he rent his garments, and put haircloth upon his flesh, and fasted and slept in sackcloth, and walked with his head cast down. ²⁸And the word of the Lord came to Elias the Thesbite, saying: ²⁹Hast thou not seen Achab humbled before me? therefore, because he hath humbled himself for my sake, 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 there passed three years without war between Syria and Israel. ²And in the third year, Josaphat king of Juda came down to the king of Israel. ³(And the king of Israel said to his servants: Know ye not-that Ramoth Galaad is ours, and we neglect to take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?) ⁴And he said to Josaphat: Wilt thou come with me to battle to Ramoth Galaad ? ⁵And Josaphat said to the king of Israel: As I am, so art thou: my people and thy people are one: and my horsemen, thy horsemen. And Josaphat said to the king of Israel: Inquire, I beseech thee, this day, the word of the Lord. ⁶Then the king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred men, and he said to them: Shall I go to Ramoth Galaad to fight, or shall I forbear? They answered: Go up, and the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king. ⁷And Josaphat said: Is there not here some prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire by him? ⁸And the king of Israel said to Josaphat: There is one man left, by whom we may inquire of the Lord: Micheas the son of Jemla; but I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good to me, but evil. And Josaphat said: Speak not so, O king. ⁹Then the king of Israel called an eunuch, and said to him: Make haste, and bring hither Micheas the son of Jemla. ¹⁰Then the king of Israel, and Josaphat king of Juda, sat each on his throne clothed with royal robes, in a court by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets prophesied before them. ¹¹And Sedecias the son of Chanaana made himself horns of iron, and said: Thus saith the Lord: With these shalt thou push Syria, till thou destroy it. ¹²And all the prophets prophesied in like manner, saying: Go up to Ramoth Galaad, and prosper, for the Lord will deliver it into the king's hands. ¹³And the messenger, that went to call Micheas, spoke to him, saying: Behold the words of the prophets with one month declare good things to the king: let thy word therefore be like to theirs, and speak that which is good. ¹⁴But Micheas said to him: As the Lord liveth, whatsoever the Lord shall say to me, that will I speak. ¹⁵So he came to the king, and the king said to him: Micheas, shall we go to Ramoth Galaad to battle, or shall we forbear? He answered him: Go up, and prosper, and the Lord shall deliver it into the king's hands. ¹⁶But the king said to him: I adjure thee again and again, that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord. ¹⁷And he said: I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, like sheep that have no shepherd: and the Lord said: These have no master: let every man of them return to his house in peace. ¹⁸(Then the king of Israel said to Josaphat: Did I not tell thee, that he prophesieth no good to me, but always evil ?) ¹⁹And he added and said: Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on the right hand and on the left: ²⁰And the Lord said: Who shall deceive Achab king of Israel, that he may go up, and fall at Ramoth Galaad? And one spoke words of this manner, and another otherwise. ²¹And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said: I will deceive him. And the Lord said to him: By what means? ²²And he said: I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said: Thou shalt deceive him, and shalt prevail: a go forth, and do so. ²³Now therefore behold the Lord hath given a lying spirit in the mouth of all thy prophets that are here, and the Lord hath spoken evil against thee. ²⁴And Sedecias the son of Chanaana came, and struck Micheas on the cheek, and said: Hath then the spirit of the Lord left me, and spoken to thee? ²⁵And Micheas said: Thou shalt see in the day when thou shalt go into a chamber within a chamber to hide thyself. ²⁶And the king of Israel said: Take Micheas, and let him abide with Ammon the governor of the city, and with Joas the son of Amalech. ²⁷And tell them: Thus saith the king: Put this man in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction, and water of distress, till I return in peace. ²⁸And Micheas said: If thou return in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. And he said: Hear, all ye people. ²⁹So the king of Israel, and Josaphat king of Juda went up to Ramoth Galaad. ³⁰And the king of Israel said to Josaphat: Take armour, and go into the battle, and put on thy own garments. But the king of Israel changed his dress, and went into the battle. ³¹And the king of Syria had commanded the two and thirty captains of the chariots, saying: You shall not fight against any, small or great, but against the king of Israel only. ³²So when the captains of the chariots saw Josaphat, they suspected that he was the king of Israel, and making a violent assault they fought against him: and Josaphat cried out. ³³And the captains of the chariots perceived that he was not the king of and they turned away from him. ³⁴And a certain man bent his bow, shooting at a venture, and chanced to strike the king of Israel between the lungs and the stomach. But he said to the driver of his chariot: Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the army, for I am grievously wounded. ³⁵And the battle was fought that day, and the king of Israel stood in his chariot against the Syrians, and he died in the evening: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot. ³⁶And the herald proclaimed through all the army before the sun set, saying: Let every man return to his own city, and to his own country. ³⁷And the king died, b and was carried into Samaria: and they buried the king in Samaria. ³⁸And they washed his chariot in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and they washed the reins, according to the word of the Lord which he had spoken. ³⁹But the rest of the acts of Achab, and all that he did, and the house of ivory that he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ⁴⁰So Achab slept with his fathers, and Ochozias his son reigned in his stead. ⁴¹But Josaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Juda in the fourth year of Achab king of Israel. ⁴²He was five and thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned five and twenty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Azuba the daughter of Salai. ⁴³And he walked in all the way of Asa his father, and he declined not from it: and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. ⁴⁴Nevertheless he took not away the high places: for as Set the people offered sacrifices and burnt incense in the high places. ⁴⁵And Josaphat had peace with the king of Israel. ⁴⁶But the rest of the acts of Josaphat, and his works which he did, and his batties, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? ⁴⁷And the remnant also of the effeminate, who remained in the days of Asa his father, he took out of the land. ⁴⁸And there was then no king appointed in Edom. ⁴⁹But king Josaphat made navies on the sea, to sail into Ophir for gold: but they could not go, for the ships were broken in Asiongaber. ⁵⁰Then Ochozias the ton of Achab said to Josaphat: Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. And Josaphat would not. ⁵¹And Josaphat slept with his fathers. and was buried with them in the city of David his father: and Joram his son reigned in his stead. ⁵²And Ochozias the son of Achab began to reign over Israel in Samaria, in the seventeenth gear of Josaphat king of Juda, and he reigned over Israel two years, ⁵³And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father and his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin. ⁵⁴He served also Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked the Lord the God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.

The Fourth Book of Kings

Chapter 1

¹And Moab rebelled against Israel, after the death of Achab. ²And Ochozias fell through the lattices of his upper chamber which he had in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, saying to them: Go, consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, whether I shall recover of this my illness. ³And an angel of the Lord spoke to Elias the Thesbite, saying: Arise, and go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them: Is there not a God in Israel, that ye go to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron? ⁴Wherefore thus saith the Lord: From the bed, on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die. And Elias went away. ⁵And the messengers turned back to Ochozias. And he said to them: Why are you come back? ⁶But they answered him: A man met us, and said to us: Go, and return to the king, that sent you, and you shall say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Is it because there was no God in Israel that thou sendest to Beelzebub the god of Accaron? Therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed, on which thou art gone up, but then shalt surely die. ⁷And he said to them: What manner of man was he who met you, and spoke these words? ⁸But they said: A hairy man with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said: It is Elias the Thesbite. ⁹And he sent to him a captain of fifty, and the fifty men that were under him. And he went up to him, and as he was sitting on the top of a hill, said to him: Man of God, the king hath commanded that thou come down. ¹⁰And Elias answering, 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 the fifty that were with him. ¹¹And again he sent to him another captain of fifty men, and his fifty with him. And he said to him: Man of God, thus saith the king: Make haste and come down. ¹²Elias answering, said: If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And fire came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. ¹³Again he sent a third captain of fifty men, and the fifty that were with him. And when he was come, he fell upon his knees, before Elias, and besought him and said: Man of God, despise not my life, and the lives of thy servants that are with me. ¹⁴Behold fire came down from heaven, and consumed the two first captains of fifty men, and the fifties that were with them: but now I beseech thee to spare my life. ¹⁵And the angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, saying: Go down with him, fear not. He arose therefore, and went down with him to the king, ¹⁶And said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast sent messengers to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron, as though there were not a God in Israel, of whom thou mightest inquire the word; therefore from the bed on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die. ¹⁷So he died according to the word of the Lord which Elias spoke, and Joram his brother reigned in his stead, in the second year of Joram the son of Josaphat king of Juda: because he had no son. ¹⁸But the rest of the acts of Ochozias which he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

Chapter 2

¹And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elias into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elias and Eliseus were going from Galgal. ²And Elias said to Eliseus: Stay thou here, because the Lord hath sent me as far as Bethel. And Eliseus said to him: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And when they were come down to Bethel, ³The sons of the prophets, that were at Bethel, came forth to Eliseus, and said to him: Dost thou know that this day the Lord will take away thy master from thee? And he answered: I also know it: hold your peace. ⁴And Elias said to Eliseus: Stay here because the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And he said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And when they were come to Jericho, ⁵The sons of the prophets that were at Jericho, came to Eliseus, and said to him: Dost thou know that this day the Lord will take away thy master from thee? And he said: I also know it: hold your peace. ⁶And Elias said to him: Stay here, because the Lord hath sent me as far as the Jordan. And he said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee; and they two went on together, ⁷And fifty men of the sons of the prophets followed them, and stood in sight at a distance: but they two stood by the Jordan. ⁸And Elias took his mantle and folded it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, and they both passed over on dry ground. ⁹And when they were gone over, Elias said to Eliseus: Ask what thou wilt have me to do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Eliseus said: I beseech thee that in me may be thy double spirit. ¹⁰And he answered: Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless if thou see me when I am taken from thee, thou shalt have what thou hast asked: but if thou see me not, thou shalt not have it. ¹¹And as they went on, walking and talking together, behold a fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven. ¹²And Eliseus saw him, and cried: My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the driver thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own garments, and rent them in two pieces. ¹³And he took up the mantle of Elias, that fell from him: and going back, he stood upon the bank of the Jordan, ¹⁴And he struck the waters with the mantle of Elias, that had fallen from him, and they were not divided. And he said: Where is now the God of Elias? And he struck the waters, and they were divided, hither and thither, and Eliseus passed over. ¹⁵And the sons of the prophets at Jericho, who were over against him, seeing it said: The spirit of Elias hath rested upon Eliseus. And coming to meet him, they worshipped him, falling to the ground, ¹⁶And they said to him: Behold, there are with thy servants fifty strong men, that can go, and seek thy master, lest perhaps the spirit of the Lord hath taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley. And he said: Do not send. ¹⁷But they pressed him, till he consented, and said: Send. And they sent fifty men: and they sought three days but found him not. ¹⁸And they came back to him: for he abode at Jericho, and he said to them: Did I not say to you: Do not send? ¹⁹And the men of the city said to Eliseus: Behold the situation of this city is very good, as thou, my lord, seest: but the waters are very bad, and the ground barren. ²⁰And he said: Bring me a new vessel, and put salt into it. And when they had brought it, ²¹He went out to the spring of the waters, and cast the salt into it, and said: Thus saith the Lord: I have healed these waters, and there shall be no more in them death or barrenness. ²²And the waters were healed unto this day, according to the word of Eliseus, which he spoke. ²³And he went up from thence to Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, little boys came out of the city and mocked him, saying: Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. ²⁴And looking back, he saw them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord: and there came forth two bears out of the forest, and tore of them two and forty boys. ²⁵And from thence he went to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.

Chapter 3

¹And Joram the son of Achab reigned over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of m Josaphat king of Juda. And he reigned twelve years. ²And he did evil before the Lord, but not like his father and his mother: for he took away the statues of Baal, which his father had made. ³Nevertheless he stuck to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, nor did he depart from them. ⁴Now Mesa, king of Moab, nourished many sheep, and he paid to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams with their fleeces. ⁵And when Achab was dead, he broke the league which he had made with the king of Israel. ⁶And king Joram went out that day from Samaria, and mustered all Israel. ⁷And he sent to Josaphat king of Juda, saying: The king of Moab is revolted from me, come with me against him to battle. And he answered: I will come up: he that is mine, is thine: my people, thy people: and my horses, thy horses. ⁸And he said: Which way shall we go up? But he answered: By the desert of Edom. ⁹So the king of Israel, and the king of Juda, and the king of Edom went, and they fetched a compass of seven days' journey, and there was no water for the army, and for the beasts, that followed them. ¹⁰And the king of Israel said: Alas, alas, alas, the Lord hath gathered us three kings together, to deliver us into the hands of Moab! ¹¹And Josaphat said: Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may beseech the Lord by him? And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered: Here is Eliseus the son of Saphat, who poured water on the hands of Elias. ¹²And Josaphat said: The word of the Lord is with him. And the king of Israel, and Josaphat king of Juda, and the king of Edom went down to him. ¹³And Eliseus said to the king of Israel: What have I to do with thee? go to the prophets of thy father, and thy mother. And the king of Israel said to him: Why hath the Lord gathered together these three kings, to deliver them into the hands of Moab? ¹⁴And Eliseus said to him: As the Lord of hosts liveth, in whose sight I stand, if I did not reverence the face of Josaphat king of Juda, I would not have hearkened to thee, nor looked on thee. ¹⁵But now bring me hither a minstrel. And when the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he said: ¹⁶Thus saith the Lord: Make the channel of this torrent full of ditches. ¹⁷For thus saith the Lord: You shall not see wind, nor rain: and yet this channel shall be filled with waters, and you shall drink, you and your families, and your beasts. ¹⁸And this is a small thing in the sight of the Lord: moreover he will deliver also Moab into your hands. ¹⁹And you shall destroy every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall cut down every fruitful tree, and shall stop up all the springs of waters, and every goodly field you shall cover with stones. ²⁰And it came to pass in the morning, when the sacrifices used to be offered, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. ²¹And all the Moabites hearing that the kings were come up to fight against them, gathered together all that were girded with a belt upon them, and stood in the borders. ²²And they rose early in the morning, and the sun being now up, and shining upon the waters, the Moabites saw the waters over against them red, like blood, ²³And they said: It is the blood of the sword: the kings have fought among themselves, and they have killed one another: go now, Moab, to the spoils. ²⁴And they went into the camp of Israel: but Israel rising up defeated Moab, who fled before them. And they being conquerors, went and smote Moab. ²⁵And they destroyed the cities: and they filled every goodly field, every man casting his stone: and they stopt up all the springs of waters: and cut down all the trees that bore fruit, so that brick walls only remained: and the city was beset by the slingers, and a great part thereof destroyed. ²⁶And when the king of Moab saw this, to wit, that the enemies had prevailed, he took with him seven hundred men that drew the sword, to break in upon the king of Edom: but they could not. ²⁷Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall: and there was great indignation in Israel, and presently they departed from him, and returned into their own country.

Chapter 4

¹Now a certain woman of the wives of the prophets cried to Eliseus, saying: Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant was one that feared God, and behold the creditor is come to take away my two sons to serve him. ²And Eliseus said to her: What wilt thou have me to do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in thy house? And she answered: I thy handmaid have nothing in my house but a little oil, to anoint me. ³And he said to her: Go, borrow of all thy neighbours empty vessels not a few. ⁴And go in, and shut thy door, when thou art within, and thy sons: and pour out thereof into all those vessels: and when they are full take them away. ⁵So the woman went, and shut the door upon her, and upon her sons: they brought her the vessels, and she poured in. ⁶And when the vessels were full, she said to her son: Bring me yet a vessel. And he answered: I have no more. And the oil stood. ⁷And she came, and told the man of God. And he said: Go, sell the oil, and pay thy creditor: and thou and thy sons live of the rest. ⁸And there was a day when Eliseus passed by Sunam: now there was a great woman there, who detained him to eat bread; and as he passed often that way, he turned into her house to eat bread. ⁹And she said to her husband: I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who often passeth by us. ¹⁰Let us therefore make him a little chamber, and put a little bed in it for him, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick, that when he cometh to us, he may abide there. ¹¹Now there was a certain day when he came and turned in to the chamber, and rested there. ¹²And he said to Giezi his servant Call this Sunamitess. And when he had called her, and she stood before him, ¹³He said to his servant: Say to her Behold thou hast diligently served us in all things, what wilt thou have me to de for thee? hast thou any business, and wilt thou that I speak to the king, or to the general of the army? And she answered: I dwell in the midst of my own people. ¹⁴And he said : What will she then that I do for her? And Giezi said: Do not ask, for she hath no son, and her husband is old. ¹⁵Then he bid him call her: And when she was called, and stood before the door. ¹⁶He said to her: At this time, and this same hour, if life accompany, thou shalt have a son in thy womb. But she answered: Do not, I beseech thee, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie to thy handmaid. ¹⁷And the woman conceived, and brought forth a son in the time, and at the same hour, that Eliseus had said. ¹⁸And the child grew. And on a certain day, when he went out to his father to the reapers, ¹⁹He said to his father: My head acheth, my head acheth. But he said to his servant: Take him, and carry him to his mother. ²⁰And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, she set him on her knees until noon, and then he died. ²¹And she went up and laid him upon the bed of the man of God, and shut the door: and going out, ²²She called her husband, and said: Send with me, I beseech thee, one of thy servants, and an ass that I may run to the man of God, and come again. ²³And he said to her: Why dost thou go to him? to day is neither new moon nor sabbath. She answered: I will go. ²⁴And she saddled an ass, and commanded her servant: Drive, and make haste, make no stay in going. And do that which I bid thee. ²⁵So she went forward, and came to the man of God to mount Carmel: and when the mall of God saw her coming towards, he said to Giezi his servant : Behold that Sunamitess. ²⁶Go therefore to meet her, and say to her: Is all well with thee, and with thy husband, and with thy son? and she answered: Well. ²⁷And when she came to the man of God to the mount, she caught hold on his feet: and Giezi came to remove her. And the man of God said: Let her alone for her soul is in anguish, and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me. ²⁸And she said to him: Did I ask a son of my lord? did I not say to thee: Do not deceive me? ²⁹Then he said to Giezi: Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go. If any man meet thee, salute him not: and if any man salute thee, answer him not: and lay my staff upon the face of the child. ³⁰But the mother of the child said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. He arose, therefore, and followed her. ³¹But Giezi was gone before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child, and there was no voice nor sense: and he returned to meet him, and told him, saying: The child is not risen. ³²Eliseus therefore went into the house, and behold the child lay dead on his bed. ³³And going in he shut the door upon him, and upon the child, and prayed to the Lord. ³⁴And he went up, and lay upon the child: and he put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he bowed himself upon him, and the child's flesh grew warm. ³⁵Then he returned and walked in the house, once to and fro: and he went up, and lay upon him: and the child gaped seven times, and opened his eyes. ³⁶And he called Giezi, and said to him: Call this Sunamitess. And she being called, went in to him: and he said: Take up thy son. ³⁷She came and fell at his feet, and worshipped upon the ground: and took up her son, and went out. ³⁸And Eliseus returned to Galgal, and there was a famine in the land, and the sons of the prophets dwelt before him. And he said to one of his servants: Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets. ³⁹And one went out into the field to gather wild herbs: and he found something like a wild vine, and gathered of it wild gourds of the field, and filled his mantle, and coming back he shred them into the pot of pottage, for he knew not what it was. ⁴⁰And they poured it out for their companions to eat: and when they had tasted of the pottage, they cried out, saying: Death is in the pot, O man of God. And they could not eat thereof. ⁴¹But he said: Bring some meal. And when they had brought it, he cast it into the pot, and said: Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was now no bitterness in the pot. ⁴²And a certain man came from Baalsalisa bringing to the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty leaves of barley, and new corn in his scrip. And he said: Give to the people, that they may eat. ⁴³And his servant answered him: How much is this, that I should set it before a hundred men? He said again: Give to the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord: They shall eat, and there shall be left. ⁴⁴So he fief it before them: and they ate, and there was left according to the word of the Lord.

Chapter 5

¹Naaman, general of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable: for by him the Lord gave deliverance to Syria: and he was a valiant man and rich, but a leper. ²Now there had gone out robbers from Syria, and had led away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited upon Naaman's wife. ³And she said to her mistress: I wish my master had been with the prophet, that is in Samaria: he would certainly have healed him of the leprosy which he hath. ⁴Then Naaman went in to his lord, and told him, saying: Thus and thus said tile girl from the land of Israel. ⁵And the king of Syria sad to him: Go, 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 tell changes of raiment, ⁶And brought the letter to the king of Israel, in these words: When thou shalt receive this letter, know that I have sent to thee Naaman my servant, that thou mayest heal him of his leprosy. ⁷And when the king of Israel had read the letter, he rent his garments, and said: Am I God, to be able to kill and give life, that this man hath sent to me, to heal a man of his leprosy? mark, and see how he seeketh occasions against me. ⁸And when Eliseus the man of God had heard this, to wit, that the king of Israel had rent his garments, he sent to him, saying: Why hast thou rent thy garments? let him come to me, and let him know that there is a prophet in Israel. ⁹So Naaman came with Iris horses and chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Eliseus: ¹⁰And Eliseus sent a messenger to him, saying: Go, and wash seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall recover health, and thee shalt be clean. ¹¹Naaman was angry and went away, saying: I thought he would hare come out to me, and standing would hare invoked the name of the Lord his God, and touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and healed me. ¹²Are not the Abana, and the Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, that I may wash in them, and be made clean? So as he turned, and was going away with indignation, ¹³His servants came to him, and said to him: Father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, surely thou shouldst have done it: how much rather what he now hath said to thee: Wash, and thou shalt he clean? ¹⁴Then he went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times: according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child, and he was made clean. ¹⁵And returning to the man of God with all his train, be came, and stood before him, and said: In truth, I know there is no other God in all the earth, but only in Israel: I beseech thee therefore take a blessing of thy servant. ¹⁶But he answered: As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And when he pressed him, he still refused. ¹⁷And Naaman said: As thou wilt: but I beseech thee, grant to me thy servant, to take from hence two mules' burden of earth: for thy servant will not henceforth offer holocaust, or victim, to other gods, but to the Lord. ¹⁸But there is only this, for which thou shalt entreat the Lord for thy servant, when my master goeth into the temple of Remmon, to worship: and he leaneth upon my hand, if I bow down in the temple of Remmon, when he boweth down in the same place, that the Lord pardon me thy servant for this thing. ¹⁹And he said to him: Go in peace. So he departed from him in the springtime of the earth. ²⁰But Giezi the servant of the man of God said: My master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving of him that which he brought: as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take some thing of him: ²¹21And Giezi followed after Naaman: and when he saw him running after him, he leapt down from his chariot to meet him, and said: Is all well? ²²And he said: Well: my master hath sent me to thee, saying: Just now there are come to me from mount Ephraim, two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them a talent of silver, and two changes of garments. ²³And Naaman said: It is better that thou take two talents. And he forced him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, and two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants, and they carried them before him. ²⁴And when he was come, and now it was the evening, he took them from their hands, and laid them up in the house, and sent the men away, and they departed. ²⁵But he went in, and stood before his master. And Eliseus said: Whence comest thou, Giezi? He answered: Thy servant went no whither. ²⁶But he said: Was not my heart present, when the man turned back from his chariot to meet thee? So now thou hast received money, and received garments, to buy oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants. ²⁷But the leprosy of Naaman shall also stick to thee, and to thy seed for ever. And he went out from him a leper as white as snow.

Chapter 6

¹And the sons of the prophets said to Eliseus: Behold the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. ²Let us go as far as the Jordan and take out of the wood every man a piece of timber, that we may build us there a place to dwell in. And he said: Go. ³And one of them said: But come thou also with thy servants. He answered: I will come. ⁴So he went with them. And when they were come to the Jordan they cut down wood. ⁵And it happened, as one was felling some timber, that the head of the axe fell into the water: and he cried out, and said: Alas, alas, alas, my lord, for this same was borrowed. ⁶And the man of God said: Where did it fall? and he shewed him the place. Then he cut off a piece of wood, and cast it in thither: and the iron swam. ⁷And he said: Take it up. And he put out his hand and took it. ⁸And the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying: In such and such a place let us lay ambushes. ⁹And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying: Beware that thou pass not to such a place: for the Syrians are there in ambush. ¹⁰And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God had told him, and prevented him, and looked well to himself there not once nor twice. ¹¹And the heart of the king of Syria was troubled for this thing. And calling together his servants, he said: Why do you not tell me who it is that betrays me to the king of Israel? ¹²And one of his servants said: No one, my lord O king: but Eliseus the prophet, that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel all the words, that thou speakest in thy privy chamber. ¹³And he said to them: Go, and see where he is: that I may send, and take him. And they told him, saying: Behold he is in Dothan. ¹⁴Therefore he sent thither horses and chariots, and the strength of an army: and they came by night, and beset the city. ¹⁵And the servant of the man of God rising early, went out, and saw an army round about the city, and horses and chariots: and he told him, saying: Alas, alas, alas, my lord, what shall we do? ¹⁶But he answered: Fear not: for there are more with us than with them. ¹⁷And Eliseus prayed, and said: Lord, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw: and behold the mountain was full of horses, and chariots of fire round about Eliseus. ¹⁸And the enemies came down to him, but Eliseus prayed to the Lord, saying: Strike, I beseech thee, this people with blindness. And the Lord struck them with blindness, according to the word of Eliseus. ¹⁹And Eliseus said to them: This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will shew you the man whom you seek. So he led them into Samaria. ²⁰And when they were come into Samaria, Eliseus said: Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw themselves to be in the midst of Samaria. ²¹And the king of Israel said to Eliseus, when he saw them: My father, shall I kill them? ²²And he said: Thou shalt not kill them: for thou didst not take them with thy sword, or thy bow, that thou mayst kill them: but set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. ²³And a great provision of meats was set before them, and they ate and drank, and he let them go, and they went away to their master, and the robbers of Syria came no more into the land of Israel. ²⁴And tit came to pass after these things, that Benadad king of Syria gathered together all his army, and went up, and besieged Samaria. ²⁵And there was a great famine in Samaria: and so long did the siege continue, till the head of an ass was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cabe of pigeon's dung, for five pieces of silver. ²⁶And as the king of Israel was passing by the wall, a certain woman cried out to him, saying: Save me, my lord O king. ²⁷And he said: If the Lord doth not save thee, how can I save thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the king said to her: What aileth thee? And she answered: ²⁸This woman said to me: Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. 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 hath hid her son. ³⁰When the king heard this, he rent his garments, and passed by upon the wall. And all the people saw the haircloth which he wore within next to his flesh. ³¹And the king said: May God do so and so to me, and may he add more, if the head of Eliseus the son of Saphat shall stand on him this day. ³²But Eliseus sat in his house, and the ancients sat with him. So he sent a man before: and before that messenger came, he said to the ancients: Do you know that this son of a murderer hath sent to cut off my head? Look then, when the messenger shall come, shut the door, and suffer him not to come in: for behold the sound of his master's feet is behind him. ³³While he was yet speaking to them, the messenger appeared who was coming to him. And he said: Behold, so great an evil is from the Lord: what shall I look for more from the Lord?

Chapter 7

¹And Eliseus said: Hear ye the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord: To morrow about this time a bushel of fine hour shall be sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, in the gate of Samaria. ²Then one of the lords, upon whose hand the king leaned, answering the man of God, said: If the Lord should make hood-gates in heaven, can that possibly be which thou sayest? And he said: Thou shalt see it with thy eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. ³Now there were four lepers, at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another: What mean we to stay here till we die? ⁴If we will enter into the city, we shall die with the famine: and if we will remain here, we must also die: come, therefore, and let us run over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare us, we shall live: but if they kill us, we shall but die. ⁵So they arose in the evening, to go to the Syrian camp, And when they were come to the first part of the camp of the Syrians, they found no man there. ⁶For the Lord had made them hear, in the camp of Syria, the noise of chariots, and of horses, and of a very great army, and they said one to another: Behold the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hethites, and of the Egyptians, and they are come upon us. ⁷Wherefore they arose, and fled away in the dark, and left their tents, and their horses and asses in the camp, and fled, desiring to save their lives. ⁸So when these lepers were come to the beginning of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank: and they took from thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went, and hid it: and they came again, and went into another tent, and carried from thence in like manner, and hid it. ⁹Then they said one to another: We do not well: for this is a day of good tidings. If we hold our peace, and do not tell it till the morning, we shall be charged with a crime: come, let us go and tell it in the king's court. ¹⁰So they came to the gate of the city, and told them, saying: We went to the camp of the Syrians, and we found no man there, but horses, and asses tied, and the tents standing. ¹¹Then the guards of the gate went, and told it within the king's palace. ¹²And he arose in the night and said to his servants: I tell you what the Syrians have done to us: They know that we suffer great famine, and therefore they are gone out of the camp, and lie hid in the fields, saying: When they come out of the city we shall take them alive, and then we may get into the city. ¹³And one of his servants answered: Let us take the five horses that are remaining in the city (because there are no more in the whole multitude of Israel, for the rest are consumed,) and let us send and see. ¹⁴They brought therefore two horses, and the king sent into the camp of the Syrians, saying: Go, and see. ¹⁵And they went after them as far as the Jordan: and behold all the way was full of garments, and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their fright, and the messengers returned end told the king. ¹⁶And the people going out pillaged the camp of the Syrians: and a bushel of fine flour was sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, according to the word of the Lord. ¹⁷And the king appointed that lord on whose hand he leaned, to stand at the gate: and the people trod upon him in the entrance of the gate; and he died, as the man of God had said, when the king came down to him. ¹⁸And it came to pass according to the word of the man of God, which he spoke to the king, when he said: Two bushels of barley shall be for a stater, and a bushel of fine flour for a stater, at this very time to morrow in the gate of Samaria. ¹⁹When that lord answered the mall of' God, and said: Although the Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, could this come to pass which thou sayest? And he said to him: Thou shalt see with thy eyes, and shalt not eat thereof. ²⁰And so it fell out to him as it was foretold, and the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died.

Chapter 8

¹And Eliseus spoke to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying: Arise, and go thou and thy household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst find: for the Lord hath exiled a famine, and it shall come upon the land seven years. ²And she arose, and did according to the word of the man of God: and going with her household, she sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days. ³And when the seven years were ended, the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines, and she went forth to speak to the king for her house, and for her lands. ⁴And the king talked with Giezi, the servant of the man of God, saying: Tell me all the great things that Eliseus hath done. ⁵And when he was telling the king how he had raised one dead to life, the woman appeared, whose son he had restored to life, crying to the king for her house, and her lands. And Giezi said: My lord O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Eliseus raised to life. ⁶And the king asked the woman: and she told him. And the king appointed her an eunuch, saying: Restore her all that is hers, and all the revenues of the lands, from the day that she left the land, to this present. ⁷Eliseus also came to Damascus, and Benadad king of Syria was sick: and they told him, saying: The man of God is come hither. ⁸And the king said to Hazael: Take with thee presents, and go to meet the man of God, and consult the Lord by him, saying: Can I recover of this my illness? ⁹And Hazael went to meet him, taking with him presents, and all the good things of Damascus, the burdens of forty camels. And when he stood before him, he said: Thy son Benadad the king of Syria hath sent me to thee, saying: Can I recover of this my illness? ¹⁰And Eliseus said to him: Go tell him: Thou shalt recover: bat the Lord hath shewn me that he shall surely die. ¹¹And he stood with him, and was troubled so far as to blush: and the man of God wept. ¹²And Hazael said to him: Why doth my lord weep? And he said: Because I know the evil that thou wilt do to the children of Israel. Their strong cities then wilt burn with fire, and their young men thou wilt kill with the sword, and thou wilt dash their children, and rip up their pregnant women. ¹³And Hazael said: But what am I thy servant a dog, that I should do this great thing? And Eliseus said: The Lord hath shewn me that thou shalt be king of Syria. ¹⁴And when he was departed from Eliseus, he came to his master, who said to him: What saith Eliseus to thee? And he answered: He told me: Thou shalt recover. ¹⁵And on the next day he took a blanket, and pouted water on it, and spread it upon his face: and he died, and Hazael reigned in his stead. ¹⁶In the fifth year of Joram son of Achab king of Israel, and of Josaphat king of Juda, reigned Joram son of Josaphat king of Juda. ¹⁷He was two and thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸And he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Achab had walked: for the daughter of Achab was his wife: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁹But the Lord would not destroy Juda, for David his servant's sake, as he had promised him, to give him a light, and to his children always. ²⁰In his days Edom revolted, from being under Juda, and made themselves a king. ²¹And Joram came to Seira, and all the chariots with him: and he arose in the night, and defeated the Edomites that had surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots, but the people fled into their tents. ²²So Edom revolted from being under Juda, unto this day. Then Lobna also revolted at the same time. ²³But the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? ²⁴And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David, and Ochozias his son reigned in Iris stead. ²⁵In the twelfth year of Joram son of Achab king of Israel, reigned Ochozias son of Joram king of Juda. ²⁶Ochozias was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Athalia the daughter of Amri king of Israel. ²⁷And he walked in the ways of the house of Achab: and he did evil before the Lord, as did the house of Achab: for he was the son in law of the house of Achab. ²⁸He went also with Joram son of Achab, to fight against Hazael king of Syria in Ramoth Galaad, and the Syrians wounded Joram: ²⁹And he went back to be healed, in Jezrahel: because the Syrians had wounded him in Ramoth when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ochozias the son of Joram king of Juda, went down to visit Joram the son of Achab in Jezrahel, because he was sick there.

Chapter 9

¹And Eliseus the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, slid said to him: Gird up thy loins, and take this little bottle of oil in thy hand, and go to Ramoth Galaad. ²And when thou art come thither, thou shalt see Jehu the son of Josaphat the son of Namsi: and going in thou shalt make him rise up from amongst his brethren, and carry him into an inner chamber. ³Then taking the little bottle of oil, thou shalt pour it on his head, and shalt say: Thus saith the Lord: I have anointed thee king over Israel. And thou shalt open the door and flee, and shalt not stay there. ⁴So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went awry to Ramoth Galaad, ⁵And went in thither: and behold the captains of the army were sitting: and he said: I have a word to thee, O prince. And Jehu said: Unto whom of us all? And he said: To thee, O prince. ⁶And he arose, and went into the chamber: and he poured the oil upon his head, and said: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel : I have anointed thee king over Israel, the people of the Lord. ⁷And thou shalt cut off the house of Achab thy master, and I will revenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord at the hand of Jezabel. ⁸And I will destroy all the house of Achab, and I will cut off from Achab him that pisseth against the well, and him that is shut up, and the meanest in Israel. ⁹And I will make the house of Achab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, and like the house of Baasa the son of Ahias. ¹⁰And the dogs shall eat Jezabel in the field of Jezrahel, and there shall be no one to bury her. And he opened the door and fled. ¹¹Then Jehu went forth to the servants of his lord: and they said to him: Are all things well? why came this mad man to thee? And he said to them: You know the man, and what he said. ¹²But they answered: It is false, but rather do thou tell us. And he said to them: Thus and thus did he speak to me: and he said: Thus saith the Lord: I have anointed thee king over Israel. ¹³Then they made haste and taking every man his garment laid it under his feet, after the manner of a judgment seat, and they sounded the trumpet, and said: Jehu is king. ¹⁴So Jehu the son of Josaphat the son of Namsi conspired against Joram. Now Joram had besieged Ramoth Galaad, he and all Israel fighting with Hazael king of Syria: ¹⁵And was returned to be healed in Jezrahel of his wounds, for the Syrians had wounded him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria. And Jehu said: If it please you, let no mall go forth or flee out of the city, lest he go, and tell in Jezrahel. ¹⁶And he got up, and went into Jezrahel: for Joram was sick there, and Ochozias king of Juda was come down to visit Joram. ¹⁷The watchmen therefore, that stood upon the tower of Jezrahel, saw the troop of Jehu coming, and said: I see a troop. And Joram said: Take a chariot, and send to meet them, and let him that goeth say: Is all well? ¹⁸So there went one in a chariot to meet him, and said : Thus saith the king: Are all things peaceable? And Jehu said: What hast thou to do with peace? go behind and follow me. And the watchman told, saying: The messenger came to them, but he returneth not. ¹⁹And he sent a second chariot of horses: and he came to them, and said: Thus saith the king: Is there peace? And Jehu said: What hast thou to do with peace? pass, and follow me. ²⁰And the watchman told, saying: He came even to them, but returneth not: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Namsi, for he drives furiously. ²¹And Joram said: Make ready the chariot. And they made ready his chariot, and Joram king of Israel, and Ochozias king of Juda went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu, and met him in the field of Naboth the Jezrahelite. ²²And when Joram saw Jehu, he said: Is there peace, Jehu? And he answered: What peace ? so long as the fornications of Jezabel thy mother, and her many sorceries are in their vigour. ²³And Joram turned his hand, and fleeing, said to Ochozias: There is treachery, Ochozias. ²⁴But Jehu bent Iris bow with his hand, and shot Joram between the shoulders: and the arrow went out through his heart, and immediately he fell in his chariot. ²⁵And Jehu said to Badacer his captain: Take him, and cast him into the field of Naboth the Jezrahelite: for I remember when I and thou sitting in a chariot followed Achab this man's father, that the Lord laid this burden upon him, saying : ²⁶If I do not requite thee in this field, saith the Lord, for the blood of Naboth, and for the blood of his children, which I saw yesterday, saith the Lord. So now take him, and cast him into the field, according to the word of the Lord. ²⁷But Ochozias king of Juda seeing this, fled by the way of the garden house : and Jehu pursued him, and said: Strike him also in his chariot. And they struck him in the going up to Gaver, which is by Jeblaam: and he fled into Mageddo, and died there. ²⁸And his servants laid him upon his chariot, and carried him to Jerusalem: and they buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David. ²⁹In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Achab, Ochozias reigned over Juda, ³⁰And Jehu came into Jezrahel. But Jezabel hearing of his coming in, painted her face with stibic stone, and adorned her head, and looked out of a window ³¹At Jehu coming in at the gate, and said: Can there be peace for Zambri, that hath killed his master? ³²And Jehu lifted up his face to the window, and said : Who is this? And two or three eunuchs bowed down to him. ³³And he said to them: Throw her down headlong: and they threw her down, and the wall was sprinkled with her blood, and the hoofs of the horses trod upon her. ³⁴And when he was come in, to eat, and to drink, he said: Go, and see after that cursed woman, and bury her: because she is a king's daughter. ³⁵And when they went to bury her, they found nothing but the skull, and the feet, and the extremities of her hands. ³⁶And coming back they told him. And Jehu said: It is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elias the Thesbite, saying: In the field of Jezrahel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezabel, ³⁷And the flesh of Jezabel shall be as dung upon the face of the earth in the field of Jezrahel, so that they who pass by shall say: Is this that same Jezabel?

Chapter 10

¹And Achab had seventy sons in Samaria: so Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, to the chief men of the city, and to the ancients, and to them that brought up Achab's children, saying: ²As soon as you receive these letters, ye that have your master's sons, and chariots, and horses, and fenced cities, and armour, ³Choose the best, and him that shall please you most of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for the house of your master. ⁴But they were exceedingly afraid, and said: Behold two kings could not stand before him, and how shall we be able to resist? ⁵Therefore the overseers of the house, and the rulers of the city, and the ancients, and the tutors sent to Jehu, saying: We are thy servants, whatsoever thou shalt command us we will do, neither will we make us a king: do thou all that pleaseth thee. ⁶And he wrote letters the second time to them, saying: If you be mine, and will obey me, take the heads of the sons of your master, and come to me to Jezrahel by to morrow this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy men, were brought up with the chief men of the city. ⁷And when the letters came to them, they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezrahel. 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 by the entering in of the gate until the morning. ⁹And when it was light, he went out, and standing said to all the people: You are just: if I conspired against my master, and slew him, who hath slain all these? ¹⁰See therefore now that there hath not fallen to the ground any of the words of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Achab, and the Lord hath done that which he spoke in the hand of his servant Elias. ¹¹So Jehu slew all that were left of the house of Achab in Jezrahel, and all his chief men, and his friends, and his priests, till there were no remains left of him. ¹²And he arose, and went to Samaria: and when he was come to the shepherds' cabin in the way, ¹³He met with the brethren of Ochozias king of Juda, and he said to them: Who are you? And they answered: We are the brethren of Ochozias, and are come 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 by the cabin, two and forty men, and he left not any of them. ¹⁵And when he was departed thence, he found Jonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him, and he blessed him. And he said to him: Is thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart? And Jonadab said: It is. If it be, said he, give me thy hand. He gave him his hand. And he lifted him up to him into the chariot, ¹⁶And he said to him: Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. So he made him ride in his chariot, ¹⁷And brought him into Samaria. And he slew all that were left of Achab in Samaria, to a man, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Elias. ¹⁸And Jehu gathered together all the people, and said to them: Achab worshipped Baal a little, but I will worship him more. ¹⁹Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, and all his servants, and all his priests: let none be wanting, for I have a great sacrifice to offer to Baal: whosoever shall be wanting shall not live. Now Jehu did this craftily, that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal. ²⁰And he said: Proclaim a festival for Baal. And he called, ²¹And he sent into all the borders of Israel, and all the servants of Baal came: there was not one left that did not come. And they went into the temple of Baal: and the house of Baal was filled, from one end to the other. ²²And he said to them that were over the wardrobe: Bring forth garments for all the servants of Baal. And they brought them forth garments. ²³And Jehu and Jonadab the son of Rechab went to the temple of Baal, and said to the worshippers of Baal: Search, and see that there be not any with you of the servants of the Lord, but that there be the servants of Baal only. ²⁴And they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings: but Jehu had prepared him fourscore men without, and said to them: If any of the men escape, whom I have brought into your hands, he that letteth him go shall answer life for life. ²⁵And it came to pass, when the burnt offering was ended, that Jehu commanded his soldiers and captains, saying: Go in, and kill them, let none escape. And the soldiers and captains slew them with the edge of the sword, and cast them out: and they went into the city of the temple of Baal, ²⁶And brought the statue out of Baal's temple, and burnt it, ²⁷And broke it in pieces. They destroyed also the temple of Baal, and made a jakes in its place unto this day. ²⁸So Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel: ²⁹But yet he departed not from the sills of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, nor did he forsake the golden calves that were in Bethel and Dan. ³⁰And the Lord said to Jehu: Because thou hast diligently executed that which was right and pleasing in my eyes, and hast done to the house of Achab according to all that was in my heart: thy children shall sit upon the throne of Israel to the fourth Generation. ³¹But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord the God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel to sin. ³²In those days the Lord began to he weary of Israel: and Hazael ravaged them in all the coasts of Israel, ³³From the Jordan eastward, all the land of Galaad, and Gad, and Ruben, and Manasses, from Aroer, which is upon the torrent Amen, and Galaad, and Basan. ³⁴But the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and his strength, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ³⁵And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria: and Joachaz his son reigned in his stead. ³⁶And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel, in Samaria, was eight and twenty years.

Chapter 11

¹And Athalia the mother of Ochozias seeing that her son was dead, arose, and slew all the royal seed. ²But Josaba the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ochozias, took Joas the son of Ochozias, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, out of the bedchamber with his nurse: and hid him from the face of Athalia, so that he was not slain. ³And he was with her six years hid in the house of the Lord. And Athalia reigned over the land. ⁴And in the seventh year Joiada seat, and taking the centurions and the soldiers, brought them in to him into the temple of the Lord, and made a covenant with them: and taking an oath of them in the house of the Lord, shewed them the king's son: ⁵And he commanded them, saying: This is the thing that you must do: ⁶Let a third part of you go in on the sabbath, and keep the watch of the king's house. And let a third part be at the gate of Sur: and let a third part be at the gate behind the dwelling of the shieldbearers: and you shall keep the watch of the house of Messa. ⁷But let two parts of you, all that go forth on the sabbath, keep the watch of the house of the Lord about the king. ⁸And you shall compass him round about, having weapons in your hands: and if any man shall enter the precinct of the temple, let him be slain: and you shall be with the king coming in and going out. ⁹And the centurions did according to all things that Joiada the priest had commanded them: and taking every one their men, that went in on the sabbath, with them that went out on the sabbath, came to Joiada the priest. ¹⁰And he gave them the spears, and the arms of king David, which were in the house of the Lord. ¹¹And they stood having every one their weapons in their hands, from the right side of the temple, unto the left side of the altar, and of the temple, about the king. ¹²And he brought forth the king's son, and put the diadem upon him, and the testimony: and they made him king, and anointed him: and clapping their hands. they said, God save the king. ¹³And Athalia heard the noise of the people running: and going in to the people into the temple of the Lord, ¹⁴She saw the king standing upon a tribunal, as the manner was, and the singers, and the trumpets near him, and all the people of the land rejoicing, and sounding the trumpets: and she rent her garments, and cried: A conspiracy, a conspiracy. ¹⁵But Joiada commended the centurions that were over the army, and said to them: Have her forth without the precinct of the temple, and whosoever shall follow her, let him be slain with the sword. For the priest had said: Let her not be slain in the temple of the Lord. ¹⁶And they laid hands on her: and thrust her out by the way by which the horses go in, by the palace, and she was slain there. ¹⁷And Joiada made a covenant between the Lord, and the king, and the people, that they should be the people of the Lord, and between the king and the people. ¹⁸And all the people of the land went into the temple of Baal, and broke down his altars, and his images they broke in pieces thoroughly: they slew also Mathan the priest of Baal before the altar. And the priest set guards in the house of the Lord. ¹⁹And he took the centurions, and the bands of the Cerethi and the Phelethi, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king from the house of the Lord: and they came by the way of the gate of the shieldbearers into the palace. and he sat on the throne of the kings. ²⁰And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet: but Athalia was slain with the sword in the king's house. ²¹Now Joas was seven years old, when he began to reign.

Chapter 12

¹In the seventh year of Jehu Joas began to reign: and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Sebia of Bersabee. ²And Joas did that which was right before the Lord all the days that Joiada the priest taught him. ³But yet he took not away the high places: for the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. ⁴And Joas said to the priests: O All the money of the sanctified things, which is brought into the temple of the Lord by those that pass, which is offered for the price of a soul, and which of their own accord, and of their own free heart they bring into the temple of the Lord: ⁵Let the priests take it according to their order, and repair the house, wheresoever they shall see any thing that wanteth repairing. ⁶Now till the three and twentieth year of king Joas, the priests did not make the repairs of the temple. ⁷And king Joas called Joiada the high priest and the priests, saying to them: Why do you not repair the temple? Take you therefore money no more according to your order, but restore it for the repairing of the temple. ⁸And the priests were forbidden to take any more money of the people, and to make the repairs of the house. ⁹And Joiada the high priest took a chest and bored a hole in the top, and set it by the altar at the right hand of them that came into the house of the Lord, and the priests that kept the doors put therein all the money that was brought to the temple of the Lord. ¹⁰And when they saw that there was very much money in the chest, the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and poured it out, and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord: ¹¹And they gave it out by number and measure into the hands of them that were over the builders of the house of the Lord: and they laid it out to the carpenters, and the masons that wrought in the house of the Lord, ¹²And made the repairs: and to them that cut stones, and to buy timber, and stones, to be hewed, that the repairs of the house of the Lord might be completely finished, and wheresoever there was need of expenses to uphold the house ¹³But there were not made of the same money for the temple of the Lord, bowls, or fleshhooks, or censers, or trumpets, or any vessel of gold and silver, of the money that was brought into the temple of the Lord. ¹⁴For it was given to them that did the work, that the temple of the Lord might be repaired. ¹⁵And they reckoned not with the men that received the money to distribute it to the workmen, but they bestowed it faithfully. ¹⁶But the money for trespass, and the money for sine, they brought not into the temple of the Lord, because it was for the priests. ¹⁷Then Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Geth, and took it and set his face to go up to Jerusalem. ¹⁸Wherefore Joas king of Juda took all the sanctified things, which Josaphat, and Joram, and Ochozias his fathers the kings of Juda had dedicated to holy uses, and which he himself had offered: and all the silver that could be found in the treasures of the temple of the Lord, and in the king's palace: and sent it to Hazael king of Syria, and he went off from Jerusalem. ¹⁹And the rest of the acts of Joas, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? ²⁰And his servants arose, and conspired among themselves, and slew Joas in the house of Mello in the descent of Sella. ²¹For Josachar the son of Semaath, and Jozabad the son of Somer his servant struck him, and he died: and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Amasias his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 13

¹In the three and twentieth year of Joas son of Ochozias king of Juda, Joachaz the son of Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria, seventeen years. ²And he did evil before the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, and he departed not from them. ³And the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael the king of Syria, and into the hand of Benadad the son of Hazael all days. ⁴But Joachaz besought the face of the Lord, and the Lord heard him: for he saw the distress of Israel, because the king of Syria had oppressed them: ⁵And the Lord gave Israel a saviour, and they were delivered out of the hand of the king of Syria: and the children of Israel dwelt in their pavilions as yesterday and the day before. ⁶But yet they departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin, but walked in them: and there still remained a grove also in Samaria. ⁷And Joachaz had no more left of the people than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen: for the king of Syria had slain them, and had brought them low as dust by thrashing in the barnfloor. ⁸Rut the rest of the acts of Joachaz, and all that he did, and his valour, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ⁹And Joachaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria: and Joas his son reigned in his stead. ¹⁰In the seven and thirtieth year of Joas king of Juda, Joas the son of Joachaz reigned over Israel in Samaria sixteen years. ¹¹And he did that which is evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not from all the sine of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, but he walked in them. ¹²But the rest of the acts of Joas, and all that he did, and his valour wherewith he fought against Amasias king of Juda, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ¹³And Joas slept with his fathers: and Jeroboam sat upon his throne. But Joas was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. ¹⁴Now Eliseus was sick of the illness whereof he died: and Joas king of Israel went down to him, and wept before him, and said: O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the guider thereof. ¹⁵And Eliseus said to him: Bring a bow and arrows. And when he had brought him a bow, and arrows, ¹⁶He said to the king of Israel: Put thy hand upon the bow. And when he had put his hand, Eliseus put his hands over the king's hands, ¹⁷And said: Open the window to the east. And when he had opened it, Eliseus said: Shoot an arrow. And he shot. And Eliseus said: The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of the deliverance from Syria: and thou shalt strike the Syrians in Aphec, till thou consume them. ¹⁸And he said: Take the arrows. And when he had taken them, he said to him : Strike with an arrow upon the ground. And he struck three times and stood still. ¹⁹And the man of God was angry with him, and said: If thou hadst smitten five or six or seven times, thou hadst smitten Syria even to utter destruction: but now three times shalt thou smite it. ²⁰And Eliseus died, and they buried him. And the rovers from Moab came into the land the same year. ²¹And some that were burying a man, saw the rovers, and cast the body into the sepulchre of Eliseus. And when it had touched the bones of Eliseus, the man came to life, and stood upon his feet. ²²Now Hazael king of Syria afflicted Israel all the days of Joachaz: ²³And the Lord had mercy on them, and returned to them because of his covenant, which he had made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob: and he would not destroy them, nor utterly cast them away, unto this present time. ²⁴And Hazael king of Syria died, and Benadad his son reigned in his stead. ²⁵Now Joas d the son of Joachaz, took the cities out of the hand of Benadad, the son of Hazael, which he had taken out of the hand of Joachaz his father by war, three times did Joas beat him, and he restored the cities to Israel.

Chapter 14

¹In the second year of Joas son of Joachaz, king of Israel, reigned Amasias son of Joas king of Juda. ²He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and nine and twenty gears he reigned in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Joadan of Jerusalem. ³And he did that which was right before the Lord, but yet not like David his father. He did according to all things that Joas his father did: ⁴But this only, that he took not away the high places: for yet the people sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. ⁵And when he had possession of the kingdom, he put his servants to death that had slain the king his father: ⁶But the children of the murderers he did not put to death, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the Lord commanded, saying: The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: but every man shall die for his own sins. ⁷He slew of Edom h in the valley of the Saltpits ten thousand men, and took the rock by war, and called the name thereof Jectehel, unto this day. ⁸Then Amasias sent messengers to Joas son of Joachaz, son of Jehu king of Israel, saying: Come let us see one another. ⁹And Joas king of Israel sent again to Amasias king of Juda, saying: A thistle of Libanus sent to a cedar tree, which is in Libanus, saying: Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And the beasts of the forest, that are in Libanus, passed and trod down the thistle. ¹⁰Thou hast beaten and prevailed over Edom, and thy heart hath lifted thee up: be content with the glory, and sit at home: why provokest thou evil, that thou shouldst fall, and Juda with thee? ¹¹But Amasias did not rest satisfied. So Joas king of Israel went up, and he and Amasias king of Juda saw one another in Bethsames a town in Juda. ¹²And Juda was put to the worst before Israel, and they fled every man to their dwellings. ¹³But Joas king of Israel took Amasias, king of Juda the son of Joas, the son of Ochozias, in Bethsames, and brought him into Jerusalem: and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem, from the gate of Ephraim to the gate of the corner, four hundred cubits. ¹⁴And he took all the gold, and silver, and all the vessels, that were found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's treasures, and hostages, and returned to Samaria. ¹⁵But the rest of the acts of Joas, which he did, and his valour, wherewith he fought against Amasias king of Juda, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ¹⁶And Joas slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria, with the kings of Israel: and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead. ¹⁷And Amasias the son of Joas king of Juda lived, after the death of Joas son of Joachaz king of Israel fifteen years. ¹⁸And the rest of the acts of Amasias, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? ¹⁹Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachis. And they sent after him to Lachis, and killed him there. ²⁰And they brought him away upon horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. ²¹And all the people of Juda took Azarias, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amasias. ²²He built Elath, and restored it to Juda, after that the king slept with his fathers. ²³In the fifteenth year of Amasias k son of Joas king of Juda, reigned Jeroboam the son of Joas king of Israel in Samaria, one and forty years : ²⁴And he did that which was evil before the Lord. He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin. ²⁵He restored the borders of Israel from the entrance of Emath, unto the sea of the wilderness, according to the word of the Lord the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonas the son of Amathi, the prophet, who was of Geth, which is in Opher. ²⁶For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel that it was exceeding bitter, and that they were consumed even to them that were shut up in prison, and the lowest persons, and that there was no one to help Israel. ²⁷And the Lord 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 Joas. ²⁸But the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his velour, wherewith he fought, and how he restored Damascus, and Emath to Juda in Israel, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ²⁹And Jeroboam slept with his fathers the kings of Israel, and Zacharias his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 15

¹In the seven and twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Azarias son of Amasias, king of Juda. ²He was sixteen years old, when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Jechelia of Jerusalem. ³And he did that which was pleasing before the Lord, according to all that his father Amasias had done. ⁴But the high places he did not destroy: for the people sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. ⁵And the Lord struck the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and he dwelt in a free house apart: but Joatham the king's soil governed the palace, and judged the people of the land. ⁶And the rest of the acts of Azarias, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? ⁷And Azarias slept with his fathers: and they buried him with his ancestors in the city of David, and Joatham his son reigned in his stead. ⁸In the eight and thirtieth year of Azarias king of Juda, reigned Zacharias son of Jeroboam over Israel in Samaria six months: ⁹And he did that which is evil before the Lord, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat who made Israel to sin. ¹⁰And Sellum the son of Jabes conspired against him: and struck him publicly and killed him, and reigned in his place. ¹¹Now the rest of the acts of Zacharias, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ¹²This was the word of the Lord, which he spoke to Jehu, saying: Thy children to the fourth generation shall sit upon the throne of Israel. And so it came to pass. ¹³Sellum the son of Jabes began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of Azarias king of Juda: and reigned one month in Samaria. ¹⁴And Manahem the son of Gadi went up from Thersa: and he came into Samaria, and struck Sellum the son of Jabes in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead. ¹⁵And the rest of the acts of Sellum, and his conspiracy, which he made, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ¹⁶Then Manahem destroyed Thapsa and all that were in it and the borders thereof from Thersa, because they would not open to him: and he slew all the women thereof that were with child, and ripped them up. ¹⁷In the nine and thirtieth year of Azarias king of Juda, reigned Manahem son of Gadi over Israel ten years in Samaria. ¹⁸And he did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin all his days. ¹⁹And Phul king of the Assyrians came into the land, and Manahem gave Phul a thousand talents of silver, to aid him and to establish him in the kingdom. ²⁰And Manahem laid a tax upon Israel, on all that were mighty and rich, to give the king of the Assyrians, each man fifty sides of silver: so the king of the Assyrians turned back, and did not stay in the land. ²¹And the rest of the acts of Manahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ²²And Manahem slept with his fathers: and Phaceia his son reigned in his stead. ²³In the fiftieth year of Azarias king of Juda reigned Phaceia the son of Manahem over Israel in Samaria two years. ²⁴And he did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin. ²⁵And Phacee the son of Romelia, his captain conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the tower of the king's house, near Argob, and near Arie, and with him fifty men of the sons of the Galaadites, and he slew him and reigned in his stead. ²⁶And the rest of the acts of Phaceia, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ²⁷In the two and fiftieth year of Azarias king of Juda reigned Phacee the son of Romelia over Israel in Samaria twenty years. ²⁸And he did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin. ²⁹In the days of Phacee king of Israel came Theglathphalasar king of Assyria, and took Aion, and Abel Domum Maacha and Janoe, and Cedes, and Asor, and Galaad, and Galilee, and all the land of Nephtali: and carried them captives into Assyria. ³⁰Now Osee son of Ela conspired, and formed a plot against Phacee, the son of Romelia, and struck him, and slew him: and reigned in his stead in the twentieth year of Joatham the son of Ozias. ³¹But the rest of the acts of Phaces, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? ³²In the second year of Phacee the son of Romelia king of Israel reigned Joatham son of Ozias king of Juda. ³³He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Jerusa, the daughter of Sadoc. ³⁴And he did that which was right before the Lord: according to all that his father Ozias had done, so did he. ³⁵But the high places he took not away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places: he built the highest gate of the house of the Lord. ³⁶But the rest of the acts of Joatham, end all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? ³⁷In those days the Lord began to send into Juda Basin king of Syria, and Phacee the son of Romelia. ³⁸And Joatham slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David his father, and Achaz his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 16

¹In the seventeenth year of Phacee the son of Romelia reigned Achaz the son of Joatham king of Juda. ²Achaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: he did not that which was pleasing in the sight of the Lord his Cod, as David his father. ³But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel: moreover he consecrated also his son, making him pass through the fire according to the idols of the nations: which the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. ⁴He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places and on the hills, and under every green tree. ⁵Then Basin king of Syria, and Phacee son of Romelia king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to fight: and they besieged Achaz, but were not able to overcome him. ⁶At that time Rasin king of Syria restored Aila to Syria, and drove the men of Juda out of Aila: and the Edomites came into Aila, and dwelt there unto this day. ⁷And Achaz sent messengers to Theglathphalasar king of the Assyrians, 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 are risen up together against me. ⁸And when he had gathered together the silver and gold that could be found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's treasures, he sent it for a present to the king of the Assyrians. ⁹And he agreed to his desire: for the king of the Assyrians went up against Damascus, and laid it waste: and he carried away the inhabitants thereof to Cyrene, but Basin he slew. ¹⁰And king Achaz went to Damascus to meet Theglathphalasar king of the Assyrians, end when he had seen the altar of Damascus, king Achaz sent to Urias the priest a pattern of it, and its likeness according to all the work thereof. ¹¹And Urias the priest built an altar according to all that king Achaz had commanded from Damascus, so did Urias the priest, until king Achaz came from Damascus. ¹²And when the king was come from Damascus, he saw the altar and worshipped it: and went up and offered holocausts, and his own sacrifice. ¹³And offered libations and poured the blood of the peace offerings, which he had offered upon the altar. ¹⁴But the altar of brass that was before the Lord, he removed from the face of the temple, and from the place of the altar, and from the place of the temple of the Lord: and he set it at the side of the altar toward the north. ¹⁵And king Achaz commanded Urias the priest saying: Upon the great altar offer the morning holocaust, and the evening sacrifice, and the king's holocaust, and his sacrifice, and the holocaust of the whole people of the land, and their sacrifices, and their libations: and all the blood of the holocaust, and all the blood of the victim thou shalt pour out upon it: but the altar of brass shall be ready at my pleasure. ¹⁶So Urias the priest did according to all that king Achaz had commanded him. ¹⁷And king Achaz took away the graven bases, and the laver that was upon them: and he took down the sea from the brazen oxen that held it up, and put it upon a pavement of stone. ¹⁸The Musach also for the sabbath, which he had built in the temple: and the king's entry from without he turned into the temple of the Lord, because of the king of the Assyrians. ¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of Achaz, which he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? ²⁰And Achaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David, and Ezechias his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 17

¹In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Juda, Osee the son of Ela reigned in Samaria over Israel nine years. ²And he did evil before the Lord: but not as the kings of Israel that had been before him. ³Against him came up Salmanasar king of the Assyrians, and Osee became his servant, and paid him tribute. ⁴And when the king of the Assyrians found that Osee endeavouring to rebel had sent messengers to Sua the king of Egypt, that he might not pay tribute to the king of the Assyrians, as he had done every year, he besieged him, bound him, and cast him into prison, ⁵And he went through all the land: and going up to Samaria, he besieged it three years. ⁶And in the ninth year of Osee, the king of the Assyrians took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria: and he placed them in Hala and Habor by the river of Gozan, in the cities of the Medes. ⁷For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharao king of Egypt, and they worshipped strange gods. ⁸And they walked according to the way of the nations which the Lord had destroyed in the sight of the children of Israel and of the kings of Israel: because they had done in like manner. ⁹And the children of Israel offended the Lord their God with things that were not right: and built them high places in all their cities from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. ¹⁰And they made them statues and groves on every high hill, and under every shady tree: ¹¹And they burnt incense there upon altars after the manner of the nations which the Lord had removed from their face: and they did wicked things, provoking the Lord. ¹²And they worshipped abominations, concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not do this thing. ¹³And the Lord testified to them in Israel and in Juda by the hand of all the prophets and seers, saying: Return from your wicked ways, and keep my precepts, and ceremonies, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers: and as I have sent to you in the hand of my servants the prophets. ¹⁴And they hearkened not, but hardened their necks like to the neck of their fathers, who would not obey the Lord their God. ¹⁵And they rejected his ordinances and the covenant that he made with their fathers, and the testimonies which he testified against them: and they followed vanities, and acted vainly: and they followed the nations that were round about them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not do as they did. ¹⁶And they forsook all the precepts of the Lord their God: and made to themselves two molten calves, and groves, and adored all the host of heaven: and they served Baal. ¹⁷And consecrated their sons, and their daughters through fire: and they gave themselves to divinations, and soothsayings: and they delivered themselves up to do evil before the Lord, to provoke him. ¹⁸And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from his sight, and there remained only the tribe of Juda. ¹⁹But neither did Juda itself keep the commandments of the Lord their God: but they walked in the errors of Israel, which they had wrought. ²⁰And the Lord cast off all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, till he cast them away from his face: ²¹Even from that time, when Israel was rent from the house of David, and made Jeroboam son of Nabat their king: for Jeroboam separated Israel from the Lord, and made them commit a great sin. ²²And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he had done: and they departed not from them, ²³Till the Lord removed Israel from his face, as he had spoken in the hand of all his servants the prophets: and Israel was carried away out of their land to Assyria, unto this day. ²⁴And the king of the Assyrians brought people from Babylon, and from Cutha, and from Avah, and from Emath, and from Sepharvaim: and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. ²⁵And when they began to dwell there, they feared not the Lord: and the Lord sent lions among them, which killed them. ²⁶And it was told the king of the Assyrians, and it was said: The nations which thou hast removed, and made to dwell in the cities of Samaria, know not the ordinances of the God of the land: and the Lord hath sent lions among them: and behold they kill them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land. ²⁷And the king of the Assyrians commanded, saying: Carry thither one of the priests whom you brought from thence captive, and let him go, and dwell with them: and let him teach them the ordinances of the God of the land. ²⁸So one of the priests who had been carried away captive from Samaria, came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should worship the Lord. ²⁹And every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the temples of the high places, which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities where they dwelt. ³⁰For the men of Babylon made Sochothbenoth: and the Cuthites made Nergel: and the men of Emath made Asima. ³¹And the Hevites made Nebahaz and Tharthac. And they that were of Sepharvaim burnt their children in fire, to Adramelech and Anamelech the gods of Sepharvaim. ³²And nevertheless they worshipped the Lord. And they made to themselves, of the lowest of the people, priests of the high places, and they placed them in the temples of the high places. ³³And when they worshipped the Lord, they served also their own gods according to the custom of the nations out of which they were brought to Samaria: ³⁴Unto this day they followed the old manner: they fear not the Lord, neither do they keep his ceremonies, and judgments, and law, and the commandment, which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he surnamed Israel: ³⁵With whom he made a covenant, and charged them, saying: You shall not fear strange gods, nor shall you adore them, nor worship them, nor sacrifice to them. ³⁶But the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power, and a stretched out arm, him shall you fear, and him shall you adore, and to him shall you sacrifice. ³⁷And the ceremonies, and judgments, and law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do them always: and you shall not fear strange gods. ³⁸And the covenant that he made with you, you shall not forget: neither shall ye worship strange gods, ³⁹But fear the Lord your God, and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. ⁴⁰But they did not hearken, but did according to their old custom. ⁴¹So these nations feared the Lord, but nevertheless served also their idols: their children also and grandchildren, as their fathers did, so do they unto this day.

Chapter 18

¹In the third year of Osee the son of Ela king of Israel, reigned m Ezechias the son of Achaz king of Juda. ²He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Abi the daughter of Zacharias. ³And he did that which was good before the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. ⁴He destroyed the n high places, and broke the statues in pieces, and cut down the groves, and broke the brazen serpent, which Moses had made: for till that time the children of Israel burnt incense to it: and he called its name Nohestan. ⁵He trusted in the Lord the God of Israel: so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Juda, nor any of them that were before him: ⁶And he stuck to the Lord, and departed not from his steps, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses. ⁷Wherefore the Lord also was with him, and in all things, to which he went forth, he behaved himself wisely. And he rebelled against the king of the Assyrians, and served him not. ⁸He smote the Philistines as far as Gaza, and all their borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. ⁹In the fourth year of king Ezechias, which was the seventh year of Osee the son of Ela king of Israel, Salmanasar king of the Assyrians came up to Samaria, and besieged it, ¹⁰And took it. For after three years, in the sixth year of Ezechias, that is, in the ninth year of Osee king of Israel, Samaria was taken: ¹¹And the king of the Assyrians carried away Israel into Assyria, and placed them in Hale, and in Habor by the rivers of Gozan in the cities of the Medes: ¹²Because they hearkened not to the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant: all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, they would not hear nor do. ¹³In the fourteenth year of king Ezechias, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came up against the fenced cities of Juda: and took them. ¹⁴Then Ezechias king of Juda sent messengers to the king of the Assyrians to Lachis, saying: I have offended, depart from me: and all that thou shalt put upon me, I will bear. And the king of the Assyrians put a tax upon Ezechias king of Juda, of three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵And Ezechias gave all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's treasures. ¹⁶At that time Ezechias broke the doors of the temple of the Lord, and the plates of gold which he had fastened on them, and gave them to the king of the Assyrians. ¹⁷And the king of the Assyrians sent Tharthan and Rabsaris, and Rabsaces from Lachis to king Ezechias with a strong army to Jerusalem: and they went up and came to Jerusalem, and they stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the way of the fuller's field. ¹⁸And they called for the king: and there went out to them Eliacim the son of Helcias who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder. ¹⁹And Rabsaces said to them: Speak to Ezechias: Thus saith the great king, the king of the Assyrians: What is this confidence, wherein thou trustest? ²⁰Perhaps thou hast taken counsel, to prepare thyself for battle. On whom dost thou trust, that thou darest to rebel? ²¹Dost thou trust in Egypt a staff of a broken reed, upon which if a man lean, it will break and go into his hand, and pierce it? so is Pharao king of Egypt, to all that trust in him. ²²But if you say to me: We trust in the Lord our God: is it not he, whose high places and altars Ezechias hath taken away: and hath commanded Juda and Jerusalem: You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? ²³Now therefore come over to my master the king of the Assyrians, and I will give you two thousand horses, and see whether you be able to have riders for them. ²⁴And how can you stand against one lord of the least of my master's servants? Dost thou trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ²⁵Is it without the will of the Lord that I am come up to this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up to this land and destroy it. ²⁶Then Eliacim the son of Helcias, and Sobna, and Joahe said to Rabsaces: We pray thee speak to us thy servants in Syriac: for we understand that tongue: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the hearing of the people that are upon the wall. ²⁷And Rabsaces answered them, saying: Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee, to speak these words, and not rather to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their urine with you? ²⁸Then Rabsaces stood, and cried out with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said: Hear the words of the great king, the king of the Assyrians. ²⁹Thus saith the king: Let not Ezechias deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of my hand. ³⁰Neither let him make you trust in the Lord, saying: The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of the Assyrians. ³¹Do not hearken to Ezechias. For thus saith the king of the Assyrians: Do with me that which is for your advantage, and come out to me: and every man of you shall eat of his own vineyard, and of his own fig tree: and you shall drink water of your own cisterns, ³²Till I come, and take you away to a land, like to your own land, a fruitful land, and plentiful in wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olives, and oil and honey, and you shall live, and not die. Hearken not to Ezechias, who deceiveth you, saying: The Lord will deliver us. ³³Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴Where is the god of Emath, end of Arphad? where is the god of Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ³⁵Who are they among all the gods of the nations, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the Lord may deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? ³⁶But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for they had received commandment from the king that they should not answer him. ³⁷And Eliacim the son of Helcias, who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Ezechias, with their garments rent, and told him the words of Rabsaces.

Chapter 19

¹And when king Ezechias heard these words, he rent his garments, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ²And he sent Eliacim, who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and the ancients of the priests covered with sackcloths, to Isaias the prophet the son of Amos, ³And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: the children are come to the birth, and the woman in travail hath not strength. ⁴It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and to reprove with words, which the Lord thy God hath heard: and do thou offer prayer for the remnants that are found. ⁵So the servants of king Ezechias came to Isaias. ⁶And Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid for the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me. ⁷Behold I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a message, and shall return into his own country, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own country. ⁸And Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the Assyrians besieging Lobna: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachis. ⁹And when he heard of Theraca king of Ethiopia: Behold, he is come out to fight with thee: and was going against him, he sent messengers to Ezechias, saying: ¹⁰Thus shall you say to Ezechias king of Juda: Let not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou trustest: and do not say: Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of the Assyrians. ¹¹Behold thou hast heard what the kings of the Assyrians have done to all countries, how they have laid them waste: and canst thou alone be delivered? ¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered any of them, whom my fathers have destroyed, to wit, Gozan, and Haran, and Reseph, and the children of Eden that were in Thelassar? ¹³Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Ana and of Ava? ¹⁴And when Ezechias had received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and had read it, he went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord, ¹⁵And he prayed in his sight, saying: O Lord God of Israel, who sitteth upon the cherubims, thou alone art the God of all the kings of the earth: thou madest heaven and earth: ¹⁶Incline thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to upbraid unto us the living God. ¹⁷Of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have destroyed nations, and the lands of them all. ¹⁸And they have cast their gods into the fire: for they were not Rods, but the works of men's hands of wood and stone, and they destroyed them. ¹⁹Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know, that thou art the Lord the only God. ²⁰And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I have heard the prayer thou hast made to me concerning Sennacherib king of the Assyrians. ²¹This is the word, that the Lord hath spoken of him: The virgin the daughter of Sion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn: the daughter of Jerusalem hath wagged her head behind thy back. ²²Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed? against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on high? against the holy one of Israel. ²³By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the top of Libanus, and have cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees. And I have entered into the furthest parts thereof, and the forest of its Carmel. ²⁴I have cut down, and I have drunk strange waters, and have dried up with the soles of my feet all the shut up waters. ²⁵Hast thou not heard what I have done from the beginning? from the days of old I have formed it, and now I have brought it to effect: that fenced cities of fighting men should be turned to heaps of ruin: ²⁶And the inhabitants of them, were weak of hand, they trembled and were confounded, they became like the grass of the field, and the green herb on the tops of houses, which withered before it came to maturity. ²⁷Thy dwelling and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy way I knew before, and thy rage against me. ²⁸Thou hast been mad against me, and thy pride hath come up to my ears: therefore I will put a ring in thy nose, and a bit between thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way, by which thou camest. ²⁹And to thee, O Ezechias, this shall be a sign: Eat this year what thou shalt find: and in the second year, such things as spring of themselves: but in the third year sow and reap: plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. ³⁰And whatsoever shall be left of the house of Juda, shall take root downward, and bear fruit upward. ³¹For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and that which shall be saved out of mount Sion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. ³²Wherefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of the Assyrians: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow into it, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a trench about it. ³³By the way that he came, he shall return: and into this city he shall not come, saith the Lord. ³⁴And I will protect this city, and will save it for my own sake, and for David my servant's sake. ³⁵And it came to pass that night, that an angel of the Lord came, and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when he arose early in the morning, he saw all the bodies of the dead. ³⁶And Sennacherib king of the Assyrians departing went away, and he returned and abode in Ninive. ³⁷And as he was worshipping in the temple of Nesroch his god, Adramelech and Sarasar his sons slew him with the sword, and they fled into the land of the Armenians, and Asarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 20

¹In those days Ezechias was sick unto death: and Isaias the son of Amos the prophet came and said to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Give charge concerning thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live. ²And he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying: ³I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is pleasing before thee. And Ezechias wept with much weeping. ⁴And before Isaias was gone out of the middle of the court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying: ⁵Go back, and tell Ezechias the captain of my people: Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: and behold I have healed thee; on the third day thou shalt go up to the temple of the Lord. 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 the Assyrians, and I will protect this city for my own sake, and for David my servant's sake. ⁷And Isaias said: Bring me a lump of figs. And when they had brought it, and laid it upon his boil. he was healed. ⁸And Ezechias had said to Isaias: What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the temple of the Lord the third day? ⁹And Isaias said to him: This shall be the sign from the Lord, that the Lord will do the word which he hath spoken: Wilt thou that the shadow go forward ten lines, or that it go back so many degrees? ¹⁰And Ezechias said: It is an easy matter for the shadow to go forward ten lines: and I do not desire that this be done, but let it return back ten degrees. ¹¹And Isaias the prophet called upon the Lord, and he brought the shadow ten degrees backwards by the lines, by which it had already gone down in the dial of Achaz. ¹²At that time Berodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of the Babylonians, sent letters and presents to Ezechias: for he had heard that Ezechias had been sick. ¹³And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he showed them the house of his aromatical spices, and the gold and the silver, and divers precious odours, and ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all that he had in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominions that Ezechias shewed them not. ¹⁴And Isaias the prophet came to king Ezechias, and said to him: What said these men? or from whence came they to thee? And Ezechias said to him: From a far country they came to me out of Babylon. ¹⁵And he said: What did they see in thy house? Ezechias said: They saw all the things that are in my house: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewn them. ¹⁶And Isaias said to Ezechias: Hear the word of the Lord. ¹⁷Behold the days shall come, that all that is in thy house, and that thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. ¹⁸And of thy sons also that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, they shall take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. ¹⁹Ezechias said to Isaias: The word of the Lord, which thou hast spoken, is good: let peace and truth be in my days. ²⁰And the rest of the acts of Ezechias and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought waters into the city, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? ²¹And Ezechias slept with his fathers, and Manasses his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 21

¹Manasses was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned five and fifty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Haphsiba. ²And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the idols of the nations, which the Lord destroyed from before the face of the children of Israel. ³And he turned, and built up the high places which Ezechias his father had destroyed: and he set up altars to Baal, and made groves, as Achab the king of Israel had done: and he adored all the host of heaven, and served them. ⁴And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said: In Jerusalem I will put my name. ⁵And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. ⁶And he made his son pass through fire: and he used divination, and observed omens, and appointed pythons, and multiplied soothsayers to do evil before the Lord, and to provoke him. ⁷He set also an idol of the grove, which he had made, in the temple of the Lord: concerning which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son: In this temple, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever. ⁸And I will no more make the feet of Israel to be moved out of the land, which I gave to their fathers: only if they will observe to do all that I have commanded them according to the law which my servant Moses commanded them. ⁹But they hearkened not: but were seduced by Manasses, to do evil more than the nations which the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. ¹⁰And the Lord spoke in the hand of his servants, the prophets, saying: ¹¹Because Manasses king of Juda hath done these most wicked abominations, beyond all that the Amorrhites did before him, and hath made Juda also to sin with his filthy doings: ¹²Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Behold I will bring on evils upon Jerusalem and Juda: that whosoever shall hear of them, both his ears shall tingle. ¹³And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the weight of the house of Achab: and I will efface Jerusalem, as tables are wont to be effaced, and I will erase and turn it, and draw the pencil often over the face thereof. ¹⁴And I will leave the remnants of my inheritance, and will deliver them into the hands of their enemies: and they shall become a prey, and a spoil to all their enemies. ¹⁵Because they have done evil before me, and have continued to provoke me, from the day that their fathers came out of Egypt, even unto this day. ¹⁶Moreover Manasses shed also very much innocent blood, till he filled Jerusalem up to the mouth: besides his sins, wherewith he made Juda to sin, to do evil before the Lord. ¹⁷Now the rest of the acts of Manasses, and all that he did, end his sin which he sinned, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? ¹⁸And Manasses slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Oza: and Amen his son reigned in his stead. ¹⁹Two and twenty years old was Amen when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Messalemeth the daughter of Harus of Jeteba. ²⁰And he did evil in the sight, of the Lord, as Manasses his father had done. ²¹And he walked in all the way in which his father had walked: and he served the abominations which his father had served, and he adored them; ²²And forsook the Lord the God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord. ²³And his servants plotted against him, and slew the king in his own house. ²⁴But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amen: and made Josias his son their king in his stead. ²⁵But the rest of the acts of Amen which he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? ²⁶And they buried him in his sepulchre in the garden of Oza: and his son Josias reigned in his stead.

Chapter 22

¹Josias was eight years old when he began to reign: he reigned one and thirty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Idida, the daughter of Hadaia, of Besecath. ²And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of David his father: he turned not aside to the right hand, or to the left. ³And in the eighteenth year of b king Josias, the king sent Saphan the son of Assia, the son of Messulam, the scribe of the temple of the Lord, saying to him: ⁴Go to Helcias the high priest, that the money may be put together which is brought into the temple of the Lord, which the doorkeepers of the temple have gathered of the people. ⁵And let it be given to the workmen by the overseers of the house of the Lord: and lot them distribute it to those that work in the temple of the Lord, to repair the temple: ⁶That is, to carpenters and masons, and to such as mend breaches: and that timber may be bought, and stones out of the quarries, to repair the temple of the Lord. ⁷But let there be no reckoning made with them of the money which they receive, but let them have it in their power, and in their trust. ⁸And Helcias the high priest said to Saphan the scribe: I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord: and Helcias gave the book to Saphan, and he read it. ⁹And Saphan the scribe came to the king, and brought him word again concerning that which he had commanded, and said: Thy servants have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and they have given it to be distributed to the workmen, by the overseers of the works of the temple of the Lord. ¹⁰And Saphan the scribe told the king, saying: Helcias the priest hath delivered to me a book. And when Saphan had read it before the king, ¹¹And the king had heard the words of the law of the Lord, he rent his garments. ¹²And he commanded Helcias the priest, and Ahicam the son of Saphan, and Achobor the son of Micha, and Saphan the scribe, and Asaia the king's servant, saying: ¹³Go and consult the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Juda, concerning the words of this book which is found: for the great wrath of the Lord is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened to the words of this book, to do all that is written for us. ¹⁴So Helcias the priest, and Ahicam, and Achobor, and Saphan, and Asaia went to Holda the prophetess the wife of Sellum the son of Thecua, the son of Araas keeper of the wardrobe, who dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second: and they spoke to her. ¹⁵And she said to them: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Tell the man that sent you to me: ¹⁶Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will bring evils upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, all the words of the law which the king of Juda hath read: ¹⁷Because they have forsaken me, and have sacrificed to strange gods, provoking me by all the works of their hands: therefore my indignation shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. ¹⁸But to the king of Juda, who sent you to consult the Lord, thus shall you say: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Forasmuch as thou hast heard the words of the book, ¹⁹And thy heart hath been moved to fear, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, hearing the words against this place, and the inhabitants thereof, to wit, that they should become a wonder and a curse: and thou hast rent thy garments, and wept before me, I also have heard thee, saith the Lord: ²⁰Therefore I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy sepulchre in peace, that thy eyes may not see all the evils which I will bring; upon this place.

Chapter 23

¹And they brought the king word again what she had said. And he sent: and all the ancients of Juda and Jerusalem were assembled to him. ²And the king went up to the temple of the Lord, and all the men of Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, the priests and the prophets, and all the people both little and great: and in the hearing of them all he read all the words of the book of the covenant, which was found in the house of the Lord. ³And the king stood upon the step: and made a covenant with the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies and his ceremonies, with all their heart, and with all their soul, and to perform the words of this covenant, which were written in that book: and the people agreed to the covenant. ⁴And the king commanded Helcias the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to cast out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that had been made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burnt them without Jerusalem in the valley of Cedron, and he carried the ashes of them to Bethel. ⁵And he destroyed the soothsayers, whom the kings of Juda had appointed to sacrifice in the high places in the cities of Juda, and round about Jerusalem: them also that burnt incense to Baal, and to the sun, and to the moon, and to the twelve signs, and to all the host of heaven. ⁶And he caused the grove to be carried out from the house of the Lord without Jerusalem to the valley of Cedron, and he burnt it there, and reduced it to dust, and cast the dust upon the graves of the common people. ⁷He destroyed also the pavilions of the effeminate, which were in the house of the Lord, for which the women wove as it were little dwellings for the grove. ⁸And he gathered together all the priests out of the cities of Juda: and he defiled the high places, where the priests offered sacrifice, from Gabaa to Bersabee: and he broke down the altars of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Josue governor of tile city, which was on the left hand of the gate of the city. ⁹However the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem: but only ate of the unleavened bread among their brethren. ¹⁰And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Ennom: that no man should consecrate there his son or his daughter through fire to Moloch. ¹¹And he took away the horses which the kings of Juda had given to the sun, at the entering in of the temple of the Lord, near the chamber of Nathanmelech the eunuch, who was in Pharurim: and he burnt the chariots of the sun with fire. ¹²And the altars that were upon the top of the upper chamber of Achaz, which the kings of Juda had made, and the altars which Manasses had made in the two courts of the temple of the Lord, the king broke down: and he ran from thence, and cast the ashes of them into the torrent Cedron. ¹³The high places also that were at Jerusalem on the right side of the Mount of Offence, O which Solomon king of Israel had built to Astaroth the idol of the Sidonians, and to Chamos the scandal of Moab, and to Melchom the abomination of the children of Ammon, the king defiled. ¹⁴And he broke in pieces the statues, and cut down the groves: and he filled their places with the bones of dead men. ¹⁵Moreover the altar also that was at Bethel, and the high place, which Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, had made: both the altar, and the high place he broke down and burnt, and reduced to powder, and burnt the grove. ¹⁶And as Josias turned himself, he saw there the sepulchres that were in the mount: and he sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burnt them upon the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the Lord, which the man of God spoke, who had foretold these things. ¹⁷And he said: What is that monument which I see? And the men of that city answered: It is the sepulchre of the man of God, who came from Juda, and foretold these things which thou hast done upon the altar of Bethel. ¹⁸And he said: Let him alone, let no man move his bones. So his bones were left untouched with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria. ¹⁹Moreover all the temples of the high places, which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord, Josias took away: and he did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. ²⁰And he slew all the priests of the high places, that were there, upon the altars: and he burnt men's bones upon them: and returned to Jerusalem. ²¹And he commanded all the people, saying: Keep the phase to the Lord your God, according as it is written in the book of this covenant. ²²Now there was no such a phase kept from the days of the judges, who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Juda, ²³As was this phase that was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem, in the eighteenth year of king Josias. ²⁴Moreover the diviners by spirits, and soothsayers, and the figures of idols, and the uncleannesses, and the abominations, that had been in the land of Juda, and Jerusalem, Josias took away: that he might perform the words of the law, that were written in the book which Helcias the priest had found in the temple of the Lord. ²⁵There was no king before him like unto him, that returned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with ail his strength, according to all the law of Moses: neither after him did there arise any like him. ²⁶But yet the Lord turned not away from the wrath of his great indignation, wherewith his anger was kindled against Juda: because of the provocations, wherewith Manasses had provoked him. ²⁷And the Lord said: I will remove Juda also from before my face, as I have removed Israel: and I will cast off this city Jerusalem, which I chose, and the house, of which I said: My name shall be there. ²⁸Now the rest of the acts of Josias, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? ²⁹In his days Pharao Nechao king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josias went to meet him: and was slain at Mageddo, when he had seen him. ³⁰And his servants carried him dead from Mageddo: and they brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in Iris own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Joachaz the son of Josias: and they anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead. ³¹Joachaz was three and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremias of Lobna. ³²And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. ³³And Pharao Nechao bound him at Rebla, which is in the land of Emath, that he should not reign in Jerusalem: and he set a fine upon the land, of a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. ³⁴And Pharao Nechao made Eliacim the son of Josias king in the room of Josias his father: and turned his name to Joakim. And he took Joachaz away and carried him into Egypt, and he died there. ³⁵And Joakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharao, after he had taxed the land for every man, to contribute according to the commandment of Pharao: and he exacted both the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every man according to his ability: to give to Pharao Nechao. ³⁶Joakim was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Zebida the daughter of Phadaia of Ruma. ³⁷And he did evil before the Lord according to all that his fathers had done.

Chapter 24

¹In his days Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came up, and Joakim became his servant three years: then again he rebelled against him. ²And the Lord sent against him the rovers of the Chaldees, and the rovers of Syria, and the rovers of Moab, and the rovers of the children of Ammon: and he sent them against Juda, to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by his servants the prophets. ³And this came by the word of the Lord against Juda, to remove them from before him for all the sins of Manasses which he did. ⁴And for the innocent blood that he shed, filling Jerusalem with innocent blood: and therefore the Lord would not be appeased. ⁵But the rest of the acts of Joakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? And Joakim slept with his fathers: ⁶And Joachin his son reigned in his stead. ⁷And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his own country: for the king of Babylon had taken all that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt, unto the river Euphrates. ⁸Joachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, a and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Nohesta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. ⁹And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his father had done. ¹⁰At that time the servants of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was surrounded with their forts. ¹¹And Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came to the city with his servants to assault it. ¹²And Joachin king of Juda went out to the king of Babylon, he end his mother, and his servants, and his nobles, and his eunuchs: and the king of Babylon received him in the eighth year of his reign. ¹³And he brought out from thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house: and he cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, according to the word of the Lord. ¹⁴And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the valiant men of the army, to the number of ten thousand into captivity: and every artificer and smith: and none were left, but the poor sort of the people of the land. ¹⁵And he carried away Joachin into Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his eunuchs: and the judges of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem into Babylon. ¹⁶And all the strong men, seven thousand, and the artificers, and the smiths a thousand, all that were valiant men and fit for war: and the king of Babylon led them captives into Babylon. ¹⁷And he appointed Matthanias his uncle in his stead: and called his name Sedecias. ¹⁸Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremias of Lobna. ¹⁹And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that Joakim had done. ²⁰For the Lord was angry against Jerusalem and against Juda, till he cast them out from his face : and Sedecias revolted from the king of Babylon.

Chapter 25

¹And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came, he and all his army against Jerusalem: and they surrounded it: end raised works round about it. ²And the city was shut up and besieged till the eleventh year of king Sedecias, ³The ninth day of the month: and a famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. ⁴And a breach was made into the city: and all the men of war fled in the night between the two walls by the king's garden, (now the Chaldees besieged the city round about,) and Sedecias fled by the way that leadeth to the plains of the wilderness. ⁵And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all the warriors that were with him were scattered, and left him: ⁶So they took the king, and brought him to the king of Babylon to Reblatha, and he gave judgment upon him. ⁷And he slew the sons of Sedecias before his face, and he put out his eyes, and bound him with chains, and brought him to Babylon. ⁸In the fifth month, the seventh day of the month, that is, the nineteenth year of the king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan commander of the army, a servant of the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem. ⁹And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and the houses of Jerusalem, and every house he burnt with fire. ¹⁰And all the army of the Chaldees, which was with the commander of the troops, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about. ¹¹And Nabuzardan the commander of the army, carried away the rest of the people that remained in the city, and the fugitives that had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the remnant of the common people. ¹²But of the poor of the land he left some dressers of vines and husbandmen. ¹³And the pillars of brass that were in the temple of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass which was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldees broke in pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon. ¹⁴They took away also the pots of brass, and the mazers, and the forks, and the cups, and the mortars, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered. ¹⁵Moreover also the censers, and the bowls, such as were of gold in gold, and such as were of silver in silver, the general of the army took away. ¹⁶That is, two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made in the temple of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels was without weight. ¹⁷One pillar was eighteen cubits high, and the chapiter of brass which was upon it was three cubits high: and the network, and the pomegranates that were upon the chapiter of the pillar, were all of brass: and the second pillar had the like adorning. ¹⁸And the general of the army took Seraias the chief priest, and Sophonias the second priest, and three doorkeepers. ¹⁹And out of the city one eunuch, who was captain over the men of war: and five men of them that had stood before the king, whom he found in the city, and Sopher the captain of the army who exercised the young soldiers of the people of the land: and threescore men of the common people, who were found in the city. ²⁰These Nabuzardan the general of the army took away, and carried them to the king of Babylon to Reblatha. ²¹And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Reblatha in the land of Emath: so Juda was carried away out of their land. ²²But over the people that remained in the land of Juda, which Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had left, he gave the government to Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan. ²³And when all the captains of the soldiers had heard this, they and the men that were with them, to wit, that the king of Babylon had made Godolias governor, they came to Godolias to Maspha, Ismael the son of Nathanias, and Johanan the son of Caree, and Saraia the son of Thanehumeth the Netophathite, and Jezonias the son of Maachathi, they and their men. ²⁴And Godolias swore to them and to their men, saying : Be not afraid to serve the Chaldees: stay 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 Ismael the son of Nathanias, the son of Elisama of the seed royal came, and ten men with him: and smote Godolias so that he died: and also the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him in Maspha. ²⁶And all the people both little and great, and the captains of the soldiers, rising up went to Egypt, fearing the Chaldees. ²⁷And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Joachin king of Juda, in the twelfth month the seven and twentieth day of the month: Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Joachin king of Juda out of prison. ²⁸And he spoke kindly to him: and he set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon. ²⁹And he changed his garments which he had in prison, and he ate bread always before him, all the days of his life. ³⁰And he appointed him a continual allowance, which was also given him by the king day by day, all the days of his life.

The First Book of Paralipomenon

These Books are called by the Greek interpreters, Paralipomenon (Παραπολιμένων), that is, of things left out, or omitted;

Chapter 1

¹Adam, Seth, Enos, ²Cainan, Malaleel, Jared, ³Henoc, Mathusale, Lamech, ⁴Noe, Sem, Cham, and Japheth. ⁵The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, Thubal, Mosoch, Thiras. ⁶And the sons of Gomer: Ascenez, and Riphath, and Thogorma. ⁷And the sons of Javan: Elisa and Tharsis, Cethim and Dodanim. ⁸The sons of Cham: Chus, and Mesrai, and Phut, and Chaanan. ⁹And the sons of Chus: Saba, and Hevila, Sabatha, and Regma, and Sabathaca. And the sons of Regma: Saba, and Dadan. ¹⁰Now Chus begot Nemrod: he began to be mighty upon earth. ¹¹But Mesraim begot Ludim, and Anamim, and Laabim, and Nephtuim, ¹²Phetrusim also, and Casluim: from whom came the Philistines, and Caphtorim. ¹³And Chanaan beget Sidon his firstborn, and the Hethite, ¹⁴And the Jebusite, and the Amorrhite, and the Gergesite, ¹⁵And the Hevite, and the Aracite, and the Sinite, ¹⁶And the Aradian, and the Samarite, and the Hamathite. ¹⁷The sons of Sem: Elam and Asur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram, and Hus, and Hul, and Gether, and Mosoch. ¹⁸And Arphaxad beget Sale, and Sale beget Heber. ¹⁹And to Heber were born two sons, the name of the one was Phaleg, because In his days the earth was divided; and the name of his brother was Jectan. ²⁰And Jectan beget Elmodad, and Saleph, and Asarmoth, and Jare, ²¹And Adoram, and Usal, and Decla, ²²And Hebal, and Abimael, and Saba, ²³And Ophir, and Hevila, and Jobab. All these are the sons of Jectan. ²⁴Sem, Arphaxad, Sale, ²⁵Heber, Phaleg, Ragau, ²⁶Serug, Nachor, Thare, ²⁷Abram, this is Abraham. ²⁸And the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ismahel. ²⁹And these are the generations of them. The firstborn of Ismahel, Nabajoth, then Cedar, and Adbeel, and Mabsam, ³⁰And Masma, and Duma, Massa, Hadad, and Thema, ³¹Jetur, Naphis, Cedma: these are the sons of Ismahel. ³²And the sons of Cetura, Abraham's concubine, whom she bore: Zamran, Jecsan, Madan, Madian, Jesboc, and Sue. And the sons of Jecsan, Saba, and Dadan. And the sons of Dadan: Assurim, and Latussim, and Laomin. ³³And the sons of Madian: Epha, and Epher, and Henoch, and Abida, and Eldaa. All these are the sons of Cetura. ³⁴And Abraham beget Isaac: and his sons were Esau and Israel. ³⁵The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Rahuel, Jehus, Ihelom, and Core. ³⁶The sons of Eliphaz: Theman, Omar, Sephi, Gathan, Cenez, and by Thamna, Amalec. ³⁷The sons of Rahuel: Nahath, Zara, Samma, Meza. ³⁸The sons of Seir: Lotan. Sobal, Sebeen, Ana, Dison, Eser, Disan. ³⁹The sons of Lotan: Hori, Homam. And the sister of Lotan was Thamna. ⁴⁰The sons of Sobal: Alian, and Manahath, and Ebal, Sephi and Onam. The sons of Sebeon: Aia, and Ana. The son of Ana: Dison. ⁴¹The sons of Dison: Hamram, and Eseban, and Jethran, and Charan. ⁴²The sons of Eser: Balaan, and Zavan, and Jacan. The sons of Disan: Hus and Aran. ⁴³Now these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there was a king over the children of Israel: Bale the son of Beer: and the name of his city was Denaba. ⁴⁴And Bale died, and Jobab the son of Zare of Bosra, reigned in his stead. ⁴⁵And when Jobab also was dead, Husam of the land of the Themanites reigned in his stead. ⁴⁶And Husam also died, and Adad the son of Badad reigned in his stead, and he defeated the Madianites in the land of Moab: and the name of his city was Avith. ⁴⁷And when Adad also was dead, Semla of Masreca reigned in his stead. ⁴⁸Semla also died, and Saul of Rohoboth, which is near the river, reigned in his stead. ⁴⁹And when Saul was dead, Balanan the son of Achobor reigned in his stead. ⁵⁰He also died, and Adad reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Phau, and his wife was called Meetabel the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezaab. ⁵¹And after the death of Adad, there began to be dukes in Edom instead of kings: duke Thamna, duke Alva, duke Jetheth, ⁵²Duke Oolibama, duke Ela, duke Phinon, ⁵³Duke Cenez, duke Theman, duke Mabsar, ⁵⁴Duke Magdiel, duke Hiram. These are the dukes of Edom.

Chapter 2

¹And these are the sons of Israel: Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar, and Zabulon, ²Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Nephtali, Gad, and Aser. ³The sons of Juda: Her, Onan and Sela. These three were born to him of the Chanaanitess the daughter of Sue. And Her the firstborn of Juda, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he slew him. ⁴And Thamar his daughter in law bore him Phares and Zara. So all the sons of Juda were five. ⁵And the sons of Phares, were Hesron and Hamul. ⁶And the sons also of Zare: Zamri, and Ethan, and Eman, and Chalchal, and Dara, five in all. ⁷And the sons of a Charmi: Achar, who troubled Israel, and sinned by the theft of the anathema. ⁸The sons of Ethan: Azarias, ⁹And the sons of Hesron that were born to him: Jerameel, and Ram, and Calubi. ¹⁰And Ram beget Aminadab, and Aminadab beget Nahasson, prince of the children of Juda. ¹¹And Nahasson beget Salma, the father of Boot. ¹²And Boot beget Obed, and Obed beget Isai. ¹³And Isai beget Eliab his firstborn, the second Abinadab, the third Simmaa, ¹⁴The fourth, Nathanael, the fifth Raddai, ¹⁵The sixth Asom, the seventh David. ¹⁶And their sisters were Sarvia, and Abigail. The sons of Sarvia: Abisai, Joab, and Asael, three. ¹⁷And Abigail bore Amasa, whose father was Jether the Ismahelite. ¹⁸And Caleb the son of Hesron took a wife named Azuba, of whom he had Jerioth: and her sons were Jaser, and Sobab, and Ardon. ¹⁹And when Azuba was dead, Caleb took to wife Ephrata: who bore him Hur. ²⁰And Hur beget Uri: and Uri beget Bezeleel. ²¹And afterwards Hesron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Galaad, and took her to wife when he was threescore years old: and she bore him Segub. ²²And Segub beget Jair, and he had three and twenty cities in the land of Galaad. ²³And he took Gessur, and Aram the towns of Jair, and Canath, and the villages thereof, threescore cities. All these, the sons of Machir father of Galaad. ²⁴And when Hesron was dead, Caleb went in to Ephrata. Hesron also had to wife Abia who bore him Ashur the father of Thecua. ²⁵And the sons of Jerameel the firstborn of Hesron, were Ram his firstborn, and Buna, and Aram, and Asom, and Achia. ²⁶And Jerameel married another wife, named Atara, who was the mother of Onam. ²⁷And the sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerameel, were Moos, Jamin, and Achar. ²⁸And Onam had sons Semei, and Jada. And the sons of Semei: Nadab, and Abisur. ²⁹And the name of Abisur's wife was Abihail, who bore him Ahobban, and Molid. ³⁰And the sons of Nadab were Saled, and Apphaim. And Saled died without children. ³¹But the son of Apphaim was Jesi: and Jesi beget Sesan. And Sesan beget Oholai. ³²And the sons of Jada the brother of Semei : Jether and Jonathan. And Jether also died without children. ³³But Jonathan beget Phaleth, and Ziza, These were the sons of Jerameel. ³⁴And Sesan had no sons, but daughters and a servant an Egyptian, named Jeraa. ³⁵And he gave him his daughter to wife: and she bore him Ethei. ³⁶And Ethei begot Nathan, and Nathan beget Zabad. ³⁷And Zabad beget Ophlal, and Ophlal beget Obed. ³⁸Obed beget Jehu, Jehu beget Azarias. ³⁹Azarias beget Helles, and Helles begot Elasa. ⁴⁰Elasa beget Sisamoi, Sisamoi beget Sellum, ⁴¹Sellum beget Icamia, and Icamia begot Elisama. ⁴²Now the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerameel were Mesa his firstborn, who was the father of Siph: and the sons of Maresa father of Hebron. ⁴³And the sons of Hebron, Core, and Thaphua, and Recem, and Samma. ⁴⁴And Samma beget Raham, the father of Jercaam, and Recem beget Sammai. ⁴⁵The son of Sammai, Maon: and Maon the father of Bethsur. ⁴⁶And Epha the concubine of Caleb bore Haran, and Mesa, and Gezez. And Haran beget Gezez. ⁴⁷And the sons of Jahaddai, Rogom, and Joathan, and Gesan, and Phalet, and Epha, and Saaph. ⁴⁸And Maacha the concubine of Caleb bore Saber, and Tharana. ⁴⁹And Saaph the father of Madmena beget Sue the father of Machbena, and the father of Gabaa. And the daughter of Caleb was Achsa. ⁵⁰These were the sons of Caleb, the son of Hur the firstborn of Ephrata, Sobal the father of Cariathiarim. ⁵¹Salma the father of Bethlehem, Hariph the father of Bethgader. ⁵²And Sobal the father of Cariathiarim had sons: he that saw half of the places of rest. ⁵³And of the kindred of Cariathiarim, the Jethrites, and Aphuthites, and Semathites, and Maserites. Of them came the Saraites, and Esthaolites. ⁵⁴The sons of Salma, Bethlehem, and Netophathi, the crowns of the house of Joab, and half of the place of rest of Sarai. ⁵⁵And the families of the scribes that dwell in Jabes, singing and making melody, and abiding in tents. These are the Cinites, who came of Calor (Chamath) father of the house of Rechab,

Chapter 3

¹Now these were the sons of David that were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn Amnon of Achinoam the Jezrahelitess, the second Daniel of Abigail the Carmelitess. ²The third Absalom the son of Maacha the daughter of Tolmai king of Gessur, the fourth Adonias the son of Aggith, ³The fifth Saphatias of Abital, the sixth Jethrahem of Egla, his wife. ⁴So six sons were born to him in Hebron, where he reigned seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem he reigned three and thirty years. ⁵And these sons were born to him in Jerusalem: Simmaa, and Sobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, four of Bethsabee the daughter of Ammiel. ⁶Jebaar also and Elisama, ⁷And Eliphaleeh, and Noge, and Nepheg, and Japhia, ⁸And Elisama, and Eliada, and Elipheleth, nine: ⁹All these the sons of David, beside the sons of the concubines: and they had a sister Thamar. ¹⁰And Solomon's son was Roboam: whose son Abia beget Asa. And his son was Josaphat, ¹¹The father of Joram: and Joram begot Ochozias, of whom was born Joas: ¹²And his son Amasias begot Azarias. And Joathan the son of Azarias ¹³Beget Achaz, the father of Ezechias, of whom was born Manasses. ¹⁴And Manasses beget Amen the father of Josias. ¹⁵And the sons of Josias were, the firstborn Johanan, the second Joakim, the third Sedecias, the fourth Sellum. ¹⁶Of Joakim was born Jechonias, and Sedecias. ¹⁷The sons of Jechonias were Asir, Salathiel, ¹⁸Melchiram, Phadaia, Senneser and Jecemia, Sama, and Nadabia. ¹⁹Of Phadaia were born Zorobabel and Semei. Zorobabel beget Mosollam, Hananias, and Salomith their sister: ²⁰Hasaba also, and Ohol, and Barachias, and Hasadias, Josabhesed, five. ²¹And the son of Hananias was Phaltias the father of Jeseias, whose son was Raphaia. And his son was Arnan, of whom was born Obdia, whose son was Sechenias. ²²The son of Sechenias, was Semeia, whose sons were Hattus, and Jegaal, and Baria, and Naaria, and Saphat, six in number. ²³The sons of Naaria, Elioenai, and Ezechias, and Ezricam, three. ²⁴The sons of Elioenai, Oduia, and Eliasub, and Pheleia, and Accub, and Johanan, and Dalaia, and Anani, seven.

Chapter 4

¹The sons of Juda: Phares, Hesron, and Charmi, and Hur, and Sobal. ²And Raia the son of Sobal beget Jahath, of whom were born Ahumai, and Laad. These are the families of Sarathi. ³And this is the posterity of Etam: Jezrahel, and Jesema, and Jedebos: and the name of their sister was Asalelphuni. ⁴And Phanuel the father of Gedor, and Ezar the father of Hosa, these are the sons of Hur the firstborn of Ephratha the father of Bethlehem. ⁵And Assur the father of Thecua had two wives, Halaa and Naara: ⁶And Naara bore him Ozam, and Hepher, and Themani, and Ahasthari: these are the sons of Naara. ⁷And the sons of Halaa, Sereth, Isaar, and Ethnan. ⁸And Cos begot Anob, and Soboba, the kindred of Aharehel the son of Arum. ⁹And Jabes was more honourable than any of his brethren, and his mother called his name Jabes, saying: Because I bore him with sorrow. ¹⁰And Jabes called upon the God of Israel, saying: If blessing thou wilt bless me, and wilt enlarge my borders, and thy hand be with me, and thou save me from being oppressed by evil. And God granted him the things he prayed for. ¹¹And Caleb the brother of Sua beget Mahir, who was the father of Esthon. ¹²And Esthon beget Bethrapha, and Phesse, and Tehinna father of the city of Naas: these are the men of Recha. ¹³And the sons of Cenez were Othoniel,. and Saraia. And the sons of Othoniel, Hathath, and Maonathi. ¹⁴Maonathi beget Ophra, and Saraia begot Joab the father of the Valley of artificers: for artificers were there. ¹⁵And the sons of Caleb the son of Jephone, were Hir, and Ela, and Naham. And the sons of Ela: Cenez. ¹⁶The sons also of Jaleleel: Ziph, and Zipha, Thiria, and Asrael. ¹⁷And the sons of Esra, Jether, and Mered, and Epher, and Jalon, and he beget Mariam, and Sammai, and Jesba the father of Esthamo. ¹⁸And his wife Judaia, bore Jared the father of Gedor, and Heber the father of Socho, and Icuthiel the father of Zanoe. And these are the sons of Bethia the daughter of Pharao, whom Mered took to wife. ¹⁹And the sons of his wife Odaia the sister of Naham the father of Celia, Garmi, and Esthamo, who was of Machathi. ²⁰The sons also of Simon, Amnon, and Rinna the son of Hanan, and Thilon. And the sons of Jesi Zoheth, and Benzoheth. ²¹The sons of h Sela the son of Juda: Her the father of Lecha, and Laada the father of Maresa, and the families of the house of them that wrought fine linen in the House of oath. ²²And he that made the sun to stand, and the men of Lying, and Secure, and Burning, who were princes in Moab, and who returned into Lahem. Now these are things of old. ²³These are the potters, and they dwelt in Plantations, and Hedges, with the king for his works, and they abode there. ²⁴The sons of Simeon: Namuel, and Jamin, Jarib, Zara, Saul: ²⁵Sellum his son, Mapsam his son, Masma his son. ²⁶The sons of Masma: Hamuel his son, Zachur his son, Semei his son. ²⁷The sons of Semei were sixteen, and six daughters: but his brethren had not many sons, and the whole kindred could not reach to the sum of the children of Juda. ²⁸And they dwelt in Bersabee, and Molada, and Hasarsuhal, ²⁹And in Bala, and in Asom, and in Tholad, ³⁰And in Bathuel, and in Horma, and in Siceleg, ³¹And in Bethmarchaboth, and in Hasarsusim, and in Bethberai, and in Saarim. These were their cities unto the reign of David. ³²Their towns also were Etam, and Aen, Remmon, and Thochen, and Asan, five cities. ³³And all their villages round about these cities as far as Baal. This was their habitation, and the distribution of their dwellings. ³⁴And Mosabab and Jemlech, and Josa, the son of Amasias, ³⁵And Joel, and Jehu the son of Josabia the son of Saraia, the son of Asiel, ³⁶And Elioenai, and Jacoba, and Isuhaia, and Asaia, and Adiel, and Ismiel, and Banaia, ³⁷Ziza also the son of Sephei the son of Allon the son of Idaia the son of Semri the son of Samaia. ³⁸These were named princes in their kindreds, and in the houses of their families were multiplied exceedingly. ³⁹And they went forth to enter into Gador as far as to the east side of the valley, to seek pastures for their flocks. ⁴⁰And they found fat pastures, and very good, and a country spacious, and quiet, and fruitful, in which some of the race of Cham had dwelt before. ⁴¹And these whose names are written above, came in the days of Ezechias king of Juda: and they beat down their tents, and slew the inhabitants that were found there, and utterly destroyed them unto this day: and they dwelt in their place, because they found there fat pastures. ⁴²Some also of the children of Simeon, five hundred men, went into mount Seir, having for their captains Phaltias and Naaria and Raphaia and Oziel the sons of Jesi: ⁴³And they slew the remnant of the Amalecites, who had been able to escape, and they dwelt there in their stead unto this day.

Chapter 5

¹Now the sons of Ruben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was his firstborn: but forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his first birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel, and he was not accounted for the firstborn. ²But of the race of Juda, who was the strongest among his brethren, came the princes: but the first birthright was accounted to Joseph.) ³The sons then of Ruben the firstborn of Israel were Enoch, and Phallu, Esron, and Charmi. ⁴The sons of Joel: Samaia his son, Gog his son, Semei his son, ⁵Micha his son, Reia his son, Baal his son, ⁶Beera his son, whom Thelgathphalnasar king of the Assyrians carried away captive, and he was prince in the tribe of Ruben. ⁷And his brethren, and all his kindred, when they were numbered by their families, had for princes Jehiel, and Zacharias. ⁸And Bala the son of Azaz, the son of Samma, the son of Joel, dwelt in Aroer as far as Nebo, and Beelmeon. ⁹And eastward he had his habitation as far as the entrance of the desert, and the river Euphrates. For they possessed a great number of cattle in the land of Galaad. ¹⁰And in the days of Saul they fought against the Agarites, and slew them, and dwelt in their tents in their stead, in all the country, that looketh to the east of Galaad. ¹¹And the children of Gad dwelt over against them in the land of Basan, as far as Selcha: ¹²Johel the chief, and Saphan the second: and Janai, and Saphat in Basan. ¹³And their brethren according to the houses of their kindreds, were Michael, and Mosollam, and Sebe, and Jorai, and Jacan, and Zie, and Heber, seven. ¹⁴These were the sons of Abihail, the son of Hurl, the son of Jara, the son of Galaad, the son of Michael, the son of Jesisi, the son of Jeddo, the son of But. ¹⁵And their brethren the sons of Abdiel, the son of Guni, chief of the house in their families, ¹⁶And they dwelt in Galaad, and in Basan and in the towns thereof, and in all the suburbs of Saron, unto the borders. ¹⁷All these were numbered in the days of Joathan king of Juda, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel. ¹⁸The sons of Ruben, and of Gad, and of the half tribe of Manasses, fighting men, bearing shields, and swords, and bending the bow, and trained up to battles, four and forty thousand seven hundred and threescore that went out to war. ¹⁹They fought against the Agarites: but the Itureans, and Naphis, and Nodab, ²⁰Gave them help. And the Agarites were delivered into their hands, and all that were with them, because they called upon God in the battle: and he heard them, because they had put their faith in him. ²¹And they took all that they possessed, of camels fifty thousand, and of sheep two hundred and fifty thousand, and of asses two thousand, and of men a hundred thousand souls. ²²And many fell down slain : for it was the battle of the Lord. And they dwelt in their stead till the captivity. ²³And the children of the half tribe of Manasses possessed the land, from the borders of Basan unto Baal, Hermon, and Sanir, and mount Hermon, for their number was great. ²⁴And these were the heads of the house of their kindred, Epher, and Jesi, and Eliel, and Esriel, and Jeremia, and Odoia, and Jediel, most valiant and powerful men, and famous chiefs in their families. ²⁵But they forsook the God of their fathers, and went astray after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them. ²⁶And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Phul king of the Assyrians, and the spirit of Thelgathphalnasar king of Assur: and he carried away Ruben, and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses, and brought them to Lahela, and to Habor, and to Ara, and to the river of Gozan, unto this day.

Chapter 6

¹The sons of Levi were Gerson, Caath, and Merari. ²The sons of Caath: Amram, Isaar, Hebron, and Oziel. ³The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Mary. The sons of Aaron: Nadab and Abiu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ⁴Eleazar beget Phinees, and Phinees beget Abisue, ⁵And Abisue beget Bocci, and Bocci begot Ozi. ⁶Ozi beget Zaraias, and Zaraias beget Maraioth. ⁷And Maraioth beget Amarias, and Amarias beget Achitob. ⁸Achitob beget Sadoc, and Sadoc begot Achimaas. ⁹Achimaas beget Azarias, Azarias begot Johanan, ¹⁰Johanan beget Azarias. This is he that executed the priestly office in the house which Solomon built in Jerusalem. ¹¹And Azarias beget Amarias, and Amarias beget Achitob. ¹²And Achitob beget Sadoc, and Sadoc beget Sellum, ¹³Sellum beget Helcias, and Helcias beget Azarias, ¹⁴Azarias beget Saraias, and Saraias beget Josedec. ¹⁵Now Josedec went out, when the Lord carried away Juda, and Jerusalem, by the hands of Nabuchodonosor. ¹⁶So the sons of Levi were Gerson, Caath, and Merari. ¹⁷And these are the names of the sons of Gerson: Lobni and Semei. ¹⁸The sons of Caath : Amram, and Isaar, and Hebron, and Oziel. ¹⁹The sons of Merari: Moholi and Musi. And these are the kindreds of Levi according to their families. ²⁰Of Gerson: Lobni his son, Jahath his son, Zamma his son, ²¹Joah his son, Addo his son, Zara his son, Jethrai his son. ²²The sons of Caath, Aminadab his son, Core his son, Asir his son, ²³Elcana his son, Abiasaph his son, Asir his son, ²⁴Thahath his son, Uriel his son, Ozias his son, Saul his son. ²⁵The sons of Elcana: Amasai, and Achimoth. ²⁶And Elcana. The sons of Elcana: Sophai his son, Nahath his son, ²⁷Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elcana his son. ²⁸The sons of Samuel: the firstborn Vasseni, and Abia. ²⁹And the sons of Merari, Moholi: Lobni his son, Semei his son, Oza his son, ³⁰Sammaa his son, Haggia his son, Asaia his son. ³¹These are they, whom David set over the singing men of the house of the Lord, after that the p ark was placed: ³²And they ministered before the tabernacle of the testimony, with singing, until Solomon built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they stood according to their order in the ministry. ³³And these are they that stood with their sons, of the sons of Caath, Hemam a singer, the son of Joel, the son of Sammuel, ³⁴The son of Elcana, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Thohu, ³⁵The son of Suph, the son of Elcana, the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai, ³⁶The son of Elcana, the son of Johel, the son of Azarias, the son of Sophonias, ³⁷The son of Thahath, the son of Asir, the son or Abiasaph, the son of Core, ³⁸The son of Isaar, the son of Caath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel. ³⁹And his brother Asaph, who stood on his right hand, Asaph the son of Barachias, the son of Samaa. ⁴⁰The son of Michael, the son of Basaia, the son of Melchia. ⁴¹The son of Athanai, the son of Zara, the son of Adaia. ⁴²The son of Ethan, the son of Zamma, the son of Semei. ⁴³The son of Jeth, the son of Gerson, the son of Levi. ⁴⁴And the sons of Merari their brethren, on the left hand, Ethan the son of Cusi, the son of Abdi, the son of Meloch, ⁴⁵The son of Hasabia, the son of Amasai, the son of Helcias, ⁴⁶The son of Amasai, the son of Boni, the son of Somer, ⁴⁷The son of Moholi, the son of Mud, the son of Merari, the son of Levi. ⁴⁸Their brethren also the Levites, who were appointed for all the ministry of the tabernacle of the house of the Lord. ⁴⁹But Aaron and his sons offered burnt offerings upon the altar of holocausts, and upon the altar of incense, for very work of the holy of holies: and to pray for Israel according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded. ⁵⁰And these are the sons of Aaron: Eleazar his son, Phinees his son, Abisue his son, ⁵¹Bocci his son, Ozi his son, Zarahia his son, ⁵²Meraioth his son, Amarias his son, Achitob his son, ⁵³Sadoc his son, Achimaas his son. ⁵⁴And these are their dwelling places by the towns and confines, to wit, of the sons of Aaron, of the families of the Caathites: for they fell to them by lot. ⁵⁵And they gave them Hebron in the land of Juda, and the suburbs thereof round about: ⁵⁶But the fields of the city, and the villages to Caleb son of Jephone. ⁵⁷And to the sons of Aaron they gave the cities for refuge Hebron, and Lobna, and the suburbs thereof, ⁵⁸And Jether and Esthemo, with their suburbs, and Helon, and Dabir with their suburbs: ⁵⁹Asan also, and Bethsames, with their suburbs. ⁶⁰And out of the tribe of Benjamin: Gabee and its suburbs, Almath with its suburbs, Anathoth also with its suburbs: all their cities throughout their families were thirteen. ⁶¹And to the sons of Caath that remained of their kindred they gave out of the half tribe of Manasses ten cities in possession. ⁶²And to the sons of Gerson by their families out of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Aser, and out of the tribe of Nephtali, and out of the tribe of Manasses in Basan, thirteen cities. their ⁶³And to the sons of Merari by families out of the tribe of Ruben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zabulon, they gave by lot twelve cities. ⁶⁴And the children of Israel gave to the Levites the cities, and their suburbs. ⁶⁵And they gave them by lot, out of the tribe of the sons of Juda, and out of the tribe of the sons of Simeon, and out of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin, these cities which they called by their names. ⁶⁶And to them that were of the kindred of the sons of Caath, and the cities in their borders were of the tribe of Ephraim. ⁶⁷And they gave the cities of refuge Sichem with its suburbs in mount Ephraim, and Gazer with its suburbs, ⁶⁸Jecmaan also with its suburbs, and Beth-horon in like manner, ⁶⁹Helon also with its suburbs, and Gethremmon in like manner, ⁷⁰And out of the half tribe of Manasses, Aner and its suburbs, Baalam and its suburbs: to wit, to them that were left of the family of the sons of Caath. ⁷¹And to the sons of Gersom, out of the kindred of the half tribe of Manasses, Gaulon, in Basan, and its suburbs, and Astharoth with its suburbs. ⁷²Out of the tribe of Issachar, Cedes and its suburbs, and Dabereth with its suburbs; ⁷³Ramoth also and its suburbs, and Anem with its suburbs. ⁷⁴And out of the tribe of Aser: Masal with its suburbs, and Abdon in like manner; ⁷⁵Hucac also and its suburbs, and Rohol with its suburbs. ⁷⁶And out of the tribe of Nephtali, Cedes in Galilee and its suburbs, Hamon with its suburbs, and Cariathaim, and its suburbs. ⁷⁷And to the sons of Merari that remained: out of the tribe of Zabulon, Remmono and its suburbs, and Thabor with its suburbs. ⁷⁸Beyond the Jordan also over against Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, out of the tribe of Ruben, Bosor in the wilderness with its suburbs, and Jassa with its suburbs; ⁷⁹Cademoth also and its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs; ⁸⁰Moreover also out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Galaad and its suburbs, and Manaim with its suburbs; ⁸¹Hesebon also with its suburbs, and Jazer with its suburbs.

Chapter 7

¹Now the sons of Issachar were Thola, and Phua, Jasub and Simeron, four. ²The sons of Thola: Ozi and Raphaia, and Jeriel, and Jemai, and Jebsem, and Samuel, chiefs of the houses of their kindreds. Of the posterity of Thola were numbered in the days of David, two and twenty thousand six hundred most valiant men. ³The sons of Ozi: Izrahia, of whom were born Michael, and Obadia, and Joel, and Jesia, five all great men. ⁴And there were with them by their families and peoples, six and thirty thousand most valiant men ready for war: for they had many wives and children. ⁵Their brethren also throughout all the house of Issachar, were numbered fourscore and seven thousand most valiant men for war. ⁶The sons of s Benjamin were Bela, and Bechor, and Jadihel, three. ⁷The sons of Bela: Esbon, and Ozi, and Ozial, and Jerimoth and Urai, five chiefs of their families, and most valiant warriors, and their number was twenty-two thousand and thirty-four. ⁸And the sons of Bechor were Zamira, and Joas, and Eliezer, and Elioenai, and Amai, and Jerimoth, and Abia, and Anathoth, and Almath: all these were the sons of Bechor. ⁹And they were numbered by the families, heads of their kindreds, most valiant men for war, twenty thousand and two hundred. ¹⁰And the son of Jadihel: Balan. And the sons of Balan: Jehus and Benjamin and Aod, and Chanana, and Zethan and Tharsis, and Ahisahar. ¹¹All these were sons of Jadihel, heads of their kindreds, most valiant men, seventeen thousand and two hundred fit to go out to war. ¹²Sepham also and Hapham the sons of Hir: and Hasim the sons of Aher. ¹³And the sons of Nephtali were Jasiel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Sellum, sons of Bala. ¹⁴And the son of Manasses, Ezriel: and his concubine the Syrian bore Machir the father of Galaad. ¹⁵And Machir took wives for his sons Happhim, and Saphan: and he had a sister named Maacha: the name of the second was Salphaad, and Salphaad had daughters. ¹⁶And Maacha the wife of Machir bore a son, and she called his name Phares: and the name of his brother was Sares: and his sons were Ulam and Recen. ¹⁷And the son of Ulam, Baden. These are the sons of Galaad, the son of Machir the son of Manasses. ¹⁸And his sister named Queen bore Goodlyman, and Abiezer, and Mohola. ¹⁹And the sons of Semida were Ahiu, and Sechem, and Leci and Aniam. ²⁰And the sons of Ephraim were Suthala, Bared his son, Thahath his son, Elada his son, Thahath his son, and his son Zabad, ²¹And his son Suthala, and his son Ezer, and Elad: and the men of Geth born in the land slew them, because they came down to invade their possessions. ²²And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him. ²³And he went in to his wife: and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Beria, because he was born when it went evil with his house: ²⁴And his daughter was Sara, who built Bethoron, the nether and the upper, and Ozensara. ²⁵And Rapha was his son, and Reseph, and Thale, of whom was born Thaan, ²⁶Who begot Laadan: and his son was Ammiud, who beget Elisama, ²⁷Of whom was born Nun, who had Josue for his son. ²⁸And their possessions and habitations were Bethel with her daughters, and eastward Noran, and westward Gazer and her daughters, Sichem also with her daughters, as far as Ass with her daughters. ²⁹And by the borders of the sons of Manasses Bethsan and her daughters, Thanach and her daughters, Mageddo and her daughters: Dor and her daughters: in these dwelt the children of Joseph, the son of Israel. ³⁰The children of Aser were Jemna, and Jesua, and Jessui, and Baria, and Sara their sister. ³¹31And the sons of Baria: Haber, and Melchiel: he is the father of Barsaith. ³²And Heber beget Jephlat, and Somer, and Hotham, and Suaa their sister. ³³The sons of Jephlat: Phosech, and Chamaal, and Asoth: these are the sons of Jephlat. ³⁴And the sons of Somer: Ahi, and Roaga, and Haba, and Aram. ³⁵And the sons of Helem his brother: Supha, and Jemna, and Selles, and Amal. ³⁶The sons of Supha: Sue, Hernapher, and Sual, and Beri, and Jamra. ³⁷Bosor and Hod, and Samma, and Salusa, and Jethran, and Bera. ³⁸The sons of Jether: Jephone, and Phaspha, and Ara. ³⁹And the sons of Olla: Aree, and Haniel, and Resia. ⁴⁰All these were sons of Aser, heads of their families, choice and most valiant captains of captains: and the number of them that were of the age that was fit for war, was six and twenty thousand.

Chapter 8

¹Now Benjamin beget Bale his firstborn, Asbel the second, Ahara the third, ²Nohaa the fourth, and Rapha the fifth. ³And the sons of Bale were Addar, and Gera, and Abiud, ⁴And Abisue, and Naamar, and Ahoe, ⁵And Gera, and Sephuphan, and Huram. ⁶These are the sons of Ahod, heads of families that dwelt in Gabaa, who were removed into Mrtnahsth. ⁷And Naaman, and Achia, and Gera he removed them, and beget Oza, and Ahiud. ⁸And Saharim begot in the land of Moab, after he sent away Husim and Bara his wives. ⁹And he beget of Hodes his wife Jobab, and Sebia, and Mesa, and Molchom, ¹⁰And Jehus and Sechia, and Marma. These were his sons heads of their families. ¹¹And Mehusim beget Abitob, and Elphaal. ¹²And the sons of Elphaal were Heber, and Misaam, and Samad: who built One, and Led, and its daughters. ¹³And Baria, and Sama were heads of their kindreds that dwelt in Aialon: these drove away the inhabitants of Geth. ¹⁴And Ahio, and Sesac, and Jerimoth, ¹⁵And Zabadia, and Arod, and Heder, ¹⁶And Michael, and Jespha, and Joha, the sons of Baria. ¹⁷17And Zabadia, and Mosollam, and Hezeci, and Heber, ¹⁸And Jesamari, and Jezlia, and Jobab, sons of Elphaal, ¹⁹And Jacim, and Zechri, and Zabdi, ²⁰And Elioenai, and Selethai, and Elial, ²¹And Adaia, and Baraia, and Samareth, the sons of Semei. ²²And Jespham, and Heber, and Eliel, ²³And Abdon, and Zechri, and Hanan, ²⁴And Hanania, and Elam, and Anathothia. ²⁵And Jephdaia, and Phanuel the sons of Sesac. ²⁶And Samsari, and Sohoria and Otholia, ²⁷And Jersia, and Elia, and Zechri, the sons of Jeroham. ²⁸These were the chief fathers, and heads of their families who dwelt in Jerusalem. ²⁹And at Gabaon dwelt Abigabaon, and the name of his wife was Maacha: ³⁰And his firstborn son Abdon, and Sur, and Cia, and Baal, and Nadab, ³¹And Gedor, and Ahio, and Zacher, and Macelloth: ³²And Macelloth beget Samaa: and they dwelt over against their brethren in Jerusalem with their brethren. ³³And Ner beget Cia, and Cia beget Saul. And Saul begot Jonathan and Melchisua, and Abinadab, and Esbaal. ³⁴And the son of Jonathan was Meribbaal: and Meribbaal begot Micha. ³⁵And the sons of Micha were Phithon, and Melech, and Tharaa, and Ahaz. ³⁶And Ahaz beget Joada: and Joada beget Alamath, and Azmoth, and Zamri: and Zamri beget Mesa, ³⁷And Mesa beget Banaa, whose son was Rapha, of whom was born Elasa, who beget Asel. ³⁸And Asel had six sons whose names were Ezricam, Bochru, Ismahel, Saria, Obdia, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Asel. ³⁹And the sons of Esec, his brother, were Ulam the firstborn, and Jehus the second, and Eliphelet the third. ⁴⁰And the sons of Ulam were most valiant men, and archers of great strength: and they had many sons and grandsons, even to a hundred and fifty. All these were children of Benjamin.

Chapter 9

¹And all Israel was numbered: and the sum of them was written in the book of the kings of Israel, and Juda: and they were carried away to Babylon for their transgression. ²Now the first that dwelt in their possessions, and in their cities, were the Israelites, and the priests, and the Levites, and the Nathineans. ³And in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Juda, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim, and of Manasses. ⁴Othei the son of Ammiud, the son of Amri, the son of Omrai, the son of Bonni, of the sons of Phares the son of Juda. ⁵And of Siloni: Asaia the firstborn, and his sons. ⁶And of the sons of Zara: Jehuel, and their brethren, six hundred and ninety. ⁷And of the sons of Benjamin: Sale the son of Mosollam, the son of Oduia, the son of Asana: ⁸And Jobania the son of Jeroham: and Ela the son of Ozi, the son of Mochori: and Mosallam the son of Saphatias, the son of Rahuel, the son of Jebania: ⁹And their brethren by their families, nine hundred and fifty-six. All these were heads of their families, by the houses of their fathers. ¹⁰And of the priests: Jedaia, Joiarib, and Jachin: ¹¹And Azarias the son of Helcias, the son of Mosollam, the son of Sadoc, the son of Maraioth, the son of Achitob, high priest of the house of God. ¹²And Adaias the son of Jeroham, the son of Phassur, the son of Melchias, and Maasai the son of Adiel, the son of Jezra, the son of Mosollam, the son of Mosollamith, the son of Emmer. ¹³And their brethren heads in their families re thousand seven hundred and threescore, very strong and able men for the work of the ministry in the house of God. ¹⁴And of the Levites: Semeia the son of Hassub the son of Ezricam, the son of Hasebia of the sons of Merari. ¹⁵And Bacbacar the carpenter, and Galal, and Mathania the son of Micha, the son of Zechri the son of Asaph: ¹⁶And Obdia the son of Semeia, the son of Galal, the son of Idithum: and Barachia the son of Asa, the son of Elcana, who dwelt in the suburbs of Netophati. ¹⁷And the porters were Sellum, and Accub, and Telmon, and Ahiman: and their brother Sellum was the prince, ¹⁸Until that time, in the king's gate eastward, the sons of Levi waited by their turns. ¹⁹But Sellum the son of Core, the son of Abiasaph, the son of Core, with his brethren and his father's house, the Corites were over the works of the service, keepers of the gates of the tabernacle: and their families in turns were keepers of the entrance of the camp of the Lord. ²⁰And Phinees the son of Eleazar, was their prince before the Lord, ²¹And Zacharias the son of Mosollamia, was porter of the gate of the tabernacle of the testimony: ²²All these that were chosen to be porters at the gates, were two hundred and twelve: and they mere registered in their proper towns: whom David and Samuel the seer appointed in their trust. ²³As well them as their sons, to keep the gates of the house of the Lord, and the tabernacle by their turns. ²⁴In four quarters were the porters: that is to say, toward the east, and west, and north, and south. ²⁵And their brethren dwelt in villages, and came upon their sabbath days from time to time. ²⁶To these four Levites were committed the whole number of the porters, and they were over the chambers, and treasures, of the house of the Lord. ²⁷And they abode in their watches round about the temple of the Lord: that when it was time, they might open the gates in the morning. ²⁸And some of their stock had the charge of the vessels for the ministry: for the vessels were both brought in and carried out by number. ²⁹Some of them also had the instruments of the sanctuary committed unto them, and the charge of the fine flour, and wine, and oil, and frankincense, and spices. ³⁰And the sons of the priests made the ointments of the spices. ³¹And Mathathias a Levite, the firstborn of Sellum the Corite, was overseer of such things as were fried in the fryingpan. ³²And some of the sons of Caath their brethren, were over the leaves of proposition, to prepare always new for every sabbath. ³³These are the chief of the singing men of the families of the Levites, who dwelt in the chambers, by the temple, that they might serve continually day and night in their ministry. ³⁴The heads of the Levites, princes in their families, abode in Jerusalem. ³⁵And in Gabaon dwelt Jehiel the father of Gabaon, and the name of hill wife was Maacha: ³⁶His firstborn son Abdon, and Sur, and Cis, and Baal, and Ner, and Nadab, ³⁷Gedor also, and Ahio, and Zacharias, and Macelloth. ³⁸And Macelloth beget Samaan: these dwelt over against their brethren in Jerusalem, with their brethren. ³⁹Now Ner beget Cia: and Cis begot Saul: and Saul beget Jonathan and Melchisua, and Abinadab, and Esbaal. ⁴⁰And the son of Jonathan, was Meribbaal: and Meribbaal beget Micha. ⁴¹And the sons of Micha, were Phithon, and Melech, and Tharaa, and Ahaz. ⁴²And Ahaz beget Jara, and Jara beget Alamath, and Azmoth, and Zamri. And Zamri beget Mesa. ⁴³And Mesa beget Banaa: whose son Raphaia beget Elasa: of whom was born Asel. ⁴⁴And heel had six sons whose names are, Ezricam, Bochru, Ismahel, Saria, Obdia, Hanan: these are the sons of Asel.

Chapter 10

¹Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down wounded in mount Gelboe. ²And the Philistines drew near pursuing after Saul, and his sons, and they killed Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchisua the sons of Saul. ³And the battle grew hard against Saul, and the archers reached him, and wounded him with arrows. ⁴And Saul said to his armourbearer: Draw thy sword, and kill me: lest these uncircumcised come, and mock me. But his armourbearer would not, for he was struck with fear: so Saul took his sword, and fell upon it. ⁵And when his armourbearer saw it, to wit, that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died. ⁶So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house fell together. ⁷And when the men of Israel, that dwelt in the plains, saw this, they fled: and Saul and his sons being dead, they forsook their cities, and were scattered up and down: and the Philistines came, and dwelt in them. ⁸And the next day the Philistines taking away the spoils of them that were slain, found Saul and his sons lying on mount Gelboe. ⁹And when they had stripped him, and cut off his head, and taken away his armour, they sent it into their land, to be carried about, and shewn in the temples of the idols and to the people. ¹⁰And his armour they dedicated in the temple of their god, and his head they fastened up in the temple of Dagon. ¹¹And when the men of Jabes Galaad had heard this, to wit, all that the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹²All the valiant men of them arose, and took the bodies of Saul and of his sons, and brought them to Jabes, and buried their bones under the oak that was in Jabes, and they fasted seven days. ¹³So Saul died for his iniquities, because he transgressed the commandment of the Lord, which he had commanded, and kept it not: and moreover consulted also a witch, ¹⁴And trusted not is the Lord: therefore he slew him, and transferred his kingdom to David the son of Isai.

Chapter 11

¹Then all Israel gathered themselves to David in Hebron, saying: We are thy bone, and thy flesh. ²Yesterday also, and the day before when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: for the Lord thy God said to thee: Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt; be ruler over them. ³So all the ancients of Israel came to the king to Hebron, and David made a covenant with them before the Lord: and they anointed him king over Israel, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke in the hand of Samuel. ⁴And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus, where the Jebusites were the inhabitants of the land. ⁵And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David: Thou shalt not come in here. But David took the castle of Sion, which is the city of David. ⁶And he said: Whosoever shall first strike the Jebusites, shall be the head and chief captain. And Joab the son of Sarvia went up first, and was made the general. ⁷And David dwelt in the castle, and therefore it was called the city of David. ⁸And he built the city round about from Mello all round, and Joab built the rest of the city. ⁹And David went on growing and increasing, and the Lord of hosts was with him. ¹⁰These are the chief of the valiant men of David, who helped him to be made king over all Israel, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to Israel. ¹¹And this is the number of the heroes of David: Jesbaam the son of Hachamoni the chief among the thirty: he lifted up his spear against three hundred wounded by him at one time. ¹²And after him was Eleazar his uncle's son the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighties. ¹³He was with David in Phesdomim, when the Philistines were gathered to that place to battle: and the field of that country was full of barley, and the people fled from before the Philistines. ¹⁴But these men stood in the midst of the field, and defended it: and they slew the Philistines, and the Lord gave a great deliverance to his people. ¹⁵And three of the thirty captains went down to the rock, wherein David was, to the cave of Odollam, when the Philistines encamped in the valley of Raphaim. ¹⁶And David was in a hold, and the garrison of the Philistines in Bethlehem. ¹⁷And David longed, and said: O that some man would give me water of the cistern of Bethlehem, which is in the gate. ¹⁸And these three broke through the midst of the camp of the Philistines, and drew water out of the cistern of Bethlehem, which was in the gate, and brought it to David to drink: and he would not drink of it, but rather offered it to the Lord, ¹⁹Saying: God forbid that I should do this in the sight of my God, and should drink the blood of these men: for with the danger of their lives they have brought me the water. And therefore he would not drink. These things did the three most valiant. ²⁰And Abisai the brother of Joab, he was chief of three, and he lifted up his spear against three hundred whom he slew, and he was renowned among the three, ²¹And illustrious among the second three, and their captain: but yet he attained not to the first three. ²²Banaias the son of Joiada, a most valiant man, of Cabseel, who had done many acts: he slew the two ariels of Moab: and he went down, and killed a lion in the midst of a pit in the time of snow. ²³And he slew an Egyptian, whose stature was of five cubits, and who had a spear like a weaver's beam: and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked away the spear, that he held in his hand, and slew him with his own spear. ²⁴These things did Banaias the son of Joiada, who was renowned among the three valiant ones, ²⁵And the first among the thirty, but yet to the three he attained not: and David made him of his council. ²⁶Moreover the most valiant men of the army, were Asahel brother of Joab, and Elchanan the son of his uncle of Bethlehem, ²⁷Sammoth an Arorite, Helles a Phalonite, ²⁸Ira the son of Acces a Thecuite, Abiezer an Anathothite, ²⁹Sobbochai a Husathite, Ilai an Ahohite, ³⁰Maharai a Netophathite, Heled the son of Baana a Netophathite, ³¹Ethai the son of Ribai of Gabaath of the sons of Benjamin, Banal a Pharathonite, ³²Hurai of the torrent Gaas, Abiel an Arbathite, Azmoth a Bauramite, Eliaba a Salabonite, ³³The sons of Assem a, Gezonite, Jonathan the son of Sage an Ararite, ³⁴Ahiam the son of Sachar an Ararite, ³⁵Eliphal the son of Ur, ³⁶Hepher a Mecherathite, Ahia a Phelonite, ³⁷Hesro a Carmelite, Naarai the son of Azbai, ³⁸Joel the brother of Nathan, Mibahar the son of Agarai. ³⁹Selec an Ammonite, Naharai a Berothite, the armourbearer of Joab the son of Sarvia. ⁴⁰Ira a Jethrite, Gareb a Jethrite, ⁴¹41Urias a Hethite, Zabad the son of Oholi, ⁴²Adina the son of Siza a Rubenite the prince of the Rubenites, and thirty with him: ⁴³Hanan the son of Maacha, and Josaphat a Mathanite, ⁴⁴Ozia an Astarothite, Samma, and Jehiel the sons of Hotham an Arorite, ⁴⁵Jedihel the son of Zamri, and Jobs his brother a Thosaite, ⁴⁶Eliel a Mithumite, and Jeribai, and Josaia the sons of Elnaim, and Jethma a Moabite, Eliel, and Obed, and Jasiel of Masobia.

Chapter 12

¹Now these are they that came to David to Siceleg, while he yet fled from Saul the son of Cia, and they were most valiant and excellent warriors, ²Bending the bow, and using either hand in hurling stones with slings, and shooting arrows: of the brethren of Saul of Benjamin. ³The chief was Ahiezer, and Joas, the sons of Samaa of Gabaath, and Jaziel, and Phallet the sons of Azmoth, and Beracha, and Jehu an Anathothite. ⁴And Samaias of Gabaon, the stoutest amongst the thirty and over the thirty; Jeremias, and Jeheziel, and Johanan, and Jezabad of Gaderoth; ⁵And Eluzai, and Jerimuth, and Baalia, and Samaria, and Saphatia the Haruphite; ⁶Elcana, and Jesia, and Azareel, and Joezer, and Jesbaam of Carehim: ⁷And Joela, and Zabadia the sons of Jeroham of Gedor. ⁸From Gaddi also there went over to David, when he lay hid in the wilderness most valiant men, and excellent warriors, holding shield and spear: whose faces were like the faces of a lion, and they were swift like the roebucks on the mountains. ⁹Ezer the chief, Obdias the second, Eliab the third, ¹⁰Masmana the fourth, Jeremias the fifth. ¹¹Ethi the sixth, Eliel the seventh, ¹²Johanan the eighth, Elzebad the ninth, ¹³Jerenias the tenth, Machbani the eleventh, ¹⁴These were of the sons of Gad, captains of the army: the least of them was captain over a hundred soldiers, and the greatest over a thousand. ¹⁵These are they who passed over the Jordan in the first month, when it is used to how over its banks: and they put to flight all that dwelt in the valleys both toward the east and toward the west. ¹⁶And there came also of the men of Benjamin, and of Juda to the hold, in which David abode. ¹⁷And David went out to meet them, and said: If you are come peaceably to me to help me, let my heart be joined to you: but if you plot against me for my enemies whereas I have no iniquity in my hands, let the God of our fathers see, and judge. ¹⁸But the spirit came upon Amasai the chief among thirty, and he said: We are thine, O David, and for thee, O son of Isai: peace, peace be to thee, and peace to thy helpers. For thy God helpeth thee. So David received them, and made them captains of the band. ¹⁹And there were some of Manasses that went over to David, when he came with the Philistines against Saul to fight: but he did not fight with them: because the lords of the Philistines taking counsel sent him back, saying: With the danger of our heads he will return to his master Saul. ²⁰So when he went back to Siceleg, m there fled to him of Manasses, Ednas and Jozabad, and Jedihel, and Michael, and Ednas, and Jozabad, and Eliu, and Salathi, captains of thousands in Manasses. ²¹These helped David against the rovers: for they were all most valiant men, and were made commanders in the army. ²²Moreover day by day there came some to David to help him till they became a great number, like the army of God. ²³And this is the number of the chiefs of the army who came to David, when he was in Hebron, to transfer to him the kingdom of Saul, according to the word of the Lord. ²⁴The sons of Juda bearing shield and spear, six thousand eight hundred well appointed to war. ²⁵Of the sons of Simeon valiant men for war, seven thousand one hundred. ²⁶Of the sons of Levi, four thousand six hundred. ²⁷And Joiada prince of the race of Aaron, and with him three thousand seven hundred. ²⁸Sadoc also a young man of excellent disposition, and the house of his father, twenty-two principal men. ²⁹And of the sons of Benjamin the brethren of Saul, three thousand: for hitherto a great part of them followed the house of Saul. ³⁰And of the sons of Ephraim twenty thousand eight hundred, men of great valour renowned in their kindreds. ³¹And of the half tribe of Manasses, eighteen thousand, every one by their names, came to make David king. ³²Also of the sons of Issachar men of understanding, that knew all times to order what Israel should do, two hundred principal men: and all the rest of the tribe followed their counsel. ³³And of Zabulon such as went forth to battle, and stood in array well appointed with armour for war, there came fifty thousand to his aid, with no double heart. ³⁴And of Nephtali, a thousand leaders: and with them seven and thirty thousand, furnished with shield and spear. ³⁵Of Dan also twenty-eight thousand six hundred prepared for battle. ³⁶And of Aser forty thousand going forth to fight, and challenging in battle. ³⁷And on the other side of the Jordan of the sons of Ruben, and of Gad, and of the half of the tribe of Manasses a hundred and twenty thousand, furnished with arms for war. ³⁸All these men of war well appointed to fight, 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 brethren had prepared for them. ⁴⁰Moreover they that were near them even as far as Issachar, and Zabulon, and Nephtali, brought leaves on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, to eat: meal, figs, raisins, wine, 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, and with all the commanders. ²And he said to all the assembly of Israel: If it please you; and if the words which I speak come from the Lord our God, let us send to the rest of our brethren into all the countries of Israel, and to the priests, and the Levites, that dwell in the suburbs of the cities, to gather themselves to us, ³And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we sought it not in the days of Saul. ⁴And all the multitude answered that it should be so: for the word pleased all the people. ⁵So David assembled all Israel from Sihor of Egypt, even to the entering into Emath, to bring the ark of God from Cariathiarim. ⁶And David went up with all the men of Israel to the hill of Cariathiarim which is in Juda, to bring thence the ark of the Lord God sitting upon the cherubims, where his name is called upon. ⁷And they carried the ark of God upon a new cart, out of the house of Abinadab. And Oza and his brother drove the cart. ⁸And David and all Israel played before God with all their might with hymns, and with harps, and with psalteries, and timbrels, and cymbals, and trumpets, ⁹And when they came to the floor of Chidon, Oza put forth his hand, to hold up the ark: for the ox being wanton had made it lean a little on one side. ¹⁰And the Lord was angry with Oza, and struck him, because he had touched the ark; and he died there before the Lord. ¹¹And David was troubled because the Lord had divided Oza: and he called that place the Breach of Oza to this day. ¹²And he feared God at that time, saying: How can I bring in the ark of God to me? ¹³And therefore he brought it not home to himself, that is, into the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gethite. ¹⁴And the ark of God remained in the house of Obededom three months: and the Lord blessed his house, 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 him a house. ²And David perceived that the Lord had confirmed him king over Israel, and that his kingdom was exalted over his people Israel. ³And David took other wives in Jerusalem: and he beget sons, and daughters. ⁴Now these are the names of them that were born to him in Jerusalem: Samua, and Sobad, Nathan, and Solomon, ⁵Jebahar, and Elisua, and Eliphalet, ⁶And Noga, and Napheg, and Japhia, ⁷Elisama. and Baaliada, and Eliphalet. ⁸And the Philistines hearing that David was anointed king over all Israel, went all up to seek him: and David heard of it, and went out against them. ⁹And the Philistines came and spread themselves in the vale of Raphaim. ¹⁰And David consulted the Lord, saying: Shall I go up against the Philistines, and wilt thou deliver them into my hand? And the Lord said to him: Go up, and I will deliver them into thy hand. ¹¹And when they were come to Baalpharasim, David defeated them there, and he said: God hath divided my enemies by my hand, as waters are divided: and therefore the name of that place was called Baalpharasim. ¹²And they left there their gods, and David commanded that they should be burnt. ¹³Another time also the Philistines made an irruption, and spread themselves abroad in the valley. ¹⁴And David consulted God again, and God said to him: Go not up after them, turn away from them, and come upon them over against the pear trees. ¹⁵And when thou shalt hear the sound of one going in the tops of the pear trees, then shalt thou go out to battle. For God is gone out before thee to strike the army of the Philistines. ¹⁶And David did as God had commanded him, and defeated the army of the Philistines, slaying them from Gabaon to Gazera. ¹⁷And the name of David became famous in all countries, and the Lord made all nations fear him.

Chapter 15

¹He made also houses for himself in the city of David: and built a place for the ark of God, and pitched a tabernacle for it. ²Then David said: No one ought to carry the ark of God, but the Levites, whom the Lord hath chosen to carry it, and to minister unto himself for ever. ³And he gathered all Israel together into Jerusalem, that the ark of God might be brought into its place, which he had prepared for it. ⁴And the sons of Aaron also, and the Levites. ⁵Of the children of Caath, Uriel was the chief, and his brethren a hundred and twenty. ⁶Of the sons of Merari, Asaia the chief, and his brethren two hundred and twenty. ⁷Of the sons of Gersom, Joel the chief, and his brethren a hundred and thirty. ⁸Of the sons of Elisaphan, Semeias the chief: and his brethren two hundred. ⁹Of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief: and his brethren eighty. ¹⁰Of the sons of Oziel, Aminadab the chief: and his brethren a hundred and twelve. ¹¹And David called Sadoc, and Abiathar the priests, and the Levites, Uriel, Asaia, Joel, Semeia, Eliel, and Aminadab: ¹²And he said to them: You that are the heads of the Levitical families, be sanctified with your brethren, and brine the ark of the Lord the God of Israel to the place, which is prepared for it: ¹³Lest as the Lord at first struck us, because you were not present, the same should now also come to pass, by our doing some thing against the law. ¹⁴So the priests and the Levites were sanctified, to carry the ark of the Lord the God of Israel. ¹⁵And the sons of Levi took the ark of God as Moses had commanded, according to the word of the Lord, upon their shoulders, with the staves. ¹⁶And David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites, to appoint some of their brethren to be singers with musical instruments, to wit, on psalteries, and harps, and cymbals, that the joyful noise might resound on high. ¹⁷And they appointed Levites, Hemam the son of Joel, and of his brethren Asaph the son of Barachias: and of the sons of Merari, their brethren: Ethan the son of Casaia. ¹⁸And with them their brethren: in the second rank, Zacharias, and Ben, and Jaziel, and Semiramoth, and Jahiel, and Ani, and Eliab, and Banaias, and Maasias, and Mathathias, and Eliphalu, and Macenias, and Obededom, and Jehiel, the porters. ¹⁹Now the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, sounded with cymbals of brass. ²⁰And Zacharias, and Oziel, and Semiramoth, and Jehiel, and Ani, and Eliab, and Maasias, and Banaias, sung mysteries upon psalteries. ²¹And Mathathias, and Eliphalu, and Macenias and Obededom, and Jehiel and Ozaziu, sung a song of victory for the octave upon harps. ²²And Chonenias chief of the Levites, presided over the prophecy, to give out the tunes: for he was very skilful. ²³And Barachias, and Elcana, were doorkeepers of the ark. ²⁴And Sebenias, and Josaphat, and Nathanael, and Amasai, and Zacharias, and Banaias, and Eliezer the priests, sounded with trumpets, before the ark of God: and Obededom and Jehias were porters of the ark. ²⁵So David and all the ancients of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of Obededom with joy. ²⁶And when God had helped the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, they offered in sacrifice seven oxen, and seven rams. ²⁷And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that carried the ark, and the singing men, and Chonenias the ruler of the prophecy among the singers: and David also had on him an ephod of linen. ²⁸And all Israel brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord with joyful shouting, and sounding with the sound of the comet, and with trumpets, and cymbals, and psalteries, and harps. ²⁹And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord was come to the city of David, Michol the daughter of Saul looking out at a window, saw king David dancing and playing, and she despised him in her heart.

Chapter 16

¹So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent, which David had pitched for it : and they offered holocausts, and peace offerings before God. ²And when David had made an end of offering holocausts, and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. ³And he divided to all and every one, both men and women, a loaf of bread, and a piece of roasted beef, and flour fried with oil. ⁴And he appointed Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to remember his works, and to glorify, and praise the Lord God of Israel. ⁵Asaph the chief, and next after him Zacharias: moreover Jahiel, and Semiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mathathias, and Eliab, and Banaias, and Obededom: and Jehiel over the instruments of psaltery, and harps: and Asaph sounded with cymbals: ⁶But Banaias, and Jaziel the priests, to sound the trumpet continually before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. ⁷In that day David made Asaph the chief to give praise to the Lord with his brethren. ⁸Praise ye the Lord, and call upon his name: make known his doings among the nations. ⁹Sing to him, yea, sing praises to him: and relate all his wondrous works. ¹⁰Praise ye his holy name: let the heart I of them rejoice, that seek the Lord. ¹¹Seek ye the Lord, and his power: seek ye his face evermore. ¹²Remember his wonderful works, which he hath done: his signs, and the judgments of his mouth. ¹³O ye seed of Israel his servants, ye children of Jacob his chosen. ¹⁴He is the Lord our God: his judgments are in all the earth. ¹⁵Remember for ever his covenant: the word, which he commanded to a thousand generations. ¹⁶The covenant which he made with Abraham: and his oath to Isaac. ¹⁷And he appointed the same to Jacob for a precept: and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: ¹⁸Saying: To thee will I give the land of Chanaan: the lot of your inheritance. ¹⁹When they were but a small number: very few and sojourners in it. ²⁰And they passed from nation to nation: and from a kingdom to another people. ²¹He suffered no man to do them wrong: and reproved kings for their sake. ²²Touch not my anointed: and do no evil to my prophets. ²³Sing ye to the Lord, all the earth: shew forth from day to day his salvation. ²⁴Declare his glory among the Gentiles: his wonders among all people. ²⁵For the Lord is great and exceedingly to be praised: and he is to be feared above all gods. ²⁶For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens. ²⁷Praise and magnificence are before him: strength and joy in his place. ²⁸Bring ye to the Lord, O ye families of the nations: bring ye to the Lord glory and empire. ²⁹Give to the Lord glory to his name, bring up sacrifice, and come ye in his sight: and adore the Lord in holy becomingness. ³⁰Let all the earth be moved at his presence : for he hath founded the world immoveable. ³¹Let the heavens rejoice, and the earth be glad: and let them say among the nations: The Lord hath reigned. ³²Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof: let the fields rejoice, and all things that are in them. ³³Then shall the trees of the wood give praise before the Lord: because he is come to judge the earth. ³⁴Give ye glory to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. ³⁵And say ye: Save us, O God our saviour: and gather us together, and deliver us from the nations, that we may give glory to thy holy name, and may rejoice in singing thy praises. ³⁶Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel from eternity to eternity: and let all the people say Amen, and a hymn to God. ³⁷So he left there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, Asaph and his brethren to minister in the presence of the ark continually day by day, and in their courses. ³⁸And Obededom, with his brethren sixty-eight: and Obededom the son of Idithun, and Hosa he appointed to be porters. ³⁹And Sadoc the priest, and his brethren priests, before the tabernacle of the Lord in the high place, which was in Gabaon. ⁴⁰That they should offer holocausts to the Lord upon the altar of holocausts continually, morning and evening, according to all that is written in the law of the Lord, which he commanded Israel. ⁴¹And after him Heman, and Idithun, and the rest that were chosen, every one by his name to give praise to the Lord: because his mercy endureth for ever. ⁴²And Heman and Idithun sounded the trumpet, and played on the cymbals, and all kinds of musical instruments to sing praises to God: and the sons of Idithun he made porters. ⁴³And all the people returned to their houses: and David to bless also his own house.

Chapter 17

¹Now when David was dwelling in his house, he said to Nathan the prophet: Behold I dwell in a house of cedar : and the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under skins. ²And Nathan said to David: Do all that is in thy heart: for God is with thee. ³Now that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying: ⁴Go, and speak to David my servant: Thus saith the Lord: Thou shalt not build me a house to dwell in. ⁵For I have not remained in a house from the time that I brought up Israel, to this day: but I have been always changing places in a tabernacle, and in a tent, ⁶Abiding with all Israel. Did I ever speak to any one, of all the judges of Israel, whom I charged to feed my people, saying: Why have you not built me a house of cedar? ⁷Now therefore thus shalt thou say to my servant David: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I took thee from the pastures, from following the flock, that thou shouldst be ruler of my people Israel. ⁸And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast gone: and have slain all thy enemies before thee, and have made thee a name like that of one of the great ones that are renowned in the earth. ⁹And I have given a place to my people Israel: they shall be planted, and shall dwell therein, and shall be moved no more, neither shall the children of iniquity waste them, as at the beginning, ¹⁰Since the days that I gave judges to my people Israel, and have humbled all thy enemies. And I declare to thee, that the Lord will build thee a house. ¹¹And when thou shalt have ended thy days to go to thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons: and I will establish his kingdom. ¹²He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne for ever. ¹³I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee. ¹⁴But I will settle him in my house, and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be most firm for ever. ¹⁵According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak to David. ¹⁶And king David came and sat before the Lord, and said: Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that thou shouldst give such things to me? ¹⁷But even this hath seemed little in thy sight, and therefore thou hast also spoken concerning the house of thy servant for the time to come: and best made me remarkable above all men, O Lord God. ¹⁸What can David add more, seeing thou hast thus glorified thy servant, and known him? ¹⁹O Lord, for thy servant's sake, according to thy own heart, thou hast shewn all this magnificence, and wouldst have all the great things to be known. ²⁰O Lord there is none like thee: and there is no other God beside thee, of all whom we have heard of with our ears. ²¹For what other nation is there upon earth like thy people Israel, whom God went to deliver, and make a people for himself, and by his greatness and terrors cast out nations before their face whom he had delivered out of Egypt? ²²And thou hast made thy people Israel to be thy own people for ever, and thou, O Lord, art become their God. ²³Now therefore, O Lord, let the word which thou hast spoken to thy servant, and concerning his house, be established for ever, and do as thou hast said. ²⁴And let thy name remain and be magnified for ever: and let it be said: The Lord of hosts is God of Israel, and the house of David his servant remaineth before him. ²⁵For thou, O Lord my God, hast revealed to the ear of thy servant, that thou wilt build him a house: and therefore thy servant hath found confidence to pray before thee. ²⁶And now O Lord, thou art God: and thou hast promised to thy servant such great benefits. ²⁷And thou hast begun to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be always before thee: for seeing thou blessest it, O Lord, it shall be blessed for ever.

Chapter 18

¹And it came to pass after this, that David defeated the Philistines, and humbled them, and took away Geth, and her daughters out of the hands of the Philistines, ²And he defeated Moab, and the Moabites were made David's servants, and brought him gifts. ³At that time David defeated also Adarezer king of Soba of the land of Hemath, when he went to extend his dominions as far as the river Euphrates. ⁴And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen, and he houghed all the chariot horses, only a hundred chariots, which he reserved for himself. ⁵And the Syrians of Damascus came also to help Adarezer king of Soba: and David slew of them likewise two and twenty thousand men. ⁶And he put a garrison in Damascus, that Syria also should serve him, and bring gifts. And the Lord assisted him in all things to which he went. ⁷And David took the golden quivers which the servants of Adarezer had, and he brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸Likewise out of Thebath and Chun, cities of Adarezer, he brought very much brass, of which Solomon made the brazen sea, and the pillars, and the vessels of brass. ⁹Now when Thou king of Hemath heard that David had defeated all the army of Adarezer king of Soba, ¹⁰He sent Adoram his son to king David, to desire peace of him, and to congratulate him that he had defeated and overthrown Adarezer: for Thou was an enemy to Adarezer. ¹¹And all the vessels of gold, and silver, and brass king David consecrated to the Lord, with the silver and gold which he had taken from all the nations, as well from Edom, and from Moab, and from the sons of Ammon, as from the Philistines, and from Amalec. ¹²And Abisai the son of Sarvia slew of the Edomites in the vale of the saltpits, eighteen thousand: ¹³And he put a garrison in Edom, that Edom should serve David: and the Lord preserved David in all things to which he went. ¹⁴So David reigned over all Israel, and executed judgment and justice among all his people. ¹⁵And Joab the son of Sarvia was over the army, and Josaphat the son of Ahilud recorder. ¹⁶And Sadoc the son of Achitob, and Achimelech the son of Abiathar, were the priests: and Susa, scribe. ¹⁷And Banaias the son of Joiada was over the bands of the Cerethi, and the Phelethi: and the sons of David were chief about the king.

Chapter 19

¹Now it came to pass that Naas the king of the children of Ammon died, and his son reigned is his stead. ²And David said: I will shew kindness to Hanon the son of Naas: for his father did a favour to me. And David sent messengers to comfort him upon the death of his father. But when they were come into the land of the children of Ammon, to comfort Hanon, ³The princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanon: Thou thinkest perhaps that David to do honour to thy father hath sent comforters to thee: and thou dost not take notice, that his servants are come to thee to consider, and search, and spy out thy land. ⁴Wherefore Hanon shaved the heads and beards of the servants of David, and cut away their garments from the buttocks to the feet, and sent them away. ⁵And when they were gone, they sent word to David, who sent to meet them (for they had suffered a great affront) and ordered them to stay at Jericho till their beards grew and then to return. ⁶And when the children of Ammon saw that they had done an injury to David, Hanon and the rest of the people sent a thousand talents of silver, to hire them chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and out of Syria Maacha, and out of Soba. ⁷And they hired two and thirty thousand chariots, and the king of Maacha, with his people. And they came and camped over against Medaba. And the children of Ammon gathered themselves together out of their cities, and came to battle. ⁸And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the army of valiant men: ⁹And the children of Ammon came out and put their army in array before the gate of the city : and the kings, that were come to their aid, stood apart in the field. ¹⁰Wherefore Joab understanding that the battle was set against him before and behind, chose out the bravest men of all Israel, and marched against the Syrians, ¹¹And the rest of the people he delivered into the hand of Abisai his brother, and they went against the children of Ammon. ¹²And he said: If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me: but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, I will help thee. ¹³Be of good courage and let us behave ourselves manfully for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the Lord will do that which is good in his sight. ¹⁴So Joab and the people that were with him, went against the Syrians to the battle : and he put them to flight. ¹⁵And the children of Ammon seeing that the Syrians were fled, they likewise fled from Abisai his brother, and went into the city: and Joab also returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁶But the Syrians seeing that they had fallen before Israel, sent messengers, and brought to them the Syrians that were beyond the river: and Sophach, general of the army of Adarezer, was their leader. ¹⁷And it was told David, and he gathered together all Israel, and passed the Jordan, and came upon them, and put his army in array against them, and they fought with him. ¹⁸But the Syrian fled before Israel: and David slew of the Syrians seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and Sophach the general of the army. ¹⁹And when the servants of Adarezer saw themselves overcome by Israel, they went over to David, and served him: and Syria would not help the children of Ammon any more.

Chapter 20

¹And it came to pass after the course of a year, at the time that kings go out to battle, Joab gathered together an army and the strength of the troops, and wasted the land of the children of Ammon: and went and besieged Rabba. But David stayed at Jerusalem, when Joab smote Rabba, and destroyed it. ²And David took the crown of Melchom from his head, and found in it a talent weight of gold, and most precious stones, and he made himself a diadem of it: he took also the spoils of the city which were very great. ³And the people that were therein he brought out: and made harrows, and sleds, and chariots of iron to go over them, so that they were cut and bruised to pieces: in this manner David dealt with all the cities of the children of Ammon : and he returned with alibis people to Jerusalem. ⁴After this there arose a war at Gazer against the Philistines: in which Sabachai the Husathite slew Saphai of the race of Raphaim, and humbled them. ⁵Another battle also was fought against the Philistines, in which Adeodatus the son of Saltus a Bethlehemite slew the brother of Goliath the Gethite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. ⁶There was another battle also in Geth, in which there was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand and foot: who also was born of the stock of Rapha. ⁷He reviled Israel: but Jonathan the son of Samaa the brother of David slew him. These were the sons of Rapha in Geth, who fell by the hand of David and his servants.

Chapter 21

¹And Satan rose up against Israel: and moved David to number Israel. ²And David said to Joab, and to the rulers of the people: Go, and number Israel from Bersabee even to Dan, and bring me the number of them that I may know it. ³And Joab answered: The Lord make his people a hundred times more than they are : but, my lord the king, are they not all thy servants: why doth my lord seek this thing, which may be imputed as a sin to Israel? ⁴But the king's word rather prevailed: and Joab departed, and went through all Israel: and returned to Jerusalem. ⁵And he gave David the number of them, whom he had surveyed: and all the number of Israel was found to be eleven hundred thousand men that drew the sword: and of Juda four hundred and seventy thousand fighting men. ⁶But Levi and Benjamin he did not number: for Joab unwillingly executed the king's orders. ⁷And God was displeased with this thing that was commanded: and he struck Israel. ⁸And David said to God: I have sinned exceedingly in doing this: I beseech thee take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done foolishly. ⁹And the Lord spoke to Gad the seer of David, saying: ¹⁰Go, and speak to David, and tell him: Thus saith the Lord: I give thee the choice of three things: choose one which thou wilt, and I will do it to thee. ¹¹And when Gad was come to David, he said to him: Thus saith the Lord: choose which thou wilt: ¹²Either three years' famine: or three months to flee from thy enemies, and not to be able to escape their sword: or three days to have the sword of the Lord, and pestilence in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying in all the coasts of Israel: now therefore see what I shall answer him who sent me. ¹³And David said to Gad: I am on every side in a great strait: but it is better for me to fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are many, than into the hands of men. ¹⁴So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel. And there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. ¹⁵And he sent an angel to Jerusalem, to strike it: and as he was striking it, the Lord beheld, and took pity for the greatness of the evil: and said to the angel that destroyed: It is enough, now stop thy hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the thrashing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁶And David lifting up his eyes, saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand, turned against Jerusalem: and both he and the ancients clothed in haircloth, fell down flat on the ground. ¹⁷And David said to God: Am not I he that commanded the people to be numbered? It is I that have sinned: it is I that have done the evil: but as for this flock, what hath it deserved? O Lord my God, let thy hand be turned, I beseech thee, upon me, and upon my father's house: and let not thy people be destroyed. ¹⁸And the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to tell David, to go up, and build an altar to the Lord God in the thrashingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁹and David went up, according to the word of Gad, which he spoke to him in the name of the Lord. ²⁰Now when Ornan looked up, and saw the angel, he and his four sons hid themselves: for at that time he was thrashing wheat in the floor. ²¹And as David was coming to Ornan, Ornan saw him, and went out of the thrashingfloor to meet him, and bowed down to him with his face to the ground. ²²And David said to him: Give me this place of thy thrashingfloor, that I may build therein an altar to the Lord: but thou shalt take of me as much money as it is worth, that the plague may cease from the people. ²³And Ornan said to David: Take it, and let my lord the king do all that pleaseth him: and moreover the oxen also I give for a holocaust, and the drays for wood, and the wheat for the sacrifice: I will give it all willingly. ²⁴And king David said to him: It shall not be so, but I will give thee money as much se it is worth: for I must not take it from thee, and so offer to the Lord holocausts free cost. ²⁵So David gave to Ornan for the place, six hundred sides of gold of just weight. ²⁶And he built there an altar to the Lord: and he offered holocausts, and peace offerings, and he called upon the Lord, and he heard him by sending Are from heaven upon the altar of the holocaust. ²⁷And the Lord commanded the angel: and he put up his sword again into the sheath. ²⁸And David seeing that the Lord had heard him in the thrashingfloor of Oman the Jebusite, forthwith offered victims there. ²⁹But the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the desert, and the altar of holocausts, was at that time in the high place of Gabaon. ³⁰And David could not go to the altar there to pray to God: for he was seized with an exceeding great fear, seeing the sword of the angel of the Lord.

Chapter 22

¹Then David said: This is the house of God, and this is the altar for the holocaust of Israel. ²And he commanded to gather together all the proselytes of the land of Israel, and out of them he appointed stonecutters to hew stones and polish them, to build the house of God. ³And David prepared in abundance iron for the nails of the gates, and for the closures and joinings: and of brass an immense weight. ⁴And the cedar trees were without number, which the Sidonians, and Tyrians brought to David. ⁵And David said: Solomon my son is very young and tender, and the house which I would have to be built to the Lord, must be such as to be renowned in all countries: therefore I will prepare him necessaries. And therefore before his death he prepared all the charges. ⁶And he called for Solomon his son: and commanded him to build a house to the Lord the God of Israel. ⁷And David said to Solomon: My son, it was my desire to have built a house to the name of the Lord my God. ⁸But the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Thou hast shed much blood, and fought many battles, so thou canst not build a house to my name, after shedding so much blood before me: ⁹The son, that shall be born to thee, shall be a most quiet man: for I will make him rest from all his enemies round about: and therefore he shall be called Peaceable: and I will give peace and quietness to Israel all his days. ¹⁰He shall build a house to my name, and he shall be a son to me, and I will be a father to him: and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever. ¹¹Now then, my son, the Lord be with thee, and do thou prosper, and build the house to the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken of thee. ¹²The Lord also give thee wisdom and understanding, that thou mayest be able to rule Israel, and to keep the law of the Lord thy God. ¹³For then thou shalt be able to prosper, if thou keep the commandments, and judgments, which the Lord commanded Moses to teach Israel: take courage and act manfully, fear not, nor be dismayed. ¹⁴Behold I in my poverty have prepared the charges of the house of the Lord, of gold a hundred thousand talents, and of silver a million of talents: but of brass, and of iron there is no weight, for the abundance surpasseth all account: timber also and stones I have prepared for all the charges. ¹⁵Thou hast also workmen in abundance, hewers of stones, and masons, and carpenters, and of all trades the most skilful in their work, ¹⁶In gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, whereof there is no number. Arise then, and be doing, and the Lord will be with thee. ¹⁷David also charged all the princes of Israel, to help Solomon his son, ¹⁸Saying: You see, that the Lord your God is with you, and hath given you rest round about, and hath delivered all your enemies into your hands, and the land is subdued before the Lord, and before his people. ¹⁹Give therefore your hearts and your souls, to seek the Lord your God: and arise, and build a sanctuary to the Lord God, that the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the vessels consecrated to the Lord, may be brought into the house, which is built to the name of the Lord.

Chapter 23

¹And David being old and full of days, made Solomon his son king over Israel. ²And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, and the priests and Levites. ³And the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years, and upwards: and there were found of them thirty-eight thousand men. ⁴Of these twenty-four thousand were chosen, and distributed unto the ministry of the house of the Lord: and six thousand were the overseers and judges. ⁵Moreover four thousand were porters: and as many singers singing to the Lord with the instruments, which he had made to sing with. ⁶And David distributed them into courses by the families of the sons of Levi, to wit, of Gerson, and of Caath, and of Merari. ⁷The sons of Gerson were Leedan and Semei. ⁸The sons of Leedan: the chief Jahiel, and Zethan, and Joel, three. ⁹The sons of Semei: Salomith, and Hosiel, and Aran, three: these were the heads of the families of Leedan. ¹⁰And the sons of Semei were Leheth, and Ziza, and Jaus, and Baria: these were the sons of Semei, four. ¹¹And Leheth was the first, Ziza the second: but Jaus and Baria had not many children, and therefore they were counted in one family, and in one house. ¹²The sons of Caath were Amram, and Isaar, Hebron, and Oziel, four. ¹³The sons of Amram, Aaron, and Moses. And Aaron was separated to minister in the holy of holies, he and his sons for ever, and to burn incense before the Lord, according to his ceremonies, and to bless his name for ever. ¹⁴The sons also of Moses, the man of God, were numbered in the tribe of Levi. ¹⁵The sons of Moses were Gersom and Eliezer: ¹⁶The sons of Gersom: Subuel the first. ¹⁷And the sons of Eliezer were: Rohobia the first: and Eliezer had no more sons. But the sons of Rohobia were multiplied exceedingly. ¹⁸The sons of Isaar: Salomith the first. ¹⁹The sons of Hebron: Jeriau the first, Amarias the second, Jahaziel the third, Jecmaam the fourth. ²⁰The sons of Oziel: Micha the first, Jesia the second. ²¹The sons of Merari: Moholi, and Musi. The sons of Moholi: Eleazar and Cia. ²²And Eleazar died, and had no sons but daughters: and the sons of Cis their brethren took them. ²³The sons of Musi: Moholi, and Eder, and Jerimoth, three. ²⁴These are the sons of Levi in their kindreds and families, princes by their courses, and the number of every head that did the works of the ministry of the house of the Lord from twenty years old and upward. ²⁵For David said: The Lord the God of Israel hath given rest to his people, and a habitation in Jerusalem for ever. ²⁶And it shall not be the office of the Levites to carry any more the tabernacle, and all the vessels for the service thereof. ²⁷So according to the last precepts of David, the sons of Levi are to be numbered from twenty years old and upward. ²⁸And they are to be under the hand of the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord, in the porches, and in the chambers, and in the place of purification, and in the sanctuary, and in all the works of the ministry of the temple of the Lord. ²⁹And the priests have the charge of the leaves of proposition, and of the sacrifice of fine flour, and of the unleavened cakes, and of the fryingpan, and of the roasting, and of every weight and measure. ³⁰And the Levites are to stand in the morning to give thanks, and to sing praises to the Lord: and in like manner in the evening, ³¹As well in the oblation of the holocausts of the Lord, as in the sabbaths and in the new moons, and the rest of the solemnities, according to the number and ceremonies prescribed for every thing, continually before the Lord. ³²And let them keep the observances of the tabernacle of the covenant, and the ceremonies of the sanctuary, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brethren, that they may minister in the house of the Lord.

Chapter 24

¹Now these were the divisions of the sons of Aaron: The sons of Aaron: Nadab, and Abiu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar. ²But Nadab and Abiu died before their father, and had no children: so Eleazar, and Ithamar did the office of the priesthood. ³And David distributed them, that is, Sadoc of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, according to their courses and ministry. ⁴And there were found many more of the sons of Eleazar among the principal men, than of the sons of Ithamar. And he divided them so, that there were of the sons of Eleazar, sixteen chief men by their families: and of the sons of Ithamar eight by their families and houses. ⁵And he divided both the families one with the other by lot: for there were princes of the sanctuary, and princes of God, both of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar. ⁶And Semeias the son of Nathanael the scribe a Levite, wrote them down before the king and the princes, and Sadoc the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the princes also of the priestly and Levitical families: one house, which was over the rest, of Eleazar: and another house, which had the rest under it, of Ithamar. ⁷Now the first lot came forth to Joiarib, the second to Jedei, ⁸The third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, ⁹The fifth to Melchia, the sixth to Maiman, ¹⁰The seventh to Accos, the eighth to Abia, ¹¹The ninth to Jesua, the tenth to Sechenia, ¹²The eleventh to Eliasib, the twelfth to Jacim, ¹³The thirteenth to Hoppha, the fourteenth to Isbaab, ¹⁴The fifteenth to Belga, the sixteenth to Emmer, ¹⁵The seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Aphses, ¹⁶The nineteenth to Pheteia, the twentieth to Hezechiel, ¹⁷The one and twentieth to Jachin, the two and twentieth to Gamul, ¹⁸The three and twentieth to Dalaiau, the four and twentieth to Maaziau. ¹⁹These are their courses according to their ministries, to come into the house of the Lord, and according to their manner under the hand of Aaron their father: as the Lord the God of Israel had commanded. ²⁰Now of the rest of the sons of Levi, there was of the sons of Amram, Subael: and of the sons of Subael, Jehedeia. ²¹Also of the sons of Rohobia the chief Jesias. ²²And the son of Isaar Salemoth, and the son of Salemoth Jahath: ²³And his son Jeriau the first, Amarias the second, Jahaziel the third, Jecmaan the fourth. ²⁴The son of Oziel, Micha: the son of Micha, Samir. ²⁵The brother of Micha, Jesia: and the son of Jesia, Zacharias. ²⁶The sons of Merari: Moholi and Musi: the son of Oziau: Benno. ²⁷The son also of Merari: Oziau, and Seam, and Zacchur, and Hebri. ²⁸And the son of Moholi: Eleazar, who had no sons. ²⁹And the son of Cis, Jeramael. ³⁰The sons of Musi: Moholi, Eder, and Jerimoth. These are the sons of Levi according to the houses of their families. ³¹And they also cast lots over against their brethren the sons of Aaron before David the king, and Sadoc, and Ahimelech, and the princes of the priestly and Levitical families, both the elder and the younger. The lot divided all equally.

Chapter 25

¹Moreover David and the chief .officers of the army separated for the ministry the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Idithun : to prophesy with harps, and with psalteries, and with cymbals according to their number serving in their appointed office. ²Of the sons of Asaph: Zacchur, and Joseph, and Nathania, and Asarela, sons of Asaph: under the hand of Asaph prophesying near the king. ³And of Idithun: the sons of Idithun, Godolias, Serf, Jeseias, and Hasabias, and Mathathias, six, under the hand of their father Idithun, who prophesied with a harp to give thanks and to praise the Lord. ⁴Of Heman also: the sons of Heman, Bocciau, Mathaniau, Oziel, Subuel, and Jerimoth, Hananias, Hanani, Eliatha, Geddelthi, and Romemthiezer, and Jesbacassa, Mellothi, Othir, Mahazioth: ⁵All these were the sons of Heman the seer of the king in the words of God, to lift up the horn: and God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. ⁶All these under their father's hand were distributed to sing in the temple of the Lord, with cymbals, and psalteries and harps, for the service of the house of the Lord near the king: to wit, Asaph, and Idithun, and Heman. ⁷And the number of them with their brethren, that taught the song of the Lord, all the teachers, were two hundred and eighty-eight, ⁸And they cast lots by their courses, the elder equally with the younger, the learned and the unlearned together. ⁹And the first lot came forth to Joseph, who was of Asaph. The second to Godolias, to him and his sons, and his brethren twelve. ¹⁰The third to Zachur, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ¹¹11The fourth to Isari, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ¹²The fifth to Nathania, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ¹³The sixth to Bocciau, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ¹⁴The seventh to Isreela, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ¹⁵The eighth to Jesaia, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ¹⁶The ninth to Mathanaias, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ¹⁷The tenth to Semeias, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ¹⁸The eleventh to Azareel, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ¹⁹The twelfth to Hasabia, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ²⁰The thirteenth to Subael, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ²¹The fourteenth to Mathathias, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ²²The fifteenth to Jerimoth, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ²³The sixteenth to Hananias, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ²⁴The seventeenth to Jesbacassa, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ²⁵The eighteenth to Hanani, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ²⁶The nineteenth to Mellothi, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ²⁷The twentieth to Eliatha, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ²⁸The one and twentieth to Othir, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ²⁹The two and twentieth to Geddelthi, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ³⁰The three and twentieth to Mahazioth, to his sons and his brethren twelve. ³¹31The four and twentieth to Romemthiezer, to his sons and his brethren twelve.

Chapter 26

¹And the divisions of the porters: of the Corites Meselemia, the son of Core, of the sons of Asaph. ²The sons of Meselemia: Zacharias the firstborn, Jadihel the second, Zabadias the third, Jathanael the fourth, ³Elam the fifth, Johanan the sixth, Elioenai the seventh. ⁴And the sons of Obededom, Semeias the firstborn, Jozabad the second, Joaha the third, Sachar the fourth, Nathanael the fifth, ⁵Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Phollathi the eighth: for the Lord had blessed him. ⁶And to Semei his son were born sons, herds of their families: for they were men of great valour. ⁷The sons then of Semeias were Othni, and Raphael, and Obed, Elizabad, and his brethren most valiant men: and Eliu, and Samachias. ⁸All these of the sons of Obededom: they, and their sons, and their brethren most able men for service, sixty-two of Obededom. ⁹And the sons of Meselemia, and their brethren strong men, were eighteen. ¹⁰And of Hosa, that is, of the sons of Merari: Semri the chief, (for he had not a firstborn, and therefore his father made him chief.) ¹¹Helcias the second, Tabelias the third, Zacharias the fourth: all these the sons, and the brethren of Hosa, were thirteen. ¹²Among these were the divisions of the porters, so that the chiefs of the wards, as well as their brethren, always ministered in the house of the Lord. ¹³And they cast lots equally, both little and great, by their families for every one of the gates. ¹⁴And the lot of the east fell to Selemias. But to his son Zacharias, a very wise and learned man, the north gate fell by lot. ¹⁵And to Obededom and his sons that towards the south: in which part of the house was the council of the ancients. ¹⁶To Sephim, and Hosa towards the west, by the gate which leadeth to the way of the ascent: ward against ward. ¹⁷Now towards the east were six Levites: and towards the north four a day: and towards the south likewise four a day: and where the council was, two and two. ¹⁸In the cells also of the porters toward the west four in the way: and two at every cell. ¹⁹These are the divisions of the porters of the sons of Core, and of Merari. ²⁰Now Achias was over the treasures of the house of God, and the holy vessels. ²¹The sons of Ledan, the sons of Gersonni: of Ledan were heads of the families, of Ledan, and Gersonni, Jehieli. ²²The sons of Jehieli: Zathan and Joel, his brethren over the treasures of the house of the Lord, ²³With the Amramites, and Isaarites, and Hebronites, and Ozielites. ²⁴And Subael the son of Gersom, the son of Moses, was chief over the treasures. ²⁵His brethren also, Eliezer, whose son Rohobia, and his son Isaias, and his son Joram, and his son Zechri, and his son Selemith. ²⁶Which Selemith and his brethren were over the treasures of the holy things, which king David, and the heads of families, and the captains over thousands and over hundreds, and the captains of the host had dedicated, ²⁷Out of the wars, and the spoils won in battles, which they had consecrated to the building and furniture of the temple of the Lord. ²⁸And all these things that Samuel the seer and Saul the son of Cis, and Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Sarvia had sanctified: and whosoever had sanctified those things, they were under the hand of Selemith and his brethren. ²⁹But Chonenias and his sons were over the Isaarites, for the business abroad over Israel to teach them and judge them. ³⁰And of the Hebronites Hasabias, and his brethren most able men, a thousand seven hundred had the charge over Israel beyond the Jordan westward, in all the works of the Lord, and for the service of the king. ³¹And the chief of the Hebronites was Jeria according to their families and kindreds. In the fortieth year of the reign of David they were numbered, and there were found most valiant men in Jazer Galaad, ³²And his brethren of stronger age, two thousand seven hundred chiefs of families. And king David made them rulers over the Rubenites and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasses, for all the service of God, and the king.

Chapter 27

¹Now the children of Israel according to their number, the heads of families, captains of thousands and of hundreds, and officers, that served the king according to their companies, who came in and went out every month in the year, under every chief were four and twenty thousand. ²Over the first company the first month Jesboam, the son of Zabdiel was chief, and under him were four and twenty thousand. ³Of the sons of Phares, the chief of all the captains in the host in the first month. ⁴The company of the second month was under Dudia, an Ahohite, and after him was another named Macelloth, who commanded a part of the army of four and twenty thousand. ⁵And the captain of the third company for the third month, was Banaias the son of Joiada the priest: and in his division were four and twenty thousand. ⁶This is that Banaias the most valiant among the thirty, and above the thirty. And Amizabad his son commanded his company. ⁷The fourth, for the fourth month, was Asahel the brother of Joab, and Zabadias his son after him: and in his company were four and twenty thousand. ⁸The fifth captain for the fifth month, was Samaoth a Jezerite: and his company were four and twenty thousand. ⁹The sixth, for the sixth month, was Hira the son of Acces a Thecuite: and in his company were four and twenty thousand. ¹⁰The seventh, for the seventh month, was Helles a Phallonite of the sons of Ephraim: and in his company were four and twenty thousand. ¹¹The eighth, for the eighth month, was Sobochai a Husathite of the race of Zarahi: and in his company were four and twenty thousand. ¹²The ninth, for the ninth month, was Abiezer an Anathothite of the sons of Jemini, and in His company were four and twenty thousand. ¹³The tenth, for the tenth month, was Marai, who was a Netophathite of the race of Zarai: and in his company were four and twenty thousand. ¹⁴The eleventh, for the eleventh month, was Banaias, a Pharathonite of the sons of Ephraim: and in his company were four and twenty thousand. ¹⁵The twelfth, for the twelfth month, was Holdai a Netophathite, of the race of Gothoniel: and in his company were four and twenty thousand. ¹⁶Now the chiefs over the tribes of Israel were these: over the Rubenites, Eliezer the son of Zechri was ruler: over the Simeonites, Saphatias the son of Maacha : ¹⁷Over the Levites, Hasabias the son of Camuel: over the Aaronites, Sadoc: ¹⁸Over Juda, Eliu the brother of David: over Issachar, Amri the son of Michael: ¹⁹Over the Zabulonites, Jesmaias the son of Adias : over the Nephtalites, Jerimoth the son of Ozriel: ²⁰Over the sons of Ephraim, Osee the: son of Ozaziu: over the half tribe of Manasses, Joel the son of Phadaia: ²¹And over the half tribe of Manasses: in Galaad, Jaddo the son of Zacharias: and over Benjamin, Jasiel the son of Abner. ²²And over Dan, Ezrihel the son of Jeroham: these were the princes of the children of Israel. ²³But David would not number them from twenty years old and under: because the Lord had said that he would multiply Israel like the stars of heaven. ²⁴Joab the son of Sarvia began to number, but he finished not: because upon this there fell wrath upon Israel: and therefore the number of them that were numbered, was not registered in the chronicles of king David. ²⁵And over the king's treasures was Azmoth the son of Adiel: and over those stores which were in the cities, and is the villages, and in the castles, was Jonathan the son of Ozias. ²⁶And over the tillage, and the husbandmen, who tilled the ground, was Ezri the son of Chelub: ²⁷And over the dressers of the vineyards, was Semeias a Romathite: and over the wine cellars, Zabdias an Aphonite. ²⁸And over the oliveyards and the fig groves, which were in the plains, was Balanam a Gederite: and over the oil cellars, Joas. ²⁹And over the herds that fed in Saron, was Setrai a Saronite: and over the. oxen in the valleys, Saphat the son of Adli: ³⁰And over the camels, Ubil an Ishmahelite: and over the asses, Jadias a Meronathite: ³¹And over the sheep Jazia an Agarene. All these were the rulers of the substance of king David. ³²And Jonathan David's uncle, a counsellor, a wise and learned man: he and Jahiel the son of Hachamoni were with the king's sons. ³³And Achitophel was the king's counsellor, and Chusai the Arachite, the king's friend. ³⁴And after Achitophel was Joiada the son of Banaias, and Abiathar. And the general of the king's army was Joab.

Chapter 28

¹And David assembled all the chief men of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies, who waited on the king: and the captains over thousands, and over hundreds, and them who had the charge over the substance and possessions of the king, and his sons with the officers of the court, and the men of power, and all the bravest of the army at Jerusalem. ²And the king rising up, and standing said: Hear me, my brethren and my people: I had a thought to have built a house, in which the ark of the Lord, and the footstool of our God might rest: and I prepared all things for the building. ³And God said to me: Thou shalt not build a house to my name: because thou art a man of war, and hast shed blood. ⁴But the Lord God of Israel chose me of all the house of my father, to be king over Israel for ever: for of Juda he chose the princes: and of the house of Juda, my father's house: and among the sons of my father, it pleased him to choose me king over all Israel. ⁵And among my sons (for the Lord hath given me many sons) he hath chosen Solomon my son, to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. ⁶And he said to me: Solomon thy son shall build my house, and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be a father to him. ⁷And I will establish his kingdom for ever, if he continue to keep my commandments, and my judgments, as at this day. ⁸Now then before all the assembly of Israel, in the hearing of our God, keep ye, and seek all the commandments of the Lord our God: that you may possess the good land, and may leave it to your children after you for ever. ⁹And thou my son Solomon, know the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and a willing mind: "for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the thoughts of minds. If thou seek him, thou shalt find him: but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. ¹⁰Now therefore seeing the Lord hath chosen thee to build the house of the sanctuary, take courage, and do it. ¹¹And David gave to Solomon his son a description of the porch, and of the temple, and of the treasures, and of the upper floor, and of the inner chambers, and of the house for the mercy seat, ¹²As also of all the courts, which he had in his thought, and of the chambers round about, for the treasures of the house of the Lord, and for the treasures of the consecrated things, ¹³And of the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, for all the works of the house of the Lord, and for all the vessels of the service of the temple of the Lord. ¹⁴Gold by weight for every vessel for the ministry. And silver by weight according to the diversity of the vessels and uses. ¹⁵He gave also gold for the golden candlesticks, and their lamps, according to the dimensions of every candlestick, and the lamps thereof. In like manner also he gave silver by weight for the silver candlesticks, and for their lamps according to the diversity of the dimensions of them. ¹⁶He gave also gold for the tables of proposition, according to the diversity of the tables: in like manner also silver for other tables of silver. ¹⁷For fleshhooks also, and bowls, and censers of fine gold, and for little lions of gold, according to the measure he gave by weight, for every lion. In like manner also for lions of silver he set aside a different weight of silver. ¹⁸And for the altar of incense, he gave the purest gold: and to make the likeness of the chariot of the cherubims spreading their wings, and covering the ark of the covenant of the Lord. ¹⁹All these things, said he, came to me written by the hand of the Lord that I might understand all the works of the pattern. ²⁰And David said to Solomon his son: Act like a man, and take courage, and do: fear not, and be not dismayed: for the Lord my God will be with thee, and will not leave thee, nor forsake thee, till thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord. ²¹Behold the courses of the priests and the Levites, for every ministry of the house of the Lord, stand by thee, and are ready, and both the princes, and the people know how to execute all thy commandments.

Chapter 29

¹And king David said to all the assembly: Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is as yet young and tender: and the work is great, for a house is prepared not for man, but for God. ²And I with all my ability have prepared the expenses for the house of my God. Gold for vessels of gold, and silver for vessels of silver, brass for things of brass, iron for things of iron, wood for things of wood: and onyx stones, and stones like alabaster, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble of Paros in great abundance. ³Now over and above the things which I have offered into the house of my God I give of my own proper goods, gold and silver for the temple of my God, beside what things I have prepared for the holy house. ⁴Three thousand talents of gold of the gold of Ophir: and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the temple. ⁵And gold for wheresoever there is need of gold: and silver for wheresoever there is need of silver, for the works to be made by the hands of the artificers: now if any man is willing to offer, let him fill his hand to day, and offer what he pleaseth to the Lord. ⁶Then the heads of the families, and the princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands, and of hundreds, and the overseers of the king's possessions promised, ⁷And they gave for the works of the house of the Lord, of gold, five thousand talents, and ten thousand solids: of silver ten thousand talents: and of brass eighteen thousand talents: and of iron a hundred thousand talents. ⁸And all they that had stones, gave them to the treasures of the house of the Lord, by the hand of Jahiel the Gersonite. ⁹And the people rejoiced, when they promised their offerings willingly: because they offered them to the Lord with all their heart: and David the king rejoiced also with a great joy. ¹⁰And he blessed the Lord before all the multitude, and he said: Blessed art thou, O Lord the God of Israel, our father from eternity to eternity. ¹¹Thine, O Lord, is magnificence, and power, and glory, and victory: and to thee is praise: for all that is in heaven, and in earth, is thine: thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art above all princes. ¹²Thine are riches, and thine is glory, thou hast dominion over all, in thy hand is power and might: in thy hand greatness, and the empire of all things. ¹³Now therefore our God we give thanks to thee, and we praise thy glorious name. ¹⁴Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to promise thee all these things? all things are thine: and we have given thee what we received of thy hand. ¹⁵For we are sojourners before thee, and strangers, as were all our fathers. Our days upon earth are as a shadow, and there is no stay. ¹⁶O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee a house for thy holy name, is from thy hand, and all things are thine. ¹⁷I know my God that thou provest hearts, and lovest simplicity, wherefore I also in the simplicity of my heart, have joyfully offered all these things: and I have seen with great joy thy people, which are here present, offer thee their offerings. ¹⁸O Lord God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Israel our fathers, keep for ever this will of their heart, and let this mind remain always for the worship of thee. ¹⁹And give to Solomon my son a perfect heart, that he may keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy ceremonies, and do all things: and build the house, for which I have provided the charges. ²⁰And David commanded all the assembly: Bless ye the Lord our God. And all the assembly blessed the Lord the God of their fathers: and they bowed themselves and worshipped God, and then the king. ²¹And they sacrificed victims to the Lord: and they offered holocausts the next day, a thousand bullocks, a thousand rams, a thousand lambs, with their libations, and with every thing prescribed most abundantly for all Israel. ²²And they ate, and drank before the Lord that day with great joy. And they anointed the second time Solomon the son of David. And they anointed him to the Lord to be prince, end Sadoc to be high priest. ²³And Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father, and he pleased all: and all Israel obeyed him. ²⁴And all the princes, and men of power, and all the sons of king David gave their hand, and were subject to Solomon the king. ²⁵And the Lord magnified Solomon over all Israel: and gave him the glory of a reign, such as no king of Israel had before him. ²⁶So David the son of Isai reigned over all Israel. ²⁷And the days that he reigned over Israel, were forty years: in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem three and thirty years. ²⁸And he died in a good age, full of days, and riches, and glory. And Solomon his son reigned in his stead. ²⁹Now the acts of king David first and last are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer: ³⁰And of all his reign, and his valour, and of the times that passed under him, either in Israel, or in all the kingdoms of the countries.

The Second Book of Paralipomenon

Chapter 1

¹And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him to a high degree. ²And Solomon gave orders to all Israel, to the captains of thousands, and of hundreds, and to the rulers, and to the judges of all Israel, and the heads of the families: ³And he went with all the multitude to the high place of Gabaon, where was the tabernacle of the covenant of the Lord, which Moses the servant of God made, in the wilderness. ⁴For David had brought the ark of God from Cariathiarim to the place, which he had prepared for it, and where he had pitched a tabernacle for it, that is, in Jerusalem. ⁵And the altar of brass, which Beseleel the son of Uri the son of Hur had made, was there before the tabernacle of the Lord: and Solomon and all the assembly sought it: ⁶And Solomon went up thither to the brazen altar, before the tabernacle of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up on it a thousand victims. ⁷And behold that night God appeared to him, saying: Ask what thou wilt that I should give thee. ⁸And Solomon said to God: Thou hast shewn great kindness to my father David: and hast made me king in his stead. ⁹Now therefore, O Lord God, let thy word be fulfilled, which thou hast promised to David my father: for thou hast made me king over thy great people, which is as innumerable as the dust of the earth. ¹⁰Give me wisdom and knowledge that I may come in and go out before thy people: for who can worthily judge this thy people, which is so great? ¹¹And God said to Solomon: Because this choice hath pleased thy heart, and thou hast not asked riches, and wealth, and glory, nor the lives of them that hate thee, nor many days of life: but hast asked wisdom and knowledge, to be able to judge my people, over which I have made thee king, ¹²Wisdom and knowledge are granted to thee: and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and glory, so that none of the kings before thee, nor after thee, shall be like thee. ¹³Then Solomon came from the high place of Gabaon to Jerusalem before the tabernacle of the covenant, and reigned over Israel. ¹⁴And he gathered to himself chariots and horsemen, and he had a thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen: and he placed them in the cities of the chariots, and with the king in Jerusalem. ¹⁵And the king made silver and gold to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees as sycamores, which grow in the plains in great multitude. ¹⁶And there were horses brought him from Egypt, and from Coa by the king's merchants, who went, and bought at a price, ¹⁷A chariot of four horses for six hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty: in like manner market was made in all the kingdoms of the Hethites, and of the kings of Syria.

Chapter 2

¹And Solomon determined to build a house to the name of the Lord, and a palace for himself. ²And he numbered out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand to hew stones in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them. ³He sent also to Hiram king of Tyre, saying: As thou didst with David my father, and didst send him cedars, to build him a house, in which he dwelt: ⁴So do with me that I may build a house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to burn incense before him, and to perfume with aromatical spices, and for the continual setting forth of bread, and for the holocausts, morning and evening, and on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and the solemnities of the Lord our God for ever, which are commanded for Israel. ⁵For the house which I desire to build, is great: for our God is great above all gods. ⁶Who then can be able to build him a worthy house? if heaven, and the heavens of heavens cannot contain him: who am I that I should be able to build him a house? but to this end only, that incense may be burnt before him. ⁷Send me therefore a skilful man, that knoweth how to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, and in iron, in purple, in scarlet and in blue, and that hath skill in engraving, with the artificers, which I have with me in Judea and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided. ⁸Send me also cedars, and fir trees, and pine trees from Libanus: for I know that thy servants are skilful in cutting timber in Libanus, and my servants shall be with thy servants, ⁹To provide me timber in abundance. For the house which I desire to build, is to be exceeding great, and glorious. ¹⁰And I will give thy servants the workmen that are to cut down the trees, for their food twenty thousand cores of wheat, and as many cores of barley, and twenty thousand measures of wine, and twenty thousand measures of oil. ¹¹And Hiram king of Tyre sent a letter to Solomon, saying: Because the Lord hath loved his people, therefore he hath made thee king over them. ¹²And he added, saying: Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who hath given to king David a wise and knowing son, endued with understanding and prudence, to build a house to the Lord, and a palace for himself. ¹³I therefore have sent thee my father Hiram, a wise and most skilful man, ¹⁴The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, whose father was a Tyrian, who knoweth how to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, and in iron, and in marble, and in timber, in purple also, and violet, and silk and scarlet: and who knoweth to grave all sort of graving, and to devise ingeniously all that there may be need of in the work with thy artificers, and with the artificers of my lord David thy father. ¹⁵The wheat therefore, and the barley and the oil, and the wine, which thou, my lord, hast promised, send to thy servants. ¹⁶And we will cut down as many trees out of Libanus, as thou shalt want, and will convey them in floats by sea to Joppe: and it will be thy part to bring them thence to Jerusalem. ¹⁷And Solomon numbered all the proselytes in the land of Israel, after the numbering which David his father had made, and they were found a hundred and fifty-three thousand and six hundred. ¹⁸And he set seventy thousand of them to carry burdens on their shoulders, and eighty thousand to hew stones in the mountains: and three thousand and six hundred to be overseers of the work of the people.

Chapter 3

¹And Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, in mount Moria, which had been shewn to David his father, in the place which David had prepared in the thrashingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. ²And he began to build in the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. ³Now these are the foundations, which Solomon laid, to build the house of God, the length by the first measure sixty cubits, the breadth twenty cubits. ⁴And the porch in the front, which was extended in length according to the measure of the breadth of the house, twenty cubits: and the height was a hundred and twenty cubits: and he overlaid it within with pure gold. ⁵And the greater house he ceiled with deal boards, and overlaid them with plates of fine gold throughout: and he graved in them palm trees, and like little chains interlaced with one another. ⁶He paved also the floor of the temple with most precious marble, of great beauty. ⁷And the gold of the plates with which he overlaid the house, and the beams thereof, and the posts, and the walls, and the doors was of the finest: and he graved cherubims on the walls. ⁸He made also the house of the holy of holies: the length of it according to the breadth of the temple, twenty cubits, and the breadth of it in like manner twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with plates of gold, amounting to about six hundred talents. ⁹He made also nails of gold, and the weight of every nail was fifty sicles: the upper chambers also he overlaid with gold. ¹⁰He made also in the house of the holy of holies two cherubims of image work: and he overlaid them with gold. ¹¹The wings of the cherubims were extended twenty cubits, so that one wing was five cubits long, and reached to the wall of the house: and the other was also five cubits long, and reached to the wing of the other cherub. ¹²In like manner the wing of the other cherub, was five cubits long, and reached to the wall: and his other wing was five cubits long, and touched the wing of the other cherub. ¹³So the wings of the two cherubims were spread forth, and were extended twenty cubits: and they stood upright on their feet, and their faces were turned toward the house without. ¹⁴He made also a veil of violet, purple, scarlet, and silk: and wrought in it cherubims. ¹⁵He made also before the doors of the temple two pillars, which were five and thirty cubits high: and their chapiters were five cubits. ¹⁶He made also as it were little chains in the oracle, and he put them on the heads of the pillars: and a hundred pomegranates, which he put between the little chains. ¹⁷These pillars he put at the entrance of the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left: that which was on the right hand, he called Jachin: and that on the left hand, Boot.

Chapter 4

¹He made also an altar of brass twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits broad, and ten cubits high. ²Also a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass: it was five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits compassed it round about. ³And under it there was the likeness of oxen, and certain engravings on the outside of ten cubits compassed the belly of the sea, as it were with two rows. ⁴And the oxen were cast: and the sea itself was set upon the twelve oxen, three of which looked toward the north, and other three toward the west: and other three toward the south, and the other three that remained toward the east, and the sea stood upon them: and the hinder parts of the oxen were inward under the sea. ⁵Now the thickness of it was a handbreadth, and the brim of it was like the brim of a cup, or of a crisped lily: and it held three thousand measures. ⁶He made also ten lavers: and he see five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them all such things as they mere to offer for holocausts: but the sea was for the priests to wash in. ⁷And he made ten golden candlesticks, according to the form which they were commanded to be made by: and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left. ⁸Moreover also ten tables: and he set them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. Also a hundred bowls of gold. ⁹He made also the court of the priests, and a great hall, and doors in the hall, which he covered with brass. ¹⁰And he set the sea on the right side over against the east toward the south. ¹¹And Hiram made caldrons, and fleshhooks, and bowls: and finished all the king's work in the house of God: ¹²That is to say, the two pillars, and the pommels, and the chapiters, and the network, to cover the chapiters over the pommels. ¹³And four hundred pomegranates, and two wreaths of network, so that two rows of pomegranates were joined to each wreath, to cover the pommels, and the chapiters of the pillars. ¹⁴He made also bases, and lavers, which he set upon the bases: ¹⁵One sea, and twelve oxen under the sea; ¹⁶And the caldrons, and fleshhooks, and bowls. All the vessels did Hiram his father make for Solomon in the house of the Lord of the finest brass. ¹⁷In the country near the Jordan did the king cast them, in a clay ground between Sochot and Saredatha. ¹⁸And the multitude of vessels was innumerable, so that the weight of the brass was not known. ¹⁹And Solomon made all the vessels for the house of God, and the golden altar, and the tables, upon which were the leaves of proposition, ²⁰The candlesticks also of most pure gold with their lamps to give light before the oracle, according to the manner. ²¹And certain flowers, and lamps, and golden tongs: all were made of the finest gold. ²²The vessels also for the perfumes, and the censers, and the bowls, and the mortars, of pure gold. And he graved the doors of the inner temple, that is, for the holy of holies: and the doors of the temple without were of gold. And thus all the work was finished which Solomon made in the house of the Lord.

Chapter 5

¹Then Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had vowed, the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels he put among the treasures of the house of God. ²And after this he gathered together the ancients of Israel, and all the princes of the tribes, and the heads of the families, of the children of Israel to Jerusalem, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Sion. ³And all the men of Israel came to the king in the solemn day of the seventh month. ⁴And when all the ancients of Israel were come, the Levites took up the ark, ⁵And brought it in, together with all the furniture of the tabernacle. And the priests with the Levites carried the vessels of the sanctuary, which were in the tabernacle. ⁶And king Solomon and all the assembly of Israel, and all that were gathered together before the ark, sacrificed rams, and oxen without number: so great was the multitude of the victims. ⁷And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place, that is, to the oracle of the temple, into the holy of holies under the wings of the cherubims: ⁸So that the cherubims spread their wings over the place, in which the ark was set, and covered the ark itself and its staves. ⁹Now the ends of the staves wherewith the ark was carried, because they were some thing longer, were seen before the oracle: but if a man were a little outward, he could not see them. So the ark has been there unto this day. ¹⁰And there was nothing else in the ark but the two tables which Moses put there at Horeb when the Lord gave the law to the children of Israel, at their coming out of Egypt. ¹¹Now when the priests were come out of the sanctuary, (for all the priests that could be found there, mere sanctified: and as yet at that time the courses and orders of the ministries were not divided among them,) ¹²Both the Levites and the singing men, that is, both they that were under Asaph, and they that were under Heman, and they that were under Idithun, with their sons, and their brethren, clothed with fine linen, sounded with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, standing on the east side of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests, sounding with trumpets. ¹³So when they all sounded together, both with trumpets, and voice, and cymbals, and organs, and with divers kind of musical instruments, and lifted up their voice on high : the sound was heard afar off, so that when they began to praise the Lord, and to say: Give glory to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever: the house of God was filled with a cloud. ¹⁴Nor could the priests stand and minister by reason of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.

Chapter 6

¹Then Solomon said: The Lord promised that he would dwell in a cloud. ²But I have built a house to his name, that he might dwell there for ever. ³And the king turned his face, and blessed all the multitude of Israel (for all the multitude stood attentive) and he said: ⁴Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who hath accomplished in deed that which he spoke to David my father, saying: ⁵From the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel, for a house to be built in it to my name: neither chose I any other man, to be the ruler of my people Israel. ⁶But I chose Jerusalem, that my name might be there: and I chose David to set him over my people Israel. ⁷And whereas David my father had a mind to build a house to the name of the Lord the God of Israel, ⁸The Lord said to him: Forasmuch as it was thy will to build a house to my name, thou hast done well indeed in having such a will: ⁹But thou shalt not build the house, but thy son, who shall come out of thy loins, he shall build a house to my name. ¹⁰The Lord therefore hath accomplished his word which he spoke: and I am risen up in the place of David my father, and sit upon the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised : and have built a house to the name of the Lord God of Israel. ¹¹And I have put in it the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with the children of Israel. ¹²And he stood before the altar of the I Lord, in presence of all the multitude of Israel, and stretched forth his hands. ¹³For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, and had set it in the midst of the temple, which was five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high: and he stood upon it: then kneeling down in the presence of all the multitude of Israel, and lifting up his hands towards heaven, ¹⁴He said: O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven nor in earth: who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts: ¹⁵Who hast performed to thy servant David my father all that thou hast promised him: and hast accomplished in fact, what thou hast spoken with thy mouth, as also the present time proveth. ¹⁶Now then, O Lord God of Israel, fulfil to thy servant David my father, whatsoever thou hast promised him, saying: There shall not fail thee a man in my sight, to sit upon the throne of Israel: yet so that thy children take heed to their ways, and walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me. ¹⁷And now, Lord God of Israel, let thy word be established which thou hast spoken to thy servant David. ¹⁸Is it credible then that God should dwell with men on the earth? If heaven and the heavens of heavens do not contain thee, how much less this house, which I have built? ¹⁹But to this end only it is made, that thou mayest regard the prayer of thy servant and his supplication, O Lord my God: and mayest hear the prayers which thy servant poureth out before thee. ²⁰That thou mayest open thy eyes upon this house day and night, upon the place wherein thou hast promised that thy name should be called upon, ²¹And that thou wouldst hear the prayer which thy servant prayeth in it: hearken then to the prayers of thy servant, and of thy people Israel. Whosoever shall pray in this place, hear thou from thy dwelling place, that is, from heaven, and shew mercy. ²²If any man sin against his neighbour, and come to swear against him, and bind himself with a curse before the altar in this house: ²³Then hear thou from heaven, and do justice to thy servants, so as to requite the wicked by making his wickedness fall upon his own head, and to revenge the just, rewarding him according to his justice. ²⁴If thy people Israel be overcome by their enemies, (for they will sin against thee,) and being converted shall do penance, and call upon thy name, and pray to thee in this place, ²⁵Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them back into the land, which thou gavest to them, and their fathers. ²⁶If the heavens be shut up, and there fall no rain by reason of the sine of the people, and they shall pray to thee in this place, and confess to thy name, and be converted from their sins, when thou dost afflict them, ²⁷Then hear thou from heaven, O Lord, and forgive the sine of thy servants and of thy people Israel, and teach them the good way, in which they may walk: and give rain to thy land which thou hast given to thy people to possess. ²⁸If a famine arise in the land, or a pestilence or blasting, or mildew, or locusts, or caterpillars: or if their enemies waste the country, and besiege the cities, whatsoever scourge or infirmity shall be upon them: ²⁹Then if any of thy people Israel, knowing his own scourge and infirmity shall pray, and shall spread forth his hands in this house, ³⁰Hear thou from heaven, from thy high dwelling place, and forgive, and render to every one according to his ways, which thou knowest him to have in his heart: (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:) ³¹That they may fear thee, and walk in thy ways all the days that they live upon the face of the land, which thou hast given to our fathers. ³²If the stranger also, who is not of thy people Israel, come from a far country, for the sake of thy great name, and thy strong hand, and thy stretched out arm, and adore in this place: ³³Hear thou from heaven thy firm dwelling place, and do all that which that stranger shall call upon thee for: that all the people of the earth may know thy name, and may fear thee, as thy people Israel, and may know, that thy name is invoked upon this house, which I have built. ³⁴If thy people go out to war against their enemies, by the way that thou shalt send them, and adore thee towards the way of this city, which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built to thy name: ³⁵Then hear thou from heaven their prayers, and their supplications, and revenge them. ³⁶And if they sin against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them up to their enemies, and they lead them away captive to a land either afar off, or near at hand, ³⁷And if they be converted in their heart in the land to which they were led / captive, and do penance, and pray to thee in the land of their captivity, saying: We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have dealt unjustly: ³⁸And return to thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their captivity, to which they were led away, and adore thee towards the way of their own land which thou gavest their fathers, and of the city, which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built to thy name: ³⁹Then hear thou from heaven, that is, from thy firm dwelling place, their prayers, and do judgment, and forgive thy people, although they have sinned: ⁴⁰For thou art my God: let thy eyes, I beseech thee, be open, and let thy ears be attentive to the prayer, that is made in this place. ⁴¹Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O Lord God, put on salvation, and thy saints rejoice in good things. ⁴²O Lord God, turn not away the face of thy anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.

Chapter 7

¹And when Solomon had made an end of his prayer, Are came down from heaven, and consumed the holocausts and the victims: and the majesty of the Lord tilled the house. ²Neither could the priests enter into the temple of the Lord, because the majesty of the Lord had filled the temple of the Lord. ³Moreover all the children of Israel saw the fire coming down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house: and falling down with their faces to the ground, upon the stone pavement, they adored and praised the Lord: because he is good, because his mercy endureth for ever. ⁴And the king and all the people sacrificed victims before the Lord. ⁵And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand rams: and the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶And the priests stood in their offices: and the Levites with the instruments of music of the Lord, which king David made to praise the Lord: because his mercy endureth for ever, singing the hymns of David by their ministry: and the priests sounded with trumpets before them, and all Israel stood. ⁷Solomon also sanctified the middle of the court before the temple of the Lord: for he offered there the holocausts, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brazen altar, which he had made, could not hold the holocausts and the sacrifices and the fat: ⁸And Solomon kept the solemnity at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entrance of Emath to the torrent of Egypt. ⁹And he made on the eighth day a solemn assembly, because he had kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and had celebrated the solemnity seven days. ¹⁰So on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent away the people to their dwellings, joyful and glad for the good that the Lord had done to David, and to Solomon, and to all Israel his people. ¹¹And Solomon finished the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all that he had designed in his heart to do, in the house of the Lord, and in his own house, and he prospered. ¹²And the Lord appeared to him by night, and said : I have heard thy prayer, and I have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. ¹³If I shut up heaven, and there fall no rain, or if I give orders, and command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people: ¹⁴And my people, upon whom my name is called, being converted, shall make supplication to me, and seek out my face, and do penance for their most wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sine and will heal their land. ¹⁵My eyes also shall be open, and my ears attentive to the prayer of him that shall pray in this place. ¹⁶For I have chosen, and have sanctified this place, that my name may be there for ever, and my eyes and my heart may remain there perpetually. ¹⁷And as for thee, if thou walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and keep my justices and my judgments : ¹⁸I will raise up the throne of thy kingdom, as I promised to David thy father, saying: There shall not fail thee a man of thy stock to be ruler in Israel. ¹⁹But if you turn away, and forsake my justices, and my commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve strange gods, and adore them, ²⁰I will pluck you up by the root out of my land which I have given you: and this house which I have sanctified to my name, I will cast away from before my face, and will make it a byword, and an example among all nations. ²¹And this house shall be for a proverb to all that pass by, and they shall be astonished and say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house? ²²And they shall answer: Because they forsook the Lord the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on strange gods, and adored them, and worshipped them: therefore all these evils are come upon them.

Chapter 8

¹And at the end of twenty years after Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house: ²He built the cities which Hiram had given to Solomon, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there. ³He went also into Emath Suba, and possessed it. ⁴And he built Palmira in the desert, and he built other strong cities in Emath. ⁵And he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, walled cities with Rates and bars and locks. ⁶Balaath also and all the strong cities that were Solomon's, and all the cities of the chariots, and the cities of the horsemen. All that Solomon had a mind, and designed, he built in Jerusalem and in Libanus, and in all the land of his dominion. ⁷All the people that were left of the Hethites, and the Amorrhites, and the Pherezites, and the Hevites, and the Jebusites, that were not of the stock of Israel: ⁸Of their children, and of the posterity, whom the children of Israel had not slain, Solomon made to be the tributaries, unto this day. ⁹But of the children of Israel he set none to serve in the king's works: for they were men of war, and chief captains, and rulers of his chariots and horsemen. ¹⁰And all the chief captains of king Solomon's army were two hundred and fifty, who taught the people. ¹¹And he removed the daughter of Pharao from the city of David, to the house which he had built for her. For the king said: My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, for it is sanctified: because the ark of the Lord came into it. ¹²Then Solomon offered holocausts to the Lord upon the altar of the Lord which he had built before the porch, ¹³That every day an offering might be made on it according to the ordinance of Moses, in the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the festival days three times a year, that is to say, in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. ¹⁴And he appointed according to the order of David his father the offices of the priests in their ministries: and the Levites in their order to give praise, and minister before the priests according to the duty of every day: and the porters in their divisions by gate and gate: for so David the man of God had commanded. ¹⁵And the priests and Levites departed not from the king's commandments, as to any thing that he had commanded, and as to the keeping of the treasures. ¹⁶Solomon had all charges prepared, from the day that he founded the house of the Lord, until the day wherein he finished it. ¹⁷Then Solomon went to Asiongaber, and to Ailath, on the coast of the Red Sea, which is in the land of Edom. ¹⁸And Hiram sent him ships by the hands of his servants, and skilful mariners, and they went with Solomon's servants to Ophir, and they took thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought it to king Solomon.

Chapter 9

¹And when the queen of Saba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to try him with hard questions at Jerusalem, with great riches, and camels, which carried spices, and abundance of gold, and precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon, she proposed to him all that was in her heart. ²And Solomon explained to her all that she proposed: and there was not any thing that he did not make clear unto her. ³And when she had seen these things, to wit, the wisdom of Solomon, and the house which he had built, ⁴And the meats of his table, and the dwelling places of his servants, and the attendance of his officers, and their apparel, his cupbearers also, and their garments, and the victims which he offered in the house of the Lord: there was no more spirit in her, she was so astonished. ⁵And she add to the king: The word is true which I heard in my country of thy virtues and wisdom. ⁶I did not believe them that told it, until I came, and my eyes had seen, and I had proved that scarce one half of thy wisdom had been told me: thou hast exceeded the same with thy virtues. ⁷Happy are thy men, and happy are thy servants, who stand always before thee, and hear thy wisdom. ⁸Blessed be the Lord thy God, who hath been pleased to set thee on his throne, king of the Lord thy God. Because God loveth Israel, and will preserve them for ever: therefore hath he made thee king over them, to do judgment and justice. ⁹And she gave to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and most precious stones: there were no such spices as these which the queen of Saba gave to king Solomon. ¹⁰And the servants also of Hiram, with the servants of Solomon, brought gold from Ophir, and thyine trees, and most precious stones: ¹¹And the king made of the thyine trees stairs in the house of the Lord, and in the king's house, and harps and psalteries for the singing men: never were there seen such trees in the land of Juda. ¹²And king Solomon gave to the queen of Saba all that she desired, and that she asked, and many more things than she brought to him: so she returned, and went to her own country with her servants. ¹³And the weight of the gold, that was brought to Solomon every year, was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold: ¹⁴Beside the sum which the deputies of divers nations, and the merchants were accustomed to bring, and all the kings of Arabia, and the lords of the lands, who I brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵And king Solomon made two hundred golden spears, of the sum of six hundred pieces of gold, which went to every spear: ¹⁶And three hundred golden shields of three hundred pieces of gold, which went to the covering of every shield: and the king put them in the armoury, which was compassed with a wood. ¹⁷The king also made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸And six steps to go up to the throne, and a footstool of gold, and two arms one on either side, and two lions standing by the arms: ¹⁹Moreover twelve other little lions standing upon the steps on both sides: there was not such a throne in any kingdom. ²⁰And all the vessels of the king's table were of gold, and the vessels of the house of the forest of Libanus were of the purest gold. For no account was made of silver in those days. ²¹For the king's ships went to Tharsis with the servants of Hiram, once in three years: and they brought thence gold and silver, and ivory, and apes, and peacocks. ²²And Solomon was magnified above all the kings of the earth for riches and glory. ²³And all the kings of the earth desired to see the face of Solomon, that they might hear the wisdom which God had given in his heart. ²⁴And every year they brought him presents, vessels of silver and of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, and horses, and mules. ²⁵And Solomon had forty thousand horses in the stables, and twelve thousand chariots, and horsemen, and he placed them in the cities of the chariots, and where the king was in Jerusalem. ²⁶And he exercised authority over all the kings from the river Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, and to the borders of Egypt. ²⁷And he made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones: and cedars as common as the sycamores, which grow in the plains. ²⁸And horses were brought to him out of Egypt, and out of all countries. ²⁹Now the rest of the acts of Solomon first and last are written in the words of Nathan the prophet, and in the boobs of Ahias the Silonite, and in the vision of Addo the seer, against Jeroboam the son of Nabat. ³⁰And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ³¹And he slept d with his fathers: and they buried him in the city of David: and Roboam his son reigned in his stead

Chapter 10

¹And Roboam went to Sichem: for thither all Israel were assembled, to make him king. ²And when Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who was in Egypt, (for he was fled thither from Solomon,) heard it, forthwith he returned. ³And they sent for him, and he came with all Israel, and they spoke to Roboam, saying: ⁴Thy father oppressed us with a most grievous yoke, do thou govern us with a lighter hand than thy father, who laid upon us a heavy servitude, and ease some thing of the burden, that we may serve thee. ⁵And he said to them: Come to me again after three days. And when the people were gone, ⁶He took counsel with the ancients, who had stood before his father Solomon, while he yet lived, saying: What counsel give you to me, that I may answer the people? ⁷And they said to him: If thou please this people, and soothe them with kind words, they will be thy servants for ever. ⁸But he forsook the counsel of the ancients, end began to treat with the young men, that had been brought up with him, and were in his train. ⁹And he said to them: What seemeth good to you? or what shall I answer this people, who have said to me: Ease the yoke which thy father laid upon us? ¹⁰But they answered as young men, and brought up with him in pleasures, and said: Thus shalt thou speak to the people, that said to thee: Thy father made our yoke heavy, do thou ease it: thus shalt thou answer them: My little finger is thicker than the loins of my father. ¹¹My father laid upon you a heavy yoke, and I will add more weight to it: my father beat you with scourges, but I will beat you with scorpions. ¹²So Jeroboam, and all the people came to Roboam the third day, as he commanded them. ¹³And the king answered roughly, leaving the counsel of the ancients. ¹⁴And he spoke according to the advice of the young men : My father laid upon you a heavy yoke, which I will make heavier: my father beat you with scourges, but I will beat you with scorpions. ¹⁵And he condescended not to the people's requests: for it was the will of God, that his word might be fulfilled which he had spoken by the hand of Ahias the Silonite to Jeroboam the son of Nabat. ¹⁶And all the people upon the king's speaking roughly, said thus unto him: We have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Isai. Return to thy dwellings, O Israel, and do thou, O David, feed thy own house. And Israel went away to their dwellings. ¹⁷But Roboam reigned over the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Juda. ¹⁸And king Roboam sent Aduram, who was over the tributes, and the children of Israel stoned him, and he died: and king Roboam made haste to gee up into his chariot, and fled into Jerusalem. ¹⁹And Israel revolted from the house of David unto this day.

Chapter 11

¹And Roboam came to Jerusalem, and called together all the house of Juda and of Benjamin, a hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men and warriors, to fight against Israel, and to bring back his kingdom to him. ²And the word of the Lord came to Semeias the man of God, saying: ³Speak to Roboam the son of Solomon the king of Juda, and to all Israel, in Juda and Benjamin: ⁴Thus saith the Lord: You shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren: let every man return to his own house, for by my will this thing has been done. And when they heard the word of the Lord, they returned, and did not go against Jeroboam, ⁵And Roboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built walled cities in Juda. ⁶And he built Bethlehem, and Etam, and Thecue, ⁷And Bethsur, and Socho, and Odollam, ⁸And Geth, and Maresa, and Ziph, ⁹And Aduram, and Lachis, and Azecha, ¹⁰Saraa also, and Aialon, and Hebron, which are in Juda and Benjamin, well fenced cities. ¹¹And when he had enclosed them with walls, he put in them governors and storehouses of provisions, that is, of oil and of wine. ¹²Moreover in every city he made an armoury of shields and spears, and he fortified them with great diligence, and he reigned over Juda, and Benjamin, ¹³And the priests and Levites, that were in all Israel, came to him out of all their seats, ¹⁴Leaving their suburbs, and their possessions, and passing over to Juda, and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off, from executing the priestly office to the Lord. ¹⁵And he made to himself priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made. ¹⁶Moreover out of all the tribes of Israel, whosoever gave their heart to seek the Lord the God of Israel, came into Jerusalem to sacrifice their victims before the Lord the God of their fathers. ¹⁷And they strengthened the kingdom of Juda, and established Roboam the son of Solomon for three years: for they walked in the ways of David and of Solomon, only three years. ¹⁸And Roboam took to wife Mahalath, the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David: and Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Isai. ¹⁹And they bore him sons Jehus, and Somorias, and Zoom. ²⁰And after her he married Maacha the daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abia and Ethai, and Ziza, and Salomith. ²¹And Roboam loved Maacha the daughter of Absalom above all his wives, and concubines: for he had married eighteen wives, and threescore concubines: and he beget eight and twenty sons, and threescore daughters. ²²But he put at the head of them Abia the son of Maacha to be the chief ruler over all his brethren: for he meant to make him king, ²³Because he was wiser and mightier than all his sons, and in all the countries of Juda, and of Benjamin, and in all the walled cities: and he gave them provisions in abundance, and he sought many wives.

Chapter 12

¹And when the kingdom of Roboam was strengthened and fortified, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. ²And in the fifth year of the reign of Roboam, Sesac king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem (because they had sinned against the Lord) ³With twelve hundred chariots and threescore thousand horsemen: and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt, to wit, Libyans, and Troglodites, and Ethiopians. ⁴And he took the strongest cities in Juda, and came to Jerusalem. ⁵And Semeias the prophet came to Roboam, and to the princes of Juda, that were gathered together in Jerusalem, fleeing from Sesac, and he said to them : Thus saith the Lord: You have left me, and I have left you in the hand of Sesac. ⁶And the princes of Israel, and the king, being in a consternation, said: The Lord is just. ⁷And when the Lord saw that they were humbled, the word of the Lord came to Semeias, saying: Because they are humbled, I will not destroy them, and I will give them a little help, and my wrath shall not fall upon Jerusalem by the hand of Sesac. ⁸But yet they shall serve him, that they may know the difference between my service, and the service of a kingdom of the earth. ⁹So Sesac king of Egypt departed from Jerusalem, taking away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and of the king's house, and he took all with him, and the golden shields that Solomon had made, ¹⁰Instead of which the king made brazen ones, and delivered them to the captains of the shieldbearers, who guarded the entrance of the palace. ¹¹And when the king entered into the house of the Lord, the shieldbearers came and took them, and brought them back again to their armoury. ¹²But yet because they were humbled, the wrath of the Lord turned away from them, and they were not utterly destroyed: for even in Juda there were found good works. ¹³King Roboam therefore was strengthened in Jerusalem, and reigned: he was one and forty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord chose out of all the tribes of Israel, to establish his name there: and the name of his mother was Naama an Ammonitess. ¹⁴But he did evil, and did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord. ¹⁵Now the acts of Roboam first and last are written in the books of Semeias the prophet, and of Addo the seer, and diligently recorded: and there was war between Roboam and Jeroboam all their days. ¹⁶And Roboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. And Abia his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 13

¹In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam, Abia reigned over Juda. ²Three years he reigned in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Michaia, the daughter of Uriel of Gabaa: and there was war between Abia and Jeroboam. ³And when Abia had begun battle, and had with him four hundred thousand most valiant and chosen men, Jeroboam put his army in array against him, eight hundred thousand men, who were also chosen and most valiant for war. ⁴And Abia stood upon mount Semeron, which was in Ephraim, and said: Hear me, O Jeroboam, and all Israel: ⁵Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave to David the kingdom over Israel for ever, to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? ⁶And Jeroboam the son of Nabat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up: m and rebelled against his lord. ⁷And there were gathered to him vain men, and children of Belial: and they prevailed against Roboam the son of Solomon: for Roboam was unexperienced, and of a fearful heart, and could not resist them. ⁸And now you say that you are able to withstand the kingdom of the Lord, which he possesseth by the sons of David, and you have a great multitude of people, and golden calves, which Jeroboam hath made you for gods. ⁹And you have cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites: and you have made you priests, like all the nations of the earth: whosoever cometh and consecrateth his hand with a bullock of the herd, and with seven rams, is made a priest of those who are no gods. ¹⁰But the Lord is our God, whom we forsake not, and the priests who minister to the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites are in their order. ¹¹And they offer holocausts to the Lord, every day, morning and evening, and incense made according to the ordinance of the law, and the leaves are set forth on a most clean table, and there is with us the golden candlestick, and the lamps thereof, to be lighted always in the evening: for we keep the precepts of the Lord our God, whom you have forsaken. ¹²Therefore God is the leader in our army, and his priests who sound with trumpets, and resound against you: O children of Israel, fight not against the Lord the God of your fathers, for it is not good for you. ¹³While he spoke these things, Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind him. And while he stood facing the enemies, he encompassed Juda. who perceived it not, with his army. ¹⁴And when Juda looked back, they saw the battle coming upon them both before and behind, and they cried to the Lord: and the priests began to sound with the trumpets. ¹⁵And all the men of Juda shouted: and behold when they shouted, God terrified Jeroboam, and all Israel that stood against Abia and Juda. ¹⁶And the children of Israel fled before Juda, and the Lord delivered them into their hand. ¹⁷And Abia and his people slew them with a great slaughter, and there fell wounded of Israel five hundred thousand valiant men. ¹⁸And the children of Israel were brought down, at that time, and the children of Juda were exceedingly strengthened, because they had trusted in the Lord the God of their fathers. ¹⁹And Abia pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Bethel and her daughters, and Jesana with her daughters, Ephron also and her daughters. ²⁰And Jeroboam was not able to resist any more, in the days of Abia: and the Lord struck him, and he died. ²¹But Abia, being strengthened in his kingdom, took fourteen wives: and begot two and twenty sons, and sixteen daughters. ²²And the rest of the acts of Abia, and of his ways and works, are written diligently in the book of Addo the prophet.

Chapter 14

¹And Abia 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 pleasing in the sight of his God, and he destroyed the altars of foreign worship, and the high places. ³And broke the statues, and cut down the groves. ⁴And he commanded Juda to seek the Lord the God of their fathers, and to do the law, and all the commandments. ⁵And he took away out of all the cities of Juda the altars, and temples, and reigned in peace. ⁶He built also strong cities in Juda, for he was quiet, and there had no wars risen in his time, the Lord giving peace. ⁷And he said to Juda: Let us build these cities, and compass them with walls, and fortify them with towers, and gates, and bars, while all is quiet from wars, because we have sought the Lord the God of our fathers, and he hath given us peace round about. So they built, and there was no hinderance in building. ⁸And Asa had in his army of men that bore shields and spears of Juda three hundred thousand, and of Benjamin that bore shields and drew bows, two hundred and eighty thousand, all these were most valiant men. ⁹And Zara the Ethiopian came out against them with his army of ten hundred thousand men, and with three hundred chariots: and he came as far as Maresa. ¹⁰And Asa went out to meet him, and set his army in array for battle in the vale of Sephata, which is near Maresa: ¹¹And he called upon the Lord God, and said: O Lord, there is no difference with thee, whether thou help with few, or with many: help us, O Lord our God: for with confidence in thee, and in thy name, we are come against this multitude. O Lord thou art our God, let not man prevail against thee. ¹²And the Lord terrified the Ethiopians before Asa and Juda: and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them to Gerara: and the Ethiopians fell even to utter destruction, for the Lord slew them, and his army fought against them, and they were destroyed. And they took abundance of spoils, ¹⁴And they took all the cities round about Gerara: for a great fear was come upon all men: and they pillaged the cities, and carried off much booty. ¹⁵And they destroyed the sheepcotes, and took an infinite number of cattle, and of camels: and returned to Jerusalem.

Chapter 15

¹And the spirit of God came upon Azarias the son of Oded, ²And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: Hear ye me, Asa, and all Juda and Benjamin: The Lord is with you, because you have been with him. If you seek him, you shall find: but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. ³And many days shall pass in Israel without the true God, and without a priest a teacher, and without the law. ⁴And when in their distress they shall return to the Lord the God of Israel, and shall seek him, they shall find him. ⁵At that time there shall be no peace to him that goeth out and cometh in, but terrors on every side among all the inhabitants of the earth. ⁶For nation shall fight against nation, and city against city, for the Lord will trouble them with all distress. ⁷Do you therefore take courage, and let not your hands he weakened: for there shall be a reward for your work. ⁸And when Asa had heard the words, and the prophecy of Azarias the son of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and took away the idols out of all the land of Juda, and out of Benjamin, and out of the cities of mount Ephraim, which he had taken, and he dedicated the altar of the Lord, which was before the porch of the Lord. ⁹And he gathered together all Juda and Benjamin, and the strangers with them of Ephraim, and Manasses, and Simeon: for many were come over to him out of Israel, seeing that the Lord his God was with him. ¹⁰And when they were come to Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa, ¹¹They sacrificed to the Lord in that day of the spoils, and of the prey, that they had brought, seven hundred oxen, and seven thousand rams. ¹²And he went in to confirm as usual the covenant, that they should seek the Lord the God of their fathers with all their heart, and with all their soul. ¹³And if any one, said he, seek not the Lord the God of Israel, let him die, whether little or great, man or woman. ¹⁴And they swore to the Lord with a loud voice with joyful shouting, and with sound of trumpet, and sound of comets, ¹⁵All that mere in Juda with a curse: for with all their heart they swore, and with all their will they sought him, and they found him, and the Lord gave them rest round about. ¹⁶Moreover Maacha the mother of king Asa he deposed from the royal authority, because she had made in a grove an idol of Priapus: and he entirely destroyed it, and breaking it into pieces, burnt it at the torrent Cedron. ¹⁷But high places were left in Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. ¹⁸And the things which his father had vowed, and he himself had vowed, he brought into the house of the Lord, gold and silver, and vessels of divers uses. ¹⁹And there was no war unto the five and thirtieth year of the kingdom of Asa.

Chapter 16

¹And in the six and thirtieth year of his kingdom, Baasa the king of Israel came up against Juda, and built a wall about Rama, that no one might safely go out or come in of the kingdom of Asa. ²Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the Lord, and of the king's treasures, and sent to Benadad king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying: ³There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father, wherefore I have sent thee silver and gold, that thou mayst break thy league with Baasa king of Israel, and make him depart from me. ⁴And then Benadad heard this, he sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel: and they took Ahion, and Dan, and Abelmaim, and all the walled cities of Nephtali. ⁵And when Baasa heard of it, he left off the building of Rama, and interrupted his work. ⁶Then king Asa took all Juda, and they carried away from Rama the stones, and the timber that Baasa had prepared for the building: and he built with them Gabaa, and Maspha. ⁷At that time Hanani the prophet came to Asa king of Juda, and said to him: Because thou hast had confidence in the king of Syria, and not in the Lord thy God, therefore hath the army of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand. ⁸Were not the Ethiopians, and the Libyans much more numerous in chariots, and horsemen, and an exceeding great multitude: yet because thou trustedst in the Lord, he delivered them into thy hand? ⁹For the eyes of the Lord behold all the earth, and give strength to those who with a perfect heart trust in him. Wherefore thou hast done foolishly, and for this cause from this time wars shall arise against thee. ¹⁰And Asa was angry with the seer, and commanded him to be put in prison: for he was greatly enraged because of this thing: and he put to death many of the people at that time. ¹¹But the works of Asa the first and last are written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel. ¹²And Asa fell sick in the nine and thirtieth year of his reign, of a most violent pain in his feet, and yet in his illness he did not seek the Lord, but rather trusted in the skill of physicians. ¹³And he slept with his fathers: and he died in the one and fortieth year of his reign. ¹⁴And they buried him in his own sepulchre, which he had made for himself in the city of David: and they laid him on his bed full of spices and odoriferous ointments, which were made by the art of the perfumers, and they burnt them over him with very great pomp.

Chapter 17

¹And Josaphat his son reigned in his stead, and grew strong against Israel. ²And he placed numbers of soldiers in all the fortified cities of Juda. And he put garrisons in the land of Juda, and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken. ³And the Lord was with Josaphat, because he walked in the first ways of David his father: and trusted not in Baalim, ⁴But in the God of his father, and walk in his commandments, and not according to the sins of Israel. ⁵And the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and all Juda brought presents to Josaphat: and he acquired immense riches, and much glory. ⁶And when his heart had taken courage for the ways of the Lord, he took away also the high places and the groves out of Juda. ⁷And in the third year of his reign, he sent of his princes Benhail, and Abdias, and Zacharias, and Nathanael, and Micheas, to teach in the cities of Juda: ⁸And with them the Levites, Semeias, end Nathanias, and Zabadias, and Asael, and Semiramoth, and Jonathan, and Adonias, and Tobias, and Thobadonias Levites, and with them Elisama, and Joram priests. ⁹And they taught the people in Juda, having with them the book of the law of the Lord: and they went about all the cities of Juda, and instructed the people. ¹⁰And the fear of the Lord came upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Juda, and they durst not make war against Josaphat. ¹¹The Philistines also brought presents to Josaphat, and tribute in silver, and the Arabians brought him cattle, seven thousand seven hundred rams, and as many he goats. ¹²And Josaphat grew, and became exceeding great: and he built in Juda houses like towers, and walled cities. ¹³And he prepared many works in the cities of Juda: and he had warriors, and valiant men in Jerusalem. ¹⁴Of whom this is the number of the houses and families of every one: in Juda captains of the army, Ednas the chief, and with him three hundred thousand most valiant men. ¹⁵After him Johanan the captain, and with him two hundred and eighty thousand. ¹⁶And after him was Amasias the son of Zechri, consecrated to the Lord, and with him were two hundred thousand valiant men. ¹⁷After him was Eliada valiant in battle, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield. ¹⁸After him also was Jozabad, and with him a hundred and eighty thousand ready for war. ¹⁹All these were at the hand of the king, beside others, whom he had put in the walled cities, in all Juda.

Chapter 18

¹Now Josaphat was rich and very glorious, and was joined by affinity to Achab. ²And he went down to him after some years to Samaria: and Achab at his coming killed sheep and oxen in abundance for him and the people that came with him: and he persuaded him to go up to Ramoth Galaad. ³And Achab king of Israel said to Josaphat king of Juda: Come with me to Ramoth Galaad. And he answered him: Thou art as I am, and my people as thy people, and we will be with thee in the war. ⁴And Josaphat said to the king of Israel: Inquire, I beseech thee, at present the word of the Lord. ⁵So the king of Israel gathered together of the prophets four hundred men, and he said to them: Shall we go to Ramoth Galaad to fight, or shall we forbear ? But they said: Go up, and God will deliver it into the king's hand. ⁶And Josaphat said: Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire also of him? ⁷And the king of Israel said to Josaphat: There is one man, of whom we may ask the will of the Lord: but I hate him, for he never prophesieth good to me, but always evil: and it is Micheas the son of Jemla. And Josaphat said: Speak not thus, O king. ⁸And the king of Israel called one of the eunuchs, and said to him : Call quickly Micheas the son of Jemla. ⁹Now the king of Israel, and Josaphat king of Juda, both sat on their thrones, clothed in royal robes, and they sat in the open court by the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets prophesied before them. ¹⁰And Sedecias the son of Chanaana made him horns of iron, and said: Thus saith the Lord: With these shalt thou push Syria, till thou destroy it. ¹¹And all the prophets prophesied in like manner, and said: Go up to Ramoth Galaad, and thou shalt prosper, and the Lord will deliver them into the king's hand. ¹²And the messenger that went to call Micheas, said to him: Behold the words of all the prophets with one mouth declare good to the king: I beseech thee therefore let not thy word disagree with them, and speak thou also good success. ¹³And Micheas answered him: As the Lord liveth, whatsoever my God shall say to me, that will I speak. ¹⁴So he came to the king: and the king said to him: Micheas, shall we go to Ramoth Galaad to fight, or forbear? And he answered him: Go up, for all shall succeed prosperously, and the enemies shall be delivered into your hands. ¹⁵And the king said: I adjure thee again and again to say nothing but the truth to me, in the name of the Lord. ¹⁶Then he said: I saw all Israel scattered in the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd : and the Lord said: These have no masters: let every man return to his own house in peace. ¹⁷And the king of Israel said to Josaphat: Did I not tell thee that this man would not prophesy me any good, but evil? ¹⁸Then he said: Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on the right hand and on the left. ¹⁹And the Lord said: Who shall deceive Achab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall in Ramoth Galaad? And when one spoke in this manner, and another otherwise: ²⁰There came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said: I will deceive him. And the Lord said to him: By what means wilt thou deceive him? ²¹And he answered: I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said: Thou shalt deceive, and shalt prevail: go out, and do so. ²²Now therefore behold the Lord hath put a spirit of lying in the mouth of all thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil against thee. ²³And Sedecias the son of Chanaana came, and struck Micheas on the cheek and said: Which way went the spirit of the Lord from me, to speak to thee? ²⁴And Micheas said :Thou thyself shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go in from chamber to chamber, to hide thyself. ²⁵And the king of Israel commanded, saying: Take Micheas, and carry him to Amen the governor of the city, and to Joas the son of Amelech, ²⁶And say: Thus saith the king: Put this fellow in prison, and give him bread and water in a small quantity till I return in peace. ²⁷And Micheas said: If thou return in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. And he said: Hear, all ye people. ²⁸So the king of Israel and Josaphat king of Juda went up to Ramoth Galaad. ²⁹And the king of Israel said to Josaphat: I will change my dress, and so I will go to the battle, but put thou on thy own garments. And the king of Israel having changed his dress, went to the battle. ³⁰Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his cavalry, saying: Fight ye not with small, or great, but with the king of Israel only. ³¹So when the captains of the cavalry saw Josaphat, they said: This is the king of Israel. And they surrounded him to attack him: but he cried to the Lord, and he helped him, and turned them away from him. ³²For when the captains of the cavalry saw, that he was not the king of Israel, they left him. ³³And it happened that one of the people shot an arrow at a venture, and struck the king of Israel between the neck and the shoulders, and he said to his chariot man: Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded. ³⁴And the fight was ended that day: but the king of Israel stood in his chariot against the Syrians until the evening, and died at the sunset.

Chapter 19

¹And Josaphat king of Juda returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. ²And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer met him, and said to him: Thou helpest the ungodly, and thou art joined in friendship with them that hate the Lord, and therefore thou didst deserve indeed the wrath of the Lord: ³But good works are found in thee, because thou hast taken away the groves out of the land of Juda, and hast prepared thy heart to seek the Lord the God of thy fathers. ⁴And Josaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again to the people from Bersabee to mount Ephraim, and brought them back to the Lord the God of their fathers. ⁵And he set judges of the land in all the fenced cities of Juda, in every place. ⁶And charging the judges, he said: Take heed what you do: for you exercise not the judgment of man, but of the Lord: and whatsoever you judge, it shall redound to you. ⁷Let the fear of the Lord be with you, and do all things with diligence: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, a nor respect of persons, nor desire of gifts. ⁸In Jerusalem also Josaphat appointed Levites, and priests and chiefs of the families of Israel, to judge the judgment and the cause of the Lord for the inhabitants thereof. ⁹And he charged them, saying: Thus shall you do in the fear of the Lord faithfully, and with a perfect heart. ¹⁰Every cause that shall come to you of your brethren, that dwell in their cities, between kindred and kindred, wheresoever there is question concerning the law, the commandment, the ceremonies, the justifications: shew it them, that they may not sin against the Lord, and that wrath may not come upon you and your brethren: and so doing you shall not sin. ¹¹And Amarias the priest your high priest shell be chief in the things which regard God: and Zabadias the son of Ismahel, who is ruler in the house of Juda, shall be over those matters which belong to the king's office : and you have before you the Levites for masters, take courage and do diligently, and the Lord will be with you in good things.

Chapter 20

¹After this the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them of the Ammonites, were gathered together to fight against Josaphat. ²And there came messengers, and told Josaphat, saying: There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea, and out of Syria, and behold they are in Asasonthamar, which is Engaddi. ³And Josaphat being seized with fear betook himself wholly to pray to the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Juda. ⁴And Juda gathered themselves together to pray to the Lord: and all came out of their cities to make supplication to him. ⁵And Josaphat stood in the midst of the assembly of Juda, and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord before the new court, ⁶And said: O Lord God of our fathers, thou art God in heaven, and rulest over all the kingdoms and nations, in thy hand is strength and power, and no one can resist thee. ⁷Didst not thou our God kill all the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? ⁸And they dwelt in it, and built in it a sanctuary to thy name, saying: ⁹If evils fall upon us, the sword of judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand in thy presence before this house, in which thy name is called upon: and we will cry to thee in our afflictions, and thou wilt hear, and save us. ¹⁰Now therefore behold the children of Ammon, and of Moab, and mount Seir, through whose lands thou didst not allow Israel to pass, when they came out of Egypt, but they turned aside from them, and slew them not, ¹¹Do the contrary, and endeavour to cast us out of the possession which thou hast delivered to us. ¹²O our God, wilt thou not then judge them? as for us we have not strength enough, to be able to resist this multitude, which cometh violently upon us. But as we know not what to do, we can only turn our eyes to thee. ¹³And all Juda stood before the Lord with their little ones, and their wives, and their children. ¹⁴And Jahaziel the son of Zacharias, the son of Banaias, the son of Jehiel, the son of Mathanias, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, was there, upon whom the spirit of the Lord came in the midst of the multitude, ¹⁵And he said: Attend ye, all Juda, and you that dwell in Jerusalem, and thou king Josaphat: Thus saith the Lord to you: Fear ye not, and be not dismayed at this multitude: for the battle is not yours, but God's. ¹⁶To morrow you shall go down against them: for they will come up by the ascent named Sis, and you shall find them at the head of the torrent, which is over against the wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷It shall not be you that shall fight, but only stand with confidence, and you shall see the help of the Lord over you, O Juda, and Jerusalem: fear ye not, nor be you dismayed: to morrow you shall go out against them, and the Lord will be with you. ¹⁸Then Josaphat, and Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell hat on the ground before the Lord, and adored him. ¹⁹And the Levites of the sons of Caath, and of the sons of Core praised the Lord the God of Israel with a loud voice, on high. ²⁰And they rose early in the morning, and went out through the desert of Thecua: and as they were marching, Josaphat standing in the midst of them, said: Hear me, ye men of Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be secure: believe his prophets, and all things shall succeed well. ²¹And he gave counsel to the people, and appointed the singing men of the Lord, to praise him by their companies, and to go before the army, and with one voice to say: Give glory to the Lord, for his mercy endureth for ever. ²²And when they began to sing praises, the Lord turned their ambushments upon themselves, that is to say, of the children of Ammon, and of Moab, and of mount Seir, who were come out to fight against Juda, and they were slain. ²³For the children of Ammon, and of Moab, rose up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, to kill and destroy them: and when they had made an end of them, they turned also against one another, and destroyed one another. ²⁴And when Juda came to the watch tower, that looketh toward the desert, they saw afar off all the country, for a great space, full of dead bodies, and that no one was left that could escape death. ²⁵Then Josaphat came, and all the people with him to take away the spoils of the dead, and they found among the dead bodies, stuff of various kinds, and garments, and most precious vessels: and they took them for themselves, insomuch that they could not carry all, nor in three days take away the spoils, the booty was so great. ²⁶And on the fourth day they were assembled in the valley of Blessing: for there they blessed the Lord, and therefore they called that place the valley of Blessing until this day. ²⁷And every man of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem returned, and Josaphat at their head, into Jerusalem with great joy, because the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸And they came into Jerusalem with psalteries, and harps, and trumpets into the house of the Lord. ²⁹And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰And the kingdom of Josaphat was quiet, and God gave him peace round about. ³¹And Josaphat reigned over Juda, and he was five and thirty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned five and twenty years in Jerusalem: and the name of his mother was Azuba the daughter of Selahi. ³²And he walked in the way of his father Asa, and departed not from it, doing the things that were pleasing before the Lord. ³³But yet he took not away the high places, and the people had not yet turned their heart to the Lord the God of their fathers. ³⁴But the rest of the acts of Josaphat, first and last, are written in the words of Jehu the son of Hanani, which he digested into the books of the kings of Israel. ³⁵After these things Josaphat king of Juda made friendship with Ochozias king of Israel, whose works were very wicked. ³⁶And he was partner with him in making ships, to go to Tharsis: and they made the ships in Asiongaber. ³⁷And Eliezer the son of Dodau of Maresa prophesied to Josaphat, saying: Because thou hast made a league with Ochozias, the Lord hath destroyed thy works, and the ships are broken, and they could not go to Tharsis.

Chapter 21

¹And Josaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David: and Joram his son reigned in his stead. ²And he had brethren the sons of Josaphat, Azarias, and Jahiel, and Zacharias, and Azaria, and Michael, and Saphatias, all these were the sons of Josaphat king of Juda. ³And their father gave them great gifts of silver, and of gold, and pensions, with strong cities in Juda: but the kingdom he gave to Joram, because he was the eldest. ⁴So Joram rose up over the kingdom of his father: and when he had established himself, he slew all his brethren with the sword, and some of the princes of Israel. ⁵Joram was two and thirty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶And he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Achab had done: for his wife was a daughter of Achab, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. ⁷But the Lord would not destroy the house of David: because of the covenant which he had made with him: and because he had promised to give a lamp to him, and to his sons for ever. ⁸In those days Edom revolted, from being subject to Juda, and made themselves a king. ⁹And Joram went over with his princes, and all his cavalry with him, and rose in the night, and defeated the Edomites who had surrounded him, and all the captains of his cavalry. ¹⁰However Edom revolted, from being under the dominion of Juda unto this day: at that time Lobna also revolted, from being under his hand. For he had forsaken the Lord the God of his fathers: ¹¹Moreover he built also high places in the cities of Juda, and he made the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and Juda to transgress. ¹²And there was a letter brought him from Elias the prophet, in which it was written: Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father: Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Josaphat thy father nor in the ways of Asa king of Juda, ¹³But hast walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and hast made Juda and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, imitating the fornication of the house of Achab, moreover also thou hast killed thy brethren, the house of thy father, better men than thyself, ¹⁴Behold the Lord will strike thee with a great plague, with all thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy substance. ¹⁵And thou shalt be sick of a very grievous disease of thy bowels, till thy vital parts come out by little and little every day. ¹⁶And the Lord stirred up against Joram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, who border on the Ethiopians. ¹⁷And they came up into the land of Juda, and wasted it, and they carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, his sons also, and his wives: so that there was no son left him but Joachaz, who was the youngest. ¹⁸And besides all this the Lord struck him with an incurable disease in his bowels. ¹⁹And as day came after day, and time rolled on, two whole years passed: then after being wasted with a long consumption, so as to void his very bowels, his disease ended with his life. And he died of a most wretched illness, and the people did not make a funeral for him according to the manner of burning, as they had done for his ancestors. ²⁰He was two and thirty years old when he began his reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he walked not rightly, and they buried him in the city of David: but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

Chapter 22

¹And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ochozias his youngest son king in his place: for the rovers of the Arabians, who had broke in upon the camp, had killed all that were his elder brothers. So Ochozias the son of Joram king of Juda reigned. ²Ochozias was forty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother was Athalia the daughter of Amri. ³He also walked in the ways of the house of Achab: for his mother pushed him on to do wickedly. ⁴So he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Achab did: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction. ⁵And he walked after their counsels. And he went with Joram the son of Achab king of Israel, to fight against Hazael king of Syria, at Ramoth Galaad : and the Syrians wounded Joram. ⁶And he returned to be healed in Jezrahel: for he received many wounds in the foresaid battle. And Ochozias the son of Joram king of Juda, went down to visit Joram the son of Achab in Jezrahel where he lay sick. ⁷For it was the will of God against Ochozias that he should come to Joram: and when he was come should go out also against Jehu the son of Namsi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Achab. ⁸So when Jehu was rooting out the house of Achab, he found the princes of Juda, and the sons of the brethren of Ochozias, who served him, and he slew them. ⁹And he sought for Ochozias himself, and took him lying hid in Samaria: and when he was brought to him, he killed him, and they buried him: because he was the son of Josaphat, who had sought the Lord with all his heart. And there was no more hope that any one should reign of the race of Ochozias. ¹⁰For Athalia his mother, seeing that her son was dead, rose up, and killed all the royal family of the house of Joram. ¹¹But Josabeth the king's daughter took Joas the son of Ochozias, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain. And she hid him with his nurse in a bedchamber: now Josabeth that hid him, was daughter of king Joram, wife of Joiada the high priest, and sister of Ochozias, and therefore Athalia did not kill him. ¹²And he was with them hid in the house of God six years, during which Athalia reigned over the land.

Chapter 23

¹And in the seventh year Joiada being encouraged, took the captains of hundreds, to wit, Azarias the son of Jeroham, and Ismahel the son of Johanan, and Azarias the son of Obed, and Maasias the son of Adaias, and Elisaphat the son of Zechri: and made a covenant with them. ²And they went about Juda, and gathered together the Levites out of all the cities of Juda, and the chiefs of the families of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. ³And all the multitude made a covenant with the king in the house of God: and Joiada said to them: Behold the king's son shall reign, as the Lord hath said of the sons of David. ⁴And this is the thing that you shall do: ⁵A third part of you that come to the sabbath, of the priests, and of the Levites, and of the porters, shall be at the gates: and a third part at the king's house: and a third at the gate that is called the Foundation: but let all the rest of the people be in the courts of the house of the Lord. ⁶And let no one come into the house of the Lord, but the priests, and they that minister of the Levites: let them only come in, because they are sanctified : and let all the rest of the people keep the watches of the Lord. ⁷And let the Levites be round about the king, every man with his arms; (and if any other come into the temple, let him be slain;) and let them be with the king, both coming in, and going out. ⁸So the Levites, and all Juda did according to all that Joiada the high priest bad commanded: and they took every one his men that were under him, and that came in by the course of the sabbath, with those who had fulfilled the sabbath, and were to go out. For Joiada the high priest permitted not the companies to depart, which were accustomed to succeed one another every week. ⁹And Joiada the priest gave to the captains the spears, and the shields, and targets of king David, which he had dedicated in the house of the Lord. ¹⁰And he set all the people with swords in their hands from the right side of the temple, to the left side of the temple, before the altar, and the temple, round about the king. ¹¹And they brought out the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and the testimony, and gave him the law to hold in his hand, and they made him king: and Joiada the high priest and his sons anointed him: and they prayed for him, and said: God save the king. ¹²Now when Athalia heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came in to the people, into the temple of the Lord. ¹³And when she saw the king standing upon the step in the entrance, and the princes, and the companies about him, and all the people of the land rejoicing, and sounding with trumpets, and playing on instruments of divers kinds, and the voice of those that praised, she rent her garments, and said: Treason, treason. ¹⁴And Joiada the high priest going out to the captains, and the chiefs of the army, said to them: Take her forth without the precinct of the temple, and when she is without let her be killed with the sword. For the priest commanded that she should not be killed in the house of the Lord. ¹⁵And they laid hold on her by the neck: and when she was come within the horse gate of the palace, they killed her there. ¹⁶And Joiada made a covenant between himself and all the people, and the king, that they should be the people of the Lord. ¹⁷And all the people went into the house of Baal, and destroyed it: and they broke down his altars and his idols: and they slew Mathan the priest of Baal before the altars. ¹⁸And Joiada appointed overseers in the house of the Lord, under the hands of the priests, and the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord: to offer holocausts to the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with joy and singing, according to the disposition of David. ¹⁹He appointed also porters in the gates of the house of the Lord, that none who was unclean in any thing should enter in. ²⁰And he took the captains of hundreds, and the most valiant men, and the chiefs of the people, and all the people of the land, and they brought down the king from the house of the Lord, and brought him through the upper gate into the king's house, and set him on the royal throne. ²¹21And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet: but Athalia was slain with the sword.

Chapter 24

¹Joas was seven years old when he began to reign: and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem : the name of his mother was Sebia of Bersabee. ²And he did that which is good before the Lord all the days of Joiada the priest. ³And Joiada took for him two wives, by whom he had sons and daughters. ⁴After this Joas had a mind to repair the house of the Lord. ⁵And he assembled the priests, and the Levites, and said to them: Go out to the cities of Juda, and gather of all Israel money to repair the temple of your God, from year to year: and do this with speed: but the Levites were negligent. ⁶And the king called Joiada the chief, and said to him: Why hast thou not taken care to oblige the Levites to bring in out of Juda and Jerusalem the money that was appointed by Moses the servant of the Lord for all the multitude of Israel to bring into the tabernacle of the testimony? ⁷For that wicked woman Athalia, and her children have destroyed the house of God, and adorned the temple of Baal with all the things that had been dedicated in the temple of the Lord. ⁸And the king commanded, and they made a chest: and set it by the gate of the house of the Lord on the outside. ⁹And they made a proclamation in Juda and Jerusalem, that every man should bring to the Lord the money which Moses the servant of God appointed for all Israel, in the desert. ¹⁰And all the princes, and all the people rejoiced: and going In they contributed and cast so much into the chest of the Lord, that it was filled. ¹¹And when it was time to bring the chest before the king by the hands of the Levites, (for they saw there was much money,) the king's scribe, and he whom the high priest had appointed went in: and they poured out the money that was in the chest: and they carried back the chest to its place: and thus they did from day to day, and there was gathered an immense sum of money. ¹²And the king and Joiada gave it to those who were over the works of the house of the Lord: but they hired with it stonecutters, and artificers of every kind of work to repair the house of the Lord: and such as wrought in iron and brass, to uphold what began to be falling. ¹³And the workmen were diligent, and the breach of the walls was closed up by their hands, and they set up the house of the Lord in its former state, and made it stand firm. ¹⁴And when they had finished all the works, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Joiada: and with it were made vessels for the temple for the ministry, and for holocausts and bowls, and other vessels of gold and silver : and holocausts were offered in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Joiada. ¹⁵But Joiada grew old and was full of days, and died when he was a hundred and thirty years old. ¹⁶And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good to Israel, and to his house. ¹⁷And after the death of Joiada, the princes of Juda went in, and worshipped the king: and he was soothed by their services and hearkened to them. ¹⁸And they forsook the temple of the Lord the God of their fathers, and served groves and idols, and wrath came upon Juda and Jerusalem for this sin. ¹⁹And he sent prophets to them to bring them back to the Lord, and they would not give ear when they testified against them. ²⁰The spirit of God then came upon Zacharias the son of Joiada the priest, and he stood in the sight of the people, and said to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Why transgress you the commandment of the Lord which will not be for your good, and have forsaken the Lord, to make him forsake you? ²¹And they gathered themselves together against him, and stoned him at the king's commandment in the court of the house of the Lord. ²²And king Joas did not remember the kindness that Joiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. And when he died, he said: The Lord see, and require it. ²³And when a year was come about, the army of Syria came up against him: and they came to Juda and Jerusalem, end killed all the princes of the people, and they sent all the spoils to the king of Damascus. ²⁴And whereas there came a very small number of the Syrians, the Lord delivered into their hands an infinite multitude, because they had forsaken the Lord the God of their fathers: and on Joas they executed shameful judgments. ²⁵And departing they left him in diseases: and his servants rose up him, for revenge of the blood of the son of Joiada the priest, and they slew him in his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings. ²⁶Now the men that conspired against him were Zabad the son of Semmaath an Ammonitess, and Jozabad the son of Semarith a Moabitess. ²⁷And concerning his sons, and the sum of money which was gathered under him, and the repairing the house of God; they are written more diligently in the book of kings: and Amasias his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 25

¹Amasias was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem, the name of his mother was Joadan of Jerusalem. ²And he did what was good in the sight of the Lord: but yet not with a perfect heart. ³And when he saw himself strengthened in his kingdom, he put to death the servants that had slain the king his father. ⁴But he slew not their children, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying: The fathers shall not be slain for the children, nor the children for their fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin. ⁵Amasias therefore gathered Juda together, and appointed them by families, and captains of thousands and of hundreds in all Juda, and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years old and upwards, and found three hundred thousand young men that could go out to battle, and could hold the spear and shield. ⁶He hired also of Israel a hundred thousand valiant men, for a hundred talents of silver. ⁷But a man of God came to him, and said: O king, let not the army of Israel go out with thee, for the Lord is not with Israel, and all the children of Ephraim: ⁸And if thou think that battles consist in the strength of the army, God will make thee to be overcome by the enemies: for it belongeth to God both to help, and to put to flight. ⁹And Amasias said to the man of God: What will then become of the hundred talents which I have given to the soldiers of Israeli and the man of God answered him: The Lord is rich enough to be able to give thee much more than this. ¹⁰Then Amasias separated the army, that came to him out of Ephraim, to go home again: but they being much enraged against Juda, returned to their own country. ¹¹And Amasias taking courage led forth his people, and went to the vale of saltpits, and slew of the children of Seir ten thousand. ¹²And other ten thousand men the sons of Juda took, and brought to the steep of a certain rock, and cast them down headlong from the top, and they all were broken to pieces. ¹³But that army which Amasias had sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, spread themselves among the cities of Juda, from Samaria to Beth-horon, and having killed three thousand took away much spoil. ¹⁴But Amasias after he had slain the Edomites, set up the gods of the children of Seir, which he had brought thence, to be his gods, and adored them, and burnt incense to them. ¹⁵Wherefore the Lord being angry against Amasias, sent a prophet to him, to say to him: Why hast thou adored gods that have not delivered their own people out of thy hand? ¹⁶And when he spoke these things, he answered him: Art thou the king's counsellor? be quiet, lest I kill thee. And the prophet departing, said: I know that God is minded to kill thee, because thou hast done this evil, and moreover hast not hearkened to my counsel. ¹⁷Then Amasias king of Juda taking very bad counsel, sent to Joas the son of Joachaz the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying: Come, let us see one another. ¹⁸But he sent back the messengers, saying: The thistle that is in Libanus, sent to the cedar in Libanus, saying: Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and behold the beasts that were in the wood of Libanus passed by, and trod down the thistle. ¹⁹Thou hast said: I have overthrown Edom, and therefore thy heart is lifted up with pride : stay at home, why dost thou provoke evil against thee, that both thou shouldst fall and Juda with thee. ²⁰Amasias would not hearken to him, because it was the Lord's will that he should be delivered into the hands of enemies, because of the gods of Edom. ²¹So Joas king of Israel went up, and they presented themselves to be seen by one another: and Amasias king of Juda was in Bethsames of Juda: ²²And Juda fell before Israel and they fled to their dwellings. ²³And Joas king of Israel took Amasias king of Juda, the son of Joas, the son Joachaz, in Bethsames, and brought him to Jerusalem: and broke down the walls thereof from the gate of Ephraim, to the gate of the corner, four hundred cubits. ²⁴And he took all the gold, and silver, and all the vessels, that he found in the house of God, and with Obededom, and in the treasures of the king's house, moreover also the sons of the hostages, he brought back to Samaria. ²⁵And Amasias the son of Joas king of Juda lived, after the death of Joas the son of Joachaz king of Israel, fifteen years. ²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Amasias, the first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel. ²⁷And after he revolted from the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. And he fled into Lachis, and they sent, and killed him there. ²⁸And they brought him back upon horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of David.

Chapter 26

¹And all the people of Juda took his son Ozias, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of Amasias his father. ²He built Ailath, and restored it to the dominion of Juda, after that the king slept with his fathers. ³Ozias was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Jechelia of Jerusalem. ⁴And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Amasias his father had done. ⁵And he sought the Lord in the days of Zacharias that understood and saw God: and as long as he sought the Lord, he directed him in all things. ⁶Moreover he went forth and fought against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Geth, and the wall of Jabnia, and the wall of Azotus: and he built towns in Azotus, and among the Philistines. ⁷And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians, that dwelt in Gurbaal, and against the Ammonites. ⁸And the ammonites gave gifts to Ozias: and his name was spread abroad even to the entrance of Egypt for his frequent victories. ⁹And Ozias built towers in Jerusalem over the gate of the corner, and over the gate of the valley, and the rest, in the same side of the wall, and fortified them. ¹⁰And he built towers in the wilderness, and dug many cisterns, for he had much cattle both in the plains, and in the waste of the desert: he had also vineyards and dressers of vines in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he was a man that loved husbandry. ¹¹And the army of his fighting men, that went out to war, was under the hand of Jehiel the scribe, and Maasias the doctor, end under the hand of Henanias, who was one of the king's captains. ¹²And the whole number of the chiefs by the families of valiant men were two thousand six hundred. ¹³And the whole army under them three hundred and seven thousand five hundred: who were fit for war, and fought for the king against the enemy. ¹⁴And Ozias prepared for them, that is, for the whole army, shields, and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and slings to cast stones. ¹⁵And he made in Jerusalem engines of diverse kinds, which he placed in the towers, and in the corners of the walls, to shoot arrows, and great stones: and his name went forth far abroad, for the Lord helped him, and had strengthened him. ¹⁶But when he was made strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, and he neglected the Lord his God: and going into the temple of the Lord, he had a mind to burn incense upon the altar of incense. ¹⁷And immediately Azarias the priest going in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, most valiant men, ¹⁸Withstood the king and said: It doth not belong to thee, Ozias, to burn incense to the Lord, but to the priests, that is, to the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated for this ministry: go out of the sanctuary, do not despise: for this thing shall not be accounted to thy glory by the Lord God. ¹⁹And Ozias was angry, and holding in his hand the censer to burn incense, threatened the priests. And presently there rose a leprosy in his forehead before the priests, in the house of the Lord at the altar of incense. ²⁰And Azarias the high priest, and all the rest of the priests looked upon him, and saw the leprosy in his forehead, and they made haste to thrust him out. Yea himself also being frightened, hasted to go out, because he had quickly felt the stroke of the Lord. ²¹And Ozias the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and he dwelt in a house apart being full of the leprosy, for which he had been cast out of the house of the Lord. And Joatham his son governed the king's house, and judged the people of the land. ²²But the rest of the acts of Ozias first and last were written by Isaias the son of Amos, the prophet. ²³And Ozias slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the field of the royal sepulchres, because he was a leper: and Joatham his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 27

¹Joatham was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Jerusa the daughter of Sadoc. ²And he did that which was right before the Lord, according to all that Ozias his father had done, only that he entered not into the temple of the Lord, and the people still transgressed. ³He built the high gate of the house of the Lord, and on the wall of Ophel he built much. ⁴Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Juda, and castles and towers in the forests. ⁵Ho fought against the king of the children of Ammon, and overcame them, and the children of Ammon gave him at that time a hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and as many measures of barley: so much did the children of Ammon give him in the second and third year. ⁶And Joatham was strengthened, because he had his way directed before the Lord his God. ⁷Now the rest of the acts of Joatham, and all his wars, and his works, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Juda. ⁸He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. ⁹And Joatham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Achaz his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 28

¹Achaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord as David his father had done, ²But walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; moreover also he cast statues for Baalim. ³It was he that burnt incense in the valley of Benennom, and consecrated his sons in the fire according to the manner of the nations, which the Lord slew at the coming of the children of Israel. ⁴He sacrificed also, and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. ⁵And the Lord his God delivered him into the hands of the king of Syria, who defeated him, and took a great booty out of his kingdom, and carried it to Damascus: he was also delivered into the hands of the king of Israel, who overthrew him with a great slaughter. ⁶For Phacee the son of Romelia slew of Juda a hundred and twenty thousand in one day, all valiant men: because they had forsaken the Lord the God of their fathers. ⁷At the same time Zechri a powerful man of Ephraim, slew Maasias the king's son, and Ezricam the governor of his house, and Elcana who was next to the king. ⁸And the children of Israel carried away of their brethren two hundred thousand women, boys, and girls, and an immense booty: and they brought it to Samaria. ⁹At that time there was a prophet of the Lord there, whose name was Oded: and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them: Behold the Lord the God of your fathers being angry with Juda, hath delivered them into your hands, and you have butchered them cruelly, so that your cruelty hath reached up to heaven. ¹⁰Moreover you have a mind to keep under the children of Juda and Jerusalem for your bondmen and bondwomen, which ought not to be done : for you have sinned in this against the Lord your God. ¹¹But hear ye my counsel, and release the captives that you have brought of your brethren, because a great indignation of the Lord hangeth over you. ¹²Then some of the chief men of the sons of Ephraim, Azarias the son of Johanan, Barachias the son of Mosollamoth, Ezechias the son of Sellum, and Amasa the son of Adali, stood up against them that came from the war. ¹³And they said to them: You shall not bring in the captives hither, lest we sin against the Lord. Why will you add to our sins, and heap up upon our former offences? for the sin is great, and the fierce anger of the Lord hangeth over Israel. ¹⁴So the soldiers left the spoils, and all that they had taken, before the princes and all the multitude. ¹⁵And the men, whom we mentioned above, rose up and took the captives, and with the spoils clothed all them that were naked: and when they had clothed and shed them, and refreshed them with meat and drink, and anointed them because of their labour, and had taken care of them, they set such of them as could not walk, and were feeble, upon beasts, and brought them to Jericho the city of palm trees to their brethren, and they returned to Samaria. ¹⁶At that time king Achaz sent to the king of the Assyrians asking help. ¹⁷And the Edomites came and slew many of Juda, and took a great booty. ¹⁸The Philistines also spread themselves among the cities of the plains, and to the south of Juda: and they took Bethsames, and Aialon, and Gaderoth, and Socho, and Thamnan, and Gamzo, with their villages, and they dwelt in them. ¹⁹For the Lord had humbled Juda because of Achaz the king of Juda, for he had stripped it of help, and had contemned the Lord. ²⁰And he brought, against him Thelgathphalnasar king of the Assyrians, who also afflicted him, and plundered him without any resistance. ²¹And Achaz stripped the house of the Lord, and the house of the kings, and of the princes, and gave gifts to the king of the Assyrians, and yet it availed him nothing. ²²Moreover also in the time of his distress he increased contempt against the Lord: king Achaz himself by himself, ²³Sacrificed victims to the gods of Damascus that struck him, and he said: The gods of the kings of Syria help them, and I will appease them with victims, and they will help me; whereas on the contrary they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. ²⁴Then Achaz having taken away all the vessels of the house of God, and broken them, shut up the doors of the temple of God, and made himself altars in all the corners of Jerusalem. ²⁵And in all the cities of Juda he built altars to burn frankincense, and he provoked the Lord the God of his fathers to wrath. ²⁶But the rest of his acts, and all his works first and last are written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel. ²⁷And Achaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of Jerusalem: for they received him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel. And Ezechias his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 29

¹Now Ezechias began to reign, when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Abia, the daughter of Zacharias. ²And he did that which was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. ³In the first year and month of his reign he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them. ⁴And he brought the priests and the Levites, and assembled them in the east street. ⁵And he said to them: Hear me, ye Levites, and be sanctified, purify the house of the Lord the God of your fathers, and take away all filth out of the sanctuary. ⁶Our fathers have sinned and done evil in the sight of the Lord God, forsaking him: they have turned away their faces from the tabernacle of the Lord, and turned their backs. ⁷They have shut up the doors that were in tile porch, and put out the lamps. and have not burnt incense, nor offered holocausts in the sanctuary of the God of Israel. ⁸Therefore the wrath of the Lord hath been stirred up against Juda and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, and to destruction, and to be hissed at, as you see with your eyes. ⁹Behold, our fathers are fallen by the sword, our sons, and our daughters, and wives are led away captives for this wickedness. ¹⁰Now therefore I have a mind that we make a covenant with the Lord the God of Israel, and he will turn away the wrath of his indignation from us. ¹¹My sons, be not negligent: the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, and to minister to him, and to worship him, and to burn incense to him. ¹²Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azarias, of the sons of Caath: and of the sons of Merari, Cis the son of Abdi, and Azarias the son of Jalaleel. And of the sons of Gerson, Joah the son of Zemma, and Eden the son of Joah. ¹³And of the sons of Elisaphan, Samri, and Jahiel. Also of the sons of Asaph, Zacharias, and Mathanias. ¹⁴And of the sons of Heman, Jahiel, and Semei: and of the sons of Idithun, Semeias, and Oziel. ¹⁵And they gathered together their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and went in according to the commandment of the king, and the precept of the Lord, to purify the house of God. ¹⁶And the priests went into the temple of the Lord to sanctify it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found within to the entrance of the house of the Lord, and the Levites took it away, and carried it out abroad to the torrent Cedron. ¹⁷And they began to cleanse on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the same month they came into the porch of the temple of the Lord, and they purified the temple in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the same month they finished what they had begun. ¹⁸And they went is to king Ezechias, and said to him: We have sanctified all the house of the Lord, and the altar of holocaust, and the vessels thereof, and the table of proposition with all its vessels, ¹⁹And all the furniture of the temple, which king Achaz in his reign had defiled, after his transgression; and behold they are all set forth before the altar of the Lord. ²⁰And king Ezechias rising early, assembled all the rulers of the city, and went up into the house of the Lord: ²¹And they offered together seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats for sin, for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, for Juda: and he spoke to the priests the sons of Aaron, to offer them upon the altar of the Lord. ²²Therefore they killed the bullocks, and the priests took the blood, and poured it upon the altar; they killed also the rams, and their blood they poured also upon the altar, and they killed the lambs, and poured the blood upon the altar. ²³And they brought the he goats for sin before the king, and the whole multitude, and they laid their hand upon them: ²⁴And the priests immolated them, and sprinkled their blood before the altar for an expiation of all Israel: for the king had commanded that the holocaust and the sin offering should be made for all Israel. ²⁵And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps according to the regulation of David the king, and of Gad the seer, and of Nathan the prophet: for it was the commandment of the Lord by the hand of his prophets. ²⁶And the Levites stood, with the instruments of David, and the priests with trumpets. ²⁷And Ezechias commanded that they should offer holocausts upon the altar: and when the holocausts were offered, they began to sing praises to the Lord, and to sound with trumpets, and divers instruments which David the king of Israel had prepared. ²⁸And all the multitude adored, and the singers, and the trumpeters, were in their office till the holocaust was finished. ²⁹And when the oblation was ended, the king, and all that were with him bowed down and adored. ³⁰And Ezechias and the princes commanded the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David, and Asaph the seer: and they praised him with great joy, and bowing the knee adored. ³¹And Ezechias added, and said: You have filled your hands to the Lord, come and offer victims, and praises in the house of the Lord. And all the multitude offered victims, and praises, and holocausts with a devout mind. ³²And the number of the holocausts which the multitude offered, was seventy bullocks, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. ³³And they consecrated to the Lord six hundred oxen, and three thousand sheep. ³⁴But the priests were few, and were not enough to flay the holocausts: wherefore the Levites their brethren helped them, till the work was ended, and priests were sanctified, for the Levites are sanctified with an easier rite than the priests. ³⁵So there were many holocausts, and the fat of peace offerings, and the libations of holocausts: and the service of the house of the Lord was completed. ³⁶And Ezechias, and all the people rejoiced because the ministry of the Lord was accomplished. For the resolution of doing this thing was taken suddenly.

Chapter 30

¹And Ezechias sent to all Israel and Juda: and he wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasses, that they should come to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and keep the phase to the Lord the God of Israel. ²For the king, taking counsel, and the princes, and all the assembly of Jerusalem, decreed to keep the phase the second month. ³For they could not keep it in its time; because there were not priests enough sanctified, and the people was not as yet gathered together to Jerusalem. ⁴And the thing pleased the king, and all the people. ⁵And they decreed to send messengers to all Israel from Bersabee even to Dan, that they should come, and keep the phase to the Lord the God of Israel in Jerusalem: for many had not kept it as it is prescribed by the law. ⁶And the posts went with letters by commandment of the king, and his princes, to all Israel and Juda, proclaiming according to the king's orders: Ye children of Israel, turn again to the Lord the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Israel: and he will return to the remnant of you that have escaped the hand of the king of the Assyrians. ⁷Be not like your fathers, and brethren, who departed from the Lord the God of their fathers, and he hath given them up to destruction, as you see. ⁸Harden not your necks, as your fathers did: yield yourselves to the Lord, and come to his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: serve the Lord the God of your fathers, and the wrath of his indignation shall be turned away from you. ⁹For if you turn again to the Lord: your brethren, and children shall find mercy before their masters, that have led them away captive, and they shall return into this land: for the Lord your God is merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him. ¹⁰So the posts went speedily from city to city, through the land of Ephraim, and of Manasses, even to Zabulon, whilst they laughed at them and mocked them. ¹¹Nevertheless some men of Aser, and of Manasses, and of Zabulon, yielding to the counsel, came to Jerusalem. ¹²But the hand of God was in Juda, to give them one heart to do the word of the Lord, according to the commandment of the king, and of the princes. ¹³And much people were assembled to Jerusalem to celebrate the solemnity of the unleavened bread in the second month: ¹⁴And they arose and destroyed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and took sway all things in which incense was burnt to idols, and cast them into the torrent Cedron. ¹⁵And they immolated the phase on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites being at length sanctified offered holocausts in the house of the Lord. ¹⁶And they stood in their order according to the disposition, and law of Moses the man of God: but the priests received the blood which was to be poured out, from the hands of the Levites, ¹⁷Because a great number was not sanctified: and therefore the Levites immolated the phase for them that came not in time to be sanctified to the Lord. ¹⁸For a great part of the people from Ephraim, and Manasses, and Issachar, and Zabulon, that had not been sanctified, ate the phase otherwise than it is written: and Ezechias prayed for them, saying: The Lord who is good will shew mercy, ¹⁹To all them, who with their whole heart, seek the Lord the God of their fathers: and will not impute it to them that they are not sanctified. ²⁰And the Lord heard him, and was merciful to the people. ²¹And the children of Israel, that were found at Jerusalem, kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great joy, praising the Lord every day: the Levites also, and the priests, with instruments that agreed to their office. ²²And Ezechias spoke to the heart of all the Levites, that had good understanding concerning the Lord: and they ate during the seven days of the solemnity, immolating victims of peace offerings, and praising the Lord the God of their fathers. ²³And it pleased the whole multitude to keep other seven days: which they did with great joy. ²⁴For Ezechias the king of Juda had given to the multitude a thousand bullocks, and seven thousand sheep: and the princes had given the people a thousand bullocks, and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests was sanctified. ²⁵And all the multitude of Juda with the priests and Levites, and all the assembly, that came out of Israel; and the proselytes of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Juda were full of joy. ²⁶And there was a great solemnity in Jerusalem, such as had not been in that city since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel. ²⁷And the priests and the Levites rose up and blessed the people: and their voice was heard: and their prayer came to the holy dwelling place of heaven.

Chapter 31

¹And when these things had been duly celebrated, all Israel that were found in the cities of Juda, went out, and they broke the idols, and cut down the groves. demolished the high places, and destroyed the altars, not only out of all Juda and Benjamin, but out of Ephraim also and Manasses, till they had utterly destroyed them: then all the children of Israel returned to their possessions and cities. ²And Ezechias appointed companies of the priests, and the Levites, by their courses, every man in his own office, to wit, both of the priests, and of the Levites, for holocausts, and for peace offerings, to minister, and to praise, and to sing in the gates of the camp of the Lord. ³And the king's part was, that of his proper substance the holocaust should be offered always morning and evening, and on the sabbaths, and the new moons and the other solemnities, as it is written in the law of Moses. ⁴He commanded also the people that dwelt in Jerusalem, to give to the priests, and the Levites their portion, that they might attend to the law of the Lord. ⁵Which when it was noised abroad in the ears of the people, the children of Israel offered in abundance the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey: and brought the tithe of all things which the ground bringeth forth. ⁶Moreover the children of Israel and Juda, that dwelt in the cities of Juda, brought in the tithes of oxen, and sheep, and the tithes of holy things, which they had vowed to the Lord their God: and carrying them all, made many heaps. ⁷In the third month they began to lay the foundations of the heaps, and in the seventh month, they finished them. ⁸And when Ezechias and his princes came in, they saw the heaps, and they blessed the Lord and the people of Israel. ⁹And Ezechias asked the priests and the Levites, why the heaps lay so. ¹⁰Azarias the chief priest of the race of Sadoc answered him, saying: Since the firstfruits began to be offered in the house of the Lord, we have eaten, and have been filled, and abundance is left, because the Lord hath blessed his people: and of that which is left is this great store which thou seest. ¹¹Then Ezechias commanded to prepare storehouses in the house of the Lord. And when they had done so, ¹²They brought in faithfully both the firstfruits, and the tithes, and all they had vowed. And the overseer of them was Chonenias the Levite, and Semei his brother was the second, ¹³And after him Jehiel, and Azarias, and Nahath, and Asael, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Jesmachias, and Mahath, and Banaias, overseers under the hand of Chonenias, and Semei his brother, by the commandment of Ezechias the king, and Azarias the high priest of the house of God, to whom all things appertained. ¹⁴But Core the son of Jemna the Levite, the porter of the east gate, was overseer of the things which were freely offered to the Lord, and of the firstfruits and the things dedicated for the holy of holies. ¹⁵And under his charge were Eden, and Benjamin, Jesue, and Semeias, and Amarias, and Sechenias, in the cities of the priests, to distribute faithfully portions to their brethren, both little and great: ¹⁶Besides the males from three years old and upward, to all that went into the temple of the Lord, and whatsoever there was need of in the ministry, and their offices according to their courses, day by day. ¹⁷To the priests by their families, and to the Levites from the twentieth year and upward, by their classes and companies. ¹⁸And to all the multitude, both to their wives, and to their children of both sexes, victuals were given faithfully out of the things that had been sanctified. ¹⁹Also of the sons of Aaron who were in the fields and in the suburbs of each city, there were men appointed, to distribute portions to all the males, among the priests and the Levites. ²⁰So Ezechias did all things, which we have said in all Juda, and wrought that which was good; and right, and truth, before the Lord his God, ²¹In all the service of the ministry of the house of the Lord according to the law and the ceremonies, desiring to seek his God with all his heart, and he did it and prospered,

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¹After these things, and this truth, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came and entered into Juda, and besieged the fenced cities, desiring to take them. ²And when Ezechias saw that Sennacherib was come, and that the whole force of the war was turning against Jerusalem, ³He took counsel with the princes, and the most valiant men, to stop up the heads of the springs, that were without the city: and as they were all of this mind, ⁴He gathered together a very great multitude, and they stopped up all the springs, and the brook, that ran through the midst of the land, saying: Lest the kings of the Assyrians should come, and And abundance of water. ⁵He built up also with great diligence all the wall that had been broken down, and built towers upon it, and another wall without: and he repaired Mello in the city of David, and made all sorts of arms and shields: ⁶And he appointed captains of the soldiers of the army: and he called them all together in the street of the gate of the city, and spoke to their heart, saying: ⁷Behave like men, and take courage: be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of the Assyrians, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there are many more with us than with him. ⁸For with him is an arm of flesh: with us the Lord our God, who is our helper, and fighteth for us. And the people were encouraged with these words of Ezechias king of Juda. ⁹After this, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians sent his servants to Jerusalem, (for he with all his army was besieging Lachis,) to Ezechias king of Juda, and to all the people that were in the city, saying: ¹⁰Thus saith Sennacherib king of the Assyrians: In whom do you trust, that you sit still besieged in Jerusalem? ¹¹Doth not Ezechias deceive you, to give you up to die by hunger and thirst, affirming that the Lord your God shall deliver you from the hand of the king of the Assyrians? ¹²Is it not this same Ezechias, that hath destroyed his high places, and his altars, and commanded Juda and Jerusalem, saying: You shall worship before one altar, and upon it you shall burn incense? ¹³Know you not what I and my fathers have done to all the people of the lands? have the gods of any nations and lands been able to deliver their country out of my hand? ¹⁴Who is there among all the gods of the nations, which my fathers have destroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of this hand? ¹⁵Therefore let not Ezechias deceive you, nor delude you with a vain persuasion, and do not believe him. For if no god of all the nations and kingdoms, could deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers, consequently neither shall your God be able to deliver you out of my hand. ¹⁶And many other things did his servants speak against the Lord God, and against Ezechias his servant. ¹⁷He wrote also letters full of blasphemy against the Lord the God of Israel, and he spoke against him: As the gods of other nations could not deliver their people out of my hand, so neither can the God of Ezechias deliver his people out of this hand. ¹⁸Moreover he cried out with a loud voice, in the Jews' tongue, to the people that sat on the walls of Jerusalem, that he might frighten them, and take the city. ¹⁹And he spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, the works of the hands of men. ²⁰And Ezechias the king, and Isaias the prophet the son of Amos, prayed against this blasphemy, and cried out to heaven. ²¹And the Lord sent an angel who cut off all the stout men and the warriors, and the captains of the army of the king of the Assyrians: and he returned with disgrace into his own country. And when he was come into the house of his god, his sons that came out of his bowels, slew him with the sword. ²²And the Lord saved Ezechias and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of the hand of Sennacherib king of the Assyrians, and out of the hand of all, and gave them treasures on every side. ²³Many also brought victims, and sacrifices to the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Ezechias king of Juda: and he was magnified thenceforth in the sight of all nations. ²⁴In those days Ezechias was sick even to death, and he prayed to the Lord: and he heard him, and gave him a sign. ²⁵But he did not render again according to the benefits which he had received, for his heart was lifted up: and wrath was enkindled against him, and against Juda and Jerusalem. ²⁶And he humbled himself afterwards, because his heart had been lifted up, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and therefore the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Ezechias. ²⁷And Ezechias was rich, and very glorious, and he gathered himself great treasures of silver and of gold, and of precious stones, of spices, and of arms, of all kinds, and of vessels of great price. ²⁸Storehouses also of corn, of wine, and of oil, and stalls for all beasts, and folds for cattle. ²⁹And he built himself cities: for he had docks of sheep, and herds without number, for the Lord had given him very much substance. ³⁰This same Ezechias was, he that stopped the upper source of the waters of Gihon, and turned them away underneath toward the west of the city of David : in ail his works he did prosperously what he would. ³¹But yet in the embassy of the princes of Babylon, that were sent to him, to inquire of the wonder that had happened upon the earth, God left him that he might be tempted, and all things might be made known that were in his heart. ³²Now the rest of the acts of Ezechias, and of his mercies are written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel. ³³And Ezechias slept with his fathers, m and they buried him above the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem celebrated his funeral: and Manasses his son reigned in his stead.

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¹Manasses was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ²And he did evil before the Lord, according to all the abominations of the nations, which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel: ³And he turned, and built again the high places which Ezechias his father had destroyed: and he built altars to Baalim, and made groves, and he adored all the host of heaven, and worshipped them. ⁴He built also altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said: In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever. ⁵And he built them for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. ⁶And he made his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of Benennom: he observed dreams, followed divinations, gave himself up to magic arts, had with him magicians, and enchanters: and he wrought many evils before the Lord, to provoke him to anger. ⁷He set also a graven, and a molten statue in the house of God, of which God had 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, will I put my name for ever. ⁸And I will not make the foot of Israel to be removed out of the land which I have delivered to their fathers: yet so if they will take heed to do what I hare commanded them, and all the law, and the ceremonies, and judgments by the hand of Moses. ⁹So Manasses seduced Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to do evil beyond all the nations, which the Lord had destroyed before the face of the children of Israel. ¹⁰And the Lord spoke to him, and to his people, and they would not hearken. ¹¹Therefore he brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of the Assyrians: and they took Manasses, and carried him bound with chains and fetters to Babylon. ¹²And after that he was in distress he prayed to the Lord his God: and did penance exceedingly before the God of his fathers. ¹³And he entreated him, and besought him earnestly: and he heard his prayer, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom, and Manasses knew that the Lord was God. ¹⁴After this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon in the valley, from the entering in of the fish gate round about to Ophel, and raised it up to a great height: and he appointed captains of the army in all the fenced cities of Juda: ¹⁵And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord: the altars also which he had made in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and he cast them all out of the city. ¹⁶And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed upon it victims, and peace offerings, and praise: and he commanded Juda to serve the Lord the God of Israel. ¹⁷Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places to the Lord their God. ¹⁸But the rest of the acts of Manasses, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the Lord the God of Israel, are contained in the words of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹His prayer also, and his being heard, and all his sins, and contempt, and places wherein he built high places, and set up groves, and statues before he did penance, are written in the words of Hozai. ²⁰And Manasses slept with his fathers. and they buried him in his house: and his son Amen reigned in his stead. ²¹Amen was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. ²²And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasses his father had done: and he sacrificed to all the idols which Manasses his father had made, and served them. ²³And he did not humble himself before the Lord, as Manasses his father had humbled himself, but committed far greater sins. ²⁴And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house. ²⁵But the rest of the multitude of the people slew them that had killed Amen, and made Josias his son king in his stead.

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¹Josias was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one and thirty years in Jerusalem. ²And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father: he declined not, neither to the right hand, nor to the left. ³And in the eighth year of his reign, when he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of his father David: and in the twelfth year after he began to reign, he cleansed Juda and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the idols, and the graven things. ⁴And they broke down before him the altars of Baalim, and demolished the idols that had been set upon them: and be cut down the groves and the graven things, and broke them in pieces: and strewed the fragments upon the graves of them that had sacrificed to them. ⁵And he burnt the bones of the priests on the altars of the idols, and he cleansed Juda and Jerusalem. ⁶And in the cities of Manasses, and of Ephraim, and of Simeon, even to Nephtali he demolished all. ⁷And when he had destroyed the altars, and the groves, and had broken the idols in pieces, and had demolished all profane temples throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. ⁸Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land, and the temple of the Lord, he sent Saphan the son of Eselias, and Maasias the governor of the city, Joha the son of Joachaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. ⁹And they came to Helcias the high priest: and received of him the money which had been brought into the house of the Lord, and which the Levites and porters had gathered together from Manasses, and Ephraim, and all the remnant of Israel, and from all Juda, and Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ¹⁰Which they delivered into the hands of them that were over the workmen in the house of the Lord, to repair the temple, and mend all that was weak. ¹¹But they gave it to the artificers, and to the masons, to buy stones out of the quarries, and timber for the couplings of the building, and to rafter the houses, which the kings of Juda had destroyed. ¹²And they did all faithfully. Now the overseers of the workmen were Jahath and Abdias of the sons of Merari, Zacharias and Mosollam of the sons of Caath, who hastened the work: all Levites skilful to play on instruments. ¹³But over them that carried burdens for divers uses, were scribes, and masters of the number of the Levites, and porters. ¹⁴Now when they carried out the money that had been brought into the temple of the Lord, Helcias the priest found the book of the law of the Lord, by the hand of Moses. ¹⁵And he said to Saphan the scribe: I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord: and he delivered it to him. ¹⁶But he carried the book to the king, and told him, saying: Lo, all that thou hast committed to thy servants, is accomplished. ¹⁷They have gathered together the silver that was found in the house of the Lord: and it is given to the overseers of the artificers, and of the workmen, for divers works. ¹⁸Moreover Helcias the priest gave me this book. And he read it before the king. ¹⁹And when he had heard the words of the law, he rent his garments: ²⁰And he commanded Helcias, and Ahicam the son of Saphan, and Abdon the son of Micha, and Saphan the scribe, and Asaa the king's servant, saying: ²¹21Go, and pray to the Lord for me, and for the remnant of Israel, and Juda, concerning all the words of this book, which is found: for the great wrath of the Lord hath fallen upon us, because our fathers have not kept the words of the Lord, to do all things that are written in this book. ²²And Helcias and they that were sent with him by the king, went to Olda the prophetess, the wife of Sellum the son of Thecuath, the son of Hasra keeper of the wardrobe: who dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second part: and they spoke to her the words above mentioned. ²³And she answered them: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Tell the man that sent you to me: ²⁴Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring evils upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, and all the curses that are written in this book which they read before the king of Juda. ²⁵Because they have forsaken me, and have sacrificed to strange gods, to provoke me to wrath with all the works of their hands, therefore my wrath shall fall upon this place, and shall not be quenched. ²⁶But as to the king of Juda that sent you to beseech the Lord, thus shall you say to him: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Because thou hast heard the words of this book, ²⁷And thy heart was softened. and thou hast humbled thyself in the sight of God for the things that are spoken against this place, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and reverencing my face, hast rent thy garments, and wept before me: I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. ²⁸For now I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be brought to thy tomb in peace: and thy eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and the inhabitants thereof. They therefore reported to the king all that she had said. ²⁹And he called together all the ancients of Juda and Jerusalem. ³⁰And went up to the house of the Lord, and all the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites, and all the people from the least to the greatest. And the king read in their hearing, in the house of the Lord, all the words of the book. ³¹And standing up in his tribunal, he made a covenant before the Lord to walk after him, and keep his commandments, and testimonies, and justifications with all his heart, and with all his soul, and to do the things that were written in that book which he had read. ³²And he adjured all that were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to do the same: and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of the Lord the God of their fathers. ³³And Josias took away all the abominations out of all the countries of the children of Israel: and made all that were left in Israel, to serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived they departed not from the Lord the God of their fathers.

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¹And Josias kept a phase to the Lord in Jerusalem, and it was sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the first month. ²And he set the priests in their offices, and exhorted them to minister in the house of the Lord. ³And he spoke to the Levites, by whose instruction all Israel was sanctified to the Lord, saying: Put the ark in the sanctuary of the temple, which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built : for you shall carry it no more: but minister now to the Lord your God, and to his people Israel. ⁴And prepare yourselves by your houses, and families according to your courses, as David king of Israel commanded, and Solomon his son hath written. ⁵And serve ye in the sanctuary by the families and companies of Levi. ⁶And being sanctified kill the phase, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of Moses. ⁷And Josias gave to all the people that were found there in the solemnity of the phase, of lambs and of kids of the flocks, and of other small cattle thirty thousand, and of oxen three thousand, all these were of the king's substance. ⁸And his princes willingly offered what they had vowed, both to the people and to the priests and the Levites. Moreover Helcias, and Zacharias, and Jahiel rulers of the house of the Lord, gave to the priests to keep the phase two thousand six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen. ⁹And Chonenias, and Semeias and Nathanael, his brethren, and Hasabias, and Jehiel, and Jozabad princes of the Levites, gave to the rest of the Levites to celebrate the phase five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen. ¹⁰And the ministry was prepared, and the priests stood in their office: the Levites also in their companies, according to the king's commandment. ¹¹And the phase was immolated: and the priests sprinkled the blood with their hand, and the Levites flayed the holocausts: ¹²And they separated them to give them by the houses and families of every one, and to be offered to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses, and with the oxen they did in like manner. ¹³And they roasted the phase with fire, according to that which is written in the law: but the victims of peace offerings they boiled in caldrons, and kettles, and pots, and they distributed them speedily among all the people. ¹⁴And afterwards they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: for the priests were busied in offering of holocausts and the fat until night: wherefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron last. ¹⁵And the singers the sons of Asaph stood in their order, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Idithun the prophets of the king: and the porters kept guard at every gate, so as not to depart one moment from their service: and therefore their brethren the Levites prepared meats for them. ¹⁶So all the service of the Lord was duly accomplished that day, both in keeping the phase, and offering holocausts upon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of king Josias. ¹⁷And the children of Israel that were found there, kept the phase at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. ¹⁸There was no phase like to this in Israel, from the days of Samuel the prophet: neither did any of all the kings of Israel keep such a phase as Josias kept, with the priests, and the Levites, and all Juda, and Israel that were found, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁹In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josias was this phase celebrated. ²⁰After that Josias had repaired the temple, Nechao king of Egypt came up to fight in Charcamis by the Euphrates: and Josias went out to meet him. ²¹But he sent messengers to him, saying: What have I to do with thee, O king of Juda? I come not against thee this day, but I fight against another house, to which God hath commanded me to go in haste : forbear to do against God, who is with me, lest he kill thee. ²²Josias would not return, but prepared to fight against him, and hearkened not to the words of Nechao from the mouth of God, I but went to fight in the field of Mageddo. ²³And there he was wounded by the archers, and he said to his servants: Carry me out of the battle, for I am grievously wounded. ²⁴And they removed him from the chariot into another, that followed him after the manner of kings, and they carried him away to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in the monument of his fathers, and all Juda and Jerusalem mourned for him, ²⁵Particularly Jeremias: whose lamentations for Josias all the singing men and singing women repeat unto this day, and it became like a law in Israel: Behold it is found written in the Lamentations. ²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Josias and of his mercies, according to what was commanded by the law of the Lord: ²⁷And his works first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel.

Chapter 36

¹Then the people of the land took Joachaz the son of Josias, and made him king instead of his father in Jerusalem. ²Joachaz was three and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ³And the king of Egypt came to Jerusalem, and deposed him, and condemned the land in a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. ⁴And he made Eliakim his brother king in his stead, over Juda and Jerusalem: and he turned his name to Joakim: but he took Joachaz with him, and carried him away into Egypt. ⁵Joakim was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did evil before the Lord his God. ⁶Against him came up Nabuchodonosor king of the Chaldeans, and led him bound in chains into Babylon. ⁷And he carried also thither the vessels of the Lord, and put them in his temple. ⁸But the rest of the acts of Joakim, and his abominations, which he wrought, and the things that were found in him, are contained in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel. And Joachin his son reigned in his stead. ⁹Joachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁰And at the return of the year, king Nabuchodonosor sent, and brought him to Babylon, carrying away at the same time the most precious vessels of the house of the Lord: and he made Sedecias his uncle king over Juda and Jerusalem. ¹¹Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹²And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God, and did not reverence the face of Jeremias the prophet speaking to him from the mouth of the Lord. ¹³Re also revolted from king Nabuchodonosor, who had made him swear by God: and he hardened his neck and his heart, from returning to the Lord the God of Israel. ¹⁴Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people wickedly transgressed according to all the abominations of the Gentiles: and they defiled the house of the Lord, which he had sanctified to himself in Jerusalem. ¹⁵And the Lord the God of their fathers sent to them, by the hand of his messengers, rising early, and daily admonishing them: because he spared his people and his dwelling place. ¹⁶But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused the prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, and there was no remedy. ¹⁷For he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, and he slew their young men with the sword in the house of his sanctuary, he had no compassion on young man, or maiden, old man or even him that stooped for age, but he delivered them all into his hands. ¹⁸And all the vessels of the house of the Lord, great and small, and the treasures of the temple and of the king, and of the princes he carried away to Babylon. ¹⁹And the enemies set fire to the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burnt all the towers, and whatsoever was precious they destroyed. ²⁰Whosoever escaped the sword, was led into Babylon, and there served the king and his sons till the reign of the king of Persia. ²¹That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremias might be fulfilled, and the land might keep her sabbaths: for all the days of the desolation she kept a sabbath, till the seventy years were expired. ²²But in the first year d of Cyrus king of the Persians, to fulfil the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by the mouth of Jeremias, the Lord stirred up the heart of Cyrus king of the Persians who commanded it to be proclaimed through all his kingdom, and by writing also, saying: ²³Thus saith Cyrus king of the Persians: All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord the God of heaven given to me, and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judea: who is there among you of all his people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.

The First Book of Esdras

This Book taketh its name from the writer: who was a holy priest, and doctor of the law. He is called by the Hebrews, Ezra.

Chapter 1

¹In the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremias might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of the Persians: and he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and in writing also, saying: ²Thus saith Cyrus king of the Persians: The Lord the God of heaven hath given to me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judea. ³Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Jndert, and build the house of the Lord the God of Israel: he is the God that is in Jerusalem. ⁴And let all the restin all places wheresoever they dwell, help him every man from his place. with silver and gold, and goods, and cattle, besides that which they offer freely to the temple of God, which is in Jerusalem. ⁵Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Juda and Benjamin, and the priests, and Levites, and every one whose spirit God had raised up, to go up to build the temple of the Lord, which was in Jerusalem. ⁶And all they that were round about, helped their hands with vessels of silver, and gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with furniture, besides what they had offered on their own accord. ⁷And king Cyrus brought forth the vessels of the temple of the Lord, which Nabuchodonosor had taken from Jerusalem, and had put them in the temple of his god. ⁸Now Cyrus king of Persia brought them forth by the hand of Mithridates the son of Gazabar, and numbered them to Sassabasar the prince of Juda. ⁹And this is the number of them: thirty bowls of gold, a thousand bowls of silver, nine and twenty knives, thirty cups of gold, ¹⁰Silver cups of a second sort, four hundred and ten: other vessels a thousand. ¹¹All the vessels of gold and silver, five thousand four hundred: all these Sassabasar brought with them that came up from the captivity of Babylon to Jerusalem.

Chapter 2

¹Now these are the children of the province, that went out of the captivity, which Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Juda, every man to his city. ²Who came with Zorobabel, Josue, Nehemia, Saraia, Rahelaia, Mardochai, Belsan, Mesphar, Beguai, Rehum, Baana. The number of the men of the people of Israel: ³The children of Pharos two thousand one hundred seventy-two. ⁴The children of Sephatia, three hundred seventy-two. ⁵The children of Area, seven hundred seventy-five. ⁶The children of Phahath Moab, of the children of Josue: Joab, two thousand eight hundred twelve. ⁷The children of Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty-four. ⁸The children of Zethua, nine hundred forty-five. ⁹The children of Zachai, seven hundred sixty. ¹⁰The children of Bani, six hundred forty-two. ¹¹The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty-three. ¹²The children of Azgad, a thousand two hundred twenty-two. ¹³The children of Adonicam, six hundred sixty-six. ¹⁴The children of Beguai, two thousand fifty-six. ¹⁵The children of Adin, four hundred fifty-four. ¹⁶The children of Ather, who were of Ezechias, ninety-eight. ¹⁷The children of Besai, three hundred and twenty-three. ¹⁸The children of Jora, a hundred and twelve. ¹⁹The children of Hasum, two hundred twenty-three. ²⁰The children of Gebbar, ninety-five. ²¹The children of Bethlehem, a hundred twenty-three. ²²The men of Netupha, fifty-six. ²³The men of Anathoth, a hundred twenty-eight. ²⁴The children of Azmaveth, forty-two. ²⁵The children of Cariathiarim, Cephira, and Beroth, seven hundred forty-three. ²⁶The children of Rama and Gabaa, six hundred twenty-one. ²⁷The men of Machmas, a hundred twenty-two. ²⁸The men of Bethel and Hai, two hundred twenty-three. ²⁹The children of Nebo, fifty-two. ³⁰The children of Megbis, a hundred fifty-six. ³¹The children of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty-four. ³²The children of Harim, three hundred and twenty. ³³The children of Lod, Hadid and One, seven hundred twenty-five. ³⁴The children of Jericho, three hundred forty-five. ³⁵The children of Senaa, three thousand six hundred thirty. ³⁶The priests: the children of Jadaia of the house of Josue, nine hundred seventy-three. ³⁷The children of Emmer, a thousand fifty-two. ³⁸The children of Pheshur, a thousand two hundred forty-seven. ³⁹The children of Harim, a thousand and seventeen. ⁴⁰The Levites: the children of Josue and of Cedmihel, the children of Odovia, seventy-four. ⁴¹The singing men: the children of Asaph, a hundred twenty-eight. ⁴²The children of the porters: the children of Sellum, the children of Ater, the children of Telmon, the children of Accub, the children of Hatita, the children of Sobai: in all a hundred thirty-nine. ⁴³The Nathinites: the children of Siha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth, ⁴⁴The children of Ceros, the children of Sia, the children of Phadon, ⁴⁵The children of Lebana, the children of Hegaba, the children of Accub, ⁴⁶The children of Hagab, the children of Semlai, the children of Hanan, ⁴⁷The children of Gaddel, the children of Gaher, the children of Raaia, ⁴⁸The children of Basin, the children of Necoda, the children of Gazam, ⁴⁹The children of Asa, the children of Phasea, the children of Besee, ⁵⁰The children of Asena, the children of Munim, the children of Nephusim, ⁵¹The children of Bacbuc, the children of Hacupha, the children of Harhur, ⁵²The children of Besluth, the children of Mahida, the children of Harsa, ⁵³The children of Bercos, the children of Sisara, the children of Thema, ⁵⁴The children of Nasia, the children of Hatipha, ⁵⁵The children of the servants of Solomon, the children of Sotai, the children of Sopheret, the children of Pharuda, ⁵⁶The children of Jala, the children of Dercon, the children of Geddel, ⁵⁷The children of Saphatia, the children of Hatil, the children of Phochereth, which were of Asebaim, the children of Ami, ⁵⁸All the Nathinites, and the children of the servants of Solomon, three hundred ninety-two. ⁵⁹And these are they that came up from Thelmela, Thelharsa, Cherub, and Adon, and Emer. And they could not shew the house of their fathers and their seed, whether they were of Israel. ⁶⁰The children of Dalaia, the children of Tobia, the children of Necoda, six hundred fifty-two. ⁶¹And of the children of the priests: the children of Hobia, the children of Accos, the children of Berzellai, who took a wife of the daughters of Berzellai, the Galaadite, and was called by their name: ⁶²These sought the writing of their genealogy, and found it not, and they were cast out of the priesthood. ⁶³And Athersatha said to them, that they should not eat of the holy of holies, till there arose a priest learned and perfect. ⁶⁴All the multitudes as one man, were forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty: ⁶⁵Besides their menservants, and womenservants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven : and among them singing men, and singing women two hundred. ⁶⁶Their horses seven hundred thirty-six, their mules two hundred forty-five, ⁶⁷Their camels four hundred thirty-five, their asses six thousand seven hundred and twenty. ⁶⁸And some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the temple of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem, offered freely to the house of the Lord to build it in its place. ⁶⁹According to their ability, they gave towards the expenses of the work, sixty-one thousand solids of gold, five thousand pounds of silver, and a hundred garments for the priests. ⁷⁰So the priests and the Levites, and some of the people, and the singing men, and the porters, and the Nathinites dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.

Chapter 3

¹And now the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in their cities: and the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. ²And Josue the son of Josedec rose up, and his brethren the priests, and Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and his brethren, and they built the altar of the God of Israel that they might offer holocausts upon it, as it is written in the law of Moses the mall of God. ³And they set the altar of God upon its bases, while the people of the lands round about put them in fear, and they offered upon it a holocaust to the Lord morning and evening. ⁴And they kept the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the holocaust every day orderly according to the commandment, the duty of the day in its day. ⁵And afterwards the continual holocaust, both on the new moons, and on all the solemnities of the Lord, that were consecrated, and on all in which a freewill offering was made to the Lord. ⁶From the Brat day of the seventh month they began to offer holocausts to the Lord: but the temple of God was not yet founded. ⁷And they gave money to hewers of stones and to masons: and meat and drink, and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Libanus to the sea of Joppe, according to the orders which Cyrus king of the Persians had given them. ⁸And in the second year of their coming to the temple of God in Jerusalem, the second month, Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Josue the son of Josedec, and the rest of their brethren the priests, and the Levites, and all that were come from the captivity to Jerusalem began, and they appointed Levites from twenty years old and upward, to hasten forward the work of the Lord. ⁹Then Josue and his sons and his brethren, Cedmihel, and his sons, and the children of Juda, as one man, stood to hasten them that did the work in the temple of God: the sons of Henadad, and their sons, and their brethren the Levites. ¹⁰And when the masons laid the foundations of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their ornaments with trumpets: and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise God by the hands of David king of Israel. ¹¹And they sung together hymns, and praise to the Lord: because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever towards Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, praising the Lord, because the foundations of the temple of the Lord were laid. ¹²But many of the priests and the Levites, and the chief of the fathers and the ancients that had seen the former temple; when they had the foundation of this temple before their eyes, wept with a loud voice: and many shouting for joy, lifted up their voice. ¹³So that one could not distinguish the voice of the shout of joy, from the noise of the weeping of the people: for one with another the people shouted with a loud shout, and the voice was heard afar off.

Chapter 4

¹Now the enemies of Juda and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity were building a temple to the Lord the God of Israel. ²And they came to Zorobabel, and the chief of the fathers, and said to them: Let us build with you, for we seek your God as ye do: behold we have sacrificed to him, since the days of Asor Haddan king of Assyria, who brought us hither. ³But Zorobabel, and Josue, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel said to them: You have nothing to do with us to build a house to our God, but we ourselves alone will build to the Lord our God, as Cyrus king of the Persians hath commanded us. ⁴Then the people of the land hindered the hands of the people of Juda, and troubled them in building. ⁵And they hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their design all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of the Persians. ⁶And in the reign of Assuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Juda and Jerusalem. ⁷And in the days of Artaxerxes, Beselam, Mithridates, and Thabeel, and the rest that were in the council wrote to Artaxerxes king of the Persians : and the letter of accusation was written in Syriac, and was read in the Syrian tongue. ⁸Reum Beelteem, and Samsai the scribe wrote a letter from Jerusalem to king Artaxerxes, in this manner: ⁹Reum Beelteem, and Samsai the scribe and the rest of their counsellors, the Dinites, and the Apharsathacites, the Therphalites, the Apharsites, the Erchuites, the Babylonians, the Susanechites, the Dievites, and the Elamites, ¹⁰And the rest of the nations, whom the great and glorious Asenaphar brought over: and made to dwell in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the countries of this side of the river in peace. ¹¹(This is the copy of the letter, which they sent to him:) To Artaxerxes the king, thy servants, the men that are on this side of the river, send greeting. ¹²Be it known to the king, that the Jews, who came up from thee to us, are come to Jerusalem a rebellious and wicked city, which they are building, setting up the ramparts thereof and repairing the walls. ¹³And now be it known to the king, that if this city be built up, and the walls thereof repaired, they will not pay tribute nor toll, nor yearly revenues, and this loss will fail upon the kings. ¹⁴But we remembering the salt that we have eaten in the palace, and because we count it a crime to see the king wronged, have therefore sent and certified the king, ¹⁵That search may be made in the books of the histories of thy fathers, and thou shalt find written in the records: and shalt know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to the kings and provinces, and that wars were raised therein of old time: for which cause also the city was destroyed. ¹⁶We certify the king, that if this city be built, and the walls thereof repaired, thou shalt have no possession on this side of the river. ¹⁷The king sent word to Reum Beelteem and Samsai the scribe, and to the rest that were in their council, inhabitants of Samaria, and to the rest beyond the river, sending greeting and peace. ¹⁸The accusation, which you have sent to us, hath been plainly read before me, ¹⁹And I commanded: and search hath been made, and it is found, that this city of old time hath rebelled against kings, and seditions and wars have been raised therein. ²⁰For there have been powerful kings in Jerusalem, who hare had dominion over all the country that is beyond the river: and have received tribute, and toll and revenues. ²¹Now therefore hear the sentence: Hinder those men, that this city be not built, till further orders be given by me. ²²See that you be not negligent in executing this, lest by little and little the evil grow to the hurt of the kings. ²³Now the copy of the edict of king Artaxerxes was read before Reum Beelteem, and Samsai the scribe, and their counsellors: and they went up in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews, and hindered them with arm and power. ²⁴Then the work of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem was interrupted, and ceased till the second year of the reign of Darius king of the Persians.

Chapter 5

¹Now Aggeus the prophet, and Zacharias the son of Addo, prophesied to the Jews that were in Judea and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel. ²Then rose up Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Josue the son of Josedec, and began to build the temple of God in Jerusalem, and with them were the prophets of God helping them. ³And at the same time came to them Thathanai, who was governor beyond the river, and Stharbuzanai, and their counsellors: and said thus to them: Who hath given you counsel to build this house, and to repair the walls thereof? ⁴In answer to which we gave them the names of the men who were the promoters of that building. ⁵But the eye of their God was upon the ancients of the Jews, and they could not hinder them. And it was agreed that the matter should be referred to Darius, and then they should give satisfaction concerning that accusation. ⁶The copy of the letter that Thathanai governor of the country beyond the river, and Stharbuzanai, and his counsellors the Arphasachites, who dwelt beyond the river, sent to Darius the king. ⁷The letter which they sent him, was written thus: To Darius the king all peace. ⁸Be it known to the king, that we went to the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which they are building with unpolished stones, and timber is laid in the walls: and this work is carried on diligently, and advanceth in their hands. ⁹And we asked those ancients, and said to them thus: Who hath given you authority to build this house, and to repair these walls? ¹⁰We asked also of them their names, that we might give thee notice: and we have written the names of the men that are the chief among them. ¹¹And they answered us in these words, saying: We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are building a temple that was built these many years ago, and which a great king of Israel built and set up. ¹²But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, he delivered them into the hands of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon the Chaldean: and he destroyed this house, and carried away the people to Babylon. ¹³But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon, king Cyrus set forth al decree, that this house of God should be built. ¹⁴And the vessels also of gold and silver of the temple of God, which Nabuchodonosor had taken out of the temple, that was in Jerusalem, and had brought them to the temple of Babylon, king Cyrus brought out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one Sassabasar, whom also he appointed governor, ¹⁵And said to him: Take these vessels, and go, and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built in its place. ¹⁶Then came this same Sassabasar, and laid the foundations of the temple of God in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it is in building, and is not yet finished. ¹⁷Now therefore if it seem good to the king, let him search in the king's library, which is in Babylon, whether it hath been decreed by Cyrus the king, that the house of God in Jerusalem should be built, and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter.

Chapter 6

¹Then king Darius gave orders, and they searched in the library of the books that were laid up in Babylon, ²And there was found in Ecbatana, which is a castle in the province of Media, a book in which this record was written. ³In the first year of Cyrus the king: Cyrus the king decreed, that the house of God should be built, which is in Jerusalem, in the place where they may offer sacrifices, and that they lay the foundations that may support the height of threescore cubits, and the breadth of threescore cubits, ⁴Three rows of unpolished stones, and so rows of new timber: and the charges shall be given out of the king's house. ⁵And also let the golden and silver vessels of the temple of Cod, which Nabuchodonosor took out of the temple of Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be restored, and carried back to the temple of Jerusalem to their place, which also were placed in the temple of God. ⁶Now therefore Thathanai, governor of the country beyond the river, Stharbuzanai, and your counsellors the Apharsachites, who are beyond the river, depart far from them, ⁷And let that temple of God be built by the governor of the Jews, and by their ancients, that they may build that house of God in its place. ⁸I also have commanded what must be done by those ancients of the Jews, that the house of God may be built, to wit, that of the king's chest, that is, of the tribute that is paid out of the country beyond the river, the charges be diligently given to those men, lest the work be hindered. ⁹And if it shall be necessary, let calves also, and lambs, and kids, for holocausts to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the custom of the priests that are in Jerusalem, be given them day by day, that there be no complaint in any thing. ¹⁰And let them offer oblations to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his children. ¹¹And I have made a decree: That ii any whosoever, shall alter this commandment, a beam be taken from his house. and set up, and he be nailed upon it, and his house be confiscated. ¹²And may the God, that hath caused his name to dwell there, destroy all kingdoms, and the people that shall put out their hand to resist, and to destroy the house of God, that is in Jerusalem. I Darius have made the decree, which I will have diligently complied with. ¹³So then Thathanai, governor of the country beyond the river, and Stharbuzanai, and his counsellors diligently executed what Darius the king had commanded. ¹⁴And the ancients of the Jews built and prospered according to the prophecy of Aggeus the prophet, and of Zacharias the son of Addo: and they built and finished, by the commandment of the God of Israel, and by the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes kings of the Persians. ¹⁵And they were finishing this house of God, until the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of king Darius. ¹⁶And the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity kept the dedication of the house of God with joy. ¹⁷And they offered at the dedication of the house of God, a, hundred calves, 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 courses over the works of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses. ¹⁹And the children of Israel of the captivity kept the phase, on the fourteenth day of the first month. ²⁰For all the priests and the Levites were purified as one man: all were clear to kill the phase for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and themselves. ²¹And the children of Israel that were returned from captivity, and all that had separated themselves from the filthiness of the nations of the earth to them, to seek the Lord the God of Israel, did eat. ²²And they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, that he should help their hands in the work of the house of the Lord the God of Israel.

Chapter 7

¹Now after these things in the reign of Artaxerxes king of the Persians, Esdras the son of Saraias, the son of Azarias, the son of Helcias, ²The son of Sellum, the son of Sadoc, the son of Achitob, ³The son of Amarias, the son of Azarias, the son of Maraioth, ⁴The son of Zarahias, the son of Ozi, the son of Bocci, ⁵The son of Abisue, the son of Phinees, the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest from the beginning. ⁶This Esdras went up from Babylon, and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God had given to Israel: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. ⁷And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the children of the priests, and of the children of the Levites, and of the singing men, and of the porters, and of the Nathinites to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. ⁸And they came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, 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 Esdras had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do and to teach in Israel the commandments and judgment. ¹¹And this is the copy of the letter of the edict, which king Artaxerxes gave to Esdras the priest, the scribe instructed in the words and commandments of the Lord, and his ceremonies in Israel. ¹²Artaxerxes king of kings to Esdras the priest, the most learned scribe of the law of the God of heaven, greeting. ¹³It is decreed by me, that all they of the people of Israel, and of the priests and of the Levites in my realm, that are minded to go into Jerusalem, should go with thee. ¹⁴For thou art sent from before the king, and his seven counsellors, to visit Judea 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 counsellors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose tabernacle is in Jerusalem. ¹⁶And all the silver and gold that thou shalt find in all the province of Babylon, and that the people is willing to offer, and that the priests shall offer of their own accord to the house of their God, which is in Jerusalem, ¹⁷Take freely, and buy diligently with this money, calves, rams, lambs, with the sacrifices and libations of them, and offer them upon the altar of the temple of your God, that is in Jerusalem. ¹⁸And if it seem good to thee, and to thy brethren to do any thing with the rest of the silver and gold, do it according to the will of your God. ¹⁹The vessels also, that are given thee for the sacrifice of the house of thy God, deliver thou in the sight of God in Jerusalem. ²⁰And whatsoever more there shall be need of for the house of thy God, how much soever thou shalt have occasion to spend, it shall be given out of the treasury, and the king's exchequer, and by me. ²¹I Artaxerxes the king have ordered and decreed to all the keepers of the public chest, that are beyond the river, that whatsoever Esdras the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, you give it without delay, ²²Unto a hundred talents of silver, and unto a hundred cores of wheat, and unto a hundred bates of wine, and unto a hundred bates of oil, and salt without measure. ²³All that belongeth to the rites of the God of heaven, let it be given diligently in the house of the God of heaven: lest his wrath should be enkindled against the realm of the king, and of his sons. ²⁴We give you also to understand concerning all the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nathinites, and ministers of the house of this God, that you have no authority to impose toll or tribute, or custom upon them. ²⁵And thou Esdras according to the wisdom of thy God, which is in thy hand, appoint judges and magistrates, that may judge all the people, that is beyond the river, that is, for them who know the law of thy God, yea and the ignorant teach ye freely. ²⁶And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king diligently, judgment shall be executed upon him, either unto death, or unto banishment, or to the confiscation of goods, or at least to prison. ²⁷Blessed be the Lord the God of our fathers, who hath put this in the king's heart, to glorify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem, ²⁸And hath inclined his mercy toward me before the king and his counsellors, and all the mighty princes of the king: and I being strengthened by the hand of the Lord my God, which was upon me, gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.

Chapter 8

¹Now these are the chiefs of families, and the genealogy of them, who came up with me from Babylon in the reign of Artaxerxes the king. ²Of the sons of Phinees, Gersom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattus. ³Of the sons of Sechenias, the son of Pharos, Zacharias, and with him were numbered a hundred and fifty men. ⁴Of the sons of Phahath Moab, Eleoenai the son of Zareha, and with him two hundred men. ⁵Of the sons of Sechenias, the son of Ezechiel, and with him three hundred men. ⁶Of the sons of Adan, Abed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty men. ⁷Of the sons of Alam, Isaias the son of Athalias, and with him seventy men. ⁸Of the sons of Saphatia: Zebodia the son of Michael, and with him eighty men. ⁹Of the sons of Joab, Obedia the son of Jahiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen men. ¹⁰Of the sons of Selomith, the son of Josphia, and with him a hundred and sixty men. ¹¹Of the sons of Bebai, Zacharias the son of Bebai: and with him eight and twenty men. ¹²Of the sons of Azgad, Joanan the son of Eccetan, and with him a hundred and ten men. ¹³Of the sons of Adonicam, who were the last: and these are their names: Eliphelet, and Jehiel, and Samaias, and with them sixty men. ¹⁴Of the sons of Begui, Uthai and Zachur, and with them seventy men. ¹⁵And I gathered them together to the river, which runneth down to Ahava, and we stayed there three days: and I sought among the people and among the priests for the sons of Levi, and found none there. ¹⁶So I sent Eliezer, and Ariel, and Semeias, and Elnathan, and Jarib, and another Elnathan, and Nathan, and Zacharias, and Mosollam, chief men: and Joiarib, and Elnathan, wise men. ¹⁷And I sent them to Eddo, who is chief in the place of Chasphia, and I put in their mouth the words that they should speak to Eddo, and his brethren the Nathinites in the place of Chasphia, that they should bring us ministers of the house of our God. ¹⁸And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a most learned man of the sons of Moholi the son of Levi the son of Israel, and Sarabias and his sons, and his brethren eighteen, ¹⁹And Hasabias, and with him Isaias of the sons of Merari, and his brethren, and his sons twenty. ²⁰And of the Nathinites, whom David, and the princes gave for the service of the Levites, Nathinites two hundred and twenty: all these were called by their names. ²¹And I proclaimed there a fast by the river Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before the Lord our God, and might ask of him a right way for us and for our children, and for all our substance. ²²For I was ashamed to ask the king for aid and for horsemen, to defend us from the enemy in the way: because we had said to the king: The hand of our God is upon all them that seek him in goodness: and his power and strength, and wrath upon all them that forsake him. ²³And we fasted, and besought our God for this: and it fell out prosperously unto us. ²⁴And I separated twelve of the chief of the priests, Sarabias, and Hasabias, and with them ten of their brethren, ²⁵And I weighed unto them the silver and gold, and the vessels consecrated for the house of our God, which the king and his counsellors, and his princes, and all Israel, that were found had offered. ²⁶And I weighed to their hands six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and a hundred vessels of silver, and a hundred talents of gold, ²⁷And twenty cups of gold, of a thousand solids, and two vessels of the best shining brass, beautiful as gold. ²⁸And I said to them: You are the holy ones of the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and gold, that is freely offered to the Lord the God of our fathers. ²⁹Watch ye and beep them, till you deliver them by weight before the chief of the priests, and of the Levites, and the heads of the families of Israel in Jerusalem, into the treasure of the house of the Lord. ³⁰And the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver and gold, and the vessels, to carry them to Jerusalem to the house of our God. ³¹Then we set forward 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 delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way. ³²And we came to Jerusalem, and we stayed there three days. ³³And on the fourth day the silver and the gold, and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Meremoth the son of Urias the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinees, and with them Jozabad the son of Josue, and Noadaia the son of Benoi, Levites. ³⁴According to the number and weight of every thing: and all the weight was written at that time. ³⁵Moreover the children of them that had been carried away that were come out of the captivity, offered holocausts to the God of Israel, twelve calves for all the people of Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve he goats for sin: all for a holocaust to the Lord. ³⁶And they gave the king's edicts to the lords that were from the king's court, and the governors beyond the river, and they furthered the people and the house of God.

Chapter 9

¹And after these things were accomplished, the princes came to me, saying: The people of Israel, and the priests and Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, and from their abominations, namely, of the Chanaanites, and the Hethites, and the Pherezites, and the Jebusites, and the Ammonites, and the Moabites, and the Egyptians, and the Amorrhites. ²For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and they have mingled the holy seed with the people of the lands. And the hand of the princes and magistrates hath been first in this transgression. ³And when I had heard this word, I rent my mantle and my coat, and plucked off the hairs of my head and my beard, and I sat down mourning. ⁴And there were assembled to me all that feared the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that were come from the captivity, and I sat sorrowful, until the evening sacrifice. ⁵And at the evening sacrifice I rose up from my affliction, and having rent my mantle and my garment, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, ⁶And said: My God I am confounded and ashamed to lift up my face to thee: for our iniquities are multiplied over our heads, and our sins are grown up even unto heaven, ⁷From the days of our fathers: and we ourselves also have sinned grievously unto this day, and for our iniquities we and our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the lands, and to the sword, and to captivity, and to spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is at this day. ⁸And now as a little, and for a moment has our prayer been made before the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant, and give us a pin in his holy place, and that our God would enlighten our eyes, and would give us a little life in our bondage. ⁹For we are bondmen, and in our bondage our God hath not forsaken us, but hath extended mercy upon us before the king of the Persians, to give us life, and to set up the house of our God, and rebuild the desolations thereof, and to give us a fence in Juda and Jerusalem. ¹⁰And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments, ¹¹Which thou hast commanded by the hand of thy servants the prophets, saying: The land which you go to possess, is an unclean land, according to the uncleanness of the people, and of other lands, with their abominations, who have filled it from mouth to mouth with their filth. ¹²Now therefore give not your daughters to their sons, and take not their daughters for your sons, and seek not their peace, nor their prosperity forever: that you may be strengthened, and may eat the good things of the land, and may have your children your heirs for ever. ¹³And after all that is come upon us, for our most wicked deeds, and our great sin, seeing that thou our God hast saved us from our iniquity, and hast given us a deliverance as at this day, ¹⁴That we should not turn away, nor break thy commandments, nor join in marriage with the people of these abominations. Art thou angry with us unto utter destruction, not to leave us a remnant to be saved? ¹⁵O Lord God of Israel, thou art just: for we remain yet to be saved as at this day. Behold we are before thee in our sin, for there can be no standing before thee in this matter.

Chapter 10

¹Now when Esdras was thus praying, and beseeching, and weeping, and lying before the temple of God, there was gathered to him of Israel an exceeding great assembly of men and women and children, and the people wept with much lamentation. ²And Sechenias the son of Jehiel of the sons of Elam answered, and said to Esdras: We have sinned against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: and now if there be repentance in Israel concerning this, ³Let us make a covenant with the Lord our God, to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the will of the Lord, and of them that fear the commandment of the Lord our God: let it be done according to the law. ⁴Arise, it is thy part to give orders, and we will be with thee: take courage, and do it. ⁵So Esdras arose, and made the chiefs of the priests and of the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they would do according to this word, and they swore. ⁶And Esdras rose up from before the house of God, and went to the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliasib, and entered in thither: he ate no bread, and drank no water: for he mourned for the transgression of them that were come out of the captivity. ⁷And proclamation was made in Juda and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity, that they should assemble together into Jerusalem. ⁸And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the ancients, all his substance should be taken away, and he should be cast out of the company of them that were returned from captivity. ⁹Then all the men of Juda, and Benjamin gathered themselves together to Jerusalem within three days, in the ninth month, the twentieth day of the month: and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of the sin, and the rain. ¹⁰And Esdras the priest stood up, and said to them: You have transgressed, and taken strange wives, to add to the sine of Israel. ¹¹And now make confession to the Lord the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure, and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from your strange wives. ¹²And all the multitude answered and said with a loud voice: According to thy word unto us, so be it done. ¹³But as the people are many, and it is time of rain, and me are not able to stand without, and it is not a work of one day or two, (for we have exceedingly sinned in this matter,) ¹⁴Let rulers be appointed in all the multitude: and in all our cities, let them that have taken strange wives come at the times appointed, and with them the ancients and the judges of every city, until the wrath of our God be turned away from us for this sin. ¹⁵Then Jonathan the son of Azahel, and Jaasia the son of Thecua were appointed over this, and Mesollam and Sebethai, Levites, helped them: ¹⁶And the children of the captivity did so. And Esdras the priest, and the men heads of the families in the houses of their fathers, and all by their names, went and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. ¹⁷And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month. ¹⁸And there were found among the sons of the priests that had taken strange wives: Of the sons of Josue the son of Josedec, and his brethren, Maasia, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Godolia. ¹⁹And they gave their hands to put away their wives, and to offer for their offence a ram of the flock. ²⁰And of the sons of Emmer, Hanani, and Zebedia. ²¹And of the sons of Harim, Maasia, and Elia, and Semeia, and Jehiel, and Ozias. ²²And of the sons of Pheshur, Elioenai, Maasia, Ismael, Nathanael, Jozabed, and Elasa. ²³And of the sons of the Levites, Jozabed, and Semei, and Celaia, the same is Calita, Phataia, Juda, and Eliezer. ²⁴And of the singing men, Elisiab: and of the porters, Sellum, and Telem, and ²⁵And of Israel, of the sons of Pharos, Remeia, and Jezia, and Melchia, and Miamin, and Eliezer, and Melchia, and Banea. ²⁶And of the sons of Elam, Mathania, Zacharias, annd Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jerimoth, and Elia. ²⁷And of the sons of Zethua, Elioenai, Eliasib, Mathania, Jerimuth, and Zabad, and Aziaza. ²⁸And of the sons of Babai, Johanan, Hanania, Zabbai, Athalai: ²⁹And of the sons of Bani, Mosollam, and Melluch, and Adaia, Jasub, and Seal, and Ramoth. ³⁰And of the sons of Phahath, Moab, Edna, and Chalal, Banaias, and Maasias, Mathanias, Beseleel, Bennui, and Manasse. ³¹And of the sons of Herem, Eliezer, Josue, Melchias, Semeias, Simeon, ³²Benjamin, Maloch, Samarias. ³³And of the sons of Hasom, Mathanai, Mathatha, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jermai, Manasse, Semei. ³⁴Of the sons of Bani, Maaddi, Amran, and Uel, ³⁵Baneas, and Badaias, Cheliau, ³⁶Vania, Marimuth, and Eliasib, ³⁷Mathanias, Mathania, and Jasi, ³⁸And Bani, and Bennui, Semei, ³⁹And Salmias, and Nathan, and Adaias, ⁴⁰And Mechnedebai, Sisai, Sarai, ⁴¹Ezrel, and Selemiau, Semeria, ⁴²Sellum, Amaria, Joseph. ⁴³Of the sons of Nebo, Jehiel, Mathathias, Zabad, Zabina, Jeddu, and Joel, and Banaia. ⁴⁴All these had taken strange wives, and there were among them women that had borne children.

The Book of Nehemias

otherwise called

The Second Book of Esdras

This Book takes its name from the writer, who was cupbearer to Artaxerxes (surnamed Longimanus) king of Persia, and was sent by him with a commission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. It is also called the second book of Esdras; because it is a continuation of the history, begun by Esdras, of the state of the people of God after their return from captivity.

Chapter 1

¹The words of Nehemias the son of Helchias. And it came to pass in the month of Casleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in the castle of Susa, ²That Hanani one of my brethren came, he and some men of Juda; and I asked them concerning the Jews, that remained and were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. ³And they said to me: They that have remained, and are left of the captivity there in the province, are in great affliction, and reproach: and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire. ⁴And when I had heard these words, I sat down, and wept, and mourned for many days: and I fasted, and prayed before the face of the God of heaven. ⁵And I said: WI beseech thee, Lord God of heaven, strong, great, and terrible, who keepest covenant and mercy with those that love thee, and keep thy commandments : ⁶Let thy ears be attentive, and thy eyes open, to hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, night and day, for the children of Israel thy servants: and I confess the sins of the children of Israel, by which they have sinned against thee: I and my father's house have sinned. ⁷We have been seduced by vanity, and have not kept thy commandments, and ceremonies and judgments, which thou hast commanded thy servant Moses. ⁸Remember the word that thou commandedst to Moses thy servant, saying: If you shall transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: ⁹But if you return to me, and keep my commandments, and do them, though you should be led away to the uttermost parts of the world, I will gather you from thence, and bring you back to the place which I have chosen for my name to dwell there. ¹⁰And these are thy servants, and thy people : whom thou hast redeemed by thy great strength, and by thy mighty hand. ¹¹I beseech thee, O Lord, let thy ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name: and direct thy servant this day, and give him mercy before this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

Chapter 2

¹And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king: that wine was before him, and I took up the wine, and gave it to the king: and I was as one languishing away before his face. ²And the king said to me: Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou dost not appear to be sick? this is not without cause, but some evil, I know not what, is in thy heart. And I was seized with an exceeding great fear: ³And I said to the king: O king, live for ever: why should not my countenance be sorrowful, seeing the city of the place of the sepulchres of my fathers is desolate, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire? ⁴Then the king said to me: For what dost thou make request? And I prayed to the God of heaven, ⁵And I said to the king: If it seem good to the king, and if thy servant hath found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldst send me into Judea to the city of the sepulchre of my father, and I will build it. ⁶And the king said to me, and the queen that sat by him: For how long shall thy journey be, and when wilt thou return? And it pleased the king, and he sent me: and I fixed him a time. ⁷And I said to the king: If it seem good to the king, let him give me letters to the governors of the country beyond the river, that they convey me over, till I come into Judea: ⁸And a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, to give me timber that I may cover the gates of the tower of the house, and the walls of the city, and the house that I shall enter into. And the king gave me according to the good hand of my God with me. ⁹And I came to the governors of the country beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. And the king had sent wish me captains of soldiers, and horsemen. ¹⁰And Sanaballat the Horonite, and Tobias the servant, the Ammonite, heard it, and it grieved them exceedingly, that a man was come, who sought the prosperity of the children of Israel. ¹¹And I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. ¹²And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me, and I told not any man what God had put in my heart to do in Jerusalem, and there was no beast with me, but the beast that I rode upon. ¹³And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, and before the dragon fountain, and to the dung gate, and I viewed the wall of Jerusalem which was broken down, and the gates thereof which were consumed with fire. ¹⁴And I passed to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's aqueduct, and there was no place for the beast on which I rode to pass. ¹⁵And I went up in the night by the torrent, and viewed the wall, and going back I came to the gate of the valley, and returned. ¹⁶But the magistrates knew not whither I went, or what I did: neither had I as yet told any thing to the Jews, or to the priests, or to the nobles, or to the magistrates, or to the rest that did the work. ¹⁷Then I said to them: You know the affliction wherein we are, because Jerusalem is desolate, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire: come, and let us build up the walls of Jerusalem, and let us be no longer a reproach. ¹⁸And I shewed them how the hand of my God was good with me, and the king's words, which he had spoken to me, and I said: Let us rise up, and build. And their hands were strengthened in good. ¹⁹But Sanaballat the Horonite, and Tobias the servant, the Ammonite, and Gossem the Arabian heard of it, and they scoffed at us, and despised us, and said: What is this thing that you do? are you going to rebel against the king? ²⁰And I answered them, and said to them: The God of heaven he helpeth us, and we are his servants: let us rise up and build: but you have no part, nor justice, nor remembrance in Jerusalem.

Chapter 3

¹Then Eliasib the high priest arose, and his brethren the priests, and they built the flock gate: they sanctified it, and set up the doors thereof, even unto the tower of a hundred cubits they sanctified it unto the tower of Hananeel. ²And next to him the men of Jericho built: and next to them built Zachur the son of Amri. ³But the fish gate the sons of Asnaa built: they covered it, and set up the doors thereof, and tire locks, and the bars. And next to them built Marimuth the son of Urias the son of Accus. ⁴And next to him built Mosollam tile son of Barachias, the sell of Merezebel, and next to them built Sadoc the son of Baana. ⁵And next to them the Thecuites built: but their great men did not put their necks to the work of their Lord. ⁶And Joiada the son of Phasea, and Mosollam the son of Besodia built the old gate: they covered it and set up the doors thereof, and the locks, and the bars. ⁷And next to them built Meltias the Gabaonite, and Jadon the Meronathite, the men of Gabaon and Maspha, for the governor that was in the country beyond the river. ⁸And next to him built Eziel the son of Araia the goldsmith: and next to him built Ananias the son of the perfumer: and they left Jerusalem unto the wall of the broad street. ⁹And next to him built Raphaia the son of Hur, lord of the street of Jerusalem. ¹⁰And next to him Jedaia the son of Haromaph over against his own house: and next to him built Hattus the son of Hasebonia. ¹¹11Melchias the son of Herem, and Hasub the son of Phahath Moab, built half the street, and the tower of the furnaces. ¹²And next to him built Sellum the son of Alohes, lord of half the street of Jerusalem, he and his daughters. ¹³And the gate of the valley Hanun built, and the inhabitants of Zanoe: they built it, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks, and the bars, and a thousand cubits in the wall unto the gate of the dunghill. ¹⁴And the gate of the dunghill Melchias the son of Rechab built, lord of the street of Bethacharam : he built it, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks, and the bars. ¹⁵And the gate of the fountain Sellum the son of Cholhoza built, lord of the street of Maspha: he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks, and the bare, and the walls of the pool of Siloe unto the king's guard, and unto the steps that go down from the city of David. ¹⁶After him built Nehemias the son of Azboc, lord of half the street of Bethsur, as far as over against the sepulchre of David, and to the pool, that was built with great labour, and to the house of the mighty. ¹⁷After him built the Levites, Rehum the son of Benni. After him built Hasebias, lord of half the street of Ceila in his own street. ¹⁸After him built their brethren Bavai the son of Enadad, lord of half Ceila. ¹⁹And next to him Aser the son of Josue, lord of Maspha, built another measure, over against the going up of the strong corner. ²⁰After him in the mount Baruch the son of Zachai built another measure, from the corner to the door of the house of Eliasib the high priest. ²¹After him Merimuth the son of Urias the son of Haccus, built another measure, from the door of the house of Eliasib, to the end of the house of Eliasib. ²²And after him built the priests, the men of the plains of the Jordan. ²³After him built Benjamin and Hasub, over against their own house : and after him built Azarias the son of Maasias the son of Ananias over against his house. ²⁴After him built Bennui the son of Hanadad another measure, from the house of Azarias unto the bending, and unto the corner. ²⁵Phalel, the son of Ozi, over against the bending and the tower, which lieth out from the king's high house, that is, in the court of the prison: after him Phadaia the son of Pharos. ²⁶And the Nathinites dwelt in Ophel, as far as over against the water gate toward the east, and the tower that stood out. ²⁷After him the Thecuites built another measure over against, from the great tower that standeth out unto the wall of the temple. ²⁸And upward from the horse gate the priests built, every man over against his house. ²⁹After them built Sadoc the son of Emmer over against his house. And after him built Semaia the son of Sechenias, keeper of the east gate. ³⁰After him built Hanania the son of Selemia, and Hanun the sixth son of Seleph, another measure: after him built Mosollam the son of Barachias over against his treasury. After him Melcias the goldsmith's son built unto the house of the Nathinites, and of the sellers of small wares, over against the judgment gate, and unto the chamber of the corner. ³¹And within the chamber of the corner of the dock gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants built.

Chapter 4

¹And it came to pass, that when Sanaballat heard that we were building the wall he was angry: and being moved exceedingly he scoffed at the Jews. ²And said before his brethren, and the multitude of the Samaritans: What are the silly Jews doing? Will the Gentiles let them alone? will they sacrifice and make an end in a day? are they able to raise stones out of the heaps of the rubbish, which are burnt? ³Tobias also the Ammonite who was by him said : Let them build: if a fox go up, he will leap over their stone wall. ⁴Hear thou our God, for we are despised: turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them to be despised in a land of captivity. ⁵Cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thy face, because they have mocked thy builders. ⁶So we built the wall, and joined it all together unto the half thereof: and the heart of the people was excited to work. ⁷And it came to pass, when Sanaballat, and Tobias, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Azotians heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and the breaches began to be closed, that they were exceedingly angry. ⁸And they all assembled themselves together, to come, and to fight against Jerusalem, and to prepare ambushes. ⁹And we prayed to our God, and set watchmen upon the wall day and night against them. ¹⁰And Juda said: The strength of the bearer of burdens is decayed, and the rubbish is very much, and we shall not be able to build the wall. ¹¹And our enemies said: Let them not know, nor understand, till we come in the midst of them, and kill them, and cause the work to cease. ¹²And it came to pass, that when the Jews that dwelt by them came and told us ten times, out of all the places from whence they came to us, ¹³I set the people in the place behind the wall round about in order, with their swords, and spears, and bows. ¹⁴And I looked and rose up: and I said to the chief men and the magistrates, and to the rest of the common people: be not afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, and your wives, and your houses. ¹⁵And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that the thing had been told us, that God defeated their counsel. And we returned all of us to the walls, every man to his work. ¹⁶And it came to pass from that day forward, that half of their young men did the work, and half were ready for to fight, with spears, and shields, and bows, and coats of mail, and the rulers were behind them in all the house of Juda. ¹⁷Of them that built on the wall and that carried burdens, and that laded: with one of his hands he did the work, and with the other he held a sword. ¹⁸For every one of the builders was girded with a sword about his reins. And they built, and sounded with a trumpet by me. ¹⁹And I said to the nobles, and to the magistrates, and to the rest of the common people: The work is great and wide, and we are separated on the wall one far from another: ²⁰In what place soever you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, run all thither unto us: our God will fight for us. ²¹And let us do the work: and let one half of us hold our spears from the rising of the morning, till the stars appear. ²²At that time also I said to the people: Let every one with his servant stay in the midst of Jerusalem, and let us take our turns in the night, and by day, to work. ²³Now I and my brethren, and my servants, and the watchmen that followed me, did not put off our clothes: only every man stripped himself when he was to be washed.

Chapter 5

¹Now there was a great cry of the people, and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. ²And there were some that said: Our sons and our daughters are very many: Yet us take up corn for the price of them, and let us eat and live. ³And there were some that said: Let us mortgage our lands, and our vineyards, and our houses, and let us take corn because of the famine. ⁴And others said: Let us borrow money for the king's tribute, and let us give up our fields and vineyards: ⁵And now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren: and our children as their children. Behold we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters, and some of our daughters are bondwomen already, neither have we wherewith to redeem them, and our fields and our vineyards other men possess. ⁶And I was exceedingly angry when I heard their cry according to these words. ⁷And my heart thought with myself: and I rebuked the nobles and magistrates, and said to them: Do you every one exact usury of your brethren ? And I gathered together a great assembly against them, ⁸And I said to them: We, as you know, have redeemed according to our ability our brethren the Jews, that were sold to the Gentiles: and will you then sell your brethren, for us to redeem them ? And they held their peace, and found not what to answer. ⁹And I said to them: The thing you do is not good: why walk you not in the fear of our God, that we be not exposed to the reproaches of the Gentiles our enemies? ¹⁰Both I and my brethren, and my servants, have lent money and corn to many: let us all agree not to call for it again; let us forgive the debt that is owing to us. ¹¹Restore ye to them this day their fields, and their vineyards, and their oliveyards, and their houses: and the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, which you mere wont to exact of them, give it rather for them. ¹²And they said: We will restore, and we will require nothing of them: and we will do as thou sayest. And I called the priests and took an oath of them, to do according to what I had said. ¹³Moreover I shook my lap, and said: So may God shake every man that shall not accomplish this word, out of his house, and out of his labours, thus may he be shaken out, and become empty. And all the multitude said: Amen. And they praised God. And the people did according to what was said. ¹⁴And from the day, in which the king commanded me to be governor in the land of Juda, from the twentieth year even to the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, for twelve years, I and my brethren did not eat the yearly allowance that was due to the governors. ¹⁵But the former governors that had been before me, were chargeable to the people, and took of them in bread, and wine, and in money every day forty sides: and their officers also oppressed the people. But I did not so for the fear of God. ¹⁶Moreover I built in the work of the wall, and I bought no land, and all my servants were gathered together to the work. ¹⁷The Jews also and the magistrates to the number of one hundred and fifty men, were at my table, besides them that came to us from among the nations that were round about us. ¹⁸And there was prepared for me day by day one ox, and six choice rams, besides fowls, and once in ten days I gave store of divers wines, and many other things: yet I did not require my yearly allowance as governor: for the people were very much impoverished. ¹⁹Remember me, O my God, for good according to all that I have done for this people.

Chapter 6

¹And it came to pass, when Sanaballat, and Tobias, and Gossem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it, (though at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates,) ²Sanaballat and Gossem Rent to me, saying: Come, and let us make a league together in 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, and I cannot come down, lest it be neglected whilst I come, and go down to you. ⁴And they sent to me according to this word, four times: and I answered them after the same manner. ⁵And Sanaballat sent his servant to me the fifth time according to the former word, and he had a letter in his hand written in this manner: ⁶It is reported amongst the Gentiles, and Gossem hath said it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel, and therefore thou buildest the wall, and hast a mind to set thyself king over them : for which end ⁷Thou hast also set up prophets, to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying: There is a king in Judea. The king will hear of these things: therefore come now, that we may take counsel together. ⁸And I sent to them, saying: There is no such thing done as thou sayest: but thou feignest these things out of thy own heart. ⁹For all these men thought to frighten us, thinking that our hands would cease from the work, and that we would leave off. Wherefore I strengthened my hands the more: ¹⁰And I went into the house of Samaia the son of Delaia, the son of Metabeel privately. And he said: Let us consult together in the house of God in the midst of the temple: and let us shut the doors of the temple, for they will come to kill thee, and in the night they will come to slay thee. ¹¹And I said: Should such a man as I Bee? and who is there that being as I am, would go into the temple, to save his life? I will not go in. ¹²And I understood that God had not sent him, but that he had spoken to me as if he had been prophesying, and Tobias, and Sanaballat had hired him. ¹³For he had taken money, that I being afraid should do this thing, and sin, and they might have some evil to upbraid me withal. ¹⁴Remember me, O Lord, for Tobias and Sanaballat, according to their works of this kind: and Noadias the prophet, and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear. ¹⁵But the wall was finished the five and twentieth day of the month of Elul, in two and fifty days. ¹⁶And it came to pass when all our enemies heard of it, that all nations which were round about us, were afraid, and were cast down within themselves, for they perceived that this work was the work of God. ¹⁷Moreover in those days many letters were sent by the principal men of the Jews to Tobias, and from Tobias there came letters to them. ¹⁸For there were many in Judea sworn to him, because he was the son in law of Sechenias the son of Area, and Johanan his son had taken to wife the daughter of Mosollam the son of Barachias. ¹⁹And they praised him also before me, and they related my words to him: And Tobias sent letters to put me in fear.

Chapter 7

¹Now after the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and numbered the porters and singing men, and Levites: ²I commanded Hanani my brother, and Hananias ruler of the house of Jerusalem, (for he seemed as a sincere man, and one that feared God above the rest,) ³And I said to them: Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened till the sun be hot. And while they were yet standing by, the gates were shut, and barred: and I set watchmen of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one by their courses, and every mall over against his house. ⁴And the city was very wide and great, and the people few in the midst thereof, and the houses were not built. ⁵But God had put in my heart, and I assembled the princes and magistrates, and common people, to number them: and I found a book of the number of them who came up at first, and therein it was found written: ⁶These are the children of the province, who came up from the captivity of them that had been carried away, whom Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned into Judea, every one into his own city. ⁷Who came with Zorobabel, Josue, Nehemias, Azarias, Raamias, Nahamani, Mardochai, Belsam, Mespharath, Begoia, Nahum, Baana. The number of the men of the people of Israel: ⁸The children of Pharos, two thousand one hundred seventy-two. ⁹The children of Sephatia, three hundred seventy-two. ¹⁰The children of Area, six hundred fifty-two. ¹¹The children of Phahath Moab of the children of Josue and Joab, two thousand eight hundred eighteen. ¹²The children of Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four. ¹³The children of Zethua, eight hundred forty-five. ¹⁴The children of Zachai, seven hundred sixty. ¹⁵The children of Bannui, six hundred forty-eight. ¹⁶The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty-eight. ¹⁷The children of Azgad, two thousand three hundred twenty-two. ¹⁸The children of Adonicam, six hundred sixty-seven. ¹⁹The children of Beguai, two thousand sixty-seven. ²⁰The children of Adin, six hundred fifty-five. ²¹The children of Ater, children of Hezechias, ninety-eight. ²²The children of Hasem, three hundred twenty-eight. ²³The children of Besai, three hundred twenty-four. ²⁴The children of Hareph, a hundred and twelve. ²⁵The children of Gabaon, ninety-five. ²⁶The children of Bethlehem, and Netupha, a hundred eighty-eight. ²⁷The men of Anathoth, a hundred twenty-eight. ²⁸The men of Bethazmoth, forty-two. ²⁹The men of Cariathiarim, Cephira, end Beroth, seven hundred forty-three. ³⁰The men of Rama and Geba, six hundred twenty-one. ³¹The men of Machmas, a hundred twenty-two. ³²The men of Bethel and Hai, a hundred twenty-three. ³³The men of the other Nebo, fifty-two. ³⁴The men of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four. ³⁵The children of Harem, three hundred and twenty. ³⁶The children of Jericho, three hundred forty-Ave. ³⁷The children of Led, of Hadid and One, seven hundred twenty-one. ³⁸The children of Senaa, three thousand nine hundred thirty. ³⁹The priests: the children of Idaia in the house of Josue, nine hundred and seventy-three. ⁴⁰The children of Emmer, one thousand fifty-two. ⁴¹41The children of Phashur, one thousand two hundred forty-seven. ⁴²The children of Arem, one thousand and seventeen. The Levites: ⁴³The children of Josue and Cedmihel, the sons ⁴⁴Of Oduia, seventy-four. The singing men: ⁴⁵The children of Asaph, a hundred forty-eight. ⁴⁶The porters: the children of Sellum, the children of Ater, the children of Telmon, the children of Accub, the children of Hatita, the children of Sobai: a hundred thirty-eight. ⁴⁷The Nathinites: the children of Soha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tebbaoth, ⁴⁸The children of Ceros, the children of Siaa, the children of Phadon, the children of Lebana, the children of Hagaba, the children of Selmai, ⁴⁹The children of Hanan, the children of Geddel, the children of Gaher, ⁵⁰The children of Raaia, the children of Rasin, the children of Necoda, ⁵¹The children of Gezem, the children of Asa, the children of Phasea, ⁵²The children of Besai, the children of Munim, the children of Nephussim, ⁵³The children of Bacbuc, the children of Hacupha, the children of Harhur, ⁵⁴The children of Besloth, the children of Mahida, the children of Harsa, ⁵⁵The children of Bercos, the children of Sisara, the children of Thema, ⁵⁶The children of Nasia, the children of Hatipha, ⁵⁷The children of the servants of Solomon, the children of Sothai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Pharida, ⁵⁸The children of Jahala, the children of Darcon, the children of Jeddel, ⁵⁹The children of Saphatia, the children of Hatil, the children of Phochereth, who was born of Sabaim, the son of Amon. ⁶⁰All the Nathinites, and the children of the servants of Solomon, three hundred ninety-two. ⁶¹And these are they that came up from Telmela, Thelharsa, Cherub, Addon, and Emmer: and could not shew the house of their fathers, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel. ⁶²The children of Dalaia, the children of Tobia, the children of Necoda, six hundred forty-two. ⁶³And of the priests, the children of Habia, the children of Accos, the children of Berzellai, who took a wife of the daughters of Berzellai the Galaadite, and he was called by their name. ⁶⁴These sought their writing in the record, and found it not: and they were cast out of the priesthood. ⁶⁵And Athersatha said to them, that they should not eat of the holies of holies, until there stood up a priest learned and skilful. ⁶⁶All the multitude as it were one man, forty-two thousand three hundred sixty, ⁶⁷Beside their menservants and womenservants, who were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven: and among them singing men, and singing women, two hundred forty-five. ⁶⁸Their horses, seven hundred thirty-six: their mules two hundred forty-five: ⁶⁹Their camels, four hundred thirtyfive, their asses, six thousand seven hundred and twenty. ⁷⁰And some of the heads of the families gave unto the work. Athersatha gave into the treasure a thousand drama of gold, fifty bowls, and five hundred and thirty garments for priests. ⁷¹And some of the heads of families gave to the treasure of the work, twenty thousand drama of gold, and two thousand two hundred pounds of silver. ⁷²And that which the rest of the people gave, was twenty thousand drama of gold, and two thousand pounds of silver, and sixty-seven garments for priests. ⁷³And the priests, and the Levites, and the porters, and the singing men, and the rest of the common people, and the Nathinites, and all Israel dwelt in their cities.

Chapter 8

¹And the seventh month came: and the children of Israel were in their cities. And all the people were gathered together as one mall to the street which is before the water gate, and they spoke to Esdras the scribe, to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. ²Then Esdras the priest brought the law before the multitude of men and women, and all those that could understand, in the first day of the seventh month. ³And he read it plainly in the street that was before the water gate, from the morning until midday, before the men, and the women, and all those that could understand: and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book. ⁴And Esdras the scribe stood upon a step of wood, which he had made to speak upon, and there stood by him Mathathias, and Semeia, and Ania, and Uria, and Helcia, and Maasia, on his right hand: and on the left, Phadaia, Misael, and Melchia, and Hasum, and Hasbadana, Zacharia and Mosollam. ⁵And Esdras opened the book before all the people: for he was above all the people: and when he had opened it, all the people stood. ⁶And Esdras blessed the Lord the great God: and all the people answered, Amen, amen: lifting up their hands: and they bowed down, and adored God with their faces to the ground. ⁷Now Josue, and Bani, and Serebia, Jamin, Accub, Sephtai, Odia, Maasia, Celtia, Azarias, Jozabed, Hanan, Phalaia, the Levites, made silence among the people to hear the law: end the people stood in their place. ⁸And they read in the book of the law of God distinctly and plainly to be understood: and they understood when it was read. ⁹And Nehemias (he is Athersatha) and Esdras the priest and scribe, and the Levites who interpreted to all the people, said: This is a holy day to the Lord our God: do not mourn, nor weep: for all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. ¹⁰And he said to them: Go, eat fat meats, and drink sweet wine, and send portions to them that have not prepared for themselves: because it is the holy day of the Lord, and be not sad: for the joy of the Lord is our strength. ¹¹And the Levites stilled all the people, saying: Hold your peace, for the day is holy, and be not sorrowful. ¹²So all the people went to eat and drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth: because they understood the words that he had taught them. ¹³And on the second day the chiefs of the families of all the people, the priests, and the Levites were gathered together to Esdras the scribe, that he should interpret to them the words of the law. ¹⁴And they found written in the law, that the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in tabernacles, on the feast, in the seventh month: ¹⁵And that they should proclaim and publish the word in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying: Go forth to the mount, and fetch branches of olive, and branches of beautiful wood, branches of myrtle, and branches of palm, and branches of thick trees, to make tabernacles, as it is written. ¹⁶And the people went forth, and brought. And they made themselves tabernacles every man on the top of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷And all the assembly of them that were returned from the captivity, made tabernacles, and dwelt in tabernacles: for since the days of Josue the son of Nun the children of Israel had not done so, until that day: and there was exceeding great joy. ¹⁸And he read in the book of the law of God day by day, from the first day till the last, and they kept the solemnity seven days, and in the eighth day a solemn assembly according to the manner.

Chapter 9

¹And in the four and twentieth day of the month the children of Israel came together with fasting and with sackcloth, and earth upon them. ²And the seed of the children of Israel separated themselves from every stranger: and they stood, and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. ³And they rose up to stand: and they read in the book of the law of the Lord their God, four times in the day, and four times they confessed, and adored the Lord their God. ⁴And there stood up upon the seep of the Levites, Josue, and Bani, and Cedmihel, Sabania, Bonni, Sarebias, Bani, and Chanani: and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. ⁵And the Levites Josue and Cedmihel, Bonni, Hasebnia, Serebia, Oduia, Sebnia, and Phathahia, said: Arise, bless the Lord your God from eternity to eternity: and blessed be the high name of thy glory with all blessing and praise. ⁶Thou thyself, O Lord alone, thou hast made heaven, and the heaven of heavens, and all the host thereof: the earth and all things that are in it: the seas and all that are therein: and thou givest life to all these things, and the host of heaven adoreth thee. ⁷Thou, O Lord God, art he who chosest Abram, and broughtest him forth out of the fire of the Chaldeans, and gavest him the name of Abraham. ⁸And thou didst find his heart faithful before thee: and thou madest a covenant with him, to give him the land of the Chanaanite, of the Hethite, and of the Amorrhite, and of the Pherezite, and of the Jebusite, and of the Gergezite, to give it to his seed: and thou hast fulfilled thy words, because thou art just. ⁹And thou sawest the affliction of our fathers in Egypt: and thou didst hear their cry by the Red Sea. ¹⁰And thou shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharao, and upon all his servants, and upon the people of his land : for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them: and thou madest thyself a name, as it is at this day. ¹¹And thou didst divide the sea before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea on dry land: but their persecutors thou threwest into the depth, as a stone into mighty waters. ¹²And in a pillar of a cloud thou wast their leader by day, and in a pillar of Are by night, that they might see the way by which they went. ¹³Thou camest down also to mount Sinai, and didst speak with them from heaven, and thou gavest them right judgments, and the law of truth, ceremonies, and good precepts. ¹⁴Thou madest known to them thy holy sabbath, and didst prescribe to them commandments, and ceremonies, and the law by the hand of Moses thy servant. ¹⁵And thou gavest them bread from heaven in their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock in their thirst, and thou saidst to them that they should go in, and possess the land, upon which thou hadst lifted up thy hand to give it them. ¹⁶But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks and hearkened not to thy commandments. ¹⁷And they would not hear, and they remembered not thy wonders which thou hadst done for them. And they hardened their necks, and gave the head to return to their bondage, as it were by contention. But thou, a forgiving God, gracious, and merciful, longsuffering, and full of compassion, didst not forsake them. ¹⁸Yea when they had made also to themselves a molten calf, and had said: This is thy God, that brought thee out of Egypt: and hail committed great blasphemies : ¹⁹Yet thou, in thy many mercies, didst not leave them in the desert: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day to lead them in the way, and the pillar of fire by night to shew them the way by which they should go. ²⁰And thou gavest them thy good Spirit to teach them, and thy manna thou didst not withhold from their mouth, and thou gavest them water for their thirst. ²¹Forty years didst thou feed them in the desert, and nothing was wanting to them: their garments did not grow old, and their feet were not worn. ²²And thou gavest them kingdoms, and nations, and didst divide lots for them: and they possessed the land of Sehon, and the land of the king of Hesebon, and the land of Og king of Basan. ²³And thou didst multiply their children as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them to the land concerning which thou hadst said to their fathers, that they should go in and possess it. ²⁴And the children came and possessed the land, and thou didst humble before them the inhabitants of the land, the Chanaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as it pleased them. ²⁵And they took strong cities and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods: cisterns made by others, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: and they ate, and were filled, and became fat, and abounded with delight in thy great goodness. ²⁶But they provoked thee to wrath, and departed from thee, and threw thy law behind their backs: and they killed thy prophets, who admonished them earnestly to return to thee : and they were guilty of great blasphemies. ²⁷And thou gavest them into the hands of their enemies, and they afflicted them. And in the time of their tribulation they cried to thee, and thou heardest from heaven, and according to the multitude of thy tender mercies thou gavest them saviours, to save them from the hands of their enemies. ²⁸But after they had rest, they returned to do evil in thy sight : and thou leftest them in the hand of their enemies, and they had dominion over them. Then they returned, and cried to thee: and thou heardest from heaven, and deliveredst them many times in thy mercies. ²⁹And thou didst admonish them to re turn to thy law. But they dealt proudly, and hearkened not to thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them: and they withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear. ³⁰And thou didst forbear with them for many years, and didst testify against them by thy spirit by the hand of thy prophets: and they heard not, and thou didst deliver them into the hand of the people of the lands. ³¹Yet in thy very many mercies thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them: because thou art a merciful and gracious God. ³²Now therefore our God, great, strong and terrible, who keepest covenant and mercy, turn not away from thy face all the labour which hath come upon us, upon our kings, and our princes, and our priests, and our prophets, and our fathers, and all the people from the days of the king of Assur, until this day. ³³And thou art just in all things that have come upon us: because thou hast done truth, but we have done wickedly. ³⁴Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept thy law, and have not minded thy commandments, and thy testimonies which thou hast testified among them. ³⁵And they have not served thee in their kingdoms, and in thy manifold goodness, which thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land, which thou deliveredst before them, nor did they return from their most wicked devices. ³⁶Behold we ourselves this day are bondmen: and the land, which thou gavest our fathers, to eat the bread thereof, and the good things thereof, and we ourselves are servants in it. ³⁷And the fruits thereof grow up for the kings, whom thou hast set over us for our sins, and they have dominion over our bodies, and over our beasts, according to their will, and we are in great tribulation. ³⁸and because of all this we ourselves make a covenant, and write it, and our princes, our Levites, and our priests sign it.

Chapter 10

¹And the subscribers were Nehemias, Athersatha the son of Hachelai, and Sedecias, ²Saraias, Azarias, Jeremias, ³Pheshur, Amarias, Melchias, ⁴Hattus, Sebenia, Melluch, ⁵Harem, Merimuth, Obdias, ⁶Daniel, Genthon, Baruch, ⁷Mosollam, Abia, Miamin, ⁸Maazia, Belgia, Semeia: these were priests. ⁹And the Levites, Josue the son of Azanias, Bennui of the sons of Henadad. Cedmihel, ¹⁰And their brethren, Sebenia, Oduia, Celita, Phalaia, Hanan, ¹¹Micha, Rohob, Hasebia, ¹²Zachur, Serebia, Sabania, ¹³Odaia, Bani, Baninu. ¹⁴The heads of the people, Pharos, Phahath Moab, Elam, Zethu, Bani, ¹⁵Bonni, Azgad, Bebai, ¹⁶Adonia, Begoai, Adin, ¹⁷Ater, Hezecia, Azur, ¹⁸Odaia, Hasum, Besai, ¹⁹Hareph, Anathoth, Nebai, ²⁰Megphias, Mosollam, Hazir, ²¹Mesizabel, Sadoc, Jeddua, ²²Pheltia, Hanan, Anaia, ²³Osee, Hanania, Hasub, ²⁴Alohes, Phalea, Sobec, ²⁵Rehum, Hasebna, Maasia, ²⁶Echaia, Hanan, Anan, ²⁷Melluch, Haran, Baana: ²⁸And the rest of the people, priests, Levites, porters, and singing men, Nathinites, and all that had separated themselves from the people of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. ²⁹All that could understand promising for their brethren, with their chief men, and they came to promise, and swear that they would walk in the law of God, which he gave in the hand of Moses the servant of God, that they would do and keep all the commandments of the Lord our God, and his judgments and his ceremonies. ³⁰And that we would not give our daughters to the people of the land, not take their daughters for our sons. ³¹And if the people of the land bring in things to sell, or any things for use, to sell them on the sabbath day, that we would not buy them of them on the sabbath, or on the holy day. And that we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every hand. ³²And we made ordinances for ourselves, to give the third part of a side every year for the work of the house of our God, ³³For the leaves of proposition, and for the continual sacrifice, and for a continual holocaust on the sabbaths, on the new moons, on the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offering: that atonement might be made for Israel, and for every use of the house of our God. ³⁴And we cast lots among the priests, and the Levites, and the people for the offering of wood, that it might be brought into the house of our God by the houses of our fathers at set times, from year to year: to burn upon the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the law of Moses : ³⁵And that we would bring the firstfruits of our land, and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, from year to year, in the house of our Lord. ³⁶And the firstborn of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the firstlings of our oxen, and of our sheep, to be offered in the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God. ³⁷And that we would bring the firstfruits of our meats, and of our libations, and the fruit of every tree, of the vintage also and of oil to the priests, to the storehouse of our God, and the tithes of our ground to the Levites. The Levites also shall receive the tithes of our works out of all the cities. ³⁸And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites in the tithes of the Levites, and the Levites shall offer the tithe of their tithes in the house of our God, to the storeroom into the treasure house. ³⁹For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall carry to the treasury the firstfruits of corn, of wine, and of oil: and the sanctified vessels shall be there, and the priests, and the singing men, and the porters, and ministers, and we will not forsake the house of our God.

Chapter 11

¹And the princes of the people dwelt at Jerusalem: but the rest of the people cast lots, to take one part in ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts in the other cities. ²And the people blessed all the men that willingly offered themselves to dwell in Jerusalem. ³These therefore are the chief men of the province, who dwelt in Jerusalem, and in the cities of Juda. And every one dwelt in his possession, in their cities: Israel, the priests, the Levites, the Nathinites, and the children of the servants of Solomon. ⁴And in Jerusalem there dwelt some of the children of Juda, and some of the children of Benjamin: of the children of Juda, Athaias the son of Aziam, the son of Zacharias, the son of Amarias, the son of Saphatias, the son of Malaleel: of the sons of Phares, ⁵Maasia the son of Baruch, the son of Cholhoza, the son of Hazia, the son of Adaia, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zacharias, the son of the Silonite: ⁶All these the sons of Phares, who dwelt in Jerusalem, were four hundred sixty-eight valiant men. ⁷And these are the children of Benjamin: Sellum the son of Mosollam, the son of Joed, the son of Phadaia, the son of Colaia, the son of Masia, the son of Etheel, the son of Isaia. ⁸And after him Gebbai, Sellai, nine hundred twenty-eight. ⁹And Joel the son of Zechri their ruler, and Judas the son of Senua was second over the city. ¹⁰And of the priests Idaia the son of Joarib, Jachin, ¹¹Saraia the son of Helcias, the son of Mosollam, the son of Sadoc, the son of Meraioth, the son of Achitob the prince of the house of God, ¹²And their brethren that do the works of the temple: eight hundred twenty-two. And Adaia the son of Jeroham, the son of Phelelia, the son of Amsi, the son of Zacharias, the son of Pheshur, the son of Melchias, ¹³And his brethren the chiefs of the fathers: two hundred forty-two. And Amassai the son of Azreel, the son of Ahazi, the son of Mosollamoth, the son of Emmer, ¹⁴And their brethren who were very mighty, a hundred twenty-eight: and their ruler Zabdiel son of the mighty. ¹⁵And of the Levites Semeia the son of Hasub, the son of Azaricam, the son of Hasabia, the son of Boni, ¹⁶And Sabathai and Jozabed, who were over all the outward business of the house of Cod, of the princes of the Levites, ¹⁷And Mathania the son of Micha, the son of Zebedei, the son of Asaph, was the principal man to praise, and to give glory in prayer, and Becbecia the second, one of his brethren, and Abda the son of Samua, the son of Galal, the son of Idithun. ¹⁸All the Levites in the holy city were two hundred eighty-four. ¹⁹And the porters, Accub, Telmon, and their brethren, who kept the doors: a hundred seventy-two. ²⁰And the rest of Israel, the priests and the Levites were in all the cities of Juda, every man in his possession. ²¹And the Nathinites, that dwelt in Ophel, and Siaha, and Gaspha of the Nathinites. ²²And the overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem, was Azzi the son of Bani, the son of Hasabia, the son of Mathania, the son of Micha. Of the sons of Asaph, were the singing men in the ministry of the house of Cod. ²³For the king's commandment was concerning them, and an order among the singing men day by day. ²⁴And Phathahia the son of Mesezebel of the children of Zara the son of Juda was at the hand of the king, in all matters concerning the people, ²⁵And in the houses through all their countries. Of the children of Juda so dwelt at Cariath-Arbe, and in the villages thereof: and at Dibon, and in the villages thereof: and at Cabseel, and in the villages thereof. ²⁶And at Jesue, and at Molada, and Bethphaleth, ²⁷And at Hasersual, and at Bersabee, and in the villages thereof, ²⁸And at Siceleg, and at Mochona, and in the villages thereof, ²⁹And at Remmon, and at Saraa, and at Jerimuth, ³⁰Zanoa, Odollam, and in their villages, at Lachis and its dependencies, and at Azeca and the villages thereof. And they dwelt from Bersabee unto the valley of Ennom. ³¹And the children of Benjamin, from Geba, at Mechmas, and at Hai, and at Bethel, and in the villages thereof, ³²At Anathoth, Nob, Anania, ³³Asor, Rama, Gethaim, ³⁴Hadid, Seboim, and Neballat, Led, ³⁵And Ono the valley of craftsmen. ³⁶And of the Levites were portions of Juda and Benjamin.

Chapter 12

¹Now these are the priests and the Levites, that went up with Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Josue: Saraia, Jeremias, Esdras, ²Amaria, Melluch, Hattus, ³Sebenias, Rheum, Merimuth, ⁴Addo, Genthon, Abia, ⁵Miamin, Madia, Belga, ⁶Semeia, and Joiarib, Idaia, Sellum, Amoc, Helcias, ⁷Idaia. These were the chief of the priests, and of their brethren in the days of Josue. ⁸And the Levites, Jesua, Bennui, Cedmihel, Sarebia, Juda, Mathanias, they and their brethren were over the hymns: ⁹And Becbecia, and Hanni, and their brethren every one in his office. ¹⁰And Josue beget Joacim, and Joacim beget Eliasib, and Eliasib beget Joiada, ¹¹And Joiada beget Jonathan, and Jonathan beget Jeddoa. ¹²And in the days of Joacim the priests and heads of the families were : Of Saraia, Maraia: of Jeremias, Hanania: ¹³Of Esdras, Mosollam: and of Amaria, Johanan: ¹⁴Of Milicho, Jonathan: of Sebenia, Joseph: ¹⁵Of Haram, Edna: of Maraioth, Helci: ¹⁶Of Adaia, Zacharia: of Genthon, Mosollam: ¹⁷Of Abia, Zechri: of Miamin and Moadia, Phelti: ¹⁸Of Belga, Sammua of Semaia, Jonathan: ¹⁹Of Joiarib, Mathanai: of Jodaia, Azzi: ²⁰Of Sellai, Celai: of Amoc, Heber: ²¹Of Helcias, Hasebia: of Idaia, Nathanael. ²²The Levites the chiefs of the families in the days of Eliasib, and Joiada, and Johanan, and Jeddoa, were recorded, and the priests in the reign of Darius the Persian. ²³The sons of Levi, heads of the families were written in the book of Chronicles, even unto the days of Jonathan the son of Eliasib. ²⁴Now the chief of the Levites were Hasebia, Serebia, and Josue the son of Cedmihel: and their brethren by their courses, to praise and to give thanks according to the commandment of David the man of God, and to wait equally in order. ²⁵Mathania, and Becbecia, Obedia, and Mosollam, Telmon, Accub, were keepers of the gates and of the entrances before the gates. ²⁶These were in the days of Joacim the son of Josue, the son of Josedec, and in the days of Nehemias the governor, and of Esdras the priest and scribe. ²⁷And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, and to keep the dedication, and to rejoice with thanksgiving, and with singing, and with cymbals, and psalteries and harps. ²⁸And the sons of the singing men were gathered together out of the plain country about Jerusalem, and out of the villages of Nethuphati, ²⁹And from the house of Galgal, and from the countries of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singing men had built themselves villages round about Jerusalem. ³⁰And the priests and the Levites purified, and they purified the people, and the gates, and the wall. ³¹And I made the princes of Juda go up upon the wall, and I appointed two great choirs to give praise. And they went on the right hand upon the wall toward the dunghill gate. ³²And after them went Osaias, and half of the princes of Juda, ³³And Azarias, Esdras, and Mosollam, Judas, and Benjamin, and Semeia, and Jeremias. ³⁴And of the sons of the priests with trumpets, Zacharias the son of Jonathan. the son of Semeia, the son of Mathania; the son of Michaia, the son of Zechur, the son of Asaph, ³⁵And his brethren Semeia, and Azareel Malalai, Galalai, Maai, Nathanael, and Judas, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God: and Esdras the scribe before them at the fountain gate. ³⁶And they went up over against them by the stairs of the city of David, at the going up of the wall of the house of David, and to the water gate eastward: ³⁷And the second choir of them that gave thanks went on the opposite side, and I after them, and the half of the people upon the wall, and upon the tower of the furnaces, even to the broad wall, ³⁸And above the gate of Ephraim, and above the old gate, and above the fish gate and the tower of Hananeel, and the tower of Emath, and even to the flock gate: and they stood still in the watch gate. ³⁹And the two choirs of them that gave praise stood still at the house of God, and I and the half of the magistrates with me. ⁴⁰And the priests, Eliachim, Maasia, Miamin, Michea, Elioenai, Zacharia, Hanania with trumpets, ⁴¹And Maasia, and Semeia, and Eleazar, and Azzi, and Johanan, and Melchia, and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sung loud, and Jezraia was their overseer: ⁴²And they sacrificed on that day great sacrifices, and they rejoiced: for God had made them joyful with great joy: their wives also and their children rejoiced, and the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off. ⁴³They appointed also in that day men over the storehouses of the treasure, for the libations, and for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, that the rulers of the city might bring them in by them in honour of thanksgiving, for the priests and Levites: for Juda was joyful in the priests and Levites that assisted. ⁴⁴And they kept the watch of their God, and the observance of expiation, and the singing men, and the porters, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son. ⁴⁵For in the days of David and Asaph from the beginning there were chief singers appointed, to praise with canticles, and give thanks to God. ⁴⁶And all Israel, in the days of Zorobabel, and in the days of Nehemias gave portions to the singing men, and to the porters, day by day, and they sanctified the Levites, and the Levites sanctified the sons of Aaron.

Chapter 13

¹And on that day they read in the book of Moses in the hearing of the people: and therein was found written, that the Ammonites and the Moabites should not come in to the church of God for ever: ²Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and water: and they hired against them Balaam, to curse them, and our God turned the curse into blessing. ³And it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated every stranger from Israel. ⁴And over this thing was Eliasib the priest, who was set over the treasury of the house of our God, and was near akin to Tobias. ⁵And he made him a great storeroom, where before him they laid up gifts, and frankincense, and vessels, and the tithes of the corn, of the wine, and of the oil, the portions of the Levites, and of the singing men, and of the porters, and the firstfruits of the priests. ⁶But in all this time I was not in Jerusalem, because in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon, I went to the king, and after certain days I asked the king: ⁷And I came to Jerusalem, and I understood the evil that Eliasib had done for Tobias, to make him a storehouse in the courts of the house of God. ⁸And it seemed to me exceeding evil. And I cast forth the vessels of the house of Tobias out of the storehouse. ⁹And I commanded and they cleansed the storehouses: and I brought thither again the vessels of the house of God, the sacrifice, and the frankincense. ¹⁰And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them: and that the Levites, and the singing men, and they that ministered were fled away every man to his own country: ¹¹And I pleaded the matter against the magistrates, and said: Why have we forsaken the house of God? And I gathered them together, and I made them to stand in their places. ¹²And all Juda brought the tithe of the corn, and the wine, and the oil into the storehouses. ¹³And we set over the storehouses Selemias the priest, and Sadoc the scribe, and of the Levites Phadaia, and next to them Hanan the son of Zachur, the son of Mathania: for they were approved as faithful, and to them were committed the portions of their brethren. ¹⁴Remember me, O my God, for this thing, and wipe not out my kindnesses, which I have done relating to the house of my God and his ceremonies. ¹⁵In those days I saw in Juda some treading the presses on the sabbath, and carrying sheaves, and lading asses with wine, and grapes, and figs, and all manner of burthens, and bringing them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. And I charged them that they should sell on a day on which it was lawful to sell. ¹⁶Some Tyrians also dwelt there, who brought fish, and all manner of wares: and they sold them on the sabbaths to the children of Juda in Jerusalem. ¹⁷And I rebuked the chief men of Juda, and said to them: What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the sabbath day? ¹⁸Did not our fathers do these things, and our God brought all this evil upon us, and upon this city? And you bring more wrath upon Israel by violating the sabbath. ¹⁹And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem were at rest on the sabbath day, I spoke: and they shut the gates, and I commanded that they should not open them till after the sabbath: and I set some of my servants at the gates, that none should bring in burthens on the sabbath day. ²⁰So the merchants, and they that sold all kinds of wares, stayed without Jerusalem once or twice. ²¹And I charged them, and I said to them: Why stay you before the wall? if you do so another time, I will lay hands on you. And from that time they came no more on the sabbath. ²²I spoke also to the Levites that they should be purified, and should come to keep the gates, and to sanctify the sabbath day: for this also remember me, O my God, and spare me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. ²³In those days also I saw Jews that married wives, women of Azotus, and of Ammon, and of Moab. ²⁴And their children spoke half in the speech of Azotus, and could not speak the Jews' language, but they spoke according to the language of this and that people. ²⁵And I chid them, and laid my curse upon them. And I beat some of them, and shaved off their hair, and made them swear by God that they would not give their daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for their sons, nor for themselves, saying: ²⁶Did not Solomon king of Israel sin in this kind of thing? and surely among many nations, there was not a king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: m and yet women of other countries brought even him to sin. ²⁷And shall we also be disobedient and do all this great evil to transgress against our God, and marry strange women? ²⁸And one of the sons of Joiada the son of Eliasib the high priest, was son in law to Sanaballat the Horonite, and I drove him from me. ²⁹Remember them, O Lord my God, that defile the priesthood, and the law of priests and Levites. ³⁰So I separated from them all strangers, and I appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites, every man in his ministry : ³¹And for the offering of wood at times appointed, and for the firstfruits: remember me, O my God, unto good. Amen.

The Book of Esther

This Book takes its name from queen Esther, whose history is here recorded. The general opinion of almost all commentators on the Holy Scripture makes Mardochai the writer of it: which also may be collected below from chap. 9 ver. 20.

Chapter 1

¹In the days of Assuerus, who reigned from India to Ethiopia over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces: ²When he sat on the throne of his kingdom, the city Susan was the capital of his kingdom. ³Now in the third year of his reign he made a great feast for all the princes, and for his servants, for the most mighty of the Persians, and the nobles of the Medes, and the governors of the provinces in his sight, ⁴That he might shew the riches of the glory of his kingdom, and the greatness, and boasting of his power, for a long time, to wit, for a hundred and fourscore days. ⁵And when the days of the feast were expired, he invited all the people that were found in Susan, from the greatest to the least: and commanded a feast to be made seven days in the court of the garden, and of the wood, which was planted by the care and the hand of the king. ⁶And there were hung up on every side sky coloured, and green, and violet hangings, fastened with cords of silk, and of purple, which were put into rings of ivory, and were held up with marble pillars. The beds also were of gold and silver, placed in order upon a floor paved with porphyry and white marble: which was embellished with painting of wonderful variety. ⁷And they that were invited, drank in golden cups, and the meats were brought in divers vessels one after another. Wine also in abundance and of the best was presented, as was worthy of a king's magnificence. ⁸Neither was there any one to compel them to drink that were not willing, but as the king had appointed, who set over every table one of his nobles, that every man might take what he would. ⁹Also Vasthi the queen made a feast for the women in the palace, where king Assuerus was used to dwell. ¹⁰Now on the seventh day, when the king was merry, and after very much drinking was well warmed with wine, he commanded Mauman, and Bazatha, and Harbona, and Bagatha, and Abgatha, and Zethar, and Charcas, the seven eunuchs that served in his presence, ¹¹To bring in queen Vasthi before the king, with the crown set upon her head, to shew her beauty to all the people and the princes: for she was exceeding beautiful. ¹²But she refused, and would not come at the king's commandment, which he had signified to her by the eunuchs. Whereupon the king, being angry, and inflamed with a very great fury, ¹³Baked the wise men, who according to the custom of the kings, were always near his person, and all he did was by their counsel, who knew the laws, and judgments of their forefathers: ¹⁴(Now the chief and nearest him were, Charsena, and Sethar, and Admatha, and Tharsis, and Mares, and Marsana, and Mamuchan, seven princes of the Persians, and of the Medes, who saw the face of the king, and were used to sit first after him :) ¹⁵What sentence ought to pass upon Vasthi the queen, who had refused to obey the commandment of king Assuerus, which he had sent to her by the eunuchs? ¹⁶And Mamuchan answered, in the hearing of the king and the princes: Queen Vasthi hath not only injured the king, but also all the people and princes that are in all the provinces of king Assuerus. ¹⁷For this deed of the queen will go abroad to all women, so that they will despise their husbands, and will say: King Assuerus commanded that queen Vasthi should come in to him, and she would not. ¹⁸And by this example all the wives of the princes of the Persians and the Medes will slight the commandments of their husbands: wherefore the king's indignation is just. ¹⁹If it please thee, let an edict go out from thy presence, and let it be written according to the law of the Persians and of the Medes, which must not be altered, that Vasthi come in no more to the king, but another, that is better than her, be made queen in her place. ²⁰And let this be published through all the provinces of thy empire, (which is very wide,) and let all wives, as well of the greater as of the lesser, give honour to their husbands. ²¹His counsel pleased the king, and the princes: and the king did according to the counsel of Mamuchan. ²²And he sent letters to all the provinces of his kingdom, as every nation could hear and read, in divers languages and characters, that the husbands should be rulers and masters in their houses: and that this should be published to every people.

Chapter 2

¹After this, when the wrath of king Assuerus was appeased, he remembered Vasthi, and what she had done end what she had suffered: ²And the king's servants and his officers said: Let young women be sought for the king, virgins and beautiful, ³And let some persons be sent through all the provinces to look for beautiful maidens and virgins: and let them bring them to the city of Susan, and put them into the house of the women under the hand of Egeus the eunuch, who is the overseer and keeper of the king's women: and let them receive women's ornaments, and other things necessary for their use. ⁴And whosoever among them all shall please the king's eyes, let her be queen instead of Vasthi. The word pleased the king: and he commanded it should be done as they had suggested. ⁵There was a man in the city of Susan, a Jew, named Mardochai, the son of Jair, the son of Semei, the son of Cis, of the race of Jemini, ⁶Who had been carried away from Jerusalem at the time that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon carried away Jechonias king of Juda, ⁷And he had brought up his brother's daughter Edissa, who by another name was called Esther: now she had lost both her parents: and was exceeding fair and beautiful. And her father and mother being dead, Mardochai adopted her for his daughter. ⁸And when the king's ordinance was noised abroad, and according to his commandment many beautiful virgins were brought to Susan, and were delivered to Egeus the eunuch: Esther also among the rest of the maidens was delivered to him to be kept in the number of the women. ⁹And she pleased him, and found favour in his sight. And he commanded the eunuch to hasten the women's ornaments, and to deliver to her her part, and seven of the most beautiful maidens of the king's house, and to adorn and deck out both her and her waiting maids. ¹⁰And she would not tell him her people nor her country. For Mardochai had charged her to say nothing at all of that: ¹¹And he walked every day before the court of the house, in which the chosen virgins werre kept, having a care for Esther's welfare, and desiring to know what would befall her. ¹²Now when every virgin's turn came to go in to the king, after all had been done for setting them off to advantage, it was the twelfth month: so that for six months they were anointed with oil of myrrh, and for other six months they used certain perfumes and sweet spices. ¹³And when they were going in to the king, whatsoever they asked to adorn themselves they received: and being decked out, as it pleased them, they passed from the chamber of the women to the king's chamber. ¹⁴And she that went in at evening, came out in the morning, and from thence she was conducted to the second house, that was under the hand of Susagaz the eunuch, who had the charge over the king's concubines: neither could she return any more to the king, unless the king desired it, and had ordered her by name to come. ¹⁵And as the time came orderly about, the day was at hand, when Esther, the daughter of Abihail the brother of Mardochai, whom he had adopted for his daughter, was to go in to the king. But she sought not women's ornaments, but whatsoever Egeus the eunuch the keeper of the virgins had a mind, he gave her to adorn her. For she was exceeding fair, and her incredible beauty made her appear agreeable and amiable in the eyes of all. ¹⁶So she was brought to the chamber of king Assuerus the tenth month, which is called Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. ¹⁷And the king loved her more than all the women, and she had favour and kindness before him above all the women, and he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vasthi. ¹⁸And he commanded a magnificent feast to be prepared for all the princes, and for his servants, for the marriage and wedding of Esther. And he gave rest to all the provinces, and bestowed gifts according to princely magnificence. ¹⁹And when the virgins were sought the second time, and gathered together, Mardochai stayed at the king's gate, ²⁰Neither had Esther as yet declared her country and people, according to his commandment. For whatsoever he commanded, Esther observed: and she did all things in the same manner as she was wont at that time when he brought her up a little one. ²¹At that time, therefore, when Mardochai abode at the king's gate, Bagathan and Thares, two of the king's eunuchs, who were porters, and presided in the first entry of the palace, were angry: and they designed to rise up against the king, and to kill him. ²²And Mardochai had notice of it, and immediately he told it to queen Esther: and she to the king in Mardochai's name, who had reported the thing unto her. ²³It was inquired into, and found out: and they were both hanged on a gibbet. And it was put in the histories, and recorded in the chronicles before the king.

Chapter 3

¹After these things, king Assuerus advanced Aman, the son of Amadathi, who was of the race of Agag: and he set his throne above all the princes that were with him. ²And all the king's servants, that were at the doors of the palace, bent their knees, and worshipped Aman: for so the emperor had commanded them, only Mardochai did not bend his knee, nor worship him. ³And the king's servants that were chief at the doors of the palace, said to him: Why dost thou alone not observe the king's commandment? ⁴And when they were saying this often, and he would not hearken to them; they told Aman, desirous to know whether he would continue in his resolution: for he had told them that he was a Jew. ⁵Now when Aman had heard this, and had proved by experience that Mardochai did not bend his knee to him, nor worship him, he was exceeding angry. ⁶And he counted it nothing to lay his hands upon Mardochai alone: for he had heard that he was of the nation of the Jews, and he chose rather to destroy all the nation of the Jews that were in the kingdom of Assuerus. ⁷In the first month (which is called Nisan) in the twelfth year a of the reign of Assuerus, the lot was cast into an urn, which in Hebrew is called Phur, before Aman, on what day and what month the nation of the Jews should be destroyed: and there came out the twelfth month, which is called Adar. ⁸And Aman said to king Assuerus: There is a people scattered through all the provinces of thy kingdom, and separated one from another, that use new laws and ceremonies, and moreover despise the king's ordinances: and thou knowest very well that it is not expedient for thy kingdom that they should grow insolent by impunity. ⁹If it please thee, decree that they may he destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents to thy treasurers. ¹⁰And the king took the ring that he used, from his own hand, and gave it to Aman, the son of Amadathi of the race of Agag, the enemy of the Jews, ¹¹And he said to him: As to the money which thou promisest, keep it for thyself: and as to the people, do with them as seemeth good to thee. ¹²And the king's scribes were called in the first month Nisan, on the thirteenth day of the same month: and they wrote, as Aman had commanded, to all the king's lieutenants, and to the judges of the provinces, and of divers nations, as every nation could read, and hear according to their different languages, in the name of king Assuerus: and the letters, sealed with his ring, ¹³Were sent by the king's messengers to all provinces, to kill and destroy all the Jews, both young and old, little children, and women, in one day, that is, on the thirteenth of the twelfth month, which is called Adar, and to make a spoil of their goods. ¹⁴And the contents of the letters were to this effect, that all provinces might know and be ready against that day. ¹⁵The couriers that were sent made haste to fulfil the king's commandment. And immediately the edict was hung up in Susan, the king and Aman feasting together, and all the Jews that were in the city weeping.

Chapter 4

¹Now when Mardochai had heard these things, he rent his garments, and put on sackcloth, strewing ashes on his head: and he cried with a loud voice in the street in the midst of the city, shewing the anguish of his mind. ²And he came lamenting in this manner even to the gate of the palace: for no one clothed with sackcloth might enter the king's court. ³And in all provinces, towns, and places, to which the king's cruel edict was come, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, wailing, and weeping, many using sackcloth and ashes for their bed. ⁴Then Esther's maids and her eunuchs went in, and told her. And when she heard it she was in a consternation: and she sent a garment, to clothe him, and to take away the sackcloth: but he would not receive it. ⁵And she called for Athach the eunuch, whom the king had appointed to attend upon her, and she commanded him to go to Mardochai, and learn of him why he did this. ⁶And Athach going out went to Mardochai, who was standing in the street of the city, before the palace gate: ⁷And Mardochai told him all that had happened, how Aman had promised to pay money into the king's treasures, to have the Jews destroyed. ⁸He gave him also a copy of the edict which was hanging up in Susan, that he should shew it to the queen, and admonish her to go in to the king, and to entreat him for her people. ⁹And Athach went back and told Esther all that Mardochai had said. ¹⁰She answered him, and bade him say to Mardochai: ¹¹11All the king's servants, and all the provinces that are under his dominion, know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, cometh into the king's inner court, who is not called for, is immediately to be put to death without any delay: except the king shall hold out the golden sceptre to him, in token of clemency, that so he may live. How then can I go in to the king, who for these thirty days now have not been called unto him? ¹²And when Mardochai had heard this, ¹³He sent word to Esther again, saying: Think not that thou mayst save thy life only, because thou art in the king a house, more than all the Jews: ¹⁴For if thou wilt now hold thy peace, the Jews shall be delivered by some other occasion: and thou, and thy father's house shall perish. And who knoweth whether thou art not therefore come to the kingdom, that thou mightest be ready in such a time as this? ¹⁵And again Esther sent to Mardochai in these words: ¹⁶Go, and gather together all the Jews whom thou shalt find in Susan, and pray ye for me. Neither eat nor drink for three days and three nights: and I with my handmaids will fast in like manner, and then I will go in to the king, against the law, not being called, and expose myself to death and to danger. ¹⁷So Mardochai went, and did all that Esther had commanded him.

Chapter 5

¹And on the third day Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's hall: now he sat upon his throne in the hall of the palace, over against the door of the house. ²And when he saw Esther the queen standing, she pleased his eyes, and he held out toward her the golden sceptre, which he held in his hand: and she drew near, and kissed the top of his sceptre. ³And the king said to her: What wilt then, queen Esther? what is thy request? if thou shouldst even ask one half of the kingdom, it shall be given to thee. ⁴But she answered: If it please the king. I beseech thee to come to me this day, and Aman with thee to the banquet which I have prepared. ⁵And the king said forthwith: Call ye Aman quickly, that he may obey Esther's will. So the king and Aman came to the banquet which the queen had prepared for them. ⁶And the king said to her, after he had drunk wine plentifully: What dost thou desire should be given thee? and for what thing askest thou? although thou shouldst ask the half of my kingdom, thou shalt have it. ⁷And Esther answered: My petition and request is this: ⁸If I have found favour in the king's sight, and if it please the king to give me what I ask, and to fulfil my petition: let the king and Aman come to the banquet which I have prepared them, and to morrow I will open my mind to the king. ⁹So Aman went out that day joyful and merry. And when he saw Mardochai sitting before the gate of the palace, and that he not only did not rise up to honour him, but did not so much as move from the place where he sat, he was exceedingly angry: ¹⁰But dissembling his anger, and returning into his house, he called together to him his friends, and Zares his wife: ¹¹And he declared to them the greatness of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and with how great glory the king had advanced him above all his princes and servants. ¹²And after this he said: Queen Esther also hath invited no other to the banquet with the king, but me: and with her I am also to dine to morrow with the king: ¹³And whereas I have all these things, I think I have nothing, so long as I see Mardochai the Jew sitting before the king's gate. ¹⁴Then Zares his wife, and the rest of his friends answered him: Order a great beam to be prepared, fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak to the king, that Mardochai may be hanged upon it, and so thou shalt go full of joy with the king to the banquet. The counsel pleased him, and he commanded a high gibbet to be prepared.

Chapter 6

¹That night the king passed without sleep, and he commanded the histories and chronicles of former times to be brought him. And when they were reading them before him, ²They came to that place where it was written, how Mardochai had discovered the treason of Bagathan and Thares the eunuchs, who sought to kill king Assuerus. ³And when the king heard this, he said: What honour and reward hath Mardochai received for this fidelity? His servants and ministers said to him: He hath received no reward at all. ⁴And the king said immediately: Who is in the court? for Aman was coming in to the inner court of the king's house, to speak to the king, that he might order Mardochai to be hanged upon the gibbet which was prepared for him. ⁵The servants answered: Aman standeth in the court, and the king said: Let him come in. ⁶And when he was come in, he said to him: What ought to be done to the man whom the king is desirous to honour? But Aman thinking in his heart, and supposing that the king would honour no other but himself, ⁷Answered: The man whom the king desireth to honour, ⁸Ought to be clothed with the king's apparel, and to be set upon the horse that the king rideth upon, and to have the royal crown upon his head, ⁹And let the first of the king's princes and nobles hold his horse, and going through the street of the city, proclaim before him and say: Thus shall he be honoured, whom the king hath a mind to honour. ¹⁰And the king said to him: Make haste and take the robe and the horse, and do as thou hast spoken to Mardochai the Jew, who sitteth before the gates of the palace. Beware thou pass over any of those things which thou hast spoken. ¹¹So Aman took the robe and the horse, and arraying Mardochai in the street of the city, and setting him on the horse, went before him, and proclaimed: This honour is he worthy of, whom the king hath a mind to honour. ¹²But Mardochai returned to the palace gate: and Aman made haste to go to his house, mourning and having his head covered: ¹³And he told Zares his wife, and his friends, all that had befallen him. And the wise men whom he had in counsel, and his wife answered him: If Mardochai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou canst not resist him, but thou shalt fall in his sight. ¹⁴As they were yet speaking, the king's eunuchs came, and compelled him to go quickly to the banquet which the queen had prepared.

Chapter 7

¹So the king and Aman went in, to drink with the queen. ²And the king said to her again the second day, after he was warm with wine: What is thy petition, Esther, that it may be granted thee? and what wilt thou have done: although thou ask the half of my kingdom, thou shalt have it. ³Then she answered: If I have found Favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please thee, give me my life for which I ask, and my people for which I request. ⁴For we are given up, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. And would God we were sold for bondmen and bondwomen: the evil might be borne with, and I would have mourned in silence: but now we have an enemy, whose cruelty redoundeth upon the king. ⁵And king Assuerus answered and said: Who is this, and of what power, that he should do these things? ⁶And Esther said: It is this Aman that is our adversary and most wicked enemy. Aman hearing this was forthwith astonished, not being able to bear the countenance of the king and of the queen. ⁷But the king being angry rose up, and went from the place of the banquet into the garden set with trees. Aman also rose up to entreat Esther the queen for his life, for he understood that evil was prepared for him by the king. ⁸And when the king came back out of the garden set with trees, and entered into the place of the banquet, he found Aman was fallen upon the bed on which Esther lay, and he said: He will force the queen also in my presence, in my own house. The word was not yet gone out of the king's mouth, and immediately they covered his face. ⁹And Harbona, one of the eunuchs that stood waiting on the king, said: Behold the gibbet which he hath prepared for Mardochai, who spoke for the king, standeth in Aman's house, being fifty cubits high. And the king said to him: Hang him upon it. ¹⁰So Aman was hanged on the gibbet, which he had prepared for Mardochai: and the king's wrath ceased.

Chapter 8

¹On that day king Assuerus gave the house of Aman, the Jews' enemy, to queen Esther, and Mardochai came in before the king. For Esther had confessed to him that he was her uncle. ²And the king took the ring which he had commanded to be taken again from Aman, and gave it to Mardochai. And Esther set Mardochai over her house. ³And not content with these things, she fell down at the king's feet and wept, and speaking to him besought him, that he would give orders that the malice of Aman the Agagite, and his most wicked devices which he had invented against the Jews, should be of no effect. ⁴But he, as the manner was, held out the golden sceptre with his hand, which was the sign of clemency: and she arose up and stood before him, ⁵And said: If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and my request be not disagreeable to him, I beseech thee, that the former letters of Aman the traitor and enemy of the Jews, by which he commanded that they should be destroyed in all the king's provinces, may be reversed by new letters. ⁶For how call I endure the murdering and slaughter of my people? ⁷And king Assuerus answered Esther the queen, and Mardochai the Jew: I have given Aman's house to Esther, and I have commanded him to be hanged on a gibbet, because he durst lay hands on the Jews. ⁸Write ye therefore to the Jews, as it pleaseth you, in the king's name, and seal the letters with my ring. For this was the custom, that no man durst gainsay the letters which were sent in the king's name, and were sealed with his ring. ⁹Then the king's scribes and secretaries were called for (now it was the time of the third month which is called Siban) the three and twentieth day of the month, and letters were written, as Mardochai had a mind, to the Jews, and to the governors, and to the deputies, and to the judges, who were rulers over the hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India even to Ethiopia: to province and province, to people and people, according to their languages and characters, and to the Jews, according as they could read and hear. ¹⁰And these letters which were sent in the king's name, were sealed with his ring, and sent by posts: who were to run through all the provinces, to prevent the former letters with new messages. ¹¹And the king gave orders to them, to speak to the Jews in every city, and to command them to gather themselves together, and to stand for their lives, and to kill and destroy all their enemies with their wives and children and all their houses, and to take their spoil. ¹²And one day of revenge was appointed through all the provinces, to wit, the thirteenth of the twelfth month Adar. ¹³And this was the content of the letter, that it should be notified in all lands and peoples that were subject to the empire of king Assuerus, that the Jews were ready to be revenged of their enemies. ¹⁴So the swift posts went out carrying the messages, and the king's edict was hung up in Susan. ¹⁵And Mardochai going forth out of the palace, and from the king's presence, shone in royal apparel, to wit, of violet and sky colour, wearing a golden crown on his head, and clothed with a cloak of silk and purple. And all the city rejoiced and was glad. ¹⁶But to the Jews a new light seemed to rise, joy, honour, and dancing. ¹⁷And in all peoples, cities, and provinces, whithersoever the king's commandments came, there was wonderful rejoicing, feasts and banquets, and keeping holy day: insomuch that many of other nations and religion, joined themselves to their worship and ceremonies. For a great dread of the name of the Jews had fallen upon all.

Chapter 9

¹So on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which as we have said above is called Adar, when all the Jews were designed to be massacred, and their enemies were greedy after their blood, the case being altered, the Jews began to have the upper hand, and to revenge themselves of their adversaries. ²And they gathered themselves together in every city, and town, and place, to lay their hands on their enemies, and their persecutors. And no one durst withstand them, for the fear of their power had gone through every people. ³And the judges of the provinces, and the governors, and lieutenants, and every one in dignity, that presided over every place and work, extolled the Jews for fear of Mardochai: ⁴For they knew him to be prince of the palace, and to have great power: and the fame of his name increased daily, and was spread abroad through all men's mouths. ⁵So the Jews made a great slaughter of their enemies, and killed them, repaying according to what they had prepared to do to them: ⁶Insomuch that even in Susan they killed five hundred men, besides the ten sons of Aman the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews: whose names are these: ⁷Pharsandatha, and Delphon, and Esphatha, ⁸And Phoratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha, ⁹And Phermesta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Jezatha. ¹⁰And when they had slain them, they would not touch the spoils of their goods. ¹¹And presently the number of them that were killed in Susan was brought to the king. ¹²And he said to the queen: The Jews have killed five hundred men in the city of Susan, besides the ten sons of Aman: how many dost thou think they have slain in all the provinces? What askest thou more, and what wilt thou have me to command to be done? ¹³And she answered: If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews, to do to morrow in Susan as they have done to day, and that the ten sons of Aman may be hanged upon gibbets. ¹⁴And the king commanded that it should be so done. And forthwith the edict was hung up in Susan, and the ten sons of Aman were hanged. ¹⁵15And on the fourteenth day of the month Adar the Jews gathered themselves together, and they killed in Susan three hundred men: but they took not their substance. ¹⁶Moreover through all the provinces which were subject to the king's dominion the Jews stood for their lives, and slew their enemies and persecutors: insomuch that the number of them that were Billed amounted to seventy-five thousand, and no man took any of their goods. ¹⁷Now the thirteenth day of the month Adar was the first day with them all of the slaughter, and on the fourteenth day they left off. Which they ordained to be kept holy day, so that all times hereafter they should celebrate it with feasting, joy, and banquets. ¹⁸But they that were killing in the city of Susan, were employed in the slaughter on the thirteenth and fourteenth day of the same month: and on the fifteenth day they rested. And therefore they appointed that day to be a holy day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁹But those Jews that dwelt in towns not walled and in villages, appointed the fourteenth day of the month Adar for banquets and gladness, so as to rejoice on that day, and send one another portions of their banquets and meats. ²⁰And Mardochai wrote all these things, and sent them comprised in letters to the Jews that abode in all the king's provinces, both those that lay near and those afar off, ²¹21That they should receive the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the month Adar for holy days, and always at the return of the year should celebrate them with solemn honour: ²²Because on those days the Jews revenged themselves of their enemies, and their mourning and sorrow were turned into mirth and joy, and that these should be days of feasting and gladness, in which they should send one to another portions of meats; and should give gifts to the poor. ²³And the Jews undertook to observe with solemnity all they had begun to do at that time, which Mardochai by letters had commanded to be done. ²⁴For Aman, the son of Amadathi of the race of Agag, the enemy and adversary of the Jews, had devised evil against them, to kill them and destroy them: and had cast Phur, that is, the lot. ²⁵And afterwards Esther went in to the king, beseeching him that his endeavours might be made void by the king's letters: and the evil that he had intended against the Jews, might return upon his own head. And so both he and his sons were hanged upon gibbets. ²⁶And since that time these days are called Phurim, that is, of lots: because Phur, that is, the lot, was cast into the urn. And all things that were done, are contained in the volume of this epistle, that is, of this book: ²⁷And the things that they suffered, and that were afterwards changed, the Jews took upon themselves and their seed, and upon all that had a mind to be joined to their religion, so that it should be lawful for none to pass these days without solemnity: which the writing testifieth, and certain times require, as the years continually succeed one another. ²⁸These are the days which shall never be forgot: and which all provinces in the whole world shall celebrate throughout all generations: neither is there any city wherein the days of Phurim, that is, of lots, must not be observed by the Jews, and by their posterity, which is bound to these ceremonies. ²⁹And Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mardochai the Jew, wrote also a second epistle, that with all diligence this day should be established a festival for the time to come. ³⁰And they sent to all the Jews that were in the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of king Assuerus, that they should have peace, and receive truth, ³¹And observe the days of lots, and celebrate them with joy in their proper time: as Mardochai and Esther had appointed, and they undertook them to be observed by themselves and by their seed, fasts, and cries, and the days of lots, ³²And all things which are contained in the history of this book, which is called Esther.

Chapter 10

¹And king Assuerus made all the land, and all the islands of the sea tributary. ²And his strength and his empire, and the dignity and greatness wherewith he exalted Mardochai, are written in the books of the Medes, and of the Persians: ³And how Mardochai of the race of the Jews, was next after king Assuerus: and great among the Jews, and acceptable to the people of his brethren, seeking the good of his people, and speaking those things which were for the welfare of his seed.

The Book of Job

This Book takes its name from the holy man of whom it treats: who, according to the more probable opinion, was of the race of Esau; and the same as Jobab, king of Edom, mentioned Gen. 36.33. It is uncertain who was the writer of it. Some attribute it to Job himself; others to Moses, or some one of the prophets. In the Hebrew it is written in verse, from the beginning of the third chapter to the forty-second chapter.

Chapter 1

¹There was a man in the land of Hus, whose name was Job, and that man was simple and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil. ²And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters. ³And his possession was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a family exceeding great: and this man was great among all the people of the east. ⁴And his sons went, and made a feast by houses every one in his day. And sending they called their three sisters to eat and drink with them. ⁵And when the days of their feasting were gone about, Job sent to them, and sanctified them: and rising up early offered holocausts for every one of them. For he said: Lest perhaps my sons have sinned, and have blessed God in their hearts. So did Job all days. ⁶Now on a certain day when the sons of God came to stand before the Lord, Satan also was present among them. ⁷And the Lord said to him: Whence comest thou ? And he answered and said: I have gone round about the earth, and walked through it. ⁸And the Lord said to him: Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil? ⁹And Satan answering, said: Doth Job fear God in vain ? ¹⁰Hast not thou made a fence for him, and his house, and all his substance round about, blessed the works of his hands, and his possession hath increased on the earth ? ¹¹But stretch forth thy hand a little, and touch all that he hath, and see if he blesseth thee not to thy face. ¹²Then the Lord said to Satan: Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand: only put not forth thy hand upon his person. And Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. ¹³Now upon a certain day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, ¹⁴There came a messenger to Job, and said: The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them, ¹⁵And the Sabeans rushed in, and took all away, and slew the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee. ¹⁶And while he was yet speaking, another came, and said: The fire of God fell from heaven, and striking the sheep and the servants, hath consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell thee. ¹⁷And while he also was yet speaking, there came another, and said: The Chaldeans made three troops, and have fallen upon the camels, and taken them, moreover they have slain the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee. ¹⁸He was yet speaking, and behold another came in, and said: Thy sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their elder brother: ¹⁹A violent wind came on a sudden from the side of the desert, and shook the four corners of the house, and it fell upon thy children and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to fell thee. ²⁰Then Job rose up, and rent his garments, and having shaven his head fell down upon the ground and worshipped, ²¹And said: Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord. ²²In all these things Job sinned not by his lips, nor spoke he any foolish thing against God.

Chapter 2

¹And it came to pass, when on a certain day the sons of God came, and stood before the Lord, and Satan came among them, and stood in his sight, ²That the Lord said to Satan: Whence comest thou ? And he answered and said: I have gone round about the earth, and walked through it. ³And the Lord said to Satan: Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a man simple, and upright, and fearing Cod, and avoiding evil, and still keeping his innocence ? But thou hast moved me against him, that I sho uld afflict him without cause. ⁴And Satan answered, and said: Skin for skin, and all that a man hath he will give for his life: ⁵gut put forth thy hand, and touch his bone and his flesh, and then thou shalt gee that he will bless thee to thy face. ⁶And the Lord said to Satan: Behold be is in thy hand, but yet save his life. ⁷So Satan went forth from the presence Of the Lord, and struck Job with a very grievous ulcer, from the sole of the foot even to the top of his head: ⁸And he took a potsherd and scraped the corrupt matter, sitting on a dunghill. ⁹And his wife said to him: Dost thou still continue in thy simplicity? bless God and die. ¹⁰And he said to her: Thou hast; spoken like one of the foolish women: if we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil? In all these things Job did not sin with his lips. ¹¹Now when Job's three friends heard all the evil that had befallen him, they came every one from his own place, Alphas the Themanite, and Baldad the Suhite, and Sophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment to come together and visit him, a nd comfort him. ¹²And when they had lifted up their eyes afar off, they knew him not, and crying out they wept, and rending their garments they sprinkled dust upon their heads towards heaven. ¹³And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no man spoke to him a word: for they saw that his grief was very great.

Chapter 3

¹After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day, ²and he said: ³Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said: A man child is conceived. ⁴Let that day be turned into darkness, let not God regard it from above, and let not the light shine upon it. ⁵Let darkness, and the shadow of death cover it, let a mist overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness. ⁶Let a darksome whirlwind seize upon that night, let it not be counted in the days of the year, nor numbered in the months. ⁷Let that night be solitary, and not worthy of praise. ⁸Let them curse it who curse the day. who are ready to raise up a leviathan: ⁹Let the stars be darkened with the mist thereof: let it expect light and not see it, nor the rising of the dawning of the day: ¹⁰Because it shut not up the doors of the womb that bore me, nor took away evils from my eyes. ¹¹Why did I not die in the womb, why did I not perish when I came out of the belly? ¹²Why received upon the knees? why suckled at the breasts ? ¹³For now I should have been asleep and still, and should have rest in my sleep. ¹⁴With kings and consuls of the earth, who build themselves solitudes: ¹⁵Or with princes, that possess gold, and All their houses with silver: ¹⁶Or as a hidden untimely birth I should not be, or as they that being conceived have not seen the light. ¹⁷There the wicked cease from tumult, and there the wearied in strength are at rest. ¹⁸And they sometime bound together without disquiet, have not heard the voice of the oppressor. ¹⁹The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master. ²⁰Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to them that are in bitterness of soul? ²¹That look for death, and it cometh not, as they that dig for a treasure: ²²And they rejoice exceedingly when they have found the grave. ²³To a man whose way is hidden, and God hath surrounded him with darkness? ²⁴Before I eat I sigh: and as overflowing waters, so is my roaring: ²⁵For the fear which I feared hath come upon me: and that which I was afraid of, hath befallen me. ²⁶Have I not dissembled ? have I not kept silence ? have I not been quiet? and indignation is come upon me.

Chapter 4

¹Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said: ²If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill, but who can withhold the words he hath conceived? ³Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands: ⁴Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees: ⁵But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: it hath touched thee, and thou art troubled. ⁶Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways? ⁷Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed? ⁸On the contrary I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them, ⁹Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed by the spirit of his wrath. ¹⁰The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions are broken: ¹¹The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad. ¹²Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth as it were received the veins of its whisper. ¹³In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men, ¹⁴Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted: ¹⁵And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up. ¹⁶There stood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before my eyes, and I heard the voice as it were of a gentle wind: ¹⁷Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his maker? ¹⁸Behold they that serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness: ¹⁹How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth? ²⁰From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever. ²¹And they that shall be left, shall be taken away from them: they shall die, and not in wisdom.

Chapter 5

¹Call now if there be any that will answer thee, and turn to some of the saints. ²Anger indeed killeth the foolish, and envy slayeth the little one. ³I have seen a fool with a strong root, and I cursed his beauty immediately. ⁴His children shall be far from safety, and shall be destroyed in the gate, and there shall be none to deliver them. ⁵Whose harvest the hungry shall eat, and the armed man shall take him by violence, and the thirsty shall drink up his riches. ⁶Nothing upon earth is done without a voice cause, and sorrow doth not spring out of the ground. ⁷Man is born to labour and the bird to fly. ⁸Wherefore I will pray to the Lord, and address my speech to God: ⁹Who doth great things and unsearchable and wonderful things without number: ¹⁰Who giveth rain upon the face of the earth, and watereth all things with waters: ¹¹Who setteth up the humble on high, and comforteth with health those that mourn. ¹²Who bringeth to nought the designs of the malignant, so that their hands cannot accomplish what they had begun: ¹³Who catcheth the wise in their craftiness, and disappointeth the counsel of the wicked: ¹⁴They shall meet with darkness in the day, and grope at noonday as in the night. ¹⁵But he shall save the needy from the sword of their mouth, and the poor from the hand of the violent. ¹⁶And to the needy there shall he hope, but iniquity shall draw in her mouth. ¹⁷Blessed is the mall whom God correcteth: refuse not therefore the chastising of the lord: ¹⁸For he woundeth, and cureth: he striketh, and his hands shall heal. ¹⁹In six troubles he shall deliver thee, and in the seventh, evil shall not touch thee. ²⁰In famine he shall deliver thee from death: and in battle, from the hand of the sword. ²¹Thou shalt he hidden from the scourge of the tongue: and thou shalt not fear calamity when it cometh. ²²In destruction and famine then shalt laugh: and thou shalt not be afraid of the beasts of the earth. ²³But thou shalt have a covenant with the stones of the lands, and the beasts of the earth shall be at pence with thee. ²⁴And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle is in peace, and visiting thy beauty thou shalt not sin. ²⁵Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be multiplied, and thy offspring like the grass of the earth. ²⁶Thou shalt enter into the grave in abundance, as a heap of wheat is brought in its season. ²⁷Behold, this is even so, as we have searched oat: which thou having heard, consider it thoroughly in thy mind.

Chapter 6

¹But Job answered, and said: ²O that my sins, whereby I have deserved wrath, and the calamity that I suffer, were weighed in a balance. ³As the sand of the sea this would appear heavier: therefore my words are full of sorrow : ⁴For the arrows of the Lord are in me, the rage whereof drinketh up my spirit, and the terrors of the Lord war against me. ⁵Will the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or will the ox low when he standeth before a full manger? ⁶Or can an unsavoury thing be eaten, that is not seasoned with salt? or can a man taste that which when tasted bringeth death? ⁷The things which before my soul would not touch, now, through anguish are my meats. ⁸Who will grant that my request may come: and that God may give me what I look for? ⁹And that he that hath begun may destroy me, that he may let loose his hand, and cut me off? ¹⁰And that this may be my comfort, that afflicting me with sorrow, he spare not, nor I contradict the words of the Holy One. ¹¹For what is my strength, that I can hold out? or what is my end that I should keep patience? ¹²My strength is not the strength of stones, nor is my flesh of brass. ¹³Behold there is no help for me in myself, and my familiar friends also are departed from me. ¹⁴He that taketh away mercy from his friend, forsaketh the fear of the Lord. ¹⁵My brethren have passed by me, as the torrent that passeth swiftly in the valleys. ¹⁶They that fear the hoary frost, the snow shall fall upon them. ¹⁷At the time when they shall be scattered they shall perish: and after it groweth hot they shall be melted out of their place. ¹⁸The paths of their steps are entangled: they shall walk in vain, and shall perish. ¹⁹Consider the paths of Thema, the ways of Saba, and wait a little while. ²⁰They are confounded, because I have hoped: they are come also even unto me, and are covered with shame. ²¹Now you are come: and now seeing my affliction you are afraid. ²²Did I say: Bring to me, and give me of your substance? ²³Or deliver me from the hand of the enemy, and rescue me out of the hand of the mighty? ²⁴Teach me, and I will hold my peace: and if I have been ignorant in any thing, instruct me. ²⁵Why have you detracted the words of truth, whereas there is none of you that can reprove me? ²⁶You dress up speeches only to rebuke, and you utter words to the wind. ²⁷You rush in upon the fatherless, and you endeavour to overthrow your friend. ²⁸However finish what you have begun, give ear, and see whether I lie. ²⁹Answer, I beseech you, without contention: and speaking that which is just, judge ye. ³⁰And you shall not And iniquity in my tongue, neither shall folly sound in my mouth.

Chapter 7

¹The life of man upon earth is a warfare, and his days are like the days of a hireling. ²As a servant longeth for the shade, as the hireling looketh for the end of his work; ³So I also have had empty months, and have numbered to myself wearisome nights. ⁴If I lie down to sleep, I shall say: When shall arise? and again I shall look for the evening, and shall be filled with sorrows even till darkness. ⁵My flesh is clothed with rottenness and the filth of dust, my skin is withered and drawn together. ⁶My days have passed more swiftly than the web is cut by the weaver, and are consumed without any hope. ⁷Remember that my life is but wind, and my eyes shall not return to see good things. ⁸Nor shall the sight of man behold me: thy eyes are upon me, and I shall be no more. ⁹As a cloud is consumed, and passeth away: so he that shall go down to hell shall not come up. ¹⁰Nor shall he return my more into his house, neither shall his place know him any more. ¹¹Wherefore I will not spare my month, I will speak in the affliction of my spirit: I will talk with the bitterness of my soul. ¹²Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou hast enclosed me in a prison? ¹³If I say: My bed shall comfort me, and I shall be relieved speaking with myself on my couch: ¹⁴Thou wilt frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions. ¹⁵So that my soul rather chooseth hanging, and my bones death. ¹⁶I have done with hope, I shall now live no longer: spare me, for my days are nothing. ¹⁷What is a man that thou shouldst magnify him? or why dost thou set thy heart upon him? ¹⁸Thou visitest him early in the morning, and thou provest him suddenly. ¹⁹How long wilt thou not spare me, nor suffer me to swallow down my spittle? ²⁰I have sinned: what shall I do to thee, O keeper of men? why hast thou set me opposite to thee, and I am become burdensome to myself? ²¹Why dost thou not remove my sin, and why dost thou not take away my iniquity? Behold now I shall sleep in the dust: and if thou seek me in the morning, I shall not be.

Chapter 8

¹The Baldad the Suhite answered, and said: ²How long wilt thou speak these things, and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind? ³Doth God pervert judgment, or doth the Almighty overthrow that which is just? ⁴Although thy children have sinned against him, and he hath left them in the hand of their iniquity: ⁵Yet if thou wilt arise early to God, and wilt beseech the Almighty: ⁶If thou wilt walk clean and upright, he will presently awake onto thee, and will make the dwelling of thy justice peaceable: ⁷Insomuch, that if thy former things were small, thy latter things would be multiplied exceedingly. ⁸For inquire of the former generation, and search diligently into the memory of the fathers: ⁹(For we are but of yesterday, and are ignorant that our days upon earth are but a shadow:) ¹⁰And they shall teach thee: they shall speak to thee, and utter words out of their hearts. ¹¹Can the rush be green without moisture? or a sedge-bush grow without water? ¹²When it is yet in flower, and is not plucked up with the hand, it withereth before all herbs. ¹³Even so are the ways of all that forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish: ¹⁴His folly shall not please him, and his trust shall be like the spider's web. ¹⁵He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand: he shall prop it up, and it shall not rise: ¹⁶He seemeth to have moisture before the sun cometh, and at his rising his blossom shall shoot forth. ¹⁷His roots shall be thick upon a heap of stones, and among the stones he shall abide. ¹⁸If one swallow him up out of his place, he shall deny him, and shall say: I know thee not. ¹⁹For this is the joy of his way, that others may spring again out of the earth. ²⁰God will not cast away the simple, nor reach out his hand to the evildoer: ²¹Until thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with rejoicing. ²²They that hate thee, shall be clothed with confusion: and the dwelling of the wicked shall not stand.

Chapter 9

¹And Job answered, and said: ²Indeed I know it is so, and that man cannot be justified compared with ³If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one for a thousand. ⁴He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath resisted him, and hath had peace ? ⁵Who hath removed mountains, and they whom he overthrew in his wrath, knew it not. ⁶Who shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. ⁷Who commandeth tile sun and it riseth not: and shutteth up the stars as it were under a seal: ⁸Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and walketh upon the waves of the sea. ⁹Who maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and Hyades, and the inner parts of the south. ¹⁰Who doth things great and incomprehensible, and wonderful, of which there is no number. ¹¹If he come to me, I shall not see him: if he depart I shall not understand. ¹²If he examine on a sudden, who shall answer him? or who can say: Why dost thou so? ¹³God, whose wrath no mall can resist, and under whom they stoop that bear up the world. ¹⁴What am I then, that I should answer him, and have words with him? ¹⁵I, who although I should have any just thing, would not answer, but would make supplication to my judge. ¹⁶And if he should hear me when I call, I should not believe that he had heard my voice. ¹⁷For he shall crush me in a whirlwind, and multiply my wounds even without cause. ¹⁸He alloweth not my spirit to rest, and he filleth me with bitterness. ¹⁹If strength be demanded, he is most strong: if equity of judgment, no man dare bear witness for me. ²⁰If I would justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I would shew myself innocent, he shall prove me wicked. ²¹Although I should be simple, even this my soul shall be ignorant of, and I shall be weary of my life. ²²One thing there is that I have spoken, both the innocent and the wicked he consumeth. ²³If he scourge, let him kill at once, and not laugh at the pains of the innocent. ²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked, he covereth the face of the judges thereof: and if it be not he, who is it then? ²⁵My days have been swifter than a post: they have fled away and have not seen good. ²⁶They have passed by as ships carrying fruits, as an eagle flying to the prey. ²⁷If I say: I will not speak so: I change my face, and am tormented with sorrow. ²⁸I feared all my works, knowing that thou didst not spare the offender. ²⁹But if so also I am wicked, why have I laboured in vain? ³⁰If I be washed as it were with snow waters, and my hands shall shine ever so clean : ³¹Yet thou shalt plunge me in filth, and my garments shall abhor me, ³²For I shall not answer a man that is like myself: nor one that may be heard with me equally in judgment. ³³There is none that may be able to reprove both, and to put his hand between both. ³⁴Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me. ³⁵I will speak, and will not fear him: for I cannot answer while I am in fear.

Chapter 10

¹My soul is weary of my life, I will let go my speech against myself, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. ²I will say to God: Do not condemn me: tell me why thou judgest me so. ³Doth it seem good to thee that thou shouldst calumniate me, and oppress me, the work of thy own hands, and help the counsel of the wicked? ⁴Hast thou eyes of flesh: or, shalt thou see as man seeth? ⁵Are thy days as the days of man, and are thy years as the times of men: ⁶That thou shouldst inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin? ⁷And shouldst know that I have done no wicked thing, whereas there is no man that can deliver out of thy hand. ⁸Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me wholly round about, and dost thou thus cast me down headlong on a sudden? ⁹Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay, and thou wilt bring me into dust again. ¹⁰Hast thou not milked me as milk, and curdled me like cheese? ¹¹Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh: thou hast put me together with bones and sinews: ¹²Thou hast granted me life and mercy, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit. ¹³Although thou conceal these things in thy heart, yet I know that thou rememberest all things. ¹⁴If I have sinned and thou hast spared me for an hour: why dost thou not suffer me to be clean from my iniquity? ¹⁵And if I be wicked, woe unto me: and if just, I shall not lift up my head, being filled with affliction and misery. ¹⁶And for pride thou wilt take me as a lioness, and returning thou tormentest me wonderfully. ¹⁷Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and multipliest thy wrath upon me, and pains war against me. ¹⁸Why didst thou bring me forth out of the womb: O that I had been consumed that eye might not see me! ¹⁹I should have been as if I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave. ²⁰Shall not the fewness of my days be ended shortly? suffer me, therefore, that I may lament my sorrow a little: ²¹Before I go, and return no more, to a land that is dark and covered with the mist of death: ²²A land of misery and darkness, where the shadow of death, and no order, but everlasting horror dwelleth.

Chapter 11

¹Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said: ²Shall not he that speaketh much, hear also? or shall a man full of talk be justified? ³Shall men hold their peace to thee only? and when thou hast mocked others, shall no man confute thee? ⁴For thou hast said: My word is pure, and I am clean in thy sight. ⁵And I wish that God would speak with thee, and would open his lips to thee, ⁶That he might shew thee the secrets of wisdom, and that his law is manifold, and thou mightest understand that he exacteth much less of thee, than thy iniquity deserveth. ⁷Peradventure thou wilt comprehend the steps of God, and wilt find out the Almighty perfectly? ⁸He is higher than heaven, and what wilt thou do ? he is deeper than hell, and how wilt thou know? ⁹The measure of him is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. ¹⁰If he shall overturn all things, or shall press them together, who shall contradict him? ¹¹For he knoweth the vanity of men, and when he seeth iniquity, doth he not consider it? ¹²A vain man is lifted up into pride, and thinketh himself born free like a wild ass's colt. ¹³Rut thou hast hardened thy heart, and hast spread thy hands to him. ¹⁴If thou wilt put away from thee the iniquity that is in thy hand, and lot not injustice remain in thy tabernacle: ¹⁵Then mayst thou lift up thy face without spot, and thou shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear. ¹⁶Thou shalt also forget misery, and remember it only as waters that are passed away. ¹⁷And brightness like that of the noonday, shall arise to thee at evening: and when thou shalt think thyself consumed, thou shalt rise as the day star. ¹⁸And thou shalt have confidence, hope being set before thee, and being buried thou shalt sleep secure. ¹⁹Thou shalt rest, and there shall be none to make thee afraid: and many shall entreat thy face. ²⁰But the eyes of the wicked shall decay, and the way to escape shall fail them, and their hope the abomination of the soul.

Chapter 12

¹When Job answered, and said: ²Are you then men alone, and shall wisdom die with you? ³I also have a heart as well as you: for who is ignorant of these things, which you know? ⁴He that is mocked by his friends as I, shall call upon God and he will hear him: for the simplicity of the just man is laughed to scorn. ⁵The lamp despised in the thoughts of the rich, is ready for the time appointed. ⁶The tabernacles of robbers abound, and they provoke God boldly; whereas it is he that hath given all into their hands: ⁷But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee: and the birds of the air, and they shall tell thee. ⁸Speak to the earth, and it shall answer thee: and the fishes of the sea shall tell. ⁹Who is ignorant that the hand of the Lord hath made all these things? ¹⁰In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the spirit of all flesh of man. ¹¹Doth not the ear discern words, and the palate of him that eateth, the taste? ¹²In the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days prudence. ¹³With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding. ¹⁴If he pull down, there is no man that can build up: if he shut up a. man, there is none that can open. ¹⁵If he withhold the waters, all things shall be dried up: and if he send them out, they shall overturn the earth. ¹⁶With him is strength and wisdom: he knoweth both the deceiver, and him that is deceived. ¹⁷He bringeth counsellors to a foolish end, and judges to insensibility. ¹⁸He looseth the belt of kings, and girdeth their loins with a cord. ¹⁹He leadeth away priests without glory, and overthroweth nobles. ²⁰He changeth the speech of the true speakers, and taketh away the doctrine of the aged. ²¹He poureth contempt upon princes, and relieveth them that were oppressed. ²²He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth up to light the shadow of death. ²³He multiplieth nations, and destroyeth them, and restoreth them again after they were overthrown. ²⁴He changeth the heart of the princes of the people of the earth, and deceiveth them that they walk in vain where there is no way. ²⁵They shall grope as in the dark, and not in the light, and he shall make them stagger like men that are drunk.

Chapter 13

¹Behold my eye hath seen all these things, and my ear hath heard them, and I have understood them all. ²According to your knowledge I also know: neither am I inferior to you. ³But yet I will speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. ⁴Having first shewn that you are forgers of lies, and maintainers of perverse opinions. ⁵And I wish you would hold your peace, that you might be thought to be wise men.. ⁶Hear ye therefore my reproof, and attend to the judgment of my lips. ⁷Hath God any need of your lie, that you should speak deceitfully for him? ⁸Do you accept his person, and do you endeavour to judge for God? ⁹Or shall it please him, from whom nothing can be concealed ? or shall he be deceived as a man, with your deceitful dealings ? ¹⁰He shall reprove you, because in secret you accept his person. ¹¹As soon as he shall move himself, he shall trouble you: and his dread shall fall upon you. ¹²Your remembrance shall be compared to ashes, and your necks shall be brought to clay. ¹³Hold your peace a little while, that I may speak whatsoever my mind shall suggest to me. ¹⁴Why do I tear my flesh with my teeth, and carry my soul in my hands? ¹⁵Although he should bill me, I will trust in him: but yet I will reprove my ways in his sight. ¹⁶And he shall be my saviour: for no hypocrite shall come before his presence. ¹⁷Hear ye my speech, and receive with Sour ears hidden truths. ¹⁸If I shall be judged, I know that I shall be found just. ¹⁹Who is he that will plead against me? let him come: why am I consumed holding my peace? ²⁰Two things only do not to me, and then from thy face I shall not be hid: ²¹Withdraw thy hand far from me, and let not thy dread terrify me. ²²Call me, and I will answer thee: or else I will speak, and do thou answer me. ²³How many are my iniquities and sins? make me know my crimes and offences. ²⁴Why hidest thou thy face, and thinkest me thy enemy? ²⁵Against a leaf, that is carried away with the wind, thou shewest thy power, and thou pursuest a dry straw. ²⁶For thou writest bitter things against me, and wilt consume me for the sins of my youth. ²⁷Thou hast put my feet in the stocks, and hast observed all my paths, and hast considered the steps of my feet: ²⁸Who am to be consumed as rottenness, and as a garment that is moth-eaten.

Chapter 14

¹Man born of a woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries. ²Who cometh forth like a flower, and is destroyed, and fleeth as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state. ³And dost thou think it meet to open thy eyes upon such an one, and to bring him into judgment with thee? ⁴Who can make him clean that is conceived of unclean seed ? is it not thou who only art? ⁵The days of man are short, and the number of his months is with thee: thou hast appointed his bounds which cannot be passed. ⁶Depart a little from him, that he may rest, until his wished for day come, as that of the hireling. ⁷A tree hath hope: if it be cut, it groweth green again, and the boughs thereof sprout. ⁸If its root be old in the earth, and its stock be dead in the dust: ⁹At the scent of water, it shall spring, and bring forth leaves, as when it was first planted. ¹⁰But man when he shall be dead, and stripped and consumed, I pray you where is he? ¹¹As if the waters should depart out of the sea, and an emptied river should be dried up: ¹²So man when he is fallen asleep shall not rise again; till the heavens be broken, he shall not awake, nor rise up out of his sleep. ¹³Who will grant me this, that thou mayest protect me in hell, and hide me till thy wrath pass, and appoint me a. time when thou wilt remember me? ¹⁴Shall man that is dead, thinkest thou, live again? all the days in which I am now in warfare, I expect until my change come. ¹⁵Thou shalt call me, and I will answer thee: to the work of thy hands thou shalt reach out thy right hand. ¹⁶Thou indeed hast numbered my steps, but spare my sins. ¹⁷Thou hast sealed up my offences as it were in a bag, but hast cured my iniquity. ¹⁸A mountain falling cometh to nought, and a rock is removed out of its place. ¹⁹Waters wear away the stones, and with inundation the ground by little and little is washed away: so in like manner thou shalt destroy man. ²⁰Thou hast strengthened him for a little while, that he may pass away for ever: thou shalt change his face, and shalt send him away. ²¹Whether his children come to honour or dishonour, he shall not understand. ²²But yet his flesh, while he shall live, shall have pain, and his soul shall mourn over him.

Chapter 15

¹And Eliphaz the Themanite, answered, and said: ²Will a wise man answer as if he were speaking in the wind, and fill his stomach with burning heat? ³Thou reprovest him by words, who is not equal to thee, and thou speakest that which is not good for thee. ⁴As much as is in thee, thou hast made void fear, and hast taken away prayers from before God. ⁵For thy iniquity hath taught thy mouth, and thou imitatest the tongue of blasphemers. ⁶Thy own mouth shall condemn thee, and not I: and thy own lips shall answer thee. ⁷Art thou the first man that was born, or wast thou made before the hills ? ⁸Hast thou heard God's counsel, and shall his wisdom be inferior to thee? ⁹What knowest thou that we are ignorant of? what dost thou understand that we know not? ¹⁰There are with us also aged and ancient men, much elder than thy fathers. ¹¹Is it a great matter that God should comfort thee? but thy wicked words hinder this. ¹²Why doth thy heart elevate thee, and why dost thou stare with thy eyes, as if they were thinking great things ? ¹³Why doth thy spirit swell against God, to utter such words out of thy mouth ? ¹⁴What is man that he should be without spot, and he that is born of a woman that he should appear just? ¹⁵Behold among his saints none is unchangeable, and the heavens are not pure in his sight. ¹⁶How much more is man abominable, and unprofitable, who drinketh iniquity like water? ¹⁷I will shew thee, hear me : and I mill tell thee what I have seen. ¹⁸Wise men confess and hide not their fathers. ¹⁹To whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger hath passed among them. ²⁰The wicked man is proud all his days, and the number of the years of his tyranny is uncertain. ²¹The sound of dread is always in his ears: and when there is peace, he always suspecteth treason. ²²He believeth not that he may return from darkness to light, looking round about for the sword on every side. ²³When he moveth himself to seek bread, he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. ²⁴Tribulation shall terrify him, and distress shall surround him, as a king that is prepared for the battle. ²⁵For he hath stretched out his hand against God, and hath strengthened himself against the Almighty. ²⁶He hath run against him with his neck raised up, and is armed with a fat neck. ²⁷Fatness hath covered his face, and the fat hangeth down on his sides. ²⁸He hath dwelt in desolate cities, and in desert houses that are reduced into heaps. ²⁹He shall not be enriched, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he push his root in the earth. ³⁰He shall not depart out of darkness: the flame shall dry up his branches, and he shall be taken away by the breath of his own month. ³¹He shall not believe, being vainly deceived by error, that he may be redeemed with any price. ³²Before his days be full he shall perish: and his hands shall wither away. ³³He shall be blasted as a vine when its grapes are in the first flower, and as an olive tree that casteth its flower. ³⁴For the congregation of the hypocrite is barren, and fire shall devour their tabernacles, who love to take bribes. ³⁵He hath conceived sorrow, and hath brought forth iniquity, and his womb prepareth deceits.

Chapter 16

¹Then Job answered, and said: ²I have often heard such things as these: you are all troublesome comforters. ³Shall windy words have no end? or is it any trouble to thee to speak? ⁴I also could speak like you: and would God your soul were for my soul. ⁵I would comfort you also with words, and would wag my head over you. ⁶I would strengthen you with my mouth, and would move my lips, as sparing you. ⁷But what shall I do? If I speak, my pain will not rest: and if I hold my peace, it will not depart from me. ⁸But now my sorrow hath oppressed me, and all my limbs are brought to nothing. ⁹My wrinkles bear witness against me, and a false speaker riseth up against my face, contradicting me. ¹⁰He hath gathered together his fury against me, and threatening me he hath gnashed with his teeth upon me: my enemy hath beheld me with terrible eyes. ¹¹They have opened their mouths upon me, and reproaching me they have struck me on the cheek, they are filled with my pains. ¹²God hath shut me up with the unjust man, and hath delivered me into the hands of the wicked. ¹³I that was formerly so wealthy, am all on a sudden broken to pieces: he hath taken me by my neck, he hath broken me, and hath set me up to be his mark. ¹⁴He hath compassed me round about with his lances, he hath wounded my loins, he hath not spared, and hath poured out my bowels on the earth. ¹⁵He hath torn me with wound upon wound, he hath rushed in upon me like a giant. ¹⁶I have sowed sackcloth upon my skin, and have covered my flesh with ashes. ¹⁷My face is swollen with weeping, and my eyelids are dim. ¹⁸These things have I suffered without the iniquity of my hand, when I offered pure prayers to God. ¹⁹O earth, cover not thou my blood, neither let my cry find a hiding place in thee. ²⁰For behold my witness is in heaven, and he that knoweth my conscience is on high. ²¹My friends are full of words: my eye poureth out tears to God. ²²And O that a man might so be judged with God, as the son of man is judged with his companion! ²³For behold short years pass away and I am walking in a path by which l shall not return.

Chapter 17

¹My spirit shall be wasted, my days shall be shortened, and only the grave remaineth for me. ²I have not sinned, and my eye abideth in bitterness. ³Deliver me O Lord, and set me beside thee, and let any man's hand fight against me. ⁴Thou hast set their heart far from understanding, therefore they shall not be exalted. ⁵He promiseth a prey to his companions, and the eyes of his children shall fail. ⁶He hath made me as it were a byword of the people, and I am an example before them. ⁷My eye is dim through indignation, and my limbs are brought as it were to nothing. ⁸The just shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall be raised up against the hypocrite. ⁹And the just man shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. ¹⁰Wherefore be you all converted, and come, and I shall not find among you any wise man. ¹¹My days have passed away, my thoughts are dissipated, tormenting my heart. ¹²They have turned night into day, and after darkness I hope for light again. ¹³If I wait hell is my house, and I have made my bed in darkness. ¹⁴If I have said to rottenness: Thou art my father; to worms, my mother and my sister. ¹⁵Where is now then my expectation, and who considereth my patience? ¹⁶All that I have shall go down into the deepest pit: thinkest thou that there at least I shall have rest?

Chapter 18

¹Then Baldad the Suhite answered, and said: ²How long will you throw out words? understand first, and so let us speak. ³Why are we reputed as beasts, and counted vile before you? ⁴Thou that destroyest thy soul in thy fury, shall the earth be forsaken for thee, and shall rocks be removed out of their place? ⁵Shall not the light of the wicked be extinguished, and the flame of his fire not shine? ⁶The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and the lamp that is over him, shall be put out. ⁷The step of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down headlong. ⁸For he hath thrust his feet into a net, and walketh in its meshes. ⁹The sole of his foot shall be held in a snare, and thirst shall burn against him. ¹⁰A gin is hidden for him in the earth, and his trap upon the path. ¹¹Fears shall terrify him on every side, and shall entangle his feet. ¹²Let his strength be wasted with famine, and let hunger invade his ribs. ¹³Let it devour the beauty of his skin, let the firstborn death consume his arms. ¹⁴Let his confidence be rooted out of his tabernacle, and let destruction tread upon him like a king. ¹⁵Let the companions of him that is not, dwell in his tabernacle, let brimstone be sprinkled in his tent. ¹⁶Let his roots be dried up beneath, and his harvest destroyed above. ¹⁷Let the memory of him perish from the earth and let not his name be renowned in the streets. ¹⁸He shall drive him out of light into darkness, and shall remove him out of the world. ¹⁹His seed shall not subsist, nor his offspring among his people, nor any remnants in his country. ²⁰They that come after him shall be astonished at his day, and horror shall fall upon them that went before. ²¹These men are the tabernacles of the wicked, and this the place of him that knoweth not God.

Chapter 19

¹Then Job answered , and said: ²How long do you afflict my soul, and break me in pieces with words? ³Behold, these ten times you confound me, and are not ashamed to oppress me. ⁴For if I have been ignorant, my ignorance shall be with me. ⁵But you have set yourselves up against me, and reprove me with my reproaches. ⁶At least now understand, that God hath not afflicted me with an equal judgment, and compassed me with his scourges. ⁷Behold I cry suffering violence, and no one will hear: I shall cry aloud, and there is none to judge. ⁸He hath hedged in my path round about, and I cannot pass, and in my way he hath set darkness. ⁹He hath stripped me of my glory, and hath taken the crown from my head. ¹⁰He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am lost, and he hath taken away my hope, as from a tree that is plucked up. ¹¹His wrath is kindled against me, and he hath counted me as his enemy. ¹²His troops have come together, and have made themselves a way by me, and have besieged my tabernacle round about. ¹³He hath put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintance like strangers have departed from me. ¹⁴My kinsmen have forsaken me, and they that knew me, have forgotten me. ¹⁵They that dwelt in my house, and my maidservants have counted me a stranger, and I have been like an alien in their eyes. ¹⁶I called my servant, and he gave me no answer, I entreated him with my own mouth. ¹⁷My wife hath abhorred my breath, and I entreated the children of my womb. ¹⁸Even fools despise me; and when I gone from them, they spoke against me. ¹⁹They that were sometime my counsellors, have abhorred me: and he whom I love most is turned against me. ²⁰The flesh being consumed. My bone hath cleaved to my skin, and nothing but lips are left about my teeth. ²¹Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me. ²²Why do you persecute me as God, and glut yourselves with my flesh? ²³Who will grant me that my words may be written? Who will grant me that they may be marked down in a book? ²⁴With an iron pen and in a plate of lead, or else be graven with an instrument in flint stone. ²⁵For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth. ²⁶And I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I will see my God. ²⁷Whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold, and not another: this my hope is laid up in my bosom. ²⁸Why then do you say now: Let us persecute him, and let us find occasion of word against him? ²⁹Flee then from the face of the sword, for the sword is the revenger of iniquities: and know ye that there is judgment.

Chapter 20

¹Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said: ²Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things. ³The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me. ⁴This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth, ⁵that the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment. ⁶If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds: ⁷In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that has seen him shall say: Where is he? ⁸As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found, he shall pass as a vision of the night: ⁹The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him. ¹⁰His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render him his sorrow. ¹¹His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust. ¹²For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue. ¹³He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat. ¹⁴His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him. ¹⁵The riches which he hath swallowed; he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly. ¹⁶He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper's tongue shall kill him. ¹⁷(Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.) ¹⁸He shall be punished for all that he did, and yet shall not be consumed: according to the multitude of his devices so also shall he suffer. ¹⁹Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build. ²⁰And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them. ²¹There was nothing left of his meat, and therefore nothing shall continue of his goods: ²²When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him. ²³May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him. ²⁴He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass. ²⁵The sword is drawn out, and cometh forth from its scabbard, and glittereth in his bitterness: the terrible ones shall go and come upon him. ²⁶All darkness is hid in his secret places: a fire that is not kindled shall devour him, he shall be afflicted when left in his tabernacle. ²⁷The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him. ²⁸The offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God's wrath. ²⁹This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his doings from the Lord.

Chapter 21

¹Then Job answered, and said: ²Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance. ³Suffer me, and I will speak, and after, if you please, laugh at my words. ⁴Is my debate against man, that I should not have just reason to be troubled? ⁵Hearken to me and be astonished, and lay your finger on your mouth. ⁶As for me, when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh. ⁷Why then do the wicked live, are they advanced, and strengthened with riches? ⁸Their seed continueth before them, a multitude of kinsmen, and of children's children in their sight. ⁹Their houses are secure and peaceable, and the rod of God is not upon them. ¹⁰Their cattle have conceived, and failed not: their cow has calved, and is not deprived of her fruit. ¹¹Their little ones go out like a flock, and their children dance and play. ¹²They take the timbrel, and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. ¹³They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell. ¹⁴Who have said to God: Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. ¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what doth it profit us if we pray to him? ¹⁶Yet because their good things are not in their hand, may the counsel of the wicked be far from me. ¹⁷How often shall the lamp of the wicked be put out, and a deluge come upon them, and he shall distribute the sorrows of his wrath? ¹⁸They shall be as chaff before the face of the wind, and as ashes which the whirlwind scattereth. ¹⁹God shall lay up the sorrow of the father for his children: and when he shall repay, then shall he know. ²⁰His eyes shall see his own destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. ²¹For what is it to him what befalleth his house after him: and if the number of his months be diminished by one half? ²²Shall any one teach God knowledge, who judgeth those that are high? ²³One man dieth strong, and hale, rich and happy. ²⁴His bowels are full of fat, and his bones are moistened with marrow. ²⁵But another dieth in bitterness of soul without any riches: ²⁶And yet they shall sleep together in the dust, and worms shall cover them. ²⁷Surely I know your thoughts, and your unjust judgments against me. ²⁸For you say: Where is the house of the prince ? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked? ²⁹Ask any one of them that go by the way, and you shall perceive that he knoweth these same things. ³⁰Because the wicked man is reserved to the day of destruction, and he shall be brought to the day of wrath. ³¹Who shall reprove his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done? ³²He shall be brought to the graves, and shall watch in the heap of the dead. ³³He hath been acceptable to the gravel of Cocytus, and he shall draw every man after him, and there are innumerable before him. ³⁴How then do ye comfort me in vain, whereas your answer is shewn to be repugnant to truth ?

Chapter 22

¹Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said: ²Can man be compared with God, even though he were of perfect knowledge? ³What doth it profit God if thou be just? or what dost thou give him if thy way be unspotted? ⁴Shall he reprove thee for fear, and come with thee into judgment: ⁵And not for thy manifold wickedness, and thy infinite iniquities? ⁶For thou hast taken away the pledge of thy brethren without cause, and stripped the naked of their clothing. ⁷Thou hast not given water to the weary, thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry. ⁸In the strength of thy arm thou didst possess the land, and being the most mighty thou holdest it. ⁹Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless thou hast broken in pieces. ¹⁰Therefore art thou surrounded with snares, and sudden fear troubleth thee. ¹¹And didst thou think that thou shouldst not see darkness, and that thou shouldst not be covered with the violence of overflowing waters? ¹²Dost not thou think that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated above the height of the stars? ¹³And thou sayst: What doth God know? and he judgeth as it were through a mist. ¹⁴The clouds are his covert, and he doth not consider our things, and he walketh about the poles of heaven. ¹⁵Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, which wicked men have trodden? ¹⁶Who were taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation. ¹⁷Who said to God: Depart from us: and looked upon the Almighty as if he could do nothing: ¹⁸Whereas he had filled their houses with good things: whose way of thinking be far from me. ¹⁹The just shall see, and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn. ²⁰Is not their exaltation cut down, and hath not fire devoured the remnants of them? ²¹Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace: and thereby thou shalt have the best fruits. ²²Receive the law of his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart. ²³If thou wilt return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, and shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle. ²⁴He shall give for earth flint, and for flint torrents of gold. ²⁵And the Almighty shall be against thy enemies, and silver shall be heaped together for thee. ²⁶Then shalt thou abound in delights in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face to God. ²⁷Thou shalt pray to him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay vows. ²⁸Thou shalt decree a thing, and it I shall come to thee, and light shall shine in thy ways. ²⁹For he that hath been humbled, shall be in glory: and he that shall bow down his eyes, he shall be saved. ³⁰The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.

Chapter 23

¹Then Job answered, and said: ²Now also my words are in bitterness, and the hand of my scourge is more grievous than my mourning. ³Who will grant me that I might know and find him, and come even to his throne? ⁴I would set judgment before him, and would fill my mouth with complaints. ⁵That I might know the words that he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me. ⁶I would not that he should contend with me with much strength, nor overwhelm me with the weight of his greatness. ⁷Let him propose equity against me, and let my judgment come to victory. ⁸But if I go to the east, he appeareth not; if to the west, I shall not understand him. ⁹If to the left hand, what shall I do? I shall not take hold on him: if I turn myself to the right hand, I shall not see him. ¹⁰But he knoweth my way, and has tried me as gold that passeth through the fire: ¹¹My foot hath followed his steps, I have kept his way, and have not declined from it. ¹²I have not departed from the commandments of his lips, and the words of his mouth I have hid in my bosom. ¹³For he is alone, and no man can turn away his thought: and whatsoever is soul hath desired, that hath he done. ¹⁴And when he shall have fulfilled his will in me, many other like things are also at hand with him. ¹⁵And therefore I am troubled at his presence, and when I consider him I am made pensive with fear. ¹⁶God hath softened my heart, and the Almighty hath troubled me. ¹⁷For I have not perished because of the darkness that hangs over me, neither hath the mist covered my face.

Chapter 24

¹Times are not hid from the Almighty: but they that know him, know not his days. ²Some have removed landmarks, have taken away flocks by force, and fed them. ³They have driven away the ass of the fatherless, and have taken away the widow's ox for a pledge. ⁴They have overturned the way of the poor, and have oppressed together the meek of the earth. ⁵Others like wild asses in the desert go forth to their work: by watching for a prey they get bread for their children. ⁶They reap the field that is not their own, and gather the vintage of his vineyard whom by violence they have oppressed. ⁷They send men away naked, taking away their clothes who have no covering in the cold: ⁸Who are wet, with the showers of the mountains, and having no covering embrace the stones. ⁹They have violently robbed the fatherless, and stripped the poor common people. ¹⁰From the naked and them that go without clothing, and from the hungry they have taken away the ears of corn. ¹¹They have taken their rest at noon among the stores of them, who after having trodden the winepresses suffer thirst. ¹²Out of the cities they have made men to groan, and the soul of the wounded hath cried out, and God doth not suffer it to pass unrevenged. ¹³They have been rebellious to the light, they have not known his ways, neither have they returned by his paths. ¹⁴The murderer riseth at the very break of day, he killeth the needy, and the poor man: but in the night he will be as a thief. ¹⁵The eye of the adulterer observeth darkness, saying: No eye shall see me: and he will cover his face. ¹⁶He diggeth through houses in the dark, as in the day they had appointed for themselves, and they have not known the light. ¹⁷If the morning suddenly appear, it is to them the shadow of death: and they walk in darkness as if it were in light. ¹⁸He is light upon the face of the water: cursed be his portion on the earth, let him not walk by the way of the vineyards. ¹⁹Let him pass from the snow waters to excessive heat, and his sin even to hell. ²⁰Let mercy forget him: may worms be his sweetness: let him be remembered no more, but be broken in pieces as an unfruitful tree. ²¹For he hath fed the barren that beareth not, and to the widow he hath done no good. ²²He hath pulled down the strong by his might: and when he standeth up, he shall not trust to his life. ²³God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride: but his eyes are upon his ways. ²⁴They are lifted up for a little while and shall not stand, and shall be brought down as all things, and shall be taken away, and as the tops of the ears of corn they shall be broken. ²⁵And if it be not so, who can convince me that I have lied, and set my words before God?

Chapter 25

¹Then Baldad the Suhite answered, and I said: ²Power and terror are with him, who maketh peace in his high places. ³Is there any numbering of his soldiers? and upon whom shall not his light arise? ⁴Can man be justified compared with God, or he that is born of a woman appear clean? ⁵Behold even the moon doth not shine, and the stars are not pure in his sight. ⁶How much less man that is rottenness and the son of man who is a worm?

Chapter 26

¹Then Job answered, and said: ²Whose helper art thou? is it of him that is weak? and dost thou hold up the arm of him that has no strength? ³To whom hast thou given counsel? perhaps to him that hath no wisdom, and thou hast shewn thy very great prudence. ⁴Whom hast thou desired to teach? was it not him that made life? ⁵Behold the giants groan under the waters, and they that dwell with them. ⁶Hell is naked before him, and there is no covering for destruction. ⁷He stretched out the north over the empty space, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. ⁸He bindeth up the waters in his clouds, so that they break not out and fall down together. ⁹He withholdeth the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud over it. ¹⁰He hath set bounds about the waters, till light and darkness come to an end. ¹¹The pillars of heaven tremble, and dread at his beck. ¹²By his power the seas are suddenly gathered together, and his wisdom has struck the proud one. ¹³His spirit hath adorned the heavens, and his obstetric hand brought forth the winding serpent. ¹⁴Lo, these things are said in part of his ways: and seeing we have heard scarce a little drop of his word, who shall be able to behold the thunder of his greatness?

Chapter 27

¹Job also added, taking up his parable, and said: ²As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who hath brought my soul to bitterness, ³As long as breath remaineth in me, and the spirit of God in my nostrils, ⁴My lips shall not speak iniquity, neither shall my tongue contrive lying. ⁵God forbid that I should judge you to be just: till I die I will not depart from my innocence. ⁶My justification, which I have begun to hold, I will not forsake: for my heart doth not reprehend me in all my life. ⁷Let my enemy be as the ungodly, and my adversary as the wicked one. ⁸For what is the hope of the hypocrite if through covetousness he take by violence, and God deliver not his soul? ⁹Will God hear his cry, when distress shall come upon him? ¹⁰Or can he delight himself in the Almighty, and call upon God at all times? ¹¹I will teach you by the hand of God, what the Almighty hath, and I will not conceal it. ¹²Behold you all know it, and why do you speak vain things without cause? ¹³This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the inheritance of the violent, which they shall receive of the Almighty. ¹⁴If his sons be multiplied, they shall be for the sword, and his grandsons shall not be filled with bread. ¹⁵They that shall remain of him, shall be buried in death, and his widows shall not weep. ¹⁶If he shall heap together silver as earth, and prepare raiment as clay, ¹⁷He shall prepare indeed, but the just man shall be clothed with it: and the innocent shall divide the silver. ¹⁸He hath built his house as a moth, and as a keeper he hath made a booth. ¹⁹The rich man when he shall sleep shall take away nothing with him: he shall open his eyes and find nothing. ²⁰Poverty like water shall take hold on him, a tempest shall oppress him in the night. ²¹A burning wind shall take him up, and carry him away, and as a whirlwind shall snatch him from his place. ²²And he shall cast upon him, and shall not spare: out of his hand he would willingly flee. ²³He shall clasp his hands upon him, and shall hiss at him, beholding his place.

Chapter 28

¹Silver hath beginnings of its veins, and gold hath a place wherein it is melted. ²Iron is taken out of the earth, and stone melted with heat is turned into brass. ³He hath set a time for darkness, and the end of all things he considereth, the stone also that is in the dark and the shadow of death. ⁴The flood divideth from the people that are on their journey, those whom the food of the needy man hath forgotten, and who cannot be come at. ⁵The land, out of which bread grew in its place, hath been overturned with fire. ⁶The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and the clods of it are gold. ⁷The bird hath not known the path, neither hath the eye of the vulture beheld it. ⁸The children of the merchants have not trodden it, neither hath the lioness passed by it. ⁹He hath stretched forth his hand to the flint, he hath overturned mountains from the roots. ¹⁰In the rocks he hath cut out rivers, and his eye hath seen every precious thing. ¹¹The depths also of rivers he hath searched, and hidden things he hath brought forth to light. ¹²But where is wisdom to be found, and where is the place of understanding? ¹³Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights. ¹⁴The depth saith: It is not in me: and the sea saith: It is not with me. ¹⁵The finest gold shall not purchase it, neither shall silver be weighed in exchange for it ¹⁶It shall not be compared with the dyed colours of India, or with the most precious stone sardonyx, or the sapphire. ¹⁷Gold or crystal cannot equal it, neither shall any vessels of gold be changed for it. ¹⁸High and eminent things shall not be mentioned in comparison of it: but wisdom is drawn out of secret places. ¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equal to it, neither shall it be compared to the cleanest dyeing. ²⁰Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? ²¹It is hid from the eyes of all living. and the fowls of the air know it not. ²²Destruction and death have said: With our ears we have heard the fame thereof. ²³God understandeth the way of it, and he knoweth the place thereof. ²⁴For he beholdeth the ends of the world: and looketh on all things that are under heaven. ²⁵Who made a weight for the winds and weighed the waters by measure. ²⁶When he gave a law for the rain, and a way for the sounding storms. ²⁷Then he saw it, and declared, and prepared, and searched it. ²⁸And he said to man: Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil, is understanding.

Chapter 29

¹Job also added, taking up his parable, and said: ²Who will grant me, that I might be according to the months past, according to the days in which God kept me? ³When his lamp shined over my head, and I walked by his light in darkness? ⁴As I was in the days of my youth, when God was secretly in my tabernacle? ⁵When the Almighty was with me: and my servants round about me? ⁶When I washed my feet with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil? ⁷When I went out to the gate of the city, and in the street they prepared me a chair? ⁸The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the old men rose up and stood. ⁹The princes ceased to speak, and laid the finger on their mouth. ¹⁰The rulers held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to their throat. ¹¹The ear that heard me blessed me, and the eye that saw me gave witness to me: ¹²Because I had delivered the poor man that cried out; and the fatherless that had no helper. ¹³The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I comforted the heart of the widow. ¹⁴I was clad with justice: and I clothed myself with my judgment, as with a robe and a diadem. ¹⁵I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame. ¹⁶I was the father of the poor: and the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently. ¹⁷I broke the jaws of the wicked man, and out of his teeth I took away the prey. ¹⁸And I said: I shall die in my nest, and as a palm tree shall multiply my days. ¹⁹My root is opened beside the waters, and dew shall continue in my harvest. ²⁰My glory shall always be renewed, and my bow in my hand shall be repaired. ²¹They that heard me, waited for my sentence, and being attentive held their peace at my counsel. ²²To my words they durst add nothing, and my speech dropped upon them. ²³They waited for me as for rain, and they opened their mouth as for a latter shower. ²⁴If at any time I laughed on them, they believed not, and the light of my countenance fell not on earth. ²⁵If I had a mind to go to them, I sat first, and when I sat as a king, with his army standing about him, yet I was a comforter of them that mourned.

Chapter 30

¹But now the younger in time scorn me, whose fathers I would not have set with the dogs of my flock: ²The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself. ³Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery. ⁴And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food. ⁵Who snatched up these things out of the valleys, and when they had found any of them, they ran to them with a cry. ⁶They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel. ⁷They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers. ⁸The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth. ⁹Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword. ¹⁰They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid to spit in my face. ¹¹For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth. ¹²At the right hand of my rising, my calamities forthwith arose: they have overthrown my feet, and have overwhelmed me with their paths as with waves. ¹³They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help. ¹⁴They have rushed in upon me, as when a wall is broken, and a gate opened, and have rolled themselves down to my miseries. ¹⁵I am brought to nothing: as a wind thou hast taken away my desire: and my prosperity hath passed away like a cloud. ¹⁶And now my soul fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me. ¹⁷In the night my bone is pierced with sorrows: and they that feed upon me, do not sleep. ¹⁸With the multitude of them my garment is consumed, and they have girded me about, as with the collar of my coat. ¹⁹I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes. ²⁰I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand up, and thou dost not regard me. ²¹Thou art changed to be cruel toward me, and in the hardness of thy hand thou art against me. ²²Thou hast lifted me up, and set me as it were upon the wind, and thou hast mightily dashed me. ²³I know that thou wilt deliver me to death, where a house is appointed for every one that liveth. ²⁴But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save. ²⁵I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor. ²⁶I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out. ²⁷My inner parts have boiled without any rest, the days of affliction have prevented me. ²⁸I went mourning without indignation; I rose up, and cried in the crowd. ²⁹I was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches. ³⁰My skin is become black upon me, and my bones are dried up with heat. ³¹My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.

Chapter 31

¹I made a covenant with my eyes, that I would not so much as think upon a virgin. ²For what part should God from above have in me, and what inheritance the Almighty from on high? ³Is not destruction to the wicked, and aversion to them that work iniquity? ⁴Doth not he consider my ways, and number all my steps? ⁵If I have walked in vanity, and my foot hath made haste to deceit: ⁶Let him weigh me in a just balance, and let God know my simplicity. ⁷If my step hath turned out of the way, and if my heart hath followed my eyes, and if a spot hath cleaved to my hands: ⁸Then let me sow and let another eat: and let my offspring be rooted out. ⁹If my heart hath been deceived upon a woman, and if I have laid wait at my friend's door: ¹⁰Let my wife be the harlot of another, and let other men lie with her. ¹¹For this is a heinous crime, and a most grievous iniquity. ¹²It is a fire that devoureth even to destruction, and rooteth up all things that spring. ¹³If I have despised to abide judgment with my manservant, or my maidservant, when they had any controversy against me: ¹⁴For what shall I do when God shall rise to judge? and when he shall examine, what shall I answer him? ¹⁵Did not he that made me in the womb make him also: and did not one and the same form me in the womb? ¹⁶If I have denied to the poor what they desired, and have made the eyes of the widow wait: ¹⁷If I have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof: ¹⁸(For from my infancy mercy grew up with me: and it came out with me from my mother's womb :) ¹⁹If I have despised him that was perishing for want of clothing, and the poor man that had no covering: ²⁰If his sides have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep: ²¹If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, even when I saw myself superior in the gate: ²²Let my shoulder fall from its joint, and let my arm with its bones be broken. ²³For I have always feared God as waves swelling over me, and his weight I was not able to bear. ²⁴If I have thought gold my strength, and have said to fine gold: My confidence: ²⁵If I have rejoiced over my great riches, and because my hand had gotten much. ²⁶If I beheld the sun when it shined, and the moon going in brightness: ²⁷And my heart in secret hath rejoiced, and I have kissed my hand with my mouth: ²⁸Which is a very great iniquity, and a denial against the most high God. ²⁹If I have been glad at the downfall of him that hated me, and have rejoiced that evil had found him. ³⁰For I have not given my mouth to sin, by wishing a curse to his soul. ³¹If the men of my tabernacle have not said: Who will give us of his flesh that we may be filled? ³²The stranger did not stay without, my door was open to the traveller. ³³If as a man I have hid my sin, and have concealed my iniquity in my bosom. ³⁴If I have been afraid at a very great multitude, and the contempt of kinsmen hath terrified me: and I have not rather held my peace, and not gone out of the door. ³⁵Who would grant me a hearer, that the Almighty may hear my desire; and that he himself that judgeth would write a book, ³⁶That I may carry it on my shoulder, and put it about me as a crown? ³⁷At every step of mine I would pronounce it, and offer it as to a prince. ³⁸If my land cry against me, and with it the furrows thereof mourn: ³⁹If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have afflicted the soul of the tillers thereof: ⁴⁰Let thistles grow up to me instead of wheat, and thorns instead of barley.

Chapter 32

¹So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he seemed just to himself. ²And Eliu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram, was angry and was moved to indignation : now he was angry against Job, because he said he was just before God. ³And he was angry with his friends because they had not found a reasonable answer, but only had condemned Job. ⁴So Eliu waited while Job was speaking, because they were his elders that were speaking. ⁵But when he saw that the three were not able to answer, he was exceedingly angry. ⁶Then Eliu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said : I am younger in days, and you are more ancient; therefore hanging down my head, I was afraid to shew you my opinion. ⁷For I hoped that greater age would speak, and that a multitude of years would teach wisdom. ⁸But, as I see, there is a spirit in men, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding. ⁹They that are aged are not the wise men, neither do the ancients understand judgment. ¹⁰Therefore I will speak : Hearken to me, I also will shew you my wisdom. ¹¹For I have waited for your words, I have given ear to your wisdom, as long as you were disputing in words. ¹²And as long as I thought you said some thing, I considered : but, as I see, there is none of you that can convince Job, and answer his words. ¹³Lest you should say : We have found wisdom, God hath cast him down, not man. ¹⁴He hath spoken nothing to me, and I will not answer him according to your words. ¹⁵They were afraid, and answered no more, and they left off speaking. ¹⁶Therefore because I have waited, and they have not spoken : they stood, and answered no more : ¹⁷I also will answer my part, and will shew my knowledge. ¹⁸Behold, my belly is as new wine which wanteth vent, which bursteth the new vessels. ²⁰I will speak and take breath a little : I will open my lips, and will answer. ²¹I will not accept the person of man, and I will not level God with man. ²²For I know not how long I shall continue, and whether after a while my Maker may take me away.

Chapter 33

¹Hear therefore, O Job, my speeches, and hearken to all my words. ²Behold now I have opened my mouth, let my tongue speak within my jaws. ³My words are from my upright heart, and my lips shall speak a pure sentence. ⁴The spirit of God made me, and the breath of the Almighty gave me life. ⁵If thou canst, answer me, and stand up against my face. ⁶Behold God hath made me as well as thee, and of the same clay I also was formed. ⁷But yet let not my wonder terrify thee, and let not my eloquence be burdensome to thee. ⁸Now thou has said in my hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words : ⁹I am clean, and without sin : I am unspotted, and there is no iniquity in me. ¹⁰Because he hath found complaints against me, therefore he hath counted me for his enemy. ¹¹He hath put my feet in the stocks, he hath observed all my paths. ¹²Now this is the thing in which thou art not justified : I will answer thee, that God is greater than man. ¹³Dost thou strive against him, because he hath not answered thee to all words? ¹⁴God speaketh once, and repeateth not the selfsame thing the second time. ¹⁵By a dream in a vision by night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, and they are sleeping in their beds : ¹⁶Then he openeth the ears of men, and teaching instructeth them in what they are to learn. ¹⁷That he may withdraw a man from the things he is doing, and may deliver him from pride. ¹⁸Rescuing his soul from corruption : and his life from passing to the sword. ¹⁹He rebuketh also by sorrow in the bed, and he maketh all his bones to wither. ²⁰Bread becometh abominable to him in his life, and to his soul the meat which before he desired. ²¹His flesh shall be consumed away, and his bones that were covered shall be made bare. ²²His soul hath drawn near to corruption, and his life to the destroyers. ²³If there shall be an angel speaking for him, one among thousands, to declare man's uprightness, ²⁴He shall have mercy on him, and shall say : Deliver him, that he may not go down to corruption : I have found wherein I may be merciful to him. ²⁵His flesh is consumed with punishment, let him return to the days of his youth. ²⁶He shall pray to God, and he will be gracious to him : and he shall see his face with joy, and he will render to man his justice. ²⁷He shall look upon men, and shall say : I have sinned, and indeed I have offended, and I have not received what I have deserved. ²⁸He hath delivered his soul from going into destruction, that it may live and see the light. ²⁹Behold, all these things God worketh three times within every one. ³⁰That he may withdraw their souls from corruption, and enlighten them with the light of the living. ³¹Attend, Job, and hearken to me : and hold thy peace, whilst I speak. ³²But if thou hast any thing to say, answer me, speak : for I would have thee to appear just. ³³And if thou have not, hear me : hold thy peace, and I will teach thee wisdom.

Chapter 34

¹And Eliu continued his discourse, and said : ²Hear ye, wise men, my words, and ye learned, hearken to me : ³For the ear trieth words, and the mouth discerneth meats by the taste. ⁴Let us choose to us judgment, and let us see among ourselves what is the best. ⁵For Job hath said : I am just, and God hath overthrown my judgment. ⁶For in judging me there is a lie : my arrow is violent without any sin. ⁷What man is there like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water? ⁸Who goeth in company with them that work iniquity, and walketh with wicked men? ⁹For he hath said : Man shall not please God, although he run with him. ¹⁰Therefore, ye men of understanding, hear me : far from god be wickedness, and iniquity from the Almighty. ¹¹For he will render to a man his work, and according to the ways of every one he will reward them. ¹²For in very deed God will not condemn without cause, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment. ¹³What other hath he appointed over the earth? or whom hath he set over the world which he made? ¹⁴If he turn his heart to him, he shall draw his spirit and breath unto himself. ¹⁵All flesh shall perish together, and man shall return into ashes. ¹⁶If then thou hast understanding, hear what is said, and hearken to the voice of my words. ¹⁷Can he be healed that loveth not judgment? and how dost thou so far condemn him that is just? ¹⁸Who saith to the king : Thou art an apostate : who calleth rulers ungodly? ¹⁹Who accepteth not the persons of princes : nor hath regarded the tyrant, when he contended against the poor man : for all are the work of his hands. ²⁰They shall suddenly die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and they shall pass, and take away the violent without hand. ²¹For his eyes are upon the ways of men, and he considereth all their steps. ²²There is no darkness, and there is no shadow of death, where they may be hid who work iniquity. ²³For it is no longer in the power of man to enter into judgment with God. ²⁴He shall break in pieces many and innumerable, and shall make others to stand in their stead. ²⁵For he knoweth their works : and therefore he shall bring night on them, and they shall be destroyed. ²⁶He hath struck them, as being wicked, in open sight. ²⁷Who as it were on purpose have revolted from him, and would not understand all his ways : ²⁸So that they caused the cry of the needy to come to him, and he heard the voice of the poor. ²⁹For when he granteth peace, who is there that can condemn? When he hideth his countenance, who is there that can behold him, whether it regard nations, or all men? ³⁰Who maketh a man that is a hypocrite to reign for the sins of the people? ³¹Seeing then I have spoken of God, I will not hinder thee in thy turn. ³²If I have erred, teach thou me : if I have spoken iniquity, I will add no more. ³³Doth God require it of thee, because it hath displeased thee? for thou begannest to speak, and not I. : but if thou know any thing better, speak. ³⁴Let men of understanding speak to me, and let a wise man hearken to me. ³⁵But Job hath spoken foolishly, and his words sound not discipline. ³⁶My father, let Job be tried even to the end : cease not from the man of iniquity. ³⁷Because he addeth blasphemy upon his sins, let him be tied fast in the mean time amongst us : and then let him provoke God to judgment with his speeches.

Chapter 35

¹Moreover Eliu spoke these words : ²Doth thy thought seem right to thee, that thou shouldst say : I am more just than God? ³For thou saidst : That which is right doth not please thee : or what will it profit thee if I sin? ⁴Therefore I will answer thy words, and thy friends with thee. ⁵Look up to heaven and see, and behold the sky, that it is higher than thee. ⁶If thou sin, what shalt thou hurt him? and if thy iniquities be multiplied, what shalt thou do against him? ⁷And if thou do justly, what shalt thou give him, or what shall he receive of thy hand? ⁸Thy wickedness may hurt a man that is like thee : and thy justice may help the son of man. ⁹By reason of the multitude of oppressions they shall cry out : and shall wail for the violence of the arm of tyrants. ¹⁰And he hath not said : Where is God, who made me, who hath given songs in the night? ¹¹Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and instructeth us more than the fowls of the air. ¹²There shall they cry, and he will not hear, because of the pride of evil men. ¹³God therefore will not hear in vain, and the Almighty will look into the causes of every one. ¹⁴Yea when thou shalt say : He considereth not : be judged before him, and expect him. ¹⁵For he doth not now bring on his fury, neither doth he revenge wickedness exceedingly. ¹⁶Therefore Job openeth his mouth in vain, and multiplieth words without knowledge.

Chapter 36

¹Eliu also proceeded, and said : ²Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee : for I have yet somewhat to speak in God's behalf. ³I will repeat my knowledge from the beginning, and I will prove my Maker just. ⁴For indeed my words are without a lie, and perfect knowledge shall be proved to thee. ⁵God doth not cast away the mighty, whereas he himself also is mighty. ⁶But he saveth not the wicked, and he giveth judgment to the poor. ⁷He will not take away his eyes from the just, and he placeth kings on the throne for ever, and they are exalted. ⁸And if they shall be in chains, and be bound with the cords of poverty : ⁹He shall shew them their works, and their wicked deeds, because they have been violent. ¹⁰He also shall open their ear, to correct them : and shall speak, that they may return from iniquity. ¹¹If they shall hear and observe, they shall accomplish their days in good, and their years in glory. ¹²But if they hear not, they shall pass by the sword, and shall be consumed in folly. ¹³Dissemblers and crafty men prove the wrath of God, neither shall they cry when they are bound. ¹⁴Their soul shall die in a storm, and their life among the effeminate. ¹⁵He shall deliver the poor out of his distress, and shall open his ear in affliction. ¹⁶Therefore he shall set thee at large out of the narrow mouth, and which hath no foundation under it : and the rest of thy table shall be full of fatness. ¹⁷Thy cause hath been judged as that of the wicked, cause and judgment thou shalt recover. ¹⁸Therefore let not anger overcome thee to oppress any man : neither let multitude of gifts turn thee aside. ¹⁹Lay down thy greatness without tribulation, and all the mighty of strength. ²⁰Prolong not the night that people may come up for them. ²¹Beware thou turn not aside to iniquity : for this thou hast begun to follow after misery. ²²Behold, God is high in his strength, and none is like him among the lawgivers. ²³Who can search out his ways? or who can say to him : Thou has wrought iniquity? ²⁴Remember that thou knowest not his work, concerning which men have sung. ²⁵All men see him, every one beholdeth afar off. ²⁶Behold, God is great, exceeding our knowledge : the number of his years is inestimable. ²⁷He lifteth up the drops of rain, and poureth out showers like floods : ²⁸Which flow from the clouds that cover all above. ²⁹If he will spread out clouds as his tent, ³⁰And lighten with his light from above, he shall cover also the ends of the sea. ³¹For by these he judgeth people, and giveth food to many mortals. ³²In his hands he hideth the light, and commandeth it to come again. ³³He sheweth his friend concerning it, that it is his possession, and that he may come up to it.

Chapter 37

¹At this my heart trembleth, and is moved out of its place. ²Hear ye attentively the terror of his voice, and the sound that cometh out of his mouth. ³He beholdeth under all the heavens, and his light is upon the ends of the earth. ⁴After it a noise shall roar, he shall thunder with the voice of his majesty, and shall not be found out, when his voice shall be heard. ⁵God shall thunder wonderfully with his voice, he that doth great and unsearchable things. ⁶He commandeth the snow to go down upon the earth, and the winter rain, and the shower of his strength. ⁷He sealeth up the hand of all men, that every one may know his works. ⁸Then the beast shall go into his covert, and shall abide in his den. ⁹Out of the inner parts shall a tempest come, and cold out of the north. ¹⁰When God bloweth there cometh frost, and again the waters are poured out abundantly. ¹¹Corn desireth clouds, and the clouds spread their light : ¹²Which go round about, whithersoever the will of him that governeth them shall lead them, to whatsoever he shall command them upon the face of the whole earth : ¹³Whether in one tribe, or in his own land, or in what place soever of his mercy he shall command them to be found. ¹⁴Hearken to these things, Job : Stand, and consider the wondrous works of God. ¹⁵Dost thou know when God commanded the rains, to shew his light of his clouds? ¹⁶Knowest thou the great paths of the clouds, and the perfect knowledges? ¹⁷Are not thy garments hot, when the south wind blows upon the earth? ¹⁸Thou perhaps hast made the heavens with him, which are most strong, as if they were of molten brass. ¹⁹Shew us what we may say to him : for we are wrapped up in darkness. ²⁰Who shall tell him the things I speak? even if a man shall speak, he shall be swallowed up. ²¹But now they see not the light : the air on a sudden shall be thickened into clouds, and the wind shall pass and drive them away. ²²Cold cometh out of the north, and to God praise with fear. ²³We cannot find him worthily : he is great in strength, and in judgment, and in justice, and he is ineffable. ²⁴Therefore men shall fear him, and all that seem to themselves to be wise, shall not dare to behold him.

Chapter 38

¹Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said : ²Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskillful words? ³Gird up thy loins like a man : I will ask thee, and answer thou me. ⁴Where wast thou when I laid up the foundations of the earth ? tell me if thou hast understanding. ⁵Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? ⁶Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof, ⁷When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody? ⁸Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb : ⁹when I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands? ¹⁰I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors : ¹¹And I said : Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves. ¹²Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place? ¹³And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it? ¹⁴The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment : ¹⁵From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken. ¹⁶Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep? ¹⁷Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors? ¹⁸Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? tell me, if thou knowest all things? ¹⁹Where is the way where light dwelleth, and where is the place of darkness : ²⁰That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof. ²¹Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born ? and didst thou know the number of thy days? ²²Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or has thou beheld the treasures of the hail : ²³Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war? ²⁴By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth? ²⁵Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder : ²⁶That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth : ²⁷That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass? ²⁸Who is the father of rain ? or who begot the drops of dew? ²⁹Out of whose womb came the ice; and the frost from heaven who hath gendered it? ³⁰The waters are hardened like a stone, and the surface of the deep is congealed. ³¹Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus? ³²Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time, and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth? ³³Dost thou know the order of heaven, and canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth? ³⁴Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that an abundance of waters may cover thee? ³⁵Canst thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee : Here we are? ³⁶Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? or who gave the cock understanding? ³⁷Who can declare the order of the heavens, or who can make the harmony of heaven to sleep? ³⁸When was the dust poured on the earth, and the clods fastened together? ³⁹Wilt thou take the prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite of her whelps, ⁴⁰When they couch in the dens and lie in wait in holes? ⁴¹Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?

Chapter 39

¹Knowest thou the time when the wild goats bring forth among the rocks, or hast thou observed the hinds when they fawn? ²Hast thou numbered the months of their conceiving, or knowest thou the time when they bring forth? ³They bow themselves to bring forth young, and they cast them, and send forth roarings. ⁴Their young are weaned and go to feed : they go forth, and return not to them. ⁵Who hath sent out the wild ass free, and who hath loosed his bonds? ⁶To whom I have given a house in the wilderness, and his dwellings in the barren land. ⁷He scorneth the multitude of the city, he heareth not the cry of the driver. ⁸He looketh round about the mountains of his pasture, and seeketh for every green thing. ⁹Shall the rhinoceros be willing to serve thee, or will he stay at thy crib? ¹⁰Canst thou bind the rhinoceros with thy thong to plough, or will he break the clods of the valleys after thee? ¹¹Wilt thou have confidence in his great strength, and leave thy labours to him? ¹²Wilt thou trust him that he will render thee the seed, and gather it into thy barnfloor? ¹³The wing of the ostrich is like the wings of the heron, and of the hawk. ¹⁴When she leaveth her eggs on the earth, thou perhaps wilt warm them in the dust. ¹⁵She forgetteth that the foot may tread upon them, or that the beasts of the field may break them. ¹⁶She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers, she hath laboured in vain, no fear constraining her. ¹⁷For God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he given her understanding. ¹⁸When time shall be, she setteth up her wings on high : she scorneth the horse and his rider. ¹⁹Wilt thou give strength to the horse, or clothe his neck with neighing? ²⁰Wilt thou lift him up like the locusts? the glory of his nostrils is terror. ²¹He breaketh up the earth with his hoof, he pranceth boldly, he goeth forward to meet armed men. ²²He despiseth fear, he turneth not his back to the sword, ²³Above him shall the quiver rattle, the spear and shield shall glitter. ²⁴Chasing and raging he swalloweth the ground, neither doth he make account when the noise of the trumpet soundeth. ²⁵When he heareth the trumpet he saith : Ha, ha : he smelleth the battle afar off, the encouraging of the captains, and the shouting of the army. ²⁶Doth the hawk wax feathered by thy wisdom, spreading her wings to the south? ²⁷Will the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest in high places? ²⁸She abideth among the rocks, and dwelleth among cragged flints, and stony hills, where there is no access. ²⁹From thence she looketh for the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. ³⁰Her young ones shall suck up blood : and wheresoever the carcass shall be, she is immediately there. ³¹And the Lord went on, and said to Job : ³²Shall he that contendeth with God be so easily silenced? surely he that reproveth God, ought to answer him. ³³Then Job answered the Lord, and said : ³⁴One thing I have spoken, which I wish I had not said : and another, to which I will add no more.

Chapter 40

¹And the Lord answering Job out of the whirlwind, said : ²Gird up thy loins like a man : I will ask thee, and do thou tell me. ³Wilt thou make void my judgment : and condemn me, that thou mayst be justified? ⁴And hast thou an arm like God, and canst thou thunder with a voice like him? ⁵Clothe thyself with beauty, and set thyself up on high and be glorious, and put on goodly garments. ⁶Scatter the proud in thy indignation, and behold every arrogant man, and humble him. ⁷Look on all that are proud, and confound them, and crush the wicked in their place. ⁸Hide them in the dust together, and plunge their faces into the pit. ⁹Then I will confess that thy right hand is able to save thee. ¹⁰Behold behemoth whom I made with thee, he eateth grass like an ox. ¹¹His strength is in his loins, and his force in the navel of his belly. ¹²He setteth up his tail like a cedar, the sinews of his testicles are wrapped together. ¹³His bones are like pipes of brass, his gristle like plates of iron. ¹⁴He is the beginning of the ways of God, who made him, he will apply his sword. ¹⁵To him the mountains bring forth grass : there all the beasts of the field shall play. ¹⁶He sleepeth under the shadow, in the covert of the reed, and in moist places. ¹⁷The shades cover his shadow, the willows of the brook shall compass him about. ¹⁸Behold, he will drink up a river, and not wonder : and he trusteth that the Jordan may run into his mouth. ¹⁹In his eyes as with a hook he shall take him, and bore through his nostrils with stakes. ²⁰Canst thou draw out the leviathan with a hook, or canst thou tie his tongue with a cord? ²¹Canst thou put a ring in his nose, or bore through his jaw with a buckle? ²²Will he make many supplications to thee, or speak soft words to thee? ²³Will he make a covenant with thee, and wilt thou take him to be a servant for ever? ²⁴Shalt thou play with him as with a bird, or tie him up for thy handmaids? ²⁵Shall friends cut him in pieces, shall merchants divide him? ²⁶Wilt thou fill nets with his skin, and the cabins of fishes with his head? ²⁷Lay thy hand upon him : remember the battle, and speak no more. ²⁸Behold his hope shall fail him, and in the sight of all he shall be cast down.

Chapter 41

¹I will not stir him up, like one that is cruel : for who can resist my countenance? ²Who hath given me before that I should repay him? All things that are under heaven are mine. ³I will not spare him, nor his mighty words, and framed to make supplication. ⁴Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can go into the midst of his mouth? ⁵Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about. ⁶His body is like molten shields, shut close up with scales pressing upon one another. ⁷One is joined to another, and not so much as any air can come between them : ⁸They stick one to another and they hold one another fast, and shall not be separated. ⁹His sneezing is like the shining of fire, and his eyes like the eyelids of the morning. ¹⁰Out of his mouth go forth lamps, like torches of lighted fire. ¹¹Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, like that of a pot heated and boiling. ¹²His breath kindleth coals, and a flame cometh forth out of his mouth. ¹³In his neck strength shall dwell, and want goeth before his face. ¹⁴The members of his flesh cleave one to another : he shall send lightnings against him, and they shall not be carried to another place. ¹⁵His heart shall be as hard as a stone, and as firm as a smith's anvil. ¹⁶When he shall raise him up, the angels shall fear, and being affrighted shall purify themselves. ¹⁷When a sword shall lay at him, it shall not be able to hold, nor a spear, nor a breastplate. ¹⁸For he shall esteem iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. ¹⁹The archer shall not put him to flight, the stones of the sling are to him like stubble. ²⁰As stubble will he esteem the hammer, and he will laugh him to scorn who shaketh the spear. ²¹The beams of the sun shall be under him, and he shall strew gold under him like mire. ²²He shall make the deep sea to boil like a pot, and shall make it as when ointments boil. ²³A path shall shine after him, he shall esteem the deep as growing old. ²⁴There is no power upon earth that can be compared with him who was made to fear no one. ²⁵He beholdeth every high thing, he is king over all the children of pride.

Chapter 42

¹Then Job answered the Lord, and said : ²I know that thou canst do all things, and no thought is hid from thee. ³Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have spoken unwisely, and things that above measure exceeded my knowledge. ⁴Hear, and I will speak : I will ask thee, and do thou tell me. ⁵With the hearing of the ear, I have heard thee, but now my eye seeth thee. ⁶Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes. ⁷And after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Themanite : My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends, because you have not spoken the thing that is right before my, as my servant Job hath. ⁸Take unto you therefore seven oxen, and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer for yourselves a holocaust : and my servant Job shall pray for you : his face I will accept, that folly be not imputed to you : for you have not spoken right things before me, as my servant Job hath. ⁹So Eliphaz the Themanite, and Baldad the Suhite, and Sophar the Naamathite went, and did as the Lord had spoken to them, and the Lord accepted the face of Job. ¹⁰The Lord also was turned at the penance of Job, when he prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. ¹¹And all his brethren came to him, and all his sisters, and all that knew him before, and they ate bread with him in his house : and bemoaned him, and comforted him upon all the evil that God had brought upon him. And every man gave him one ewe, and one earring of fold. ¹²And the Lord 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 asses. ¹³And he had seven sons, and three daughters. ¹⁴And he called the names of one Dies, and the name of the second Cassia, and the name of the third Cornustibil. ¹⁵And there were not found in all the earth women so beautiful as the daughters of Job : and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. ¹⁶And Job lived after these things, a hundred and forty years, and he saw his children, and his children's children, unto the fourth generation, and he died an old man, and full of days.

The Book of Psalms

The psalms are called by the Hebrews TEHILLIM, that is, hymns of praise. The author, of a great part of them at least, was king David: but many are of opinion that some of them were made by Asaph, and others whose names are prefixed in the titles.

Chapter 1

¹Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence. ²But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night. ³And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whosoever he shall do shall prosper. ⁴Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind driveth from the face of the earth. ⁵Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners in the council of the just. ⁶For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.

Chapter 2

¹Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things? ²The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ. ³Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us. ⁴He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them. ⁵Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his rage. ⁶But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain, preaching his commandment. ⁷The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. ⁸Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession. ⁹Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, and shalt break them in pieces like a potter's vessel. ¹⁰And now, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, you that judge the earth. ¹¹Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling. ¹²Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way. ¹³When his wrath shall be kindled in a short time, blessed are all they that trust in him.

Chapter 3

¹The psalm of David when he fled from the face of his son Absalom. ²Why, O Lord, are they multiplied that afflict me? many are they who rise up against me. ³Many say to my soul: There is no salvation for him in his God. ⁴But thou, O Lord art my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of my head. ⁵I have cried to the Lord with my voice: and he hath heard me from his holy hill. ⁶I have slept and taken my rest: and I have risen up, because the Lord hath protected me. ⁷I will not fear thousands of the people, surrounding me: arise, O Lord; save me, O my God. ⁸For thou hast struck all them who are my adversaries without cause: thou hast broken the teeth of sinners. ⁹Salvation is of the Lord: and thy blessing is upon thy people.

Chapter 4

¹Unto the end, in verses. A psalm of David. ²When I called upon him, the God of my justice heard me: when I was in distress, thou hast enlarged me. Have mercy on me: and hear my prayer. ³O ye sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart? why do you love vanity, and seek after lying? ⁴Know ye also that the Lord hath made his holy one wonderful: the Lord will hear me when I shall cry unto him. ⁵Be angry, and sin not: the things you say in your hearts, be sorry for them upon your beds. ⁶Offer up the sacrifice of justice, and trust in the Lord: many say, Who sheweth us good things? ⁷The light of thy countenance O Lord, is signed upon us: thou hast given gladness in my heart. ⁸By the fruit of their corn, their wine and oil, they are multiplied. ⁹In peace in the selfsame I will sleep, and I will rest: ¹⁰for thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope.

Chapter 5

¹Unto the end, for her that obtaineth the inheritance. A psalm of David. ²Give ear, O Lord, to my words, understand my cry. ³Hearken to the voice of my prayer, O my King and my God. ⁴For to thee will I pray: O Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear my voice. ⁵In the morning I will stand before thee, and will see: because thou art not a God that willest iniquity. ⁶Neither shall the wicked dwell near thee: nor shall the unjust abide before thy eyes. ⁷Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity: Thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie. The bloody and the deceitful man the Lord will abhor. ⁸But as for me in the multitude of thy mercy, I will come into thy house; I will worship towards thy holy temple, in thy fear. ⁹Conduct me, O Lord, in thy justice: because of my enemies, direct my way in thy sight. ¹⁰for there is no truth in their mouth; their heart is vain. ¹¹Their throat is an open sepulchre: they dealt deceitfully with their tongues: judge them, O God. Let them fall from their devices: according to the multitude of their wickedness cast them out: for they have provoked thee, O Lord. ¹²But let all them be glad that hope in thee: they shall rejoice for ever, and thou shalt dwell in them. And all they that love thy name shall glory in thee: ¹³For thou wilt bless the just. O Lord, thou hast crowned us, as with a shield of thy good will.

Chapter 6

¹Unto the end, in verses, a psalm for David, for the octave. ²O Lord, rebuke me not in thy indignation, nor chastise me in thy wrath. ³Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak: heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. ⁴And my soul is troubled exceedingly: but thou, O Lord, how long? ⁵Turn to me, O Lord, and deliver my soul: O save me for thy mercy's sake. ⁶For there is no one in death, that is mindful of thee: and who shall confess to thee in hell? ⁷I have laboured in my groanings, every night I will wash my bed: I will water my couch with my tears. ⁸My eye is troubled through indignation: I have grown old amongst all my enemies. ⁹Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity: for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. ¹⁰The Lord hath heard my supplication: the Lord hath received my prayer. ¹¹Let all my enemies be ashamed, and be very much troubled: let them be turned back, and be ashamed very speedily.

Chapter 7

¹The psalm of David which he sung to the Lord for the words of Chusi the son of Jemini. [2 Kings 16.] ²O Lord my God, in thee have I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me. ³Lest at any time he seize upon my soul like a lion, while there is no one to redeem me, nor to save. ⁴O Lord my God, if I have done this thing, if there be iniquity in my hands: ⁵If I have rendered to them that repaid me evils, let me deservedly fall empty before my enemies. ⁶Let the enemy pursue my soul, and take it, and tread down my life on the earth, and bring down my glory to the dust. ⁷Rise up, O Lord, in thy anger: and be thou exalted in the borders of my enemies. And arise, O Lord my God, in the precept which thou hast commanded: ⁸and a congregation of people shall surround thee. And for their sakes return thou on high. ⁹The Lord judgeth the people. Judge me, O Lord, according to my justice, and according to my innocence in me. ¹⁰The wickedness of sinners shall be brought to nought: and thou shalt direct the just: the searcher of hearts and reins is God. ¹¹Just is my help from the Lord: who saveth the upright of heart. ¹²God is a just judge, strong and patient: is he angry every day? ¹³Except you will be converted, he will brandish his sword: he hath bent his bow and made it ready. ¹⁴And in it he hath prepared the instruments of death, he hath made ready his arrows for them that burn. ¹⁵Behold he hath been in labour with injustice; he hath conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity. ¹⁶He hath opened a pit and dug it; and he is fallen into the hole he made. ¹⁷His sorrow shall be turned on his own head: and his iniquity shall comedown upon his crown. ¹⁸I will give glory to the Lord according to his justice: and will sing to the name of the Lord the most high.

Chapter 8

¹Unto the end, for the presses: a psalm of David. ²O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth! For thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens. ³Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise, because of thy enemies, that thou mayst destroy the enemy and the avenger. ⁴For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars which thou hast founded. ⁵What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest hi? ⁶Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour: ⁷and hast set him over the works of thy hands. ⁸Thou hast subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen: moreover the beasts also of the fields. ⁹The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, that pass through the paths of the sea. ¹⁰O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in all the earth!

Chapter 9

¹Unto the end, for the hidden things of the Son. A psalm for David. ²I will give praise to thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: I will relate all thy wonders. ³I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing to thy name, O thou most high. ⁴When my enemy shall be turned back: they shall be weakened and perish before thy face. ⁵For thou hast maintained my judgment and my cause: thou hast sat on the throne, who judgest justice. ⁶Thou hast rebuked the Gentiles, and the wicked one hath perished: thou hast blotted out their name for ever and ever. ⁷The swords of the enemy have failed unto the end: and their cities thou hast destroyed. Their memory hath perished with a noise. ⁸but the Lord remaineth for ever. He hath prepared his throne in judgment: ⁹and he shall judge the world in equity, he shall judge the people in justice. ¹⁰And the Lord is become a refuge for the poor: a helper in due time in tribulation. ¹¹And let them trust in thee who know thy name: for thou hast not forsaken them that seek thee, O Lord. ¹²Sing ye to the Lord, who dwelleth in Sion: declare his ways among the Gentiles: ¹³For requiring their blood he hath remembered the: he hath not forgotten the cry of the poor. ¹⁴Have mercy on me, O Lord: see my humiliation which I suffer from my enemies. ¹⁵Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death, that I may declare all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion. ¹⁶I will rejoice in thy salvation: the Gentiles have stuck fast in the destruction which they have prepared. Their foot hath been taken in the very snare which they hid. ¹⁷The Lord shall be known when he executeth judgments: the sinner hath been caught in the works of his own hands. ¹⁸The wicked shall be turned into hell, all the nations that forget God. ¹⁹For the poor man shall not be forgotten to the end: the patience of the poor shall not perish for ever. ²⁰Arise, O Lord, let not man be strengthened: let the Gentiles be judged in thy sight. ²¹Appoint, O Lord, a lawgiver over them: that the Gentiles may know themselves to be but men. ²²Why, O Lord, hast thou retired afar off? why dost thou slight us in our wants, in the time of trouble? ²³Whilst the wicked man is proud, the poor is set on fire: they are caught in the counsels which they devise. ²⁴For the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul: and the unjust man is blessed. ²⁵The sinner hath provoked the Lord according to the multitude of his wrath he will not seek him: ²⁶God is not before his eyes: his ways are filthy at all times. Thy judgments are removed from his sight: he shall rule over all his enemies. ²⁷For he hath said in his heart: I shall not be moved from generation to generation, and shall be without evil. ²⁸His mouth is full of cursing, and of bitterness, and of deceit: under his tongue are labour and sorrow. ²⁹He sitteth in ambush with the rich in private places, that he may kill the innocent. ³⁰His eyes are upon the poor man: He lieth in wait in secret like a lion in his den. He lieth in ambush that he may catch the poor man: to catch the poor, whilst he draweth him to him. ³¹In his net he will bring him down, he will crouch and fall, when he shall have power over the poor. ³²For he hath said in his heart: God hath forgotten, he hath turned away his face not to see to the end. ³³Arise, O Lord God, let thy hand be exalted: forget not the poor. ³⁴Wherefore hath the wicked provoked God? for he hath said in his heart: He will not require it. ³⁵Thou seest it, for thou considerest labour and sorrow: that thou mayst deliver them into thy hands. To thee is the poor man left: thou wilt be a helper to the orphan. ³⁶Break thou the arm of the sinner and of the malignant: his sin shall be sought, and shall not be found. ³⁷The Lord shall reign to eternity, yea, for ever and ever: ye Gentiles shall perish from his land. ³⁸The Lord hath heard the desire of the poor: thy ear hath heard the preparation of their heart. ³⁹To judge for the fatherless and for the humble, that man may no more presume to magnify himself upon earth.

Chapter 10

¹Unto the end. A psalm for David. ²In the Lord I put my trust: how then do you say to my soul: Get thee away from hence to the mountain like a sparrow? ³For, lo, the wicked have bent their bow; they have prepared their arrows in the quiver; to shoot in the dark the upright of heart. ⁴For they have destroyed the things which thou hast made: but what has the just man done? ⁵The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes look on the poor man: his eyelids examine the sons of men. ⁶The Lord trieth the just and the wicked: but he that loveth iniquity hateth his own soul. ⁷He shall rain snares upon sinners: fire and brimstone and storms of winds shall be the portion of their cup. ⁸For the Lord is just, and hath loved justice: his countenance hath beheld righteousness

Chapter 11

¹Unto the end; for the octave, a psalm for David. ²Save me, O Lord, for there is now no saint: truths are decayed from among the children of men. ³They have spoken vain things every one to his neighbour: with deceitful lips, and with a double heart have they spoken. ⁴May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things. ⁵Who have said: We will magnify our tongue; our lips are our own; who is Lord over us? ⁶By reason of the misery of the needy, and the groans of the poor, now will I arise, saith the Lord. I win set him in safety; I will deal confidently in his regard. ⁷The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried by the fire, purged from the earth refined seven times. ⁸Thou, O Lord, wilt preserve us.: and keep us from this generation for ever. ⁹The wicked walk round about: according to thy highness, thou best multiplied the children of men.

Chapter 12

¹Unto the end, a psalm for David. How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me unto the end? how long dost thou turn away thy face from me? ²How long shall I take counsels in my soul, sorrow in my heart all the day? ³How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? ⁴Consider, and hear me, O Lord my God. Enlighten my eyes that I never sleep in death: ⁵lest at any time my enemy say: I have prevailed against him. They that trouble me will rejoice when I am moved: ⁶but I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation: I will sing to the Lord, who giveth me good things: yea I will sing to the name of the Lord the most high.

Chapter 13

¹Unto the end, a psalm for David. The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God, They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one. ²The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. ³They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre: with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes. ⁴Shall not all they know that work iniquity, who devour my people as they eat bread ? ⁵They have not called upon the Lord: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear. ⁶For the Lord is in the just generation: you have confounded the counsel of the poor man, but the Lord is his hope. ⁷Who shall give out of Sion the salvation of Israel? when the Lord shall have turned away the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad.

Chapter 14

¹A psalm of David. Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle? or who shall rest in thy holy hill? ²He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice: ³He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in his tongue: Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: nor taken up a reproach against his neighbours. ⁴In his sight the malignant is brought to nothing: but he glorifieth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his neighbour, and deceiveth not; ⁵he that hath not put out his money to usury, nor taken bribes against the innocent: He that doth these things shall not be moved for ever.

Chapter 15

¹The inscription of a title to David himself. Preserve me, O Lord, for I have put trust in thee. ²I have said to the Lord, thou art my God, for thou hast no need of my goods. ³To the saints, who are in his land, he hath made wonderful all my desires in them. ⁴Their infirmities were multiplied: afterwards they made haste. I will not gather together their meetings for blood offerings: nor will I be mindful of their names by my lips. ⁵The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: it is thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me. ⁶The lines are fallen unto me in goodly places: for my inheritance is goodly to me. ⁷I will bless the Lord, who hath given me understanding: moreover my reins also have corrected me even till night. ⁸I set the Lord always in my sight: for he is at my right hand, that I be not moved. ⁹Therefore my heart hath been glad, and my tongue hath rejoiced: moreover my flesh also shall rest in hope. ¹⁰Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; nor wilt then give thy holy one to see corruption. ¹¹Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt fill me with joy with thy countenance: at thy right hand are delights even to the end.

Chapter 16

¹The prayer of David. Hear, O Lord, my justice: attend to my supplication. Give ear unto my prayer, which proceedeth not from deceitful lips. ²Let my judgment come forth from thy countenance: let thy eyes behold the things that are equitable. ³Thou hast proved my heart, and visited it by night, thou hast tried me by fire: and iniquity hath not been found in me. ⁴That my mouth may not speak the works of men: for the sake of the words of thy lips, I have kept hard ways. ⁵Perfect thou my goings in thy paths: that my footsteps be not moved. ⁶I have cried to thee, for thou, O God, hast heard me: O incline thy ear unto me, and hear my words. ⁷Shew forth thy wonderful mercies; thou who savest them that trust in thee. ⁸From them that resist thy right hand keep me, as the apple of thy eye. Protect me under the shadow of thy wings. ⁹From the face of the wicked who have afflicted me. My enemies have surrounded my soul: ¹⁰they have shut up their fat: their mouth hath spoken proudly. ¹¹They have cast me forth and now they have surrounded me: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth. ¹²They have taken me, as a lion prepared for the prey; and as a young lion dwelling in secret places. ¹³Arise, O Lord, disappoint him and supplant him; deliver my soul from the wicked one: thy sword ¹⁴from the enemies of thy hand. O Lord, divide them from the few of the earth in their life: their belly is filled from thy hidden stores. They are full of children: and they have left to their little ones the rest of their substance. ¹⁵But as for me, I will appear before thy sight in justice: I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear.

Chapter 17

¹Unto the end, for David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this canticle, in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hands of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. [2 Kings 22.] ²I will love thee, O Lord, my strength: ³The Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer. My God is my helper, and in him will I put my trust. My protector and the horn of my salvation, and my support. ⁴Praising I will call upon the Lord: and I shall be saved from my enemies. ⁵The sorrows of death surrounded me: and the torrents of iniquity troubled me. ⁶The sorrows of hell encompassed me: and the snares of death prevented me. ⁷In my affliction I called upon the Lord, and I cried to my God: And he heard my voice from his holy temple: and my cry before him came into his ears. ⁸The earth shook and trembled: the foundations of the mountains were troubled and were moved, because he was angry with them. ⁹There went up a smoke in his wrath: and a fire flamed from his face: coals were kindled by it. ¹⁰He bowed the heavens, and came down: and darkness was under his feet. ¹¹And he ascended upon the cherubim, and he flew; he flew upon the wings of the winds. ¹²And he made darkness his covert, his pavilion round about him: dark waters in the clouds of the air. ¹³At the brightness that was before him the clouds passed, hail and coals of fire. ¹⁴And the Lord thundered from heaven, and the highest gave his voice: hail and coals of fire. ¹⁵And he sent forth his arrows, and he scattered them: he multiplied lightnings, and troubled them. ¹⁶Then the fountains of waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were discovered: At thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the spirit of thy wrath. ¹⁷He sent from on high, and took me: and received me out of many waters. ¹⁸He delivered me from my strongest enemies, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me. ¹⁹They prevented me in the day of my affliction: and the Lord became my protector. ²⁰And he brought me forth into a large place: he saved me, because he was well pleased with me. ²¹And the Lord will reward me according to my justice; and will repay me according to the cleanness of my hands: ²²Because I have kept the ways of the Lord; and have not done wickedly against my God. ²³For till his judgments are in my sight: and his justices I have not put away from me. ²⁴And I shall be spotless with him: and shall keep myself from my iniquity. ²⁵And the Lord will reward me according to my justice; and according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes. ²⁶With the holy, thou wilt be holy; and with the innocent man thou wilt be innocent. ²⁷And with the elect thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted. ²⁸For thou wilt save the humble people; but wilt bring down the eyes of the proud. ²⁹For thou lightest my lamp, O Lord: O my God enlighten my darkness. ³⁰For by thee I shall be delivered from temptation; and through my God I shall go over a wall. ³¹As for my God, his way is undefiled: the words of the Lord are fire tried: he is the protector of all that trust in him. ³²For who is God but the Lord? or who is God but our God? ³³God who hath girt me with strength; and made my way blameless. ³⁴Who hath made my feet like the feet of harts: and who setteth me upon high places. ³⁵Who teacheth my hands to war: and thou hast made my arms like a brazen bow. ³⁶And thou hast given me the protection of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath held me up: And thy discipline hath corrected me unto the end: and thy discipline, the same shall teach me. ³⁷Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; and my feet are not weakened. ³⁸I will pursue after my enemies, and overtake them: and I will not turn again till they are consumed. ³⁹I will break them, and they shall not be able to stand: they shall fall under my feet. ⁴⁰And thou hast girded me with strength unto battle; and hast subdued under me them that rose up against me. ⁴¹And thou hast made my enemies turn their back upon me, and hast destroyed them that hated me. ⁴²They cried, but there was none to save them, to the Lord: but he heard them not. ⁴³And I shall beat them as small as the dust before the wind; I shall bring them to nought, like the dirt in the streets. ⁴⁴Thou wilt deliver me from the contradictions of the people: thou wilt make me head of the Gentiles. ⁴⁵A people, which I knew not, hath served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me. ⁴⁶The children that are strangers have lied to me, strange children have faded away, and have halted from their paths. ⁴⁷The Lord liveth, and blessed be my God, and let the God of my salvation be exalted : ⁴⁸O God, who avengest me, and subduest the people under me, my deliverer from my enemies. ⁴⁹And thou wilt lift me up above them that rise up against me: from the unjust man thou wilt deliver me. ⁵⁰Therefore will I give glory to thee, O Lord, among the nations, and I will sing a psalm to thy name. ⁵¹Giving great deliverance to his king, and shewing mercy to David his anointed : and to his seed for ever.

Chapter 18

¹Unto the end. A psalm for David. ²The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands. ³Day to day uttereth speech, and night to night sheweth knowledge. ⁴There are no speeches nor languages, where their voices are not heard. ⁵Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of the world. ⁶He hath set his tabernacle in the sun: and he, as a bridegroom coming out of his bride chamber, Hath rejoiced as a giant to run the way: ⁷His going out is from the end of heaven, And his circuit even to the end thereof: and there is no one that can hide himself from his heat. ⁸The law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls: the testimony of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones. ⁹The justices of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts: the commandment of the Lord is lightsome, enlightening the eyes. ¹⁰The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever: the judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves. ¹¹More to be desired than gold and many precious stones: and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. ¹²For thy servant keepeth them, and in keeping them there is a great reward. ¹³Who can understand sins? from my secret ones cleanse me, O Lord: ¹⁴and from those of others spare thy servant. If they shall have no dominion over me, then shall I be without spot: and I shall be cleansed from the greatest sin. ¹⁵And the words of my mouth shall be such as may please: and the meditation of my heart always in thy sight. O Lord, my helper, and my redeemer.

Chapter 19

¹Unto the end. A psalm for David. ²May the Lord hear thee in the day of tribulation: may the name of the God of Jacob protect thee. ³May he send thee help from the sanctuary: and defend thee out of Sion. ⁴May he be mindful of all thy sacrifices: and may thy whole burnt offering be made fat. ⁵May he give thee according to thy own heart; and confirm all thy counsels. ⁶We will rejoice in thy salvation; and in the name of our God we shall be exalted. ⁷The Lord fulfil all thy petitions: now have I known that the Lord hath saved his anointed. He will hear him from his holy heaven: the salvation of his right hand is in powers. ⁸Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God. ⁹They are bound, and have fallen; but we are risen, and are set upright. O Lord, save the king: and hear us in the day that we shall call upon thee.

Chapter 20

¹Unto the end. A psalm for David. ²In thy strength, O Lord, the king shall joy; and in thy salvation he shall rejoice exceedingly. ³Thou hast given him his heart's desire: end hast not withholden from him the will of his lips. ⁴For thou hast prevented him with blessings of sweetness: thou hast set on his head a crown of precious stones. ⁵He asked life of thee: and thou hast given him length of days for ever and ever. ⁶His glory is great in thy salvation: glory and great beauty shalt thou lay upon him. ⁷For thou shalt give him to be a blessing for ever and ever: thou shalt make him joyful in gladness with thy countenance. ⁸For the king hopeth in the Lord: and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved. ⁹Let thy hand be found by all thy enemies: let thy right hand find out all them that hate thee. ¹⁰Thou shalt make them as an oven of fire, in the time of thy anger: the Lord shall trouble them in his wrath, and fire shall devour them. ¹¹Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth: and their seed from among the children of men. ¹²For they have intended evils against thee: they have devised counsels which they have not been able to establish. ¹³For thou shalt make them turn their back: in thy remnants thou shalt prepare their face. ¹⁴Be thou exalted, O Lord, in thy own strength: we will sing and praise thy power.

Chapter 21

¹Unto the end, for the morning protection, a psalm for David. ²O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins. ³O my God, I shall cry by day, and thou wilt not hear: and by night, and it shall not be reputed as folly in me. ⁴But thou dwellest in the holy place, the praise of Israel. ⁵In thee have our fathers hoped: they have hoped, and thou hast delivered them. ⁶They cried to thee, and they were saved: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. ⁷But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people. ⁸All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head. ⁹He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: let him save him, seeing he delighteth in him. ¹⁰For thou art he that hast drawn me out of the womb: my hope from the breasts of my mother. ¹¹I was cast upon thee from the womb. From my mother's womb thou art my God, ¹²depart not from me. For tribulation is very near: for there is none to help me. ¹³Many calves have surrounded me: fat bulls have besieged me. ¹⁴They have opened their mouths against me, as a lion ravening and roaring. ¹⁵I am poured out like water; and all my bones are scattered. My heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels. ¹⁶My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue hath cleaved to my jaws: and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death. ¹⁷For many dogs have encompassed me: the council of the malignant hath besieged me. They have dug my hands and feet. ¹⁸They have numbered all my bones. And they have looked and stared upon me. ¹⁹They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots. ²⁰But thou, O Lord, remove not thy help to a distance from me; look towards my defence. ²¹Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword: my only one from the hand of the dog. ²²Save me from the lion's mouth; and my lowness from the horns of the unicorns. ²³I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I praise thee. ²⁴Ye that fear the Lord, praise him: all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him. ²⁵Let all the seed of Israel fear him: because he hath not slighted nor despised the supplication of the poor man. Neither hath he turned away his face from me: and when I cried to him he heard me. ²⁶With thee is my praise in a great church: I will pay my vows in the sight of them that fear him. ²⁷The poor shall eat and shall be filled: and they shall praise the Lord that seek him: their hearts shall live for ever and ever. ²⁸All the ends of the earth shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord: And all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight. ²⁹For the kingdom is the Lord's; and he shall have dominion over the nations. ³⁰All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and have adored: all they that go down to the earth shall fall before him. ³¹And to him my soul shall live: and my seed shall serve him. ³²There shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come: and the heavens shall shew forth his justice to a people that shall be born, which the Lord hath made.

Chapter 22

¹A psalm for David. The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing. ²He hath set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment: ³he hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for his own name's sake. ⁴For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me. ⁵Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly is it! ⁶And thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.

Chapter 23

¹On the first day of the week, a psalm for David. The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof: the world, and all they that dwell therein. ²For he hath founded it upon the seas; and hath prepared it upon the rivers. ³Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord: or who shall stand in his holy place? ⁴The innocent in hands, and clean of heart, who hath not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour. ⁵He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Saviour. ⁶This is the generation of them that seek him, of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob. ⁷Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in. ⁸Who is this King of Glory? the Lord who is strong and mighty: the Lord mighty in battle. ⁹Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in. ¹⁰Who is this King of Glory? the Lord of hosts, he is the King of Glory.

Chapter 24

¹Unto the end, a psalm for David. To thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul. ²In thee, O my God, I put my trust; let me not be ashamed. ³Neither let my enemies laugh at me: for none of them that wait on thee shall be confounded. ⁴Let all them be confounded that act unjust things without cause. Shew, O Lord, thy ways to me, and teach me thy paths. ⁵Direct me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art God my Saviour; and on thee have I waited all the day long. ⁶Remember, O Lord, thy bowels of compassion; and thy mercies that are from the beginning of the world. ⁷The sins of my youth and my ignorances do not remember. According to thy mercy remember thou me: for thy goodness' sake, O Lord. ⁸The Lord is sweet and righteous: therefore he will give a law to sinners in the way. ⁹He will guide the mild in judgment: he will teach the meek his ways. ¹⁰All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth, to them that seek after his covenant and his testimonies. ¹¹For thy name's sake, O Lord, thou wilt pardon my sin: for it is great. ¹²Who is the man that feareth the Lord? He hath appointed him a law in the way he hath chosen. ¹³His soul shall dwell in good things: and his seed shall inherit the land. ¹⁴The Lord is a firmament to them that fear him: and his covenant shall be made manifest to them. ¹⁵My eyes are ever towards the Lord: for he shall pluck my feet out of the snare. ¹⁶Look thou upon me, and have mercy on me; for I am alone and poor. ¹⁷The troubles of my heart are multiplied: deliver me from my necessities. ¹⁸See my abjection and my labour; and forgive me all my sins. ¹⁹Consider my enemies for they are multiplied, and have hated me with an unjust hatred. ²⁰Keep thou my soul, and deliver me: I shall not be ashamed, for I have hoped in thee. ²¹The innocent and the upright have adhered to me: because I have waited on thee. ²²Deliver Israel, O God, from all his tribulations.

Chapter 25

¹Unto the end, a psalm for David. Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my innocence: and I have put my trust in the Lord, and shall not be weakened. ²Prove me, O Lord, and try me; burn my reins and my heart. ³For thy mercy is before my eyes; and I am well pleased with thy truth. ⁴I have not sat with the council of vanity: neither will I go in with the doers of unjust things. ⁵I have hated the assembly of the malignant; and with the wicked I will not sit. ⁶I will wash my hands among the innocent; and will compass thy altar, O Lord: ⁷That I may hear the voice of thy praise: and tell of all thy wondrous works. ⁸I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house; and the place where thy glory dwelleth. ⁹Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked: nor my life with bloody men: ¹⁰In whose hands are iniquities: their right hand is filled with gifts. ¹¹But as for me, I have walked in my innocence: redeem me, and have mercy on me. ¹²My foot hath stood in the direct way: in the churches I will bless thee, O Lord.

Chapter 26

¹The psalm of David before he was anointed. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid? ²Whilst the wicked draw near against me, to eat my flesh. My enemies that trouble me, have themselves been weakened, and have fallen. ³If armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear. If a battle should rise up against me, in this will I be confident. ⁴One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. That I may see the delight of the Lord, and may visit his temple. ⁵For he hath hidden me in his tabernacle; in the day of evils, he hath protected me in the secret place of his tabernacle. ⁶He hath exalted me upon a rock: and now he hath lifted up my head above my enemies. I have gone round, and have offered up in his tabernacle a sacrifice of jubilation: I will sing, and recite a psalm to the Lord. ⁷Hear, O Lord, my voice, with which I have cried to thee: have mercy on me and hear me. ⁸My heart hath said to thee: My face hath sought thee: thy face, O Lord, will I still seek. ⁹Turn not away thy face from me; decline not in thy wrath from thy servant. Be thou my helper, forsake me not; do not thou despise me, O God my Saviour. ¹⁰For my father and my mother have left me: but the Lord hath taken me up. ¹¹Set me, O Lord, a law in thy way, and guide me in the right path, because of my enemies. ¹²Deliver me not over to the will of them that trouble me; for unjust witnesses have risen up against me; and iniquity hath lied to itself. ¹³I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. ¹⁴Expect the Lord, do manfully, and let thy heart take courage, and wait thou for the Lord.

Chapter 27

¹A psalm for David himself. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord: O my God, be not thou silent to me: lest thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. ²Hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication, when I pray to thee; when I lift up my hands to thy holy temple. ³Draw me not away together with the wicked; and with the workers of iniquity destroy me not: Who speak peace with their neighbour, but evils are in their hearts. ⁴Give them according to their works, and according to the wickedness of their inventions. According to the works of their hands give thou to them: render to them their reward. ⁵Because they have not understood the works of the Lord, and the operations of his hands: thou shalt destroy them, and shalt not build them up. ⁶Blessed be the Lord, for he hath heard the voice of my supplication. ⁷The Lord is my helper and my protector: in him hath my heart confided, and I have been helped. And my flesh hath flourished again, and with my will I will give praise to him. ⁸The Lord is the strength of his people, and the protector of the salvation of his anointed. ⁹Save, O Lord, thy people, and bless thy inheritance: and rule them and exalt them for ever.

Chapter 28

¹A psalm for David, at the finishing of the tabernacle. Bring to the Lord, O ye children of God: bring to the Lord the offspring of rams. ²Bring to the Lord glory and honour: bring to the Lord glory to his name: adore ye the Lord in his holy court. ³The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of majesty hath thundered, The Lord is upon many waters. ⁴The voice of the Lord is in power; the voice of the Lord in magnificence. ⁵The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars: yea, the Lord shall break the cedars of Libanus. ⁶And shall reduce them to pieces, as a calf of Libanus, and as the beloved son of unicorns. ⁷The voice of the Lord divideth the flame of fire: ⁸The voice of the Lord shaketh the desert: and the Lord shall shake the desert of Cades. ⁹The voice of the Lord prepareth the stags: and he will discover the thick woods: and in his temple all shall speak his glory. ¹⁰The Lord maketh the hood to dwell: and the Lord shall sit king for ever. The Lord will give strength to his people: the Lord will bless his people with peace.

Chapter 29

¹A psalm of a canticle, at the dedication of David's house. ²I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast upheld me: and hast not made my enemies to rejoice over me. ³O Lord my God, I have cried to thee, and then hast healed me. ⁴Thou hast brought forth, O Lord, my soul from hell: thou hast saved me from them that go down into the pit. ⁵Sing to the Lord, O ye his saints: and give praise to the memory of his holiness. ⁶For wrath is in his indignation; and life in his good will. In the evening weeping shall have place, and in the morning gladness. ⁷And in my abundance I said: I shall never be moved. ⁸O Lord, in thy favour, thou gavest strength to my beauty. Thou turnedst away thy face from me, and I became troubled. ⁹To thee, O Lord, will I cry: and I will make supplication to my God. ¹⁰What profit is there in my blood, whilst I go down to corruption? Shall dust confess to thee, or declare thy truth? ¹¹The Lord hath heard, and hath had mercy on me: the Lord became my helper. ¹²Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: thou hast cut my sackcloth, and hast compassed me with gladness: ¹³To the end that my glory may sing to thee, and I may not regret: O Lord my God, I will give praise to thee for ever.

Chapter 30

¹Unto the end, a psalm for David, in an ecstasy. ²In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, Iet me never be confounded: deliver me in thy justice. ³Bow down thy ear to me: make haste to deliver me. Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a house of refuge, to save me. ⁴For thou art my strength and my refuge; and for thy name's sake thou wilt lead me, and nourish me. ⁵Thou wilt bring me out of this snare, which they have hidden for me: for thou art my protector. ⁶Into thy hands I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth. ⁷Thou hast hated them that regard vanities, to no purpose. But I have hoped in the Lord: ⁸I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy. For thou best regarded my humility, thou hast saved my soul out of distresses. ⁹And thou hast not shut me up in the hands of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a spacious place. ¹⁰Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: my eye is troubled with wrath, my soul, and my belly: ¹¹For my life is wasted with grief: and my years in sighs. My strength is weakened through poverty and my bones are disturbed. ¹²I am become a reproach among all my enemies, and very much to my neighbours; and a fear to my acquaintance. They that saw me without fled from me. ¹³I am forgotten as one dead from the heart. I am become as a vessel that is destroyed. ¹⁴For I have heard the blame of many that dwell round about. While they assembled together against me, they consulted to take away my life. ¹⁵But I have put my trust in thee, O Lord: I said: Thou art my God. ¹⁶My lots are in thy hands. Deliver me out of the hands of my enemies; and from them that persecute me. ¹⁷Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; save me in thy mercy. ¹⁸Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be ashamed, and be brought down to hell. ¹⁹Let deceitful lips be made dumb. Which speak iniquity against the just, with pride and abuse. ²⁰O how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee! Which thou hast wrought for them that hope in thee, in the sight of the sons of men. ²¹Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy face, from the disturbance of men. Thou shalt protect them in thy tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues. ²²Blessed be the Lord, for he hath shewn his wonderful mercy to me in a fortified city. ²³But I said in the excess of my mind: I am cast away from before thy eyes. Therefore thou hast heard the voice of my prayer, when I cried to thee. ²⁴O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord will require truth, and will repay them abundantly that act proudly. ²⁵Do ye manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord.

Chapter 31

¹To David himself, understanding. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. ²Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin, and in whose spirit there is no guile. ³Because I was silent my bones grew old; whilst I cried out all the day long. ⁴For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: I am turned in my anguish, whilst the thorn is fastened. ⁵I have acknowledged my sin to thee, and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord: and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin. ⁶For this shall every one that is holy pray to thee in a seasonable time. And yet in a flood of many waters, they shall not come nigh unto him. ⁷Thou art my refuge from the trouble which hath encompassed me: my joy, deliver me from them that surround me. ⁸I will give thee understanding, and I will instruct thee in this way, in which thou shalt go: I will fix my eyes upon thee. ⁹Do not become like the horse and the mule, who have no understanding. With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not near unto thee. ¹⁰Many are the scourges of the sinner, but mercy shall encompass him that hopeth in the Lord. ¹¹Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye just, and glory, all ye right of heart.

Chapter 32

¹A psalm for David. Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just: praise becometh the upright. ²Give praise to the Lord on the harp; sing to him with the psaltery, the instrument of ten strings. ³Sing to him a new canticle, sing well unto him with a loud noise. ⁴For the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are done with faithfulness. ⁵He loveth mercy and judgment; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord. ⁶By the word of the Lord the heavens were established; and all the power of them by the spirit of his mouth: ⁷Gathering together the waters of the sea, as in a vessel; laying up the depths in storehouses. ⁸Let all the earth fear the Lord, and let all the inhabitants of the world be in awe of him. ⁹For he spoke and they were made: he commanded and they were created. ¹⁰The Lord bringeth to naught the counsels of nations; and he rejecteth the devices of people, and casteth away the counsels of princes. ¹¹But the counsel of the Lord standeth for ever: the thoughts of his heart to all generations. ¹²Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: the people whom he hath chosen for his inheritance. ¹³The Lord hath looked from heaven: he hath beheld all the sons of men. ¹⁴From his habitation which he hath prepared, he hath looked upon all that dwell on the earth. ¹⁵He who hath made the hearts of every one of them: who understandeth all their works. ¹⁶The king is not saved by a great army: nor shall the giant be saved by his own great strength. ¹⁷Vain is the horse for safety: neither shall he be saved by the abundance of his strength. ¹⁸Behold the eyes of the Lord are on them that fear him: and on them that hope in his mercy. ¹⁹To deliver their souls from death; and feed them in famine. ²⁰Our soul waiteth for the Lord: for he is our helper and protector. ²¹For in him our heart shall rejoice: and in his holy name we have trusted. ²²Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped in thee.

Chapter 33

¹For David, when he changed his countenance before Achimelech, who dismissed him, and he went his way. [1 Kings 21.] ²I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth. ³In the Lord shall my soul be praised: let the meek hear and rejoice. ⁴O magnify the Lord with me; and let us extol his name together. ⁵I sought the Lord, and he heard me; and he delivered me from all my troubles. ⁶Come ye to him and be enlightened: and your faces shall not be confounded. ⁷This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him: and saved him out of all his troubles. ⁸The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him: and shall deliver them. ⁹O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man that hopeth in him. ¹⁰Fear the Lord, all ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. ¹¹The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good. ¹²Come, children, hearken to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. ¹³Who is the man that desireth life: who loveth to see good days? ¹⁴Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. ¹⁵Turn away from evil and do good: seek after peace and pursue it. ¹⁶The eyes of the Lord are upon the just: and his ears unto their prayers. ¹⁷But the countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil things: to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. ¹⁸The just cried, and the Lord heard them: and delivered them out of all their troubles. ¹⁹The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he will save the humble of spirit. ²⁰Many are the afflictions of the just; but out of them all will the Lord deliver them. ²¹The Lord keepeth all their bones, not one of them shall be broken. ²²The death of the wicked is very evil: and they that hate the just shall be guilty. ²³The Lord will redeem the souls of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall offend.

Chapter 34

¹For David himself. Judge thou, O Lord, them that wrong me : overthrow them that fight against me. ²Take hold of arms and shield : and rise up to help me. ³Bring out the sword, and shut up the way against them that persecute me : say to my soul : I am thy salvation. ⁴Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and be confounded that devise against me. ⁵Let them become as dust before the wind : and let the angel of the Lord straiten them. ⁶Let their way become dark and slippery; and let the angel of the Lord pursue them. ⁷For without cause they have hidden their net for me unto destruction : without cause they have upbraided my soul. ⁸Let the snare which he knoweth not come upon him : and let the net which he hath hidden catch him : and let the net which he hath hidden catch him : and into that very snare let them fall. ⁹But my soul shall rejoice in the Lord; and shall be delighted in his salvation. ¹⁰All my bones shall say : Lord, who is like to thee? Who deliverest the poor from the hand of them that are stronger than he; the needy and the poor from them that strip him. ¹¹Unjust witnesses rising up have asked me things I knew not. ¹²They repaid me evil for good : to the depriving me of my soul. ¹³But as for me, when they were troublesome to me, I was clothed with haircloth. I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer shall be turned into my bosom. ¹⁴As a neighbour and as an own brother, so did I please : as one mourning and sorrowful so was I humbled. ¹⁵But they rejoiced against me, and came together : scourges were gathered together upon me, and I knew not. ¹⁶They were separated, and repented not : they tempted me, they scoffed at me with scorn : they gnashed upon me with their teeth. ¹⁷Lord, when wilt thou look upon me? rescue thou soul from their malice : my only one from the lions. ¹⁸I will give thanks to thee in a great church; I will praise thee in a strong people. ¹⁹Let not them that are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me : who have hated me without cause, and wink with the eyes. ²⁰For they spoke indeed peaceably to me; and speaking in the anger of the earth they devised guile. ²¹And they opened their mouth wide against me; they said : Well done, well done, our eyes have seen it. ²²Thou hast seen, O Lord, be not thou silent : O Lord, depart not from me. ²³Arise, and be attentive to my judgment : to my cause, my God, and my Lord. ²⁴Judge me, O Lord my God according to thy justice, and let them not rejoice over me. ²⁵Let them not say in their hearts : It is well, it is well, to our mind : neither let them say : We have swallowed him up. ²⁶Let them blush : and be ashamed together, who rejoice at my evils. Let them be clothed with confusion and shame, who speak great things against me. ²⁷Let them rejoice and be glad, who are well pleased with my justice, and let them say always : The Lord be magnified, who delights in the peace of his servant. ²⁸Any my tongue shall meditate thy justice, thy praise all the day long.

Chapter 35

¹Unto the end, for the servant of God, David himself. ²The unjust hath said within himself, that he would sin : there is no fear of God before his eyes. ³For in his sight he hath done deceitfully, that his iniquity may be found unto hatred. ⁴The words of his mouth are iniquity and guile : he would not understand that he might do well. ⁵He hath devised iniquity on his bed, he hath set himself on every way that is not good : but evil he hath not hated. ⁶O Lord, thy mercy is in heaven, and thy truth reacheth, even to the clouds. ⁷Thy justice is as the mountains of God, thy judgments are a great deep. Men and beasts thou wilt preserve, O Lord : ⁸O how hast thou multiplied thy mercy, O God! But the children of men shall put their trust under the covert of thy wings. ⁹They shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure. ¹⁰For with thee is the fountain of life; and in thy light we shall see light. ¹¹Extend thy mercy to them that know thee, and thy justice to them that are right in heart. ¹²Let not the foot of pride come to me, and let not the hand of the sinner move me. ¹³There the workers of iniquity are fallen, they are cast out, and could not stand.

Chapter 36

¹A psalm for David himself. Be not emulous of evildoers; nor envy them that work iniquity. ²For they shall shortly wither away as grass, and as the green herbs shall quickly fall. ³Trust in the Lord, and do good, and dwell in the land, and thou shalt be fed with its riches. ⁴Delight in the Lord, and he will give thee the requests of thy heart. ⁵Commit thy way to the Lord, and trust in him, and he will do it. ⁶And he will bring forth thy justice as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. ⁷Be subject to the Lord and pray to him Envy not the man who prospereth in his way; the man who doth unjust things. ⁸Cease from anger, and leave rage; have no emulation to do evil. ⁹For the evildoers shall be cut off : but they that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the land. ¹⁰For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be : and thou shalt seek his place, and shalt not find it. ¹¹But the meek shall inherit the land, and shall delight in abundance of peace. ¹²The sinner shall watch the just man : and shall gnash upon him with his teeth. ¹³But the Lord shall laugh at him : for he foreseeth that his day shall come. ¹⁴The wicked have drawn out the sword : they have bent their bow. To cast down the poor and needy, to kill the upright of heart. ¹⁵Let their sword enter into their own hearts, and let their bow be broken. ¹⁶Better is a little to the just, than the great riches of the wicked. ¹⁷For the arms of the wicked shall be broken in pieces; but the Lord strengtheneth the just. ¹⁸The Lord knoweth the days of undefiled; and their inheritance shall be for ever. ¹⁹They shall not be confounded in the evil time; and in the days of famine they shall be filled : ²⁰because the wicked shall perish. And the enemies of the Lord, presently after they shall be honoured and exalted, shall come to nothing and vanish like smoke. ²¹The sinner shall borrow, and not pay again; but the just sheweth mercy and shall give. ²²For such as bless him shall inherit the land : but such as curse him shall perish. ²³With the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall like well his way. ²⁴When he shall fall he shall not be bruised, for the Lord putteth his hand under him. ²⁵I have been young, and now am old; and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread. ²⁶He sheweth mercy, and lendeth all the day long; and his seed shall be in blessing. ²⁷Decline from evil and do good, and dwell for ever and ever. ²⁸For the Lord loveth judgment, and will not forsake his saints : they shall be preserved for ever. The unjust shall be punished, and the seed of the wicked shall perish. ²⁹But the just shall inherit the land, and shall dwell therein for evermore. ³⁰The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom : and his tongue shall speak judgment. ³¹The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted. ³²The wicked watcheth the just man, and seeketh to put him to death, ³³But the Lord will not leave in his hands; nor condemn him when he shall be judged. ³⁴Expect the Lord and keep his way : and he will exalt thee to inherit the land : when the sinners shall perish thou shalt see. ³⁵I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus. ³⁶And I passed by, and lo, he was not : and I sought him and his place was not found. ³⁷Keep innocence, and behold justice : for there are remnants for the peaceable man. ³⁸But the unjust shall be destroyed together : the remnants of the wicked shall perish. ³⁹But the salvation of the just is from the Lord, and he is their protector in the time of trouble. ⁴⁰And the Lord will help them and deliver them : and he will rescue them from the wicked, and save them, because they have hoped in him.

Chapter 37

¹A psalm for David, for a remembrance of the sabbath. ²Rebuke me not, O Lord, in thy indignation; nor chastise me in thy wrath. ³For thy arrows are fastened in me : and thy hand hath been strong upon me. ⁴There is no health in my flesh, because of thy wrath : there is no peace for my bones, because of my sins. ⁵For my iniquities are gone over my head : and as a heavy burden are become heavy upon me. ⁶My sores are putrified and corrupted, because of my foolishness. ⁷I am become miserable, and am bowed down even to the end : I walked sorrowful all the day long. ⁸For my loins are filled with illusions; and there is no health in my flesh. ⁹I am afflicted and humbled exceedingly : I roared with the groaning of my heart. ¹⁰Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hidden from thee. ¹¹My heart is troubled, my strength hath left me, and the light of my eyes itself is not with me. ¹²My friends and my neighbours have drawn near, and stood against me. And they that were near me stood afar off : ¹³And they that sought my soul used violence. And they that sought evils to me spoke vain things, and studied deceits all the day long. ¹⁴But I, as a deaf man, heard not : and as a dumb man not opening his mouth. ¹⁵And I became as a man that heareth not : and that hath no reproofs in his mouth. ¹⁶For in thee, O Lord, have I hoped : thou wilt hear me, O Lord my God. ¹⁷For I said: Lest at any time my enemies rejoice over me : and whilst my feet are moved, they speak great things against me. ¹⁸For I am ready for scourges : and my sorrow is continually before me. ¹⁹For I will declare my inequity : and I will think for my sin. ²⁰But my enemies live, and are stronger that I : and they hate me wrongfully are multiplied. ²¹They that render evil for good, have detracted me, because I followed goodness. ²²Forsake me not, O Lord my God : do not thou depart from me. ²³Attend unto my help, O Lord, the God of my salvation.

Chapter 38

¹Unto the end, for Idithun himself, a canticle of David. ²I said: I will take heed to my ways : that I sin not with my tongue. I have set guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me. ³I was dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence from good things : and my sorrow was renewed. ⁴My heart grew hot within me : and in my meditation a fire shall flame out. ⁵I spoke with my tongue : O Lord, make me know my end. And what is the number of my days : that I may know what is wanting to me. ⁶Behold thou hast made my days measurable : and my substance is as nothing before thee. And indeed all things are vanity : every man living. ⁷Surely man passeth as an image : yea, and he is disquieted in vain. He storeth up : and he knoweth not for whom he shall gather these things. ⁸And now what is my hope? is it not the Lord? and my substance is with thee. ⁹Deliver thou me from all my iniquities : thou hast made me a reproach to the fool. ¹⁰I was dumb, and I opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it. ¹¹Remove thy scourges from me. The strength of thy hand hath made me faint in rebukes: ¹²thou hast corrected man for iniquity. And thou hast made his soul to waste away like a spider : surely in vain is any man disquieted. ¹³Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication : give ear to my tears. Be not silent : for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as all my fathers were. ¹⁴O forgive me, that I may be refreshed, before I go hence, and be no more.

Chapter 39

¹Unto the end, a psalm for David himself. ²With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me. ³And he heard my prayers, and brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs. And he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps. ⁴And he put a new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God. Many shall see, and shall fear : and they shall hope in the Lord. ⁵Blessed is the man whose trust is in the name of the Lord; and who hath not had regard to vanities, and lying follies. ⁶Thou hast multiplied thy wonderful works, O Lord my God : and in thy thoughts there is no one like to thee. I have declared and I have spoken they are multiplied above number. ⁷Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire; but thou hast pierced ears for me. Burnt offering and sin offering thou didst not require : ⁸then said I, Behold I come. In the head of the book it is written of me ⁹that I should do thy will : O my God, I have desired it, and thy law in the midst of my heart. ¹⁰I have declared thy justice in a great church, lo, I will not restrain my lips : O Lord, thou knowest it. ¹¹I have not hid thy justice within my heart : I have declared thy truth and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from a great council. ¹²Withhold not thou, O Lord, thy tender mercies from me : thy mercy and thy truth have always upheld me. ¹³For evils without number have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I was not able to see. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head : and my heart hath forsaken me. ¹⁴Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me, look down, O Lord, to help me. ¹⁵Let them be confounded and ashamed together, that seek after my soul to take it away. Let them be turned backward and be ashamed that desire evils to me. ¹⁶Let them immediately bear their confusion, that say to me : 'T is well, 't is well. ¹⁷Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee : and let such as love thy salvation say always : The Lord be magnified. ¹⁸But I am a beggar and poor : the Lord is careful for me. Thou art my helper and my protector : O my God, be not slack.

Chapter 40

¹Unto the end, a psalm for David himself. ²Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor : the Lord will deliver him in the evil day. ³The Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth : and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies. ⁴The Lord help him on his bed of sorrow : thou hast turned all his couch in his sickness. ⁵I said: O Lord, be thou merciful to me : heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. ⁶My enemies have spoken evils against me: when shall he die and his name perish? ⁷And if he came in to see me, he spoke vain things : his heart gathered together iniquity to itself. He went out and spoke to the same purpose. ⁸All my enemies whispered together against me : they devised evils to me. ⁹They determined against me an unjust word : shall he that sleepeth rise again no more? ¹⁰For even the man of peace, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, hath greatly supplanted me. ¹¹But thou, O Lord, have mercy on me, and raise me up again : and I will requite them. ¹²By this I know, that thou hast had a good will for me : because my enemy shall not rejoice over me. ¹³But thou hast upheld me by reason of my innocence : and hast established me in thy sight for ever. ¹⁴Blessed by the Lord the God of Israel from eternity to eternity. So be it. So be it.

Chapter 41

¹Unto the end, understanding for the sons of Core. ²As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God. ³My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God? ⁴My tears have been any bread day and night, whilst it is said to me daily : Where is thy God? ⁵These things I remembered, and poured out my soul in me : for I shall go over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God : With the voice of joy and praise; the noise of one feasting. ⁶Why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou trouble me? Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him : the salvation of my countenance, ⁷and my God. My soul is troubled within myself : therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and Hermoniim, from the little hill. ⁸Deep calleth on deep, at the noise of thy flood-gates. All thy heights and thy billows have passed over me. ⁹In the daytime the Lord hath commanded his mercy; and a canticle to him in the night. With me is prayer to the God of my life. ¹⁰I will say to God : Thou art my support. Why hast thou forgotten me? and why go I mourning, whilst my enemy afflicteth me? ¹¹Whilst my bones are broken, my enemies who trouble me have reproached me; Whilst they say to me day be day : Where is thy God? ¹²Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me? Hope thou in God, for I will still give praise to him : the salvation of my countenance, and my God.

Chapter 42

¹A psalm for David. Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy : deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man. ²For thou art God my strength : why hast thou cast me off? and why do I go sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me? ³Send forth thy light and thy truth : they have conducted me, and brought me unto thy holy hill, and into thy tabernacles. ⁴And I will go in to the altar of God : to God who giveth joy to my youth. ⁵To thee, O God my God, I will give praise upon the harp : why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me? ⁶Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him : the salvation of my countenance, and my God.

Chapter 43

¹Unto the end, for the sons of Core, to give understanding. ²We have heard, O God, with our ears : our fathers have declared to us, The work, thou hast wrought in their days, and in the days of old. ³Thy hand destroyed the Gentiles, and thou plantedst them : thou didst afflict the people and cast them out. ⁴For they got not the possession of the land by their own sword : neither did their own arm save them. But thy right hand and thy arm, and the light of thy countenance : because thou wast pleased with them. ⁵Thou art thyself my king and my God, who commandest the saving of Jacob. ⁶Through thee we will push down our enemies with the horn : and through thy name we will despise them that rise up against us. ⁷For I will not trust in my bow : neither shall my sword save me. ⁸But thou hast saved us from them that afflict us : and hast put them to shame that hate us. ⁹In God shall we glory all the day long : and in thy name we will give praise for ever. ¹⁰But now thou hast cast us off, and put us to shame : and thou, O God, wilt not go out with our armies. ¹¹Thou hast made us turn our back to our enemies : and they that hated us plundered for themselves. ¹²Thou hast given us up like sheep to be eaten : thou hast scattered us among the nations. ¹³Thou hast sold thy people for no price : and there was no reckoning in the exchange of them. ¹⁴Thou hast made us a reproach to our neighbours, a scoff and derision to them that are round about us. ¹⁵Thou hast made us a byword among the Gentiles : a shaking of the head among the people. ¹⁶All the day long my shame is before me : and the confusion of my face hath covered me, ¹⁷At the voice of him that reproacheth and detracteth me : at the face of the enemy and persecutor. ¹⁸All these things have come upon us, yet we have not forgotten thee : and we have not done wickedly in they covenant. ¹⁹And our heart hath not turned back : neither hast thou turned aside our steps from thy way. ²⁰For thou hast humbled us in the place of affliction : and the shadow of death hath covered us. ²¹If we have forgotten the name of our God, and if we have spread forth our hands to a strange god : ²²Shall not God search out these things : for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. Because for thy sake we are killed all the day long : we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. ²³Arise, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, and cast us not off to the end. ²⁴Why turnest thou face away? and forgettest our want and our trouble? ²⁵For our soul is humbled down to the dust : our belly cleaveth to the earth. ²⁶Arise, O Lord, help us and redeem us for thy name's sake.

Chapter 44

¹Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the sons of Core, for understanding. A canticle for the Beloved. ²My heart hath uttered a good word I speak my works to the king; My tongue is the pen of a scrivener that writeth swiftly. ³Thou art beautiful above the sons of men: grace is poured abroad in thy lips; therefore hath God blessed thee for ever ⁴Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most mighty. ⁵With thy comeliness and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously, and reign. Because of truth and meekness and justice: and thy right hand shall conduct thee wonderfully. ⁶Thy arrows are sharp: under thee shall people fall, into the hearts of the king's enemies. ⁷Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness. ⁸Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. ⁹Myrrh and stacte and cassia perfume thy garments, from the ivory houses: out of which ¹⁰the daughters of kings have delighted thee in thy glory. The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety. ¹¹Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: and forget thy people and thy father's house. ¹²And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord thy God, and him they shall adore. ¹³And the daughters of Tyre with gifts, yea, all the rich among the people, shall entreat thy countenance. ¹⁴All the glory of the king's daughter is within in golden borders, ¹⁵clothed round about with varieties. After her shall virgins be brought to the king: her neighbours shall be brought to thee. ¹⁶They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing: they shall be brought into the temple of the king. ¹⁷Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee: thou shalt make them princes over all the earth. ¹⁸They shall remember thy name throughout all generations. Therefore shall people praise thee for ever; yea, for ever and ever.

Chapter 45

¹Unto the end, for the sons of Core, for the hidden. ²Our God is our refuge and strength: a helper in troubles, which have found us exceedingly. ³Therefore we will not fear, when the earth shall be troubled; and the mountains shall be removed into the heart of the sea. ⁴Their waters roared and were troubled: the mountains were troubled with his strength. ⁵The stream of the river maketh the city of God joyful: the most High hath sanctified his own tabernacle. ⁶God is in the midst thereof, it shall not be moved: God will help it in the morning early. ⁷Nations were troubled, and kingdoms were bowed down: he uttered his voice, the earth trembled. ⁸The Lord of armies is with us: the God of Jacob is our protector. ⁹Come and behold ye the works of the Lord: what wonders he hath done upon earth, ¹⁰making wars to cease even to the end of the earth. He shall destroy the bow, and break the weapons: and the shield he shall burn in the fire. ¹¹Be still and see that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth. ¹²The Lord of armies is with us: the God of Jacob is our protector.

Chapter 46

¹Unto the end, for the sons of Core. ²O clap your hands, all ye nations: shout unto God with the voice of Joy, ³For the Lord is high, terrible: a great king over all the earth. ⁴He hath subdued the people under us; and the nations under our feet. ⁵He hath chosen for us his inheritance the beauty of Jacob which he hath loved. ⁶God is ascended with jubilee, and the Lord with the sound of trumpet. ⁷Sing praises to our God, sing ye: sing praises to our king, sing ye. ⁸For God is the king of all the earth: sing ye wisely. ⁹God shall reign over the nations: God sitteth on his holy throne. ¹⁰The princes of the people are gathered together, with the God of Abraham: for the strong gods of the earth are exceedingly exalted.

Chapter 47

¹A psalm of a canticle, for the sons of Core, on the second day of the week. ²Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. ³With the joy of the whole earth is mount Sion founded, on the sides of the north, the city of the great king. ⁴In her houses shall God be known, when he shall protect her. ⁵For behold the kings of the earth assembled themselves: they gathered together. ⁶So they saw, and they wondered, they were troubled, they were moved: ⁷trembling took hold of them. There were pains as of a woman in labour. ⁸With a vehement wind thou shalt break in pieces the ships of Tharsis. ⁹As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God hath founded it for ever. ¹⁰We have received thy mercy, O God, in the midst of thy temple. ¹¹According to thy name, O God, so also is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of justice. ¹²Let mount Sion rejoice, and the daughters of Juda be glad; because of thy judgments, O Lord. ¹³Surround Sion, and encompass her: tell ye in her towers. ¹⁴Set your hearts on her strength; and distribute her houses, that ye may relate it in another generation. ¹⁵For this is God, our God unto eternity, and for ever and ever: he shall rule us for evermore.

Chapter 48

¹Unto the end, a psalm for the sons of Core. ²Hear these things, all ye nations: give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world. ³All you that are earthborn, and you sons of men: both rich and poor together. ⁴My mouth shall speak wisdom: and the meditation of my heart understanding. ⁵I will incline my ear to a parable; I will open my proposition on the psaltery. ⁶Why shall I fear in the evil day? the iniquity of my heel shall encompass me. ⁷They that trust in their own strength, and glory in the multitude of their riches, ⁸No brother can redeem, nor shall man redeem: he shall not give to God his ransom, ⁹Nor the price of the redemption of his soul: and shall labour for ever, ¹⁰and shall still live unto the end. ¹¹He shall not see destruction, when he shall see the wise dying: the senseless and the fool shall perish together: And they shall leave their riches to strangers: ¹²and their sepulchres shall be their houses for ever. Their dwelling places to all generations: they have called their lands by their names. ¹³And man when he was in honour did not understand; he is compared to senseless beasts, and is become like to them. ¹⁴This way of theirs is a stumblingblock to them: and afterwards they shall delight in their mouth. ¹⁵They are laid in hell like sheep: death shall feed upon them. And the just shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their help shall decay in hell from their glory. ¹⁶But God will redeem my soul from the hand of hell, when he shall receive me. ¹⁷Be not thou afraid, when a man shall be made rich, and when the glory of his house shall be increased. ¹⁸For when he shall die he shall take nothing away; nor shall his glory descend with him. ¹⁹For in his lifetime his soul will be blessed: and he will praise thee when thou shalt do well to him. ²⁰He shall go in to the generations of his fathers: and he shall never see light. ²¹Man when he was in honour did not understand: he hath been compared to senseless beasts, and made like to them.

Chapter 49

¹A psalm for Asaph. The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken: and he hath called the earth. From the rising of the sun, to the going down thereof: ²out of Sion the loveliness of his beauty. ³God shall come manifestly: our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. A fire shall burn before him: and a mighty tempest shall be round about him. ⁴He shall call heaven from above, and the earth, to judge his people. ⁵Gather ye together his saints to him: who set his covenant before sacrifices. ⁶And the heavens shall declare his justice: for God is judge. ⁷Hear, O my people, and I will speak: O Israel, and I will testify to thee: I am God, thy God. ⁸I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices: and thy burnt offerings are always in my sight. ⁹I will not take calves out of thy house: nor he goats out of thy flocks. ¹⁰For all the beasts of the woods are mine: the cattle on the hills, and the oxen. ¹¹I know all the fowls of the air: and with me is the beauty of the field. ¹²If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. ¹³Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? or shall I drink the blood of goats? ¹⁴Offer to God the sacrifice of praise: and pay thy vows to the most High. ¹⁵And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. ¹⁶But to the sinner God hath said: Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my covenant in thy mouth ? ¹⁷Seeing thou hast hated discipline: and hast cast my words behind thee. ¹⁸If thou didst see a thief thou didst run with him: and with adulterers thou hast been a partaker. ¹⁹Thy mouth hath abounded with evil, and thy tongue framed deceits. ²⁰Sitting thou didst speak against thy brother, and didst lay a scandal against thy mother's son: ²¹these things hast thou done, and I was silent. Thou thoughtest unjustly that I should be like to thee: but I will reprove thee, and set before thy face. ²²Understand these things, you that forget God; lest he snatch you away, and there be none to deliver you. ²³The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me: and there is the way by which I will shew him the salvation of God.

Chapter 50

¹Unto the end, a psalm of David, ²when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bethsabee. ³Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity. ⁴Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. ⁵For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me. ⁶To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that thou mayst be justified in thy words and mayst overcome when thou art judged. ⁷For behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me. ⁸For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me. ⁹Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. ¹⁰To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness: and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice. ¹¹Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. ¹²Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels. ¹³Cast me not away from thy face; and take not thy holy spirit from me. ¹⁴Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit. ¹⁵I will teach the unjust thy ways: and the wicked shall be converted to thee. ¹⁶Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall extol thy justice. ¹⁷O Lord, thou wilt open my lips: and my mouth shall declare thy praise. ¹⁸For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted. ¹⁹A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. ²⁰Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion; that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up. ²¹Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.

Chapter 51

¹Unto the end, understanding for David, ²when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul David went to the house of Achimelech ³Why dost thou glory in malice, thou that art mighty in iniquity? ⁴All the day long thy tongue hath devised injustice: as a sharp razor, thou hast wrought deceit. ⁵Thou hast loved malice more than goodness: and iniquity rather than to speak righteousness. ⁶Thou hast loved all the words of ruin, O deceitful tongue. ⁷Therefore will God destroy thee for ever: he will pluck thee out, and remove thee from thy dwelling place: and thy root out of the land of the living. ⁸The just shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, and say: ⁹Behold the man that made not God his helper: But trusted in the abundance of his riches: and prevailed in his vanity. ¹⁰But I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God for ever, yea for ever and ever. ¹¹I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name, for it is good in the sight of thy saints.

Chapter 52

¹Unto the end, for Maeleth, understandings to David. The fool said in his hear t: There is no God. ²They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities: there is none that doth good. ³God looked down from heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. ⁴All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one. ⁵Shall not all the workers of iniquity know, who eat up my people as they eat bread? ⁶They have not called upon God: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear. For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men: they have been confounded, because God hath despised them. ⁷Who will give out of Sion the salvation of Israel? when God shall bring back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Chapter 53

¹Unto the end, In verses, understanding for David. ²When the men of Ziph had come and said to Saul: Is not David hidden with us? ³Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me in thy strength. ⁴O God, hear my prayer: give ear to the words of my mouth. ⁵For strangers have risen up against me; and the mighty have sought after my soul: and they have not set God before their eyes. ⁶For behold God is my helper: and the Lord is the protector of my soul. ⁷Turn back the evils upon my enemies; and cut them off in thy truth. ⁸I will freely sacrifice to thee, and will give praise, O God, to thy name: because it is good: ⁹For thou hast delivered me out of all trouble: and my eye hath looked down upon my enemies.

Chapter 54

¹Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David. ²Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication: ³be attentive to me and hear me. I am grieved in my exercise; and am troubled, ⁴at the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner. For they have cast iniquities upon me: and in wrath they were troublesome to me. ⁵My heart is troubled within me: and the fear of death is fallen upon me. ⁶Fear and trembling are come upon me: and darkness hath covered me. ⁷And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest? ⁸Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness. ⁹I waited for him that hath saved me from pusillanimity of spirit, and a storm. ¹⁰Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city. ¹¹Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: and in the midst thereof are labour, ¹²and injustice. And usury and deceit have not departed from its streets. ¹³For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it. And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden myself from him. ¹⁴But thou a man of one mind, my guide, and my familiar, ¹⁵Who didst take sweetmeats together with me: in the house of God we walked with consent. ¹⁶Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell. For there is wickedness in their dwellings: in the midst of them. ¹⁷But I have cried to God: and the Lord will save me. ¹⁸Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice. ¹⁹He shall redeem my soul in peace from them that draw near to me: for among many they were with me. ²⁰God shall hear, and the Eternal shall humble them. For there is no change with them, and they have not feared God: ²¹he hath stretched forth his hand to repay. They have defiled his covenant, ²²they are divided by the wrath Of his countenance, and his heart hath drawn near. His words are smoother than oil, and the same are darts. ²³Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever. ²⁴But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee, O Lord.

Chapter 55

¹Unto the end, for a people that is removed at a distance from the sanctuary for David, for an inscription of a title (or pillar ) when the Philistines held him in Geth. ²Have mercy on me, O God, for man hath trodden me under foot; all the day long he hath afflicted me fighting against me. ³My enemies have trodden on me all the day long; for they are many that make war against me. ⁴From the height of the day I shall fear: but I will trust in thee. ⁵In God I will praise my words, in God I have put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do against me. ⁶All the day long they detested my words: all their thoughts were against me unto evil. ⁷They will dwell and hide themselves: they will watch my heel. As they have waited for my soul, ⁸for nothing shalt thou save them: in thy anger thou shalt break the people in pieces, O God, ⁹I have declared to thee my life: thou hast set my tears in thy sight, As also in thy promise. ¹⁰Then shall my enemies be turned back. In what day soever I shall call upon thee, behold I know thou art my God. ¹¹In God will I praise the word, in the Lord will I praise his speech. In God have I hoped, I will not fear what man can do to me. ¹²In me, O God, are vows to thee, which I will pay, praises to thee: ¹³Because thou hast delivered my soul from death, my feet from falling: that I may please in the sight of God, in the light of the living.

Chapter 56

¹Unto the end, destroy not, for David, for an inscription of a title, when he fled from Saul into the cave ²Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me: for my soul trusteth in thee. And in the shadow of thy wings will I hope, until iniquity pass away. ³I will cry to God the most High; to God who hath done good to me. ⁴He hath sent from heaven and delivered me: he hath made them a reproach that trod upon me. God hath sent his mercy and his truth, ⁵and he hath delivered my soul from the midst of the young lions. I slept troubled. The sons of men, whose teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. ⁶Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory above all the earth. ⁷They prepared a snare for my feet; and they bowed down my soul. They dug a pit before my face, and they are fallen into it. ⁸My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready: I will Sing, and rehearse a psalm. ⁹Arise, O my glory, arise psaltery and harp: I will arise early. ¹⁰I will give praise to thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing a psalm to thee among the nations. ¹¹For thy mercy is magnified even to the heavens: and thy truth unto the clouds. ¹²Be thou exalted, O God, above the l heavens: and thy glory above all the earth.

Chapter 57

¹Unto the end, destroy not, for David, for an inscription of a title. ²If in very deed you speak justice: judge right things, ye sons of men. ³For in your heart you work iniquity: your hands forge injustice in the earth. ⁴The wicked are alienated from the womb; they have gone astray from the womb: they have spoken false things. ⁵Their madness is according to the likeness of a serpent: like the deaf asp that stoppeth her ears: ⁶Which will not hear the voice of the charmers; nor of the wizard that charmeth wisely. ⁷God shall break in pieces their teeth in their mouth: the Lord shall break the grinders of the lions. ⁸They shall come to nothing, like water running down; he hath bent his bow till they be weakened. ⁹Like wax that melteth they shall be taken away: fire hath fallen on them, and they shall not see the sun. ¹⁰Before your thorns could know the brier; he swalloweth them up, as alive, in his wrath. ¹¹The just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge: he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner. ¹²And man shall say: If indeed there be fruit to the just: there is indeed a God that judgeth them on the earth.

Chapter 58

¹Unto the end, destroy not, for David for an inscription of It title, when Saul sent and watched his house to kill him. ²Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; and defend me from them that rise up against me. ³Deliver me from them that work iniquity, and save me from bloody men. ⁴For behold they have caught my soul: the mighty have rushed in upon me: ⁵Neither is it my iniquity, nor my sin, O Lord: without iniquity have I run, and directed my steps. ⁶Rise up thou to meet me, and behold: even thou, O Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel. Attend to visit all the nations: have no mercy on all them that work iniquity. ⁷They shall return at evening, and shall suffer hunger like dogs: and shall go round about the city. ⁸Behold they shall speak with their mouth, and a sword is in their lips: for who, say they, hath heard us ? ⁹But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them: thou shalt bring all the nations to nothing. ¹⁰I will keep my strength to thee: for thou art my protector: ¹¹my God, his mercy shall prevent me. ¹²God shall let me see over my enemies: slay them not, lest at any time my people forget. Scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord, my protector: ¹³For the sin of their mouth, and the word of their lips: and let them be taken in their pride. And for their cursing and lying they shall be talked of, ¹⁴when they are consumed: when they are consumed by thy wrath, and they shall be no more. And they shall know that God will rule Jacob, and all the ends of the earth. ¹⁵They shall return at evening and shall suffer hunger like dogs: and shall go round about the city. ¹⁶They shall be scattered abroad to eat, and shall murmur if they be not filled. ¹⁷But I will sing thy strength: and will extol thy mercy in the morning. For thou art become my support, and my refuge, in the day of my trouble. ¹⁸Unto thee, O my helper, will I sing, for thou art God my defence: my God my mercy.

Chapter 59

¹Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the inscription of a title, to David himself, for doctrine, ²when he set fire to Mesopotamia of Syria and Sobal and Joab returned and slew of Edom, in the vale of the saltpits, twelve thousand men. ³O God, thou hast cast us off, and hast destroyed us; thou hast been angry, and hast had mercy on us. ⁴Thou hast moved the earth, and hast troubled it: heal thou the breaches thereof, for it has been moved. ⁵Thou hast shewn thy people hard things; thou hast made us drink wine of sorrow. ⁶Thou hast given a warning to them that fear thee: that they may flee from before the bow: That thy beloved may be delivered. ⁷Save me with thy right hand, and hear me. ⁸God hath spoken in his holy place: I will rejoice, and I will divide Sichem; and will mete out the vale of tabernacles. ⁹Galaad is mine, and Manasses is mine: and Ephraim is the strength of my head. Juda is my king: ¹⁰Moab is the pot of my hope. Into Edom will I stretch out my shoe: to me the foreigners are made subject. ¹¹Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom? ¹²Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go out with our armies? ¹³Give us help from trouble: for vain is the salvation of man. ¹⁴Through God we shall do mightily: and he shall bring to nothing them that afflict us.

Chapter 60

¹Unto the end, in hymns, for David. ²Hear, O God, my supplication: be attentive to my prayer, ³To thee have I cried from the ends of the earth: when my heart was in anguish, thou hast exalted me on a rock. Thou hast conducted me; ⁴for thou hast been my hope; a tower of strength against the face of the enemy. ⁵In thy tabernacle I shall dwell for ever: I shall be protected under the covert of thy wings. ⁶For thou, my God, hast heard my prayer: thou hast given an inheritance to them that fear thy name. ⁷Thou wilt add days to the days of the king: his years even to generation and generation. ⁸He abideth for ever in the sight of God: his mercy and truth who shall search ? ⁹So will I sing a psalm to thy name for ever and ever: that I may pay my vows from day to day.

Chapter 61

¹Unto the end, for Idithun, a psalm of David. ²Shall not my soul be subject to God? for from him is my salvation. ³For he is my God and my saviour: he is my protector, I shall be moved no more. ⁴How long do you rush in upon a man? you all kill, as if you were thrusting down a leaning wall, and a tottering fence. ⁵But they have thought to cast away my price; I ran in thirst: they blessed with their mouth, but cursed with their heart. ⁶But be thou, O my soul, subject to God: for from him is my patience. ⁷For he is my God and my saviour: he is my helper, I shall not be moved. ⁸In God is my salvation and my glory: he is the God of my help, and my hope is in God. ⁹Trust in him, all ye congregation of people: pour out your hearts before him. God is our helper for ever. ¹⁰But vain are the sons of men, the sons of men are liars in the balances: that by vanity they may together deceive. ¹¹Trust not in iniquity, and cover not robberies: if riches abound, set not your heart upon them. ¹²God hath spoken once, these two things have I heard, that power belongeth to God, ¹³and mercy to thee, O Lord; for thou wilt render to every man according to his works.

Chapter 62

¹A psalm of David when he was in the desert of Edom. ²O God, my God, to thee do I watch at break of day. For thee my soul hath thirsted; for thee my flesh, O how many ways! ³In a desert land, and where there is no way, and no water: so in the sanctuary have I come before thee, to see thy power and thy glory. ⁴For thy mercy is better than lives: thee my lips shall praise. ⁵Thus will I bless thee all my life long: and in thy name I will lift up my hands. ⁶Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness: and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. ⁷If I have remembered thee upon my bed, I will meditate on thee in the morning: ⁸because thou hast been my helper. And I will rejoice under the covert of thy wings: ⁹my soul hath stuck close to thee: thy right hand hath received me. ¹⁰But they have sought my soul in vain, they shall go into the lower parts of the earth: ¹¹They shall be delivered into the hands of the sword, they shall be the portions of foxes. ¹²But the king shall rejoice in God, all they shall be praised that swear by him: because the mouth is stopped of them that speak wicked things.

Chapter 63

¹Unto the end, a psalm for David. ²Hear, O God, my prayer, when I make supplication to thee : deliver my soul from the fear of the enemy. ³Thou hast protected me from the assembly of the malignant; from the multitude of the workers of iniquity. ⁴For they have whetted their tongues like a sword; they have bent their bow a bitter thing, ⁵to shoot in secret the undefiled. ⁶They will shoot at him on a sudden, and will not fear: they are resolute in wickedness. They have talked of hiding snares; they have said: Who shall see them? ⁷They have searched after iniquities: they have failed in their search. Man shall come to a deep heart: ⁸and God shall be exalted. The arrows of children are their wounds: ⁹and their tongues against them are made weak. All that saw them were troubled; ¹⁰and every man was afraid. And they declared the works of God: and understood his doings. ¹¹The just shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall hope in him: and all the upright in heart shall be praised.

Chapter 64

¹To the end, a psalm of David. The canticle of Jeremias and Ezechiel to the people of the captivity, when they began to go out. ²A Hymn, O God, becometh thee in Sion: and a vow shall be paid to thee in Jerusalem. ³O hear my prayer: all flesh shall come to thee. ⁴The words of the wicked have prevailed over us: and thou wilt pardon our transgressions. ⁵Blessed is he whom thou hast chosen and taken to thee: he shall dwell in thy courts. We shall be filled with the good things of thy house; holy is thy temple, ⁶wonderful in justice. Hear us, O God our saviour, who art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and in the sea afar off. ⁷Thou who preparest the mountains by thy strength, being girded with power: ⁸who troublest the depth of the sea, the noise of its waves. The Gentiles shall be troubled, ⁹and they that dwell in the uttermost borders shall be afraid at thy signs: thou shalt make the outgoings of the morning and of the evening to be joyful. ¹⁰Thou hast visited the earth, and hast plentifully watered it; thou hast many ways enriched it. The river of God is filled with water, thou hast prepared their food: for so is its preparation. ¹¹Fill up plentifully the streams thereof, multiply its fruits; it shall spring up and rejoice in its showers. ¹²Thou shalt bless the crown of the year of thy goodness: and thy fields shall be filled with plenty. ¹³The beautiful places of the wilderness shall grow fat: and the hills shall be girded about with joy, ¹⁴The rams of the flock are clothed, and the vales shall abound with corn: they shall shout, yea they shall sing a hymn.

Chapter 65

¹Unto the end, a canticle of a psalm of the resurrection. Shout with joy to God, all the earth, ²sing ye a psalm to his name; give glory to his praise. ³Say unto God, How terrible are thy works, O Lord! in the multitude of thy strength thy enemies shall lie to thee. ⁴Let all the earth adore thee, and sing to thee: let it sing a psalm to thy name. ⁵Come and see the works of God; who is terrible in his counsels over the sons of men. ⁶Who turneth the sea into dry land, in the river they shall pass on foot: there shall we rejoice in him. ⁷Who by his power ruleth for ever: his eyes behold the nations; let not them that provoke him he exalted in themselves. ⁸O bless our God, ye Gentiles: and make the voice of his praise to be heard. ⁹Who hath set my soul to live: and hath not suffered my feet to be moved: ¹⁰For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us by fire, as silver is tried. ¹¹Thou hast brought us into a net, thou hast laid afflictions on our back: ¹²thou hast set men over our heads. We have passed through tire and water, and thou hast brought us out into a refreshment. ¹³I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows, ¹⁴which my lips have uttered, And my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble. ¹⁵I will offer up to thee holocausts full of marrow, with burnt offerings of rams: I will offer to thee bullocks with goats. ¹⁶Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what great things he hath done for my soul. ¹⁷I cried to him with my mouth: and I extolled him with my tongue. ¹⁸If I have looked at iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. ¹⁹Therefore hath God heard me, and hath attended to the voice of my supplication. ²⁰Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

Chapter 66

¹Unto the end, in, hymns, a psalm of a canticle for David. ²May God have mercy on us, and bless us: may he cause the light of his countenance to shine upon us, and may he have mercy on us. ³That we may know thy way upon earth: thy salvation in all nations. ⁴Let people confess to thee, O God: let all people give praise to thee. ⁵Let the nations be glad and rejoice: for thou judgest the people with justice, and directest the nations upon earth. ⁶Let the people, O God, confess to thee: let all the people give praise to thee: ⁷the earth hath yielded her fruit. May God, our God bless us, ⁸may God bless us: and all the ends of the earth fear him.

Chapter 67

¹Unto the end, a psalm of a canticle for David himself. ²Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee from before his face. ³As smoke vanisheth, so let them vanish away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. ⁴And let the just feast, and rejoice before God: and be delighted with gladness. ⁵Sing ye to God, sing a psalm to his name, make a way for him who ascendeth upon the west: the Lord is his name. Rejoice ye before him: but the wicked shall be troubled at his presence, ⁶who is the father of orphans, and the judge of widows. God in his holy place: ⁷God who maketh men of one manner to dwell in a house: Who bringeth out them that were bound in strength; in like manner them that provoke, that dwell in sepulchres. ⁸O God, when thou didst go forth in the sight of thy people, when thou didst pass through the desert: ⁹The earth was moved, and the heavens dropped at the presence of the God of Sina, at the presence of the God of Israel. ¹⁰Thou shalt set aside for thy inheritance a free rain, O God: and it was weakened, but thou hast made it perfect. ¹¹In it shall thy animals dwell; in thy sweetness, O God, thou hast provided for the poor. ¹²The Lord shall give the word to them that preach good tidings with great power. ¹³The king of powers is of the beloved, of the beloved; and the beauty of the house shall divide spoils. ¹⁴If you sleep among the midst of lots, you shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and the hinder parts of her back with the paleness of gold. ¹⁵When he that is in heaven appointeth kings over her, they shall be whited with snow in Selmon. ¹⁶The mountain of God is a fat mountain. A curdled mountain, a fat mountain. ¹⁷Why suspect, ye curdled mountains? A mountain in which God is well pleased to dwell: for there the Lord shall dwell unto the end. ¹⁸The chariot of God is attended by ten thousands; thousands of them that rejoice: the Lord is among them in Sina, in the holy place. ¹⁹Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive; thou hast received gifts in men. Yea for those also that do not believe, the dwelling of the Lord God. ²⁰Blessed be the Lord day by day: the God of our salvation will make our journey prosperous to us. ²¹Our God is the God of salvation: and of the Lord, of the Lord are the issues from death. ²²But God shall break the heads of his enemies: the hairy crown of them that walk on in their sins. ²³The Lord said: I will turn them from Basan, I will turn them into the depth of the sea: ²⁴That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thy enemies; the tongue of thy dogs be red with the same. ²⁵They have seen thy goings, O God, the goings of my God: of my king who is in his sanctuary. ²⁶Princes went before joined with singers, in the midst of young damsels playing on timbrels. ²⁷In the churches bless ye God the Lord, from the fountains of Israel. ²⁸There is Benjamin a youth, in ecstasy of mind. The princes of Juda are their leaders: the princes of Zabulon, the princes of Nephthali. ²⁹Command thy strength, O God: confirm, O God, what thou hast wrought in us. ³⁰From thy temple in Jerusalem, kings shall offer presents to thee. ³¹Rebuke the wild beasts of the reeds, the congregation of bulls with the kine of the people; who seek to exclude them who are tried with silver. Scatter thou the nations that delight in wars: ³²ambassadors shall come out of Egypt: Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to God. ³³Sing to God, ye kingdoms of the earth: sing ye to the Lord: Sing ye to God, ³⁴who mounteth above the heaven of heavens, to the east. Behold he will give to his voice the voice of power: ³⁵give ye glory to God for Israel, his magnificence, and his power is in the clouds. ³⁶God is wonderful in his saints: the God of Israel is he who will give power and strength to his people. Blessed be God.

Chapter 68

¹Unto the end, for them that shall be changed; for David. ²SAVE me, O God: for the waters are come in even unto my soul. ³I stick fast in the mire of the deep: and there is no sure standing. I am come into the depth of the sea: and a tempest hath overwhelmed me. ⁴I have laboured with crying; my jaws are become hoarse: my eyes have failed, whilst I hope in my God. ⁵They are multiplied above the hairs of my head, who hate me without cause. My enemies are grown strong who have wrongfully persecuted me: then did I pay that which I took not away. ⁶O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my offences are not hidden from thee: ⁷Let not them be ashamed for me, who look for thee, O Lord, the Lord of hosts. Let them not be confounded on my account, who seek thee, O God of Israel. ⁸Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face. ⁹I am become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to the sons of my mother. ¹⁰For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up: and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me. ¹¹And I covered my soul in fasting: and it was made a reproach to me. ¹²And I made haircloth my garment: and I became a byword to them. ¹³They that sat in the gate spoke against me: and they that drank wine made me their song. ¹⁴But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Lord; for the time of thy good pleasure, O God. In the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation. ¹⁵Draw me out of the mire, that I may not stick fast: deliver me from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. ¹⁶Let not the tempest of water drown me, nor the deep swallow me up: and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. ¹⁷Hear me, O Lord, for thy mercy is kind; look upon me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. ¹⁸And turn not away thy face from thy servant: for I am in trouble, hear me speedily. ¹⁹Attend to my soul, and deliver it: save me because of my enemies. ²⁰Thou knowest my reproach, and my confusion, and my shame. ²¹In thy sight are all they that afflict me; my heart hath expected reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort me, and I found none. ²²And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. ²³Let their table become as a snare before them, and a recompense, and a stumblingblock. ²⁴Let their eyes be darkened that they see not; and their back bend thou down always. ²⁵Pour out thy indignation upon them: and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. ²⁶Let their habitation be made desolate: and let there be none to dwell in their tabernacles. ²⁷Because they have persecuted him whom thou hast smitten; and they have added to the grief of my wounds. ²⁸Add thou iniquity upon their iniquity: and let them not come into thy justice. ²⁹Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; and with the just let them not be written. ³⁰But I am poor and sorrowful: thy salvation, O God, hath set me up. ³¹I will praise the name of God with a canticle: and I will magnify him with praise. ³²And it shall please God better than a young calf, that bringeth forth horns and hoofs. ³³Let the poor see and rejoice: seek ye God, and your soul shall live. ³⁴For the Lord hath heard the poor: and hath not despised his prisoners. ³⁵Let the heavens and the earth praise him; the sea, and every thing that creepeth therein. ³⁶For God will save Sion, and the cities of Juda shall be built up. And they shall dwell there, and acquire it by inheritance. ³⁷And the seed of his servants shall possess it; and they that love his name shall dwell therein.

Chapter 69

¹Unto the end, a psalm for David, to bring to remembrance that the Lord saved him. ²O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me. ³Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek my soul: ⁴Let them be turned backward, and blush for shame that desire evils to me: Let them be presently turned away blushing for shame that say to me: 'T is well, 't is well. ⁵Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee; and let such as love thy salvation say always: The Lord be magnified. ⁶But I am needy and poor; O God, help me. Thou art my helper and my deliverer: O Lord, make no delay.

Chapter 70

¹A psalm for David. Of the sons of Jonadab, and the former captives. In thee, O Lord, I have hoped, let me never be put to confusion: ²deliver me in thy justice, and rescue me. Incline thy ear unto me, and save me. ³Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a place of strength: that thou mayst make me safe. For thou art my firmament and my refuge. ⁴Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the sinner, and out of the hand of the transgressor of the law and of the unjust. ⁵For thou art my patience, O Lord: my hope, O Lord, from my youth; ⁶By thee have I been confirmed from the womb: from my mother's womb thou art my protector. Of thee shall I continually sing: ⁷I run become unto many as a wonder, but thou art a strong helper. ⁸Let my mouth be filled with praise, that I may sing thy glory; thy greatness all the day long. ⁹Cast me not off in the time of old age: when my strength shall fail, do not thou forsake me. ¹⁰For my enemies have spoken against me; and they that watched my soul have consulted together, ¹¹Saying: God hath forsaken him: pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him. ¹²O God, be not thou far from me: O my God, make haste to my help. ¹³Let them be confounded and come to nothing that detract my soul; let them be covered with confusion and shame that seek my hurt. ¹⁴But I will always hope; and will add to all thy praise. ¹⁵My mouth shall shew forth thy justice; thy salvation all the day long. Because I have not knows learning, ¹⁶I will enter into the powers of the Lord: O Lord, I will be mindful of thy justice alone. ¹⁷Thou hast taught me, O God, from my youth: and till now I will declare thy wonderful works. ¹⁸And unto old age and grey hairs: O God, forsake me not, Until I shew forth thy arm to all the generation that is to come: Thy power, ¹⁹and thy justice, O God, even to the highest great things thou hast done: O God, who is like to thee? ²⁰How great troubles hast thou shewn me, many and grievous: and turning thou hast brought me to life, and hast brought me back again from the depths of the earth : ²¹Thou hast multiplied thy magnificence; and turning to me thou hast comforted me. ²²For I will also confess to thee thy truth with the instruments of psaltery: O God, I will sing to thee with the harp, thou holy one of Israel. ²³My lips shall greatly rejoice, when I shall sing to thee; and my soul which thou hast redeemed. ²⁴Yea and my tongue shall meditate on thy justice all the day; when they shall be confounded and put to shame that seek evils to me.

Chapter 71

¹A psalm on Solomon. ²Give to the king thy judgment, O God: and to the king's son thy justice: To judge thy people with justice, and thy poor with judgment. ³Let the mountains receive peace for the people: and the hills justice. ⁴He shall judge the poor of the people, and he shall save the children of the poor: and he shall humble the oppressor. ⁵And he shall continue with the sun, and before the moon, throughout all generations. ⁶He shall come down like rain upon the fleece; and as showers falling gently upon the earth. ⁷In his days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken sway. ⁸And he shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. ⁹Before him the Ethiopians shall fall down: and his enemies shall lick the ground. ¹⁰The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents: the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts: ¹¹And all kings of the earth shall adore him: all nations shall serve him. ¹²For he shall deliver the poor from the mighty: and the needy that had no helper. ¹³He shall spare the poor and needy: and he shall save the souls of the poor. ¹⁴He shall redeem their souls from usuries and iniquity: and their names shall be honourable in his sight. ¹⁵And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Arabia, for him they shall always adore: they shall bless him all the day. ¹⁶And there shall be a firmament on the earth on the tops of mountains, above Libanus shall the fruit thereof be exalted : and they of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth. ¹⁷Let his name be blessed for evermore : his name continueth before the sun. And in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all nations shall magnify him. ¹⁸Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone doth wonderful things. ¹⁹And blessed be the name of his majesty for ever: and the whole earth shall be filled with his majesty. So be it. So be it. ²⁰The praises of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

Chapter 72

¹A psalm for Asaph. How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart! ²But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped. ³Because I had a zeal on occasion of the wicked, seeing the prosperity of sinners. ⁴For there is no regard to their death, nor is there strength in their stripes. ⁵They are not in the labour of men: neither shall they be scourged like other men. B Therefore pride hath held them fast: they are covered with their iniquity and their wickedness. ⁷Their iniquity hath come forth, as it were from fatness: they have passed into the affection of the heart. ⁸They have thought and spoken wickedness: they have spoken iniquity on high. ⁹They have set their mouth against heaven: and their tongue hath passed through the earth. ¹⁰Therefore will my people return here and full days shall be found in them. ¹¹And they said: How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? ¹²Behold these are sinners; and yet abounding in the world they have obtained riches. ¹³And I said: Then have I in vain justified my heart, and washed my hands among the innocent. ¹⁴And I have been scourged all the day; and my chastisement hath been in the mornings. ¹⁵If I said: I will speak thus; behold I should condemn the generation of thy children. ¹⁶I studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my sight: ¹⁷Until I go into the sanctuary of God, and understand concerning their last ends. ¹⁸But indeed for deceits thou hast put it to them: when they were lifted up thou hast cast them down. ¹⁹How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly ceased to be: they have perished by reason of their iniquity. ²⁰As the dream of them that awake, O Lord; so in thy city thou shalt bring their image to nothing. ²¹For my heart hath been inflamed, and my reins have been changed: ²²and I am brought to nothing, and I knew not. ²³I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee. ²⁴Thou hast held me by my right hand; and by thy will thou hast conducted me, and with thy glory thou hast received me. ²⁵For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth? ²⁶For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever. ²⁷For behold they that go far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that are disloyal to thee. ²⁸But it is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God: That I may declare all thy praises, in the gates of the daughter of Sion.

Chapter 73

¹Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture? ²Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt. ³Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. ⁴And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs, ⁵and they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees, ⁶they have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down. ⁷They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth. ⁸They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land. ⁹Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more. ¹⁰How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever? ¹¹Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever ? ¹²But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth. ¹³Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters. ¹⁴Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians. ¹⁵Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers. ¹⁶Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun. ¹⁷Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee. ¹⁸Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name. ¹⁹Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor. ²⁰Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity. ²¹Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name. ²²Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day. ²³Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.

Chapter 74

¹Unto the end, corrupt not, a psalm of a canticle for Asaph. ²We will praise thee, O God: we will praise, and we will call upon thy name. We will relate thy wondrous works: ³when I shall take a time, I will judge justices. ⁴The earth is melted, and all that dwell therein: I have established the pillars thereof. ⁵I said to the wicked: Do not act wickedly: and to the sinners: Lift not up the horn. ⁶Lift not up your horn on high: speak not iniquity against God. ⁷For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert hills: ⁸for God is the judge. One he putteth down, and another he lifteth up: ⁹for in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of strong wine full of mixture. And he hath poured it out from this to that: but the dregs thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink. ¹⁰But I will declare for ever: I will sing to the God of Jacob. ¹¹And I will break all the horns of sinners: but the horns of the just shall be exalted.

Chapter 75

¹Unto the end, in praises, a psalm for Asaph: a canticle to the Assyrians. ²In Judea God is known: his name is great in Israel. ³And his place is in peace: and his abode in Sion: ⁴There hath he broken the powers of bows, the shield, the sword, and the battie. ⁵Thou enlightenest wonderfully from the everlasting hills. ⁶All the foolish of heart were troubled. They have slept their sleep; and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands. ⁷At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, they have all slumbered that mounted on horseback. ⁸Thou art terrible, and who shall resist thee? from that time thy wrath. ⁹Thou hast caused judgment to be heard from heaven: the earth trembled and was still, ¹⁰When God arose in judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. ¹¹For the thought of man shall give praise to thee: and the remainders of the thought shall keep holiday to thee. ¹²Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God: all you that are round about him bring presents. To him that is terrible, ¹³even to him who taketh away the spirit of princes: to the terrible with the kings of the earth.

Chapter 76

¹Unto the end, for Idithun, a psalm of Asaph. ²I cried to the Lord with my voice; to God with my voice, and he gave ear to me. ³In the day of my trouble I sought God, with my hands lifted up to him in the night, and I was not deceived. My soul refused to be comforted: ⁴I remembered God, and was delighted, and was exercised, and my spirit swooned away. ⁵My eyes prevented the watches: I was troubled, and I spoke not. ⁶I thought upon the days of old: and I had in my mind the eternal years. ⁷And I meditated in the night with my own heart: and I was exercised and I swept my spirit. ⁸Will God then cast off for ever? or will he never be more favourable again? ⁹Or will he cut off his mercy for ever, from generation to generation? ¹⁰Or will God forget to shew mercy? or will he in his anger shut up his mercies? ¹¹And I said, Now have I begun: this is the change of the right hand of the most High. ¹²I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy wonders from the beginning. ¹³And I will meditate on all thy works: and will be employed in thy inventions. ¹⁴Thy way, O God, is in the holy place: who is the great God like our God? ¹⁵Thou art the God that dost wonders. Thou hast made thy power known among the nations: ¹⁶with thy arm thou hast redeemed thy people the children of Jacob and of Joseph. ¹⁷The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee: and they were afraid, and the depths were troubled. ¹⁸Great was the noise of the waters: the clouds sent out a sound. For thy arrows pass: ¹⁹the voice of thy thunder in a wheel. Thy lightnings enlightened the world: the earth shook and trembled. ²⁰Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in many waters: and thy footsteps shall not be known. ²¹Thou hast conducted thy people like sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron

Chapter 77

¹Understanding for Asaph. Attend, 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 propositions from the beginning. ³How great things have we heard and known, and our fathers have told us. ⁴They have not been hidden from their children, in another generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his powers, and his wonders which he hath done. ⁵And he set up a testimony in Jacob: and made a law in Israel. How great things he commanded our fathers, that they should make the same known to their children: ⁶that another generation might know them. The children that should be born and should rise up, and declare them to their children. ⁷That they may put their hope in God and may not forget the works of God: and may seek his commandments. ⁸That they may not become like their fathers, a perverse end exasperating generation. A generation that set not their heart aright: and whose spirit was not faithful to God. ⁹The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot with the bow: they have turned back in the day of battle. ¹⁰They kept not the covenant of God: and in his law they would not walk. ¹¹And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders that he had shewn them. ¹²Wonderful things did he do in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis. ¹³He divided the sea and brought them through: and he made the waters to stand as in a vessel. ¹⁴And he conducted them with a cloud by day: and all the night with a light of ¹⁵He struck the rock in the wilderness: and gave them to drink, as out of the great deep. ¹⁶He brought forth water out of the rock: and made streams run down as rivers. ¹⁷And they added yet more sin against him: they provoked the most High to wrath in the place without water. ¹⁸And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking meat for their desires. ¹⁹And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? ²⁰Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his people? ²¹Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry: and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel. ²²Because they believed not in God: and trusted not in his salvation. ²³And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of heaven. ²⁴And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the bread of heaven. ²⁵Man ate the bread of angels: he sent them provisions in abundance. ²⁶He removed the south wind from heaven: and by his power brought in the southwest wind. ²⁷And he rained upon them flesh as dust: and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea. ²⁸And they fell in the midst of their camp, round about their pavilions. ²⁹So they did eat, and were filled exceedingly, and he gave them their desire: ³⁰they were not defrauded of that which they craved. As yet their meat was in their mouth: ³¹and the wrath of God came upon them. And he slew the fat ones amongst them, and brought down the chosen men of Israel. ³²In all these things they sinned still: and they believed not for his wondrous works. ³³And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years in haste. ³⁴When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned, and came to him early in the morning. ³⁵And they remembered that God was their helper: and the most high God their redeemer. ³⁶And they loved him with their mouth: and with their tongue they lied unto him: ³⁷But their heart was not right with him: nor were they counted faithful in his covenant. ³⁸But he is merciful, and will forgive their sins: and will not destroy them. And many a time did he turn away his anger: and did not kindle all his wrath. ³⁹And he remembered that they are flesh: a wind that goeth and returneth not. ⁴⁰How often did they provoke him in the desert: and move him to wrath in the place without water? ⁴¹And they turned back and tempted God: and grieved the holy one of Israel. ⁴²They remembered not his hand, in the day that he redeemed them from the hand of him that afflicted them: ⁴³How he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanis. ⁴⁴And he turned their rivers into blood, and their showers that they might, not drink. ⁴⁵He sent amongst them divers sores of flies, which devoured them: and frogs which destroyed them. ⁴⁶And he gave up their fruits to the blast, and their labours to the locust. ⁴⁷And he destroyed their vineyards with hail, and their mulberry trees with hoarfrost. ⁴⁸And he gave up their cattle to the hail, and their stock to the fire. ⁴⁹And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignation: indignation and wrath and trouble, which he sent by evil angels. ⁵⁰He made a way for a path to his anger: he spared not their souls from death, and their cattle he shut up in death. ⁵¹And he killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: the firstfruits of all their labour in the tabernacles of Cham. ⁵²And he took away his own people as sheep: and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. ⁵³And he brought them out in hope, and they feared not: band the sea overwhelmed their enemies. ⁵⁴And he brought them into the mountain of his sanctuary: the mountain which his right hand had purchased. And he cast out the Gentiles before them: and by lot divided to them their land by a line of distribution. ⁵⁵And he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tabernacles. ⁵⁶Yet they tempted, and provoked the most high God: and they kept not his testimonies. ⁵⁷And they turned away, and kept not the covenant: even like their fathers they were turned aside as a crooked bow. ⁵⁸They provoked him to anger on their hills: and moved him to jealousy with their graven things. ⁵⁹God heard, and despised them, and he reduced Israel exceedingly as it were to nothing. ⁶⁰And he put away the tabernacle of Silo, his tabernacle where he dwelt among men. ⁶¹And he delivered their strength into captivity: and their beauty into the hands of the enemy. ⁶²And he shut up his people under the sword: and he despised his inheritance. ⁶³Fire consumed their young men: and their maidens were not lamented. ⁶⁴Their priests fell by the sword: and their widows did not mourn. ⁶⁵And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine. ⁶⁶And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts: he put them to an everlasting reproach. ⁶⁷And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph: and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: ⁶⁸But he chose the tribe of Juda, mount Sion which he loved. ⁶⁹And he built his sanctuary as of unicorns, in the land which he founded for ever. ⁷⁰And he chose his servant David, and took him from the hocks of sheep: he brought him from following the ewes great with young, ⁷¹To feed Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance. ⁷²And he fed them in the innocence of his heart: and conducted them by the skilfulness of his hands.

Chapter 78

¹A psalm for Asaph. O God, the heathens are come into thy inheritance, they have defiled thy holy temple: they have made Jerusalem as a place to keep fruit. ²They have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the fowls of the air: the flesh of thy saints for the beasts of the earth. ³They have poured out their blood as water, round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them. ⁴We are become a reproach to our neighbours: a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. ⁵How long, O Lord, wilt thou be angry for ever: shall thy zeal be kindled like a fire? ⁶Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that have not known thee: and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name. ⁷Because they have devoured Jacob; and have laid waste his place. ⁸Remember not our former iniquities: let thy mercies speedily prevent us, for we are become exceeding poor. ⁹Help us, O God, our saviour: and for the glory of thy name, O Lord, deliver us: and forgive us our sins for thy name's sake: ¹⁰Lest they should say among the Gentiles: Where is their God? And let him be made known among the nations before our eyes, By the revenging the blood of thy servants, which hath been shed: ¹¹let the sighing of the prisoners come in before thee. According to the greatness of thy arm, take possession of the children of them that have been put to death. ¹²And render to our neighbours sevenfold in their bosom: the reproach wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord. ¹³But we thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture, will give thanks to thee for ever. We will shew forth thy praise, unto generation and generation.

Chapter 79

¹Unto the end, for them that shall he changed, a testimony for Asaph, a psalm. ²Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Thou that sittest upon the cherubims, shine forth ³before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses. Stir up thy might, and come to save us. ⁴Convert us, O God: and shew us thy face, and we shall be saved. ⁵O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy servant? ⁶How long wilt thou feed us with the bread of tears: and give us for our drink tears in measure? ⁷Thou hast made us to be a contradiction to our neighbours: and our enemies have scoffed at us. ⁸O God of hosts, convert us: and shew thy face, and we shall be saved. ⁹Thou hast brought a vineyard out of Egypt: thou hast cast cut the Gentiles and planted it. ¹⁰Thou wast the guide of its journey in its sight: thou plantedst the roots thereof, and it filled the land. ¹¹The shadow of it covered the hills: and the branches thereof the cedars of God. ¹²It stretched forth its branches unto the sea, and its boughs unto the river. ¹³Why hast thou broken down the hedge thereof, so that all they who pass by the way do pluck it? ¹⁴The boar out of the wood hath laid it waste: and a singular wild beast hath devoured it. ¹⁵Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vineyard: ¹⁶And perfect the same which thy right hand hath planted: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself. ¹⁷Things set on fire and dug down shall perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. ¹⁸Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself. ¹⁹And we depart not from thee, thou shalt quicken us: and we will call upon thy name. ²⁰O Lord God of hosts, convert us: and shew thy face, and we shall be saved.

Chapter 80

¹Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for Asaph himself. ²Rejoice to God our helper: sing aloud to the God of Jacob. ³Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel: the pleasant psaltery with the harp. ⁴Blow up the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your solemnity. ⁵For it is a commandment in Israel, and a judgment to the God of Jacob. ⁶He ordained it for a testimony in Joseph, when he came out of the land of Egypt: he heard a tongue which he knew not. ⁷He removed his back from the burdens: his hands had served in baskets. ⁸Thou calledst upon me in affliction, and I delivered thee: I heard thee in the secret place of tempest: I proved thee at the waters of contradiction. ⁹Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken to me, ¹⁰there shall be no new god in thee: neither shalt thou adore a strange god. ¹¹For I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. ¹²But my people heard not my voice: and Israel hearkened not to me. ¹³So I let them go according to the desires of their heart: they shall walk in their own inventions. ¹⁴If my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways: ¹⁵I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on them that troubled them. ¹⁶The enemies of the Lord have lied to him: and their time shall be for ever. ¹⁷And he fed them with the fat of wheat, and filled them with honey out of the rock.

Chapter 81

¹A psalm for Asaph. God hath stood in the congregation of gods: and being in the midst of them he judgeth gods. ²How long will you judge unjustly: and accept the persons of the wicked? ³Judge for the needy and fatherless: do justice to the humble and the poor. ⁴Rescue the poor; and deliver the needy out of the hand of the sinner. ⁵They have not known nor understood: they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth shall be moved. ⁶I have said: You are gods and all of you the sons of the most High. ⁷But you like men shall die: and shall fall like one of the princes. ⁸Arise, O God, judge thou the earth: for thou shalt inherit among all the nations.

Chapter 82

¹A canticle of a psalm for Asaph. ²O God, who shall be like to thee? hold not thy peace, neither be thou still, O God. ³For lo, thy enemies have made a noise: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. ⁴They have taken a malicious counsel against thy people, and have consulted against thy saints. ⁵They have said: Come and let us destroy them, so that they be not a nation: and let the name of Israel be remembered no more. ⁶For they have contrived with one consent: they have made a covenant together against thee, ⁷the tabernacles of the Edomites, and the Ismahelites: Moab, and the Agarens, ⁸Gebal, and Ammon and Amalec: the Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tyre. ⁹Yea, and the Assyrian also is joined with them: they are come to the aid of the sons of Lot. ¹⁰Do to them as thou didst to Madian and to Sisara: as to Jabin at the brook of Cisson. ¹¹Who perished at Endor: and became as dung for the earth. ¹²Make their princes like Oreb, and Zeb, and Zebee, and Salmana. All their princes, ¹³who have said: Let us possess the sanctuary of God for an inheritance. ¹⁴O my God, make them like a wheel; and as stubble before the wind. ¹⁵As fire which burneth the wood: and as a flame burning mountains: ¹⁶So shalt thou pursue them with thy tempest: and shalt trouble them in thy wrath. ¹⁷Fill their faces with shame; and they shall seek thy name, O Lord. ¹⁸Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever: and let them be confounded and perish. ¹⁹And let them know that the Lord is thy name: thou alone art the most High over all the earth.

Chapter 83

¹Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for the sons of Core. ²How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of host! ³my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. ⁴For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest for herself where she may lay her young ones: Thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God. ⁵Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord: they shall praise thee for ever and ever. ⁶Blessed is the man whose help is from thee: in his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps, ⁷in the vale of tears, in the place which be hath set. ⁸For the lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall go from virtue to virtue: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion. ⁹O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. ¹⁰Behold, O God our protector: and look on the face of thy Christ. ¹¹For better is one day in thy courts above thousands. I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners. ¹²For God loveth mercy and truth: the Lord will give grace and glory. ¹³He will not deprive of good things them that walk in innocence : O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

Chapter 84

¹Unto the end, for the sons of Core, a psalm. ²Lord, thou hast blessed thy land: thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob. ³Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people: thou hast covered all their sins. ⁴Thou hast mitigated all thy anger: thou best turned away from the wrath of thy indignation. ⁵Convert us, O God our saviour: and turn off thy anger from us. ⁶Wilt thou be angry with us for ever: or wilt thou extend thy wrath from generation to generation? ⁷Thou wilt turn, O God, and bring us to life: and thy people shall rejoice in thee. ⁸Shew us, O Lord, thy mercy; and grant us thy salvation. ⁹I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me: for he will speak peace unto his people: And unto his saints: and unto them that are converted to the heart. ¹⁰Surely his salvation is near to them that fear him: that glory may dwell in our land. ¹¹Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed. ¹²Truth is sprung out of the earth: and justice hath looked down from heaven. ¹³For the Lord will give goodness: and our earth shall yield her fruit. ¹⁴Justice shall walk before him: and shall set his steps in the way.

Chapter 85

¹A prayer for David himself. Incline thy ear, O Lord, and hear me: for I am needy and poor. ²Preserve my soul, for I am holy: save thy servant, O my God, that trusteth in thee. ³Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to thee all the day. ⁴Give joy to the soul of thy servant, for to thee, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul. ⁵For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild: and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee. ⁶Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer: and attend to the voice of my petition. ⁷I have called upon thee in the day of my trouble: because thou hast heard me. ⁸There is none among the gods like unto thee, O Lord: and there is none according to thy works. ⁹All the nations thou hast made shall come and adore before thee, O Lord: and they shall glorify thy name. ¹⁰For thou art great and dost wonderful things: thou art God alone. ¹¹Conduct me, O Lord, in thy way, and I will walk in thy truth: let my heart rejoice that it may fear thy name. ¹²I will praise thee, O Lord my God: with my whole heart, and I will glorify thy name for ever: ¹³For thy mercy is great towards me: and thou hast delivered my soul out of the lower hell. ¹⁴O God, the wicked are risen up against me, and the assembly of the mighty have sought my soul: and they have not set thee before their eyes. ¹⁵And thou, O Lord, art a God of compassion, and merciful, patient, and of much mercy, and true. ¹⁶O look upon me, and have mercy on me: give thy command to thy servant, and save the son of thy handmaid. ¹⁷Shew me a token for good: that they who hate me may see, and be confounded, because thou, O Lord, hast helped me and hast comforted me.

Chapter 86

¹For the sons of Core, a psalm of a canticle. The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains: ²The Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. ³Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God. ⁴I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon knowing me. Behold the foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there. ⁵Shall not Sion say: This man and that man is born in her? and the Highest himself hath founded her. ⁶The Lord shall tell in his writings of peoples and of princes, of them that have been in her. ⁷The dwelling in thee is as it were of all rejoicing.

Chapter 87

¹A canticle of a psalm for the sons of Core: unto the end, for Maheleth, to answer understanding of Eman the Ezrahite. ²O Lord, the God of my salvation: I have cried in the day, and in the night before thee. ³Let my prayer come in before thee: incline thy ear to my petition. ⁴For my soul is filled with evils: and my life hath drawn nigh to hell. ⁵I am counted among them that go down to the pit: I am become as a man without help, ⁶free among the dead. Like the slain sleeping in the sepulchres, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cast off from thy hand. ⁷They have laid me in the lower pit: in the dark places, and in the shadow of death. ⁸Thy wrath is strong over me: and all thy waves thou hast brought in upon me. ⁹Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me: they have set me an abomination to themselves. I was delivered up, and came not forth: ¹⁰my eyes languished through poverty. All the day I cried to thee, O Lord: I stretched out my hands to thee. ¹¹Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? or shall physicians raise to life, and give praise to thee? ¹²Shall any one in the sepulchre declare thy mercy: and thy truth in destruction? ¹³Shall thy wonders be known in the dark; and thy justice in the land of forgetfulness? ¹⁴But I, O Lord, have cried to thee: and in the morning my prayer shall prevent thee. ¹⁵Lord, why castest thou off my prayer: why turnest thou away thy face from me? ¹⁶I am poor, and in labours from my youth: and being exalted have been humbled and troubled. ¹⁷Thy wrath hath come upon me: and thy terrors have troubled me. ¹⁸They have come round about me like water all the day: they have compassed me about together. ¹⁹Friend and neighbour thou hast put far from me: and my acquaintance, because of misery.

Chapter 88

¹Of understanding, for Ethan the Ezrahite. ²The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. I will shew forth thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation. ³For thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens: thy truth shall be prepared in them. ⁴I have made a covenant with my elect: I have sworn to David my servant: ⁵Thy seed will I settle for ever. And I will build up thy throne unto generation and generation. ⁶The heavens shall confess thy wonders, O Lord: and thy truth in the church of the saints. ⁷For who in the clouds can be compared to the Lord: or who among the sons of God shall be like to God? ⁸God, who is glorified in the assembly of the saints: great and terrible above all them that are about him. ⁹O Lord God of hosts, who is like to thee? thou art mighty, O Lord, and thy truth is round about thee. ¹⁰Thou rulest the power of the sea: and appeasest the motion of the waves thereof. ¹¹Thou hast humbled the proud one, as one that is slain: with the arm of thy strength thou hast scattered thy enemies. ¹²Thine are the heavens, and thine is the earth: the world and the fulness thereof thou hast founded: ¹³the north and the sea thou hast created. Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name: ¹⁴thy arm is with might. Let thy hand be strengthened, and thy right hand exalted: ¹⁵justice and judgment are the preparation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face: ¹⁶blessed is the people that knoweth jubilation. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance: ¹⁷and in thy name they shall rejoice all the day, and in thy justice they shall be exalted. ¹⁸For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy good pleasure shall our horn be exalted. ¹⁹For our protection is of the Lord, and of our king the holy one of Israel. ²⁰Then thou spokest in a vision to thy saints, and saidst: I have laid help upon one that is mighty, and have exalted one chosen out of my people. ²¹I have found David my servant: with my holy oil I have anointed him. ²²For my hand shall help him: and my arm shall strengthen him. ²³The enemy shall have no advantage over him: nor the son of iniquity have power to hurt him. ²⁴And I will cut down his enemies before his face; and them that hate him I will put to flight. ²⁵And my truth and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted. ²⁶And I will set his hand in the sea; and his right hand in the rivers. ²⁷He shall cry out to me: Thou art my father: my God, and the support of my salvation. ²⁸And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth. ²⁹I will keep my mercy for him for ever: and my covenant faithful to him. ³⁰And I will make his seed to endure for evermore: and his throne as the days of heaven. ³¹And if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments: ³²If they profane my justices: and keep not my commandments: ³³I will visit their iniquities with a rod: and their sins with stripes. ³⁴But my mercy I will not take away from him: nor will I suffer my truth to fail. ³⁵Neither will I profane my covenant: and the words that proceed from my mouth I will not make void. ³⁶Once have I sworn by my holiness: I will not lie unto David: ³⁷his seed shall endure for ever. ³⁸And his throne as the sun before me: and as the moon perfect for ever, and a faithful witness in heaven. ³⁹But thou hast rejected and despised: thou hast been angry with thy anointed. ⁴⁰Thou hast overthrown the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his sanctuary on the earth. ⁴¹Thou hast broken down all his hedges: thou hast made his strength fear. ⁴²All that pass by the way have robbed him: he is become a reproach to his neighbours. ⁴³Thou hast set up the right hand of them that oppress him: thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice. ⁴⁴Thou hast turned away the help of his sword; and hast not assisted him in battle. ⁴⁵Thou hast made his purification to cease: and thou hast cast his throne down to the ground. ⁴⁶Thou hast shortened the days of his time: thou hast covered him with confusion. ⁴⁷How long, O Lord, turnest thou away unto the end? shall thy anger burn like fire? ⁴⁸Remember what my substance is for hast thou made all the children of men in vain? ⁴⁹Who is the man that shall live, and not see death: that shall deliver his soul from the hand of hell? ⁵⁰Lord, where are thy ancient mercies, according to what thou didst swear to David in thy truth? ⁵¹Be mindful, O Lord, of the reproach of thy servants (which I have held in my bosom) of many nations: ⁵²Wherewith thy enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the change of thy anointed. ⁵³Blessed be the Lord for evermore. So be it. So be it.

Chapter 89

¹A prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our refuge from generation to generation. ²Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world was formed; from eternity and to eternity thou art God. ³Turn not man away to be brought low: and thou hast said: Be converted, O ye sons of men. ⁴For a thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday, which is past. And as a watch in the night, ⁵things that are counted nothing, shall their years be. ⁶In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither. ⁷For in thy wrath we have fainted away: and are troubled in thy indignation. ⁸Thou hast set our iniquities before thy eyes: our life in the light of thy countenance. ⁹For all our days are spent; and in thy wrath we have fainted away. Our years shall be considered spider: ¹⁰the days of our years in them are threescore and ten years. But if in the strong they be fourscore years: and what is more of them is labour and sorrow. For mildness is come upon us: and we shall be corrected. ¹¹Who knoweth the power of thy anger, and for thy fear ¹²can number thy wrath? So make thy right hand known: and men learned in heart, in wisdom. ¹³Return, O Lord, how long? and be entreated in favour of thy servants. ¹⁴We are filled in the morning with thy mercy: and we have rejoiced, and are delighted all our days. ¹⁵We have rejoiced for the days in which thou hast humbled us: for the years in which we have seen evils. ¹⁶Look upon thy servants and upon their works: and direct their children. ¹⁷And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us: and direct thou the works of our hands over us; yea, the work of our hands do thou direct.

Chapter 90

¹The praise of a canticle for David. He that dwelleth in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob. ²He shall say to the Lord: Thou art my protector, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust. ³For he hath delivered me from the snare of the hunters: and from the sharp word. ⁴He will overshadow thee with his shoulders: and under his wings thou shalt trust. ⁵His truth shall compass thee with a shield: thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night. ⁶Of the arrow that flieth in the day, of the business that walketh about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil. ⁷A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee. ⁸But thou shalt consider with thy eyes: and shalt see the reward of the wicked. ⁹Because thou, O Lord, art my hope: thou hast made the most High thy refuge. ¹⁰There shall no evil come to thee: nor shall the scourge come near thy dwelling. ¹¹For he hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in all thy ways. ¹²In their hands they shall bear thee up: lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. ¹³Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon. ¹⁴Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he hath known my name. ¹⁵He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him. ¹⁶I will fill him with length of days; and I will shew him my salvation.

Chapter 91

¹A psalm of a canticle on the sabbath day. ²It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to thy name, O most High. ³To shew forth thy mercy in the morning, and thy truth in the night: ⁴Upon an instrument of ten strings, upon the psaltery: with a canticle upon the harp. ⁵For thou hast given me, O Lord, a delight in thy doings: and in the works of thy hands I shall rejoice. ⁶O Lord, how great are thy works! thy thoughts are exceeding deep. ⁷The senseless man shall not know: nor will the fool understand these things. ⁸When the wicked shall spring up as grass: and all the workers of iniquity shall appear: That they may perish for ever and ever: ⁹but thou, O Lord, art most high for evermore. ¹⁰For behold thy enemies, O Lord, for behold thy enemies shall perish: and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. ¹¹But my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn: and my old age in plentiful mercy. ¹²My eye also hath looked down upon my enemies: and my ear shall hear of the downfall of the malignant that rise up against me. ¹³The just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus. ¹⁴They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God. ¹⁵They shall still increase in a fruitful old age: and shall be well treated, ¹⁶that they may shew, That the Lord our God is righteous, and there is no iniquity in him.

Chapter 92

¹The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty: the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself. For he hath established the world which shall not be moved. ²Thy throne is prepared from of old: thou art from everlasting. ³The floods have lifted up, O Lord: the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods have lifted up their waves, ⁴with the noise of many waters. Wonderful are the surges of the sea: wonderful is the Lord on high. ⁵Thy testimonies are become exceedingly credible: holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, unto length of days.

Chapter 93

¹The Lord is the God to whom revenge belongeth: the God of revenge hath acted freely. ²Lift up thyself, thou that judgest the earth: render a reward to the proud. ³How long shall sinners, O Lord: how long shall sinners glory? ⁴Shall they utter, and speak iniquity: shall all speak who work injustice? ⁵Thy people, O Lord, they have brought low: and they have afflicted thy inheritance. ⁶They have slain the widow and the stranger: and they have murdered the fatherless. ⁷And they have said: The Lord shall not see: neither shall the God of Jacob understand. ⁸Understand, ye senseless among the people: and, you fools, be wise at last. ⁹He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? or he that formed the eye, doth he not consider? ¹⁰He that chastiseth nations, shall he not rebuke: he that teacheth man knowledge? ¹¹The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men, that they are vain. ¹²Blessed is the man whom thou shalt instruct, O Lord: and shalt teach him out of thy law. ¹³That thou mayst give him rest from the evil days: till a pit be dug for the wicked. ¹⁴For the Lord will not cast off his people: neither will he forsake his own inheritance. ¹⁵Until justice be turned into judgment: and they that are near it are all the upright in heart. ¹⁶Who shall rise up for me against the evildoers? or who shall stand with me against the workers of iniquity? ¹⁷Unless the Lord had been my helper, my soul had almost dwelt in hell. ¹⁸If I said: My foot is moved: thy mercy, O Lord, assisted me. ¹⁹According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, thy comforts have given joy to my soul. ²⁰Doth the seat of iniquity stick to thee, who framest labour in commandment? ²¹They will hunt after the soul of the just, and will condemn innocent blood. ²²But the Lord is my refuge: and my God the help of my hope. ²³And he will render them their iniquity: and in their malice he will destroy them: the Lord our God will destroy them.

Chapter 94

¹Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our saviour. ²Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to him with psalms. ³For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. ⁴For in his hand are all the ends of the earth: and the heights of the mountains are his. ⁵For the sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. ⁶Come let us adore and fall down: and weep before the Lord that made us. ⁷For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. ⁸To day if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts: ⁹As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works. ¹⁰Forty years long was I offended with that generation, and I said: These always err in heart. ¹¹And these men have not known my ways: so I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.

Chapter 95

¹A canticle for David himself, when the house was built after the captivity. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: sing to the Lord, all the earth. ²Sing ye to the Lord and bless his name: shew forth his salvation from day to day. ³Declare his glory among the Gentiles: his wonders among all people. ⁴For the Lord is great, and exceedingly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. ⁵For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens. ⁶Praise and beauty are before him: holiness and majesty in his sanctuary. ⁷Bring ye to the Lord, O ye kindreds of the Gentiles, bring ye to the Lord glory and honour: ⁸bring to the Lord glory unto his name. Bring up sacrifices, and come into his courts: ⁹adore ye the Lord in his holy court. Let all the earth be moved at his presence. ¹⁰Say ye among the Gentiles, the Lord hath reigned. For he hath corrected the world, which shall not be moved: he will judge the people with justice. ¹¹Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, let the sea be moved, and the fulness thereof: ¹²the fields and all things that are in them shall be joyful. Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice ¹³before the face of the Lord, because he cometh: because he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with his truth.

Chapter 96

¹For the same David, when his land was restored again to him. The Lord hath reigned, let the earth rejoice: let many islands be glad. ²Clouds and darkness are round about him: justice and judgment are the establishment of his throne. ³A fire shall go before him, and shall burn his enemies round about. ⁴His lightnings have shone forth to the world: the earth saw and trembled. ⁵The mountains melted like wax, at the presence of the Lord: at the presence of the Lord of all the earth. ⁶The heavens declared his justice: and all people saw his glory. ⁷Let them be all confounded that adore graven things, and that glory in their idols. Adore him, all you his angels: ⁸Sion heard, and was glad. And the daughters of Juda rejoiced, because of thy judgments, O Lord. ⁹For thou art the most high Lord over all the earth: thou art exalted exceedingly above all gods. ¹⁰You that love the Lord, hate evil: the Lord preserveth the souls of his saints, he will deliver them out of the hand of the sinner. ¹¹Light is risen to the just, and joy to the right of heart. ¹²Rejoice, ye just, in the Lord: and give praise to the remembrance of his holiness.

Chapter 97

¹A psalm for David himself. Sing ye to the Lord anew canticle: because he hath done wonderful things. His right hand hath wrought for him salvation, and his arm is holy. ²The Lord hath made known his salvation: he hath revealed his justice in the sight of the Gentiles. ³He hath remembered his mercy his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. ⁴Sing joyfully to God, all the earth; make melody, rejoice and sing. ⁵Sing praise to the Lord on the harp, on the harp, and with the voice of a psalm: ⁶with long trumpets, and sound of comet. Make a joyful noise before the Lord our king: ⁷let the sea be moved and the fulness thereof: the world end they that dwell therein. ⁸The rivers shall clap their hands, the mountains shall rejoice together ⁹at the presence of the Lord: because he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with equity.

Chapter 98

¹A psalm for David himself. The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry: he that sitteth on the cherubims: let the earth be moved. ²The Lord is great in Sion, and high above all people. ³Let them give praise to thy great name: for it is terrible and holy: ⁴and the king's honour loveth judgment. Thou hast prepared directions: thou hast done judgment and justice in Jacob. ⁵Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore his footstool, for it is holy. ⁶Moses and Aaron among his priests: and Samuel among them that call upon his name. They called upon the Lord, and he heard them: ⁷he spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud. They kept his testimonies, and the commandment which he gave them. ⁸Thou didst hear them, O Lord our God: thou wast a merciful God to them, and taking vengeance on all their inventions. ⁹Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore at his holy mountain: for the Lord our God is holy.

Chapter 99

¹A psalm of praise. ²Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve ye the Lord with gladness. Come in before his presence with exceeding great joy. ³Know ye that the Lord he is God: he made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. ⁴Go ye into his gates with praise, into his courts with hymns: and give glory to him. Praise ye his name: ⁵for the Lord is sweet, his mercy endureth for ever, and his truth to generation and generation.

Chapter 100

¹A psalm for David himself. Mercy and judgment I will sing to thee, O Lord: I will sing, ²and I will understand in the unspotted way, when thou shalt come to me. I walked in the innocence of my heart, in the midst of my house. ³I did not set before my eyes any unjust thing: I hated the workers of iniquities. ⁴The perverse heart did not cleave to me: and the malignant, that turned aside from me, I would not know. ⁵The man that in private detracted his neighbour, him did I persecute. With him that had a proud eye, and an unsatiable heart, I would not eat. ⁶My eyes were upon the faithful of the earth, to sit with me: the man that walked in the perfect way, he served me. ⁷He that worketh pride shall not dwell in the midst of my house: he that speaketh unjust things did not prosper before my eyes. ⁸In the morning I put to death all the wicked of the land: that I might cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord.

Chapter 101

¹The prayer of the poor man, when he was anxious, and poured out his supplication before the Lord. ²Hear, O Lord, my prayer: and let my cry come to thee. ³Turn not away thy face from me: in the day when I am in trouble, incline thy ear to me. In what day soever I shall call upon thee, hear me speedily. ⁴For my days are vanished like smoke: and my bones are grown dry like fuel for the fire. ⁵I am smitten as grass, and my heart is withered: because I forgot to eat my bread. ⁶Through the voice of my groaning, my bone hath cleaved to my flesh. ⁷I am become like to a pelican of the wilderness: I am like a night raven in the house. ⁸I have watched, and am become as a sparrow all alone on the housetop. ⁹All the day long my enemies reproached me: and they that praised me did swear against me. ¹⁰For I did eat ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping. ¹¹Because of thy anger and indignation: for having lifted me up thou hast thrown me down. ¹²My days have declined like a shadow, and I am withered like grass. ¹³But thou, O Lord, endurest for ever: and thy memorial to all generations. ¹⁴Thou shalt arise and have mercy on Sion: for it is time to have mercy on it, for the time is come. ¹⁵For the stones thereof have pleased thy servants: and they shall have pity on the earth thereof. ¹⁶And the Gentiles shall fear thy name, O Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. ¹⁷For the Lord hath built up Sion: and he shall be seen in his glory. ¹⁸He hath had regard to the prayer of the humble: and he hath not despised their petition. ¹⁹Let these things be written unto another generation: and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord: ²⁰Because he hath looked forth from his high sanctuary: from heaven the Lord hath looked upon the earth. ²¹That he might hear the groans of them that are in fetters: that he might release the children of the slain: ²²That they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion: and his praise in Jerusalem; ²³When the people assemble together, and kings, to serve the Lord. ²⁴He answered him in the way of his strength: Declare unto me the fewness of my days. ²⁵Call me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are unto generation and generation. ²⁶In the beginning, O Lord, thou foundedst the earth: end the heavens are the works of thy hands. ²⁷They shall perish but thou remainest: and all of them shall grow old like a garment: And as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed. ²⁸But thou art always the selfsame, and thy years shall not fail. ²⁹The children of thy servants shall continue: and their seed shall be directed for ever.

Chapter 102

¹For David himself. Bless the Lord, O my soul: and let all that is within me bless his holy name. ²Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all he hath done for thee. ³Who forgiveth all thy iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases. ⁴Who redeemeth thy life from destruction: who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion. ⁵Who satisfieth thy desire with good things: thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle's. ⁶The Lord doth mercies, and judgment for all that suffer wrong. ⁷He hath made his ways known to Moses: his wills to the children of Israel. ⁸The ford is compassionate and merciful: longsuffering and plenteous in mercy. ⁹He will not always be angry: nor will he threaten for ever. ¹⁰He hath not dealt with us according to our sins: nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. ¹¹For according to the height of the heaven above the earth: he hath strengthened his mercy towards them that fear him. ¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our iniquities from us. ¹³As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him: ¹⁴for he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust: ¹⁵man's days are as grass, as the flower of the field so shall he flourish. ¹⁶For the spirit shall pass in him, and he shall not be: and he shall know his place no more. ¹⁷But the mercy of the Lord is from eternity and unto eternity upon them that fear him: And his justice unto children's children, ¹⁸to such as keep his covenant, And are mindful of his commandments to do them. ¹⁹The Lord hath prepared his throne in heaven: and his kingdom shall rule over all. ²⁰Bless the Lord, all ye his angels: you that are mighty in strength, and execute his word, hearkening to the voice of his orders. ²¹Bless the Lord, all ye his hosts: you ministers of his that do his will. ²²Bless the Lord, all his works: in every place of his dominion, O my soul, bless thou the Lord.

Chapter 103

¹For David himself. Bless the Lord, O my soul: O Lord my God, thou art exceedingly great. Thou hast put on praise and beauty: ²and art clothed with light as with a garment. Who stretchest out the heaven like a pavilion: ³who coverest the higher rooms thereof with water. Who makest the clouds thy chariot: who walkest upon the wings of the winds. ⁴Who makest thy angels spirits: and thy ministers a burning fire. ⁵Who hast founded the earth upon its own bases: it shall not be moved for ever and ever. ⁶The deep like a garment is its clothing: above the mountains shall the waters stand. ⁷At thy rebuke they shall flee: at the voice of thy thunder they shall fear. ⁸The mountains ascend, and the plains descend into the place which thou hast founded for them. ⁹Thou hast set a bound which they shall not pass over; neither shall they return to cover the earth. ¹⁰Thou sendest forth springs in the vales: between the midst of the hills the waters shall pass. ¹¹All the beasts of the field shall drink: the wild asses shall expect in their thirst. ¹²Over them the birds of the air shall dwell: from the midst of the rocks they shall give forth their voices. ¹³Thou waterest the hills from thy upper rooms: the earth shall be filled with the fruit of thy works: ¹⁴Bringing forth grass for cattle, and herb for the service of men. That thou mayst bring bread out of the earth: ¹⁵and that wine may cheer the heart of man. That he may make the face cheerful with oil: and that bread may strengthen man's heart. ¹⁶The trees of the field shall be filled, and the cedars of Libanus which he hath planted: ¹⁷there the sparrows shall make their nests. The highest of them is the house of the heron. ¹⁸The high hills are a refuge for the harts, the rock for the irchins. ¹⁹He hath made the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. ²⁰Thou hast appointed darkness, and it is night: in it shall all the beasts of the woods go about: ²¹The young lions roaring after their prey, and seeking their meat from God. ²²The sun ariseth, and they are gathered together: and they shall lie down in their dens. ²³Man shall go forth to his work, and to his labour until the evening. ²⁴How great are thy works, O Lord? thou hast made all things in wisdom: the earth is filled with thy riches. ²⁵So is this great sea, which stretcheth wide its arms: there are creeping things without number: Creatures little and great. ²⁶There the ships shall go. This sea dragon which thou hast formed to play therein. ²⁷All expect of thee that thou give them food in season. ²⁸What thou givest to them they shall gather up: when thou openest thy hand, they shall all be filled with good. ²⁹But if thou turnest away thy face, they shall be troubled: thou shalt take away their breath, and they shall fail, and shall return to their dust. ³⁰Thou shalt send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth. ³¹May the glory of the Lord endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works. ³²He looketh upon the earth, and maketh it tremble: he toucheth the mountains, and they smoke. ³³I will sing to the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. ³⁴Let my speech be acceptable to him: but I will take delight in the Lord. ³⁵Let sinners be consumed out of the earth, and the unjust, so that they be no more: O my soul, bless thou the Lord.

Chapter 104

¹Alleluia. Give glory to the Lord, and call upon his name: declare his deeds among the Gentiles. ²Sing to him, yea sing praises to him: relate all his wondrous works. ³Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. ⁴Seek ye the Lord, and be strengthened: seek his face evermore. ⁵Remember his marvellous works which he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth. ⁶O ye seed of Abraham his servant; ye sons of Jacob his chosen. ⁷He is the Lord our God: his judgments are in all the earth. ⁸He hath remembered his covenant for ever: the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. ⁹Which he made to Abraham; and his oath to Isaac: ¹⁰And he appointed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting testament: ¹¹Saying: To thee will I give the land of Chanaan, the lot of your inheritance. ¹²When they were but a small number: yea very few, and sojourners therein: ¹³And they passed from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people. ¹⁴He suffered no man to hurt them: and he reproved kings for their sakes. ¹⁵Touch ye not my anointed: and do no evil to my prophets. ¹⁶And he called a famine upon the land: and he broke in pieces all the support of bread. ¹⁷He sent a man before them: Joseph, who was sold for a slave. ¹⁸They humbled his feet in fetters: the iron pierced his soul, ¹⁹until his word came. The word of the Lord inflamed him. ²⁰The king sent, and he released him: the ruler of the people, and he set him at liberty. ²¹He made him master of his house, and ruler of all his possession. ²²That he might instruct his princes as himself, and teach his ancients wisdom. ²³And Israel went into Egypt: and Jacob was a sojourner in the land of Cham. ²⁴And he increased his people exceedingly: and strengthened them over their enemies, ²⁵He turned their heart to hate his people: and to deal deceitfully with his servants. ²⁶He sent Moses his servant: Aaron the man whom he had chosen. ²⁷He gave them power to shew his signs, and his wonders in the land of Cham. ²⁸He sent darkness, and made it obscure: and grieved not his words. ²⁹He turned their waters into blood, and destroyed their fish. ³⁰Their land brought forth frogs, in the inner chambers of their kings. ³¹He spoke, and there came divers sorts of flies and sciniphs in all their coasts. ³²He gave them hail for rain, a burning fire in the land. ³³And he destroyed their vineyards and their fig trees: and he broke in pieces the trees of their coasts. ³⁴He spoke, and the locust came, and the bruchus, of which there was no number. ³⁵And they devoured all the grass in their land, and consumed all the fruit of their ground. ³⁶And he slew all the firstborn in their land: the firstfruits of all their labour. ³⁷And he brought them out with silver and gold: and there was not among their tribes one that was feeble. ³⁸Egypt was glad when they departed: for the fear of them lay upon them. ³⁹He spread a cloud for their protection, and fire to give them light in the night. ⁴⁰They asked, and the quail came: and he filled them with the bread of heaven. ⁴¹He opened the rock, and waters flowed: rivers ran down in the dry land. ⁴²Because he remembered his holy word, which he had spoken to his servant Abraham. ⁴³And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness. ⁴⁴And he gave them the lands of the Gentiles: and they possessed the labours of the people: ⁴⁵That they might observe his justifications, and seek after his law.

Chapter 105

¹Alleluia. Give glory to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. ²Who shall declare the powers of the Lord? who shall set forth all his praises? ³Blessed are they that keep judgment, and do justice at all times. ⁴Remember us, O Lord, in the favour of thy people: visit us with thy salvation. ⁵That we may see the good of thy chosen, that we may rejoice in the joy of thy nation: that thou mayst be praised with thy inheritance. ⁶We have sinned with our fathers: we have acted unjustly, we have wrought iniquity. ⁷Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt: they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies: And they provoked to wrath going up to the sea, even the Red Sea. ⁸And he saved them for his own name's sake: that he might make his power known. ⁹And he rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up: and he led them through the depths, as in a wilderness. ¹⁰And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them: and he redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. ¹¹And the water covered them that afflicted them: there was not one of them left. ¹²And they believed his words: and they sang his praises. ¹³They had quickly done, they forgot his works: and they waited not for his counsels. ¹⁴And they coveted their desire in the desert: and they tempted God in the place without water. ¹⁵And he gave them their request: and sent fulness into their souls. ¹⁶And they provoked Moses in the camp, Aaron the holy one of the Lord. ¹⁷The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan: and covered the congregation of Abiron. ¹⁸And a fire was kindled in their congregation: the flame burned the wicked. ¹⁹They made also a calf in Horeb: and they adored the graven thing. ²⁰And they changed their glory into the likeness of a calf that eateth grass. ²¹They forgot God, who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, ²²wondrous works in the land of Cham: terrible things in the Red Sea. ²³And he said that he would destroy them: had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach: To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them. ²⁴And they set at nought the desirable land. They believed not his word, ²⁵and they murmured in their tents: they hearkened not to the voice of the Lord. ²⁶And he lifted up his hand over them: to overthrow them in the desert; ²⁷And to cast down their seed among the nations, and to scatter them in the countries. ²⁸They also were initiated to Beelphegor: and ate the sacrifices of the dead. ²⁹And they provoked him with their inventions: and destruction was multiplied among them. ³⁰Then Phinees stood up, and pacified him: and the slaughter ceased. ³¹And it was reputed to him unto justice, to generation and generation for evermore. ³²They provoked him also at the waters of contradiction: and Moses was afflicted for their sakes: ³³because they exasperated his spirit. And he distinguished with his lips. ³⁴They did not destroy the nations of which the Lord spoke unto them. ³⁵And they were mingled among the heathens, and learned their works: ³⁶and served their idols, and it became a stumblingblock to them. ³⁷And they sacrificed their sons, and their daughters to devils. ³⁸And they shed innocent blood: the blood of their sons and of their daughters which they sacrificed to the idols of Chanaan. And the land was polluted with blood, ³⁹and was defiled with their works: and they went aside after their own inventions. ⁴⁰And the Lord was exceedingly angry with his people: and he abhorred his inheritance. ⁴¹And he delivered them into the hands of the nations: and they that hated them had dominion over them. ⁴²And their enemies afflicted them: and they were humbled under their hands: ⁴³many times did he deliver them. But they provoked him with their counsel: and they were brought low by their iniquities. ⁴⁴And he saw when they were in tribulation: and he heard their prayer. ⁴⁵And he was mindful of his covenant: and repented according to the multitude of his mercies. ⁴⁶And he gave them unto mercies, in the sight of all those that had made them captives. ⁴⁷Save us, O Lord, our God: and gather us from among nations: That we may give thanks to thy holy name, and may glory in thy praise. ⁴⁸Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say: So be it, so be it.

Chapter 106

¹Give glory to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. ²Let them say so that have been redeemed by the Lord, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy: and gathered out of the countries. ³From the rising and the setting of the sun, from the north and from the sea. ⁴They wandered in a wilderness, in a place without water: they found not the way of a city for their habitation. ⁵They were hungry and thirsty: their soul fainted in them. ⁶And they cried to the Lord in their tribulation: and he delivered them out of their distresses. ⁷And he led them into the right way: that they might go to a city of habitation. ⁸Let the mercies of the Lord give glory to him: and his wonderful works to the children of men. ⁹For he hath satisfied the empty soul, and hath filled the hungry soul with good things. ¹⁰Such as sat in darkness and in the shadow of death: bound in want and in iron. ¹¹Because they had exasperated the words of God: and provoked the counsel of the most High: ¹²And their heart was humbled with labours: they were weakened, and their was none to help them. ¹³Then they cried to the Lord in their affliction: and he delivered them out of their distresses. ¹⁴And he brought them out of darkness, and the shadow of death; and broke their bonds in sunder. ¹⁵Let the mercies of the Lord give glory to him, and his wonderful works to the children of men. ¹⁶Because he hath broken gates of brass, and burst the iron bars. ¹⁷He took them out of the way of their iniquity: for they were brought low for their injustices. ¹⁸Their soul abhorred all manner of meat: and they drew nigh even to the gates of death. ¹⁹And they cried to the Lord in their affliction: and he delivered them out of their distresses. ²⁰He sent his word, and healed them: and delivered them from their destructions. ²¹Let the mercies of the Lord give glory to him: and his wonderful works to the children of men. ²²And let them sacrifice the sacrifice of praise: and declare his works with joy. ²³They that go down to the sea in ships, doing business in the great waters: ²⁴These have seen the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. ²⁵He said the word, and there arose a storm of wind: and the waves thereof were lifted up. ²⁶They mount up to the heavens, and they go down to the depths: their soul pined away with evils. ²⁷They were troubled, and reeled like a drunken man; and all their wisdom was swallowed up. ²⁸And they cried to the Lord in their affliction: and he brought them out of their distresses. ²⁹And he turned the storm into a breeze: and its waves were still. ³⁰And they rejoiced because they were still: and he brought them to the haven which they wished for. ³¹Let the mercies of the Lord give glory to him, and his wonderful works to the children of men. ³²And let them exalt him in the church of the people: and praise him in the chair of the ancients. ³³He hath turned rivers into a wilderness: and the sources of water into dry ground: ³⁴A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. ³⁵He hath turned a wilderness into pools of water, and a dry land into water springs. ³⁶And hath placed there the hungry; and they made a city for their habitation. ³⁷And they sowed fields, and planted vineyards: and they yielded fruit of birth. ³⁸And he blessed them, and they were multiplied exceedingly: and their cattle he suffered not to decrease. ³⁹Then they were brought to be few: and they were afflicted through the trouble of evils and sorrow. ⁴⁰Contempt was poured forth upon their princes: and he caused them to wander where there was no passing, and out of the way. ⁴¹And he helped the poor out of poverty: and made him families like a flock of sheep. ⁴²The just shall see, and shall rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop their mouth. ⁴³Who is wise, and will keep these things: and will understand the mercies of the Lord?

Chapter 107

¹A canticle of a psalm for David himself. ²My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready: I will sing, and will give praise, with my glory. ³Arise, my glory; arise, psaltery and harp: I will arise in the morning early. ⁴I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: and I will sing unto thee among the populations. ⁵For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth even unto the clouds. ⁶Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory over all the earth: ⁷that thy beloved may be delivered. Save with thy right hand and hear me. ⁸God hath spoken in his holiness. I will rejoice, and I will divide Sichem and I will mete out the vale of tabernacles. ⁹Galaad is mine, and Manasses is mine and Ephraim the protection of my head. Juda is my king: ¹⁰Moab the pot of my hope. Over Edom I will stretch out my shoe: the aliens are become my friends. ¹¹Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom? ¹²Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our armies? ¹³O grant us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. ¹⁴Through God we shall do mightily: and he will bring our enemies to nothing.

Chapter 108

¹Unto the end, a psalm for David. ²O God, be not thou silent in thy praise: for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against me. ³They have spoken against with deceitful tongues; and they have compassed me about with words of hatred; and have fought against me without cause. ⁴Instead of making me a return of love, they detracted me: but I gave myself to prayer. ⁵And they repaid me evil for good: and hatred for my love. ⁶Set thou the sinner over him: and may the devil stand at his right hand. ⁷When he is judged, may he go out condemned; and may his prayer be turned to sin. ⁸May his days be few: and his bishopric let another take. ⁹May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. ¹⁰Let his children be carried about vagabonds, and beg; and let them be cast out of their dwellings. ¹¹May the userer search all his substance: and let strangers plunder his labours. ¹²May there be none to help him: nor none to pity his fatherless offspring. ¹³May his posterity be cut off; in one generation may his name be blotted out. ¹⁴May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered in the sight of the Lord: and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. ¹⁵May they be before the lord continually, and let the memory of them perish from the earth: ¹⁶because he remembered not to show mercy, ¹⁷But persecuted the poor man and the beggar; and the broken in heart, to put him to death. ¹⁸And he loved cursing, and it shall come unto him: and he would not have blessing, and it shall be far from him. And he put on cursing, like a garment: and it went in like water into his entrails, and like oil in his bones. ¹⁹May it be unto him like a garment which covereth him; and like a girdle with which he is girded continually. ²⁰This is the work of them who detract me before the Lord; and who speak evils against my soul. ²¹But thou, O Lord, do with for thy names sake: because thy mercy is sweet. Do thou deliver me. ²²for I am poor and needy, and my heart is troubled within me. ²³I am taken away like the shadow when it declineth: and I am shaken off as locusts. ²⁴My knees are weakened through fasting: and my flesh is changed for oil. ²⁵And I am become a reproach to them: they saw me and they shaked their heads, ²⁶Help me, O Lord my God; save me according to thy mercy. ²⁷And let them know that this is thy hand: and that thou, O Lord, hast done it. ²⁸They will curse and thou will bless: let them that rise up against me be confounded: but thy servant shall rejoice. ²⁹Let them that detract me be clothed with shame: and let them be covered with the their confusion as with a double cloak. ³⁰I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth: and in the midst of many I will praise him. ³¹Because he hath stood at the right hand of the poor, to save my soul from persecutors

Chapter 109

¹The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou at my right hand: Until I make thy enemies thy footstool. ²The Lord will send forth the sceptre of thy power out of Sion: rule thou in the midst of thy enemies. ³With thee is the principality in the day of thy strength: in the brightness of the saints: from the womb before the day star I begot thee. ⁴The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech. ⁵The Lord at thy right hand hath broken kings in the day of his wrath. ⁶He shall judge among nations, he shall fill ruins: he shall crush the heads in the land of the many. ⁷He shall drink of the torrent in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.

Chapter 110

¹I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; in the council of the just: and in the congregation. ²Great are the works of the Lord: sought out according to all his wills ³His work is praise and magnificence: and his justice continueth for ever and ever. ⁴He hath made a remembrance of his wonderful works, being a merciful and gracious Lord: ⁵he hath given food to them that fear him. He will be mindful for ever of his covenant: ⁶he will shew forth to his people the power of his works. ⁷That he may give them the inheritance of the Gentiles: the works of his hands are truth and judgment. ⁸All his commandments are faithful: confirmed for ever and ever, made in truth and equity. ⁹He hath sent redemption to his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever. Holy and terrible is his name: ¹⁰the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding to all that do it: his praise continueth for ever and ever.

Chapter 111

¹Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord: he shall delight exceedingly in his commandments. ²His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the righteous shall be blessed. ³Glory and wealth shall be in his house: and his justice remaineth for ever and ever. ⁴To the righteous a light is risen up in darkness: he is merciful, and compassionate and just. ⁵Acceptable is the man that showeth mercy and lendeth: he shall order his words with judgment: ⁶because he shall not be moved for ever. ⁷The just shall be in everlasting remembrance: he shall not hear the evil hearing. His heart is ready to hope in the Lord: ⁸his heart is strengthened, he shall not be moved until he look over his enemies. ⁹He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor: his justice remaineth for ever and ever: his horn shall be exalted in glory. ¹⁰The wicked shall see, and shall be angry, he shall gnash with his teeth and pine away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.

Chapter 112

¹Praise the Lord, ye children: praise ye the name of the Lord. ²Blessed be the name of the Lord, from henceforth now and for ever. ³From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise. ⁴The Lord is high above all nations; and his glory above the heavens. ⁵Who is as the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high: ⁶and looketh down on the low things in heaven and in earth? ⁷Raising up the needy from the earth, and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill:: ⁸That he may place him with princes, with the princes of his people. ⁹Who maketh a barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother of children.

Chapter 113

¹When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people: ²Judea made his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. ³The sea saw and fled: Jordan was turned back. ⁴The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like the lambs of the flock. ⁵What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou didst flee: and thou, O Jordan, that thou wast turned back? ⁶Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams, and ye hills, like lambs of the flock? ⁷At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob: ⁸Who turned the rock into pools of water, and the stony hill into fountains of waters. ⁹Not to us, O Lord, not to us; but to thy name give glory. ¹⁰For thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake: lest the gentiles should say: Where is their God? ¹¹But our God is in heaven: he hath done all things whatsoever he would. ¹²The idols of the gentiles are silver and gold, the works of the hands of men. ¹³They have mouths and speak not: they have eyes and see not. ¹⁴They have ears and hear not: they have noses and smell not. ¹⁵They have hands and feel not: they have feet and walk not: neither shall they cry out through their throat. ¹⁶Let them that make them become like unto them: and all such as trust in them. ¹⁷The house of Israel hath hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their protector. ¹⁸The house of Aaron hath hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their protector. ¹⁹They that fear the Lord hath hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their protector. ²⁰The Lord hath been mindful of us, and hath blessed us. He hath blessed the house of Israel: he hath blessed the house of Aaron. ²¹He hath blessed all that fear the Lord, both little and great. ²²May the Lord add blessings upon you: upon you, and upon your children. ²³Blessed be you of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. ²⁴The heaven of heaven is the Lord's: but the earth he has given to the children of men. ²⁵The dead shall not praise thee, O Lord: nor any of them that go down to hell. ²⁶But we that live bless the Lord: from this time now and for ever.

Chapter 114

¹I have loved, because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer. ²Because he hath inclined his ear unto me: and in my days I will call upon him. ³The sorrows of death have encompassed me: and the perils of hell have found me. I met with trouble and sorrow: ⁴and I called upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, deliver my soul. ⁵The Lord is merciful and just, and our God sheweth mercy. ⁶The Lord is the keeper of little ones: I was little and he delivered me. ⁷Turn, O my soul, into thy rest: for the Lord hath been bountiful to thee. ⁸For he hath delivered my soul from death: my eyes from tears, my feet from falling. ⁹I will please the Lord in the land of the living.

Chapter 115

¹I have believed, therefore have I spoken; but I have been humbled exceedingly. ¹¹I said in my excess: Every man is a liar. ¹²What shall I render to the Lord, for all the things he hath rendered unto me? ¹³I will take the chalice of salvation; and I will call upon the name of the Lord. ¹⁴I will pay my vows to the Lord before all his people: ¹⁵precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. ¹⁶O Lord, for I am thy servant: I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid. Thou hast broken my bonds: ¹⁷I will sacrifice to thee the sacrifice of praise, and I will call upon the name of the Lord. ¹⁸I will pay my vows to the Lord in the sight of all his people: ¹⁹in the courts of the house of the Lord, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.

Chapter 116

¹O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. ²For his mercy is confirmed upon us: and the truth of the Lord remaineth for ever.

Chapter 117

¹Give praise to Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. ²Let Israel now say that he is good: that his mercy endureth for ever. ³Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. ⁴Let them that fear the Lord now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. ⁵In my trouble I called upon the Lord: and the Lord heard me, and enlarged me. ⁶The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man can do unto me. ⁷The Lord is my helper: and I will look over my enemies. ⁸It is good to confide in the Lord, rather than to have confidence in man. ⁹It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes. ¹⁰All nations compassed me about; and in the name of the Lord I have been revenged on them. ¹¹Surrounding me they compassed me about: and in the name of the Lord I have been revenged on them. ¹²They surrounded me like bees, and they burned like fire among thorns: and in the name of the Lord I was revenged on them ¹³Being pushed I was overturned that I might fall: but the Lord supported me. ¹⁴The Lord is my strength and my praise: and he is become my salvation. ¹⁵The voice of rejoicing and of salvation is in the tabernacles of the just. ¹⁶The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength: the right hand of the Lord hath exulted me: the right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength. ¹⁷I shall not die, but live: and shall declare the works of the Lord. ¹⁸The Lord chastising hath chastised me: but he hath not delivered me over to death. ¹⁹Open ye to me the gates of justice: I will go into them, and give praise to the Lord. ²⁰This is the gate of the Lord, the just shall enter into it. ²¹I will give glory to thee because thou hast heard me: and art become my salvation. ²²The stone which the builders rejected; the same is become the head of the corner. ²³This is the Lord's doing: and it is wonderful in our eyes. ²⁴This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein. ²⁵O Lord, save me: O Lord, give good success. ²⁶Blessed be he that cometh in the name Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. ²⁷The Lord is God, and he hath shone upon us. Appoint a solemn day, with shady boughs, even to the horn of the alter. ²⁸Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, and I will exalt thee. I will praise thee, because thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. ²⁹O praise ye the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Chapter 118

¹Aleph. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. ²Blessed are they who search his testimonies: that seek him with their whole heart. ³For they that work iniquity, have not walked in his ways. ⁴Thou hast commanded thy commandments to be kept most diligently. ⁵O! that my ways may be directed to keep thy justifications. ⁶Then shall I not be confounded, when I shall look into all thy commandments. ⁷I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned the judgments of thy justice. ⁸I will keep thy justifications: O! do not thou utterly forsake me. BETH ⁹By what doth a young man correct his way? by observing thy words. ¹⁰With my whole heart have I sought after thee: let me not stray from thy commandments. ¹¹Thy words have I hidden in my heart, that I may not sin against thee. ¹²Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy justifications. ¹³With my lips I have pronounced all the judgments of thy mouth. ¹⁴I have been delighted in the way of thy testimonies, as in all riches. ¹⁵I will meditate on thy commandments: and I will consider thy ways. ¹⁶I will think of thy justifications: I will not forget thy words. GIMEL ¹⁷Give bountifully to thy servant, enliven me: and I shall keep thy words. ¹⁸Open thou my eyes: and I will consider the wondrous things of thy law. ¹⁹I am a sojourner on the earth: hide not thy commandments from me. ²⁰My soul hath coveted to long for thy justifications, at all times. ²¹Thou hast rebuked the proud: they are cursed who decline from thy commandments. ²²Remove from reproach and contempt: because I have sought after thy testimonies. ²³For princes sat, and spoke against me: but thy servant was employed in thy justifications. ²⁴For thy testimonies are my meditation: and thy justifications my counsel. DALETH ²⁵My soul hath cleaved to the pavement: quicken thou me according to thy word. ²⁶I have declared my ways, and thou hast heard me: tech me thy justifications. ²⁷Make me to understand the way of thy justifications: and I shall be exercised in thy wondrous works. ²⁸My soul hath slumbered through heaviness: strengthen thou me in thy words. ²⁹Remove from me the way of iniquity: and out of thy law have mercy on me. ³⁰I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments I have not forgotten. ³¹I have stuck to thy testimonies, O Lord: put me not to shame. ³²I have run the way of thy commandments, when thou didst enlarge my heart. HE ³³Set before me for a law the way of thy justifications, O Lord: and I will always seek after it. ³⁴Give me understanding, and I will search thy law ; and I will keep it with my whole heart. ³⁵Lead me into the path of thy commandments; for this same I have desired. ³⁶Incline my heart into thy testimonies and not to covetousness. ³⁷Turn away my eyes that they may not behold vanity: quicken me in thy way. ³⁸Establish thy word to thy servant, in thy fear. ³⁹Turn away my reproach, which I have apprehended: for thy judgments are delightful. ⁴⁰Behold I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy justice. VAU ⁴¹Let thy mercy also come upon me, O Lord: thy salvation according to thy word. ⁴²So shall I answer them that reproach me in any thing; that I have trusted in thy words. ⁴³And take not thou the word of truth utterly out of my mouth: for in thy words have I hoped exceedingly. ⁴⁴So shall I always keep thy law, for ever and ever. ⁴⁵And I walked at large: because I have sought after thy commandments. ⁴⁶And I spoke of thy testimonies before kings: and I was not ashamed. ⁴⁷I meditated also on thy commandments, which I loved. ⁴⁸And I lifted up my hands to thy commandments, which I loved: and I was exercised in thy justifications. ZAIN ⁴⁹Be thou mindful of thy word to thy servant, in which thou hast given me hope. ⁵⁰This hath comforted me in my humiliation: because thy word hath enlivened me. ⁵¹The proud did iniquitously altogether: but I declined not from thy law. ⁵²I remembered, O Lord, thy judgments of old: and I was comforted. ⁵³A fainting hath taken hold of me, because of the wicked that forsake thy law. ⁵⁴Thy justifications were the subject of my song, in the place of my pilgrimage. ⁵⁵In the night I have remembered thy name, O Lord: and have kept thy law. ⁵⁶This happened to me: because I sought after thy justifications. HETH ⁵⁷O Lord, my portion, I have said, I would keep the law. ⁵⁸I entreated thy face with all my heart: have mercy on me according to thy word. ⁵⁹I have thought on my ways: and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. ⁶⁰I am ready, and am not troubled: that I may keep thy commandments. ⁶¹The cords of the wicked have encompassed me: but I have not forgotten thy law. ⁶²I rose at midnight to give praise to thee; for the judgments of thy justification. ⁶³I am a partaker with all them that fear thee, and that keep thy commandments. ⁶⁴The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy justifications. TETH ⁶⁵Thou hast done well with thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word. ⁶⁶Teach me goodness and discipline and knowledge; for I have believed thy commandments. ⁶⁷Before I was humbled I offended; therefore have I kept thy word. ⁶⁸Thou art good; and in thy goodness teach me thy justifications. ⁶⁹The iniquity of the proud hath been multiplied over me: but I will seek thy commandments with my whole heart. ⁷⁰Their heart is curdled like milk: but I have meditated on thy law. ⁷¹It is good for me that thou hast humbled me, that I may learn thy justifications. ⁷²The law of thy mouth is good to me, above thousands of gold and silver. JOD ⁷³Thy hands have made me and formed me: give me understanding, and I will learn thy commandments. ⁷⁴They that fear thee shall see me, and shall be glad: because I have greatly hoped in thy words. ⁷⁵I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are equity: and in thy truth thou hast humbled me. ⁷⁶O! let thy mercy be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant. ⁷⁷Let thy tender mercies come unto me, and I shall live: for thy law is my meditation. ⁷⁸Let the proud be ashamed, because they have done unjustly towards me: but I will be employed in thy commandments. ⁷⁹Let them that fear thee turn to me" and they that know thy testimonies. ⁸⁰Let my heart be undefiled in thy justifications, that I may not be confounded. CAPH ⁸¹My soul hath fainted after thy salvation: and in thy word I have very much hoped. ⁸²My eyes have failed for thy word, saying: When wilt thou comfort me? ⁸³For I am become like a bottle in the frost: I have not forgotten thy justifications. ⁸⁴How many are the days of thy servant: when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me? ⁸⁵The wicked have told me fables: but not as thy law. ⁸⁶All thy statutes are truth: they have persecuted me unjustly, do thou help me. ⁸⁷They had almost made an end of me upon earth: but I have not forsaken thy commandments. ⁸⁸Quicken thou me according to thy mercy: and I shall keep the testimonies of thy mouth. LAMED ⁸⁹For ever, O Lord, thy word standeth firm in heaven. ⁹⁰Thy truth unto all generations: thou hast founded the earth, and it continueth. ⁹¹By thy ordinance the day goeth on: for all things serve thee. ⁹²Unless thy law had been my meditation, I had then perhaps perished in my abjection. ⁹³Thy justifications I will never forget: for by them thou hast given me life. ⁹⁴I am thine, save thou me: for I have sought thy justifications. ⁹⁵The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I have understood thy testimonies. ⁹⁶I have seen an end to all persecution: thy commandment is exceeding broad. MEM ⁹⁷O how have I loved thy law, O Lord! it is my meditation all the day. ⁹⁸Through thy commandment, thou hast made me wiser than my enemies: for it is ever with me. ⁹⁹I have understood more than all my teachers: because thy testimonies are my meditation. ¹⁰⁰I have had understanding above ancients: because I have sought thy commandments. ¹⁰¹I have restrained my feet from every evil way: that I may keep thy words. ¹⁰²I have not declined from thy judgments, because thou hast set me a law. ¹⁰³How sweet are thy words to my palate! more than honey to my mouth. ¹⁰⁴By thy commandments I have had understanding: therefore have I hated every way of iniquity. NUN ¹⁰⁵Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths. ¹⁰⁶I have sworn and am determined to keep the judgments of thy justice. ¹⁰⁷I have been humbled, O Lord, exceedingly: quicken thou me according to thy word. ¹⁰⁸The free offerings of my mouth make acceptable, O Lord: and teach me thy judgments. ¹⁰⁹My soul is continually in my hands: and I have not forgotten thy law. ¹¹⁰Sinners have laid a snare for me: but I have not erred from thy precepts. ¹¹¹I have purchased thy testimonies for an inheritance for ever: because they are a joy to my heart. ¹¹²I have inclined my heart to do thy justifications for ever, for the reward. SAMECH ¹¹³I have hated the unjust: and have loved thy law. ¹¹⁴Thou art my helper and my protector: and in thy word I have greatly hoped. ¹¹⁵Depart from me, ye malignant: and I will search the commandments of my God. ¹¹⁶Uphold me according to thy word, and I shall live: and let me not be confounded in my expectation. ¹¹⁷Help me, and I shall be saved: and I will meditate always on thy justifications. ¹¹⁸Thou hast despised all them that fall off from thy judgments; for their thought is unjust. ¹¹⁹I have accounted all the sinners of the earth prevaricators: therefore have I loved thy testimonies. ¹²⁰Pierce thou my flesh with thy fear: for I am afraid of thy judgments. AIN ¹²¹I have done judgment and justice: give me not up to them that slander me. ¹²²Uphold thy servant unto good: let not the proud calumniate me. ¹²³My eyes have fainted after thy salvation: and for the word of thy justice. ¹²⁴Deal with thy servant according to thy mercy: and teach me thy justifications. ¹²⁵I am thy servant: give me understanding that I may know thy testimonies. ¹²⁶It is time, O Lord, to do: they have dissipated thy law. ¹²⁷Therefore have I loved thy commandments above gold and the topaz. ¹²⁸Therefore was I directed to all thy commandments: I have hated all wicked ways. PHE ¹²⁹Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore my soul hath sought them. ¹³⁰The declaration of thy words giveth light: and giveth understanding to little ones. ¹³¹I opened my mouth and panted: because I longed for thy commandments. ¹³²Look thou upon me, and have mercy on me, according to the judgment of them that love thy name. ¹³³Direct my steps according to thy word: and let no iniquity have dominion over me. ¹³⁴Redeem me from the calumnies of men: that I may keep thy commandments. ¹³⁵Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: and teach me thy justifications. ¹³⁶My eyes have sent forth springs of water: because they have not kept thy law. SADE ¹³⁷Thou art just, O Lord: and thy judgment is right. ¹³⁸Thou hast commanded justice thy testimonies: and thy truth exceedingly. ¹³⁹My zeal hath made me pine away: because my enemies forgot thy words. ¹⁴⁰Thy word is exceedingly refined: and thy servant hath loved it. ¹⁴¹I am very young and despised; but I forgot not thy justifications. ¹⁴²Thy justice is justice for ever: and thy law is the truth. ¹⁴³Trouble and anguish have found me: thy commandments are my meditation. ¹⁴⁴Thy testimonies are justice for ever: give me understanding, and I shall live. COPH ¹⁴⁵I cried with my whole heart, hear me, O Lord: I will seek thy justifications. ¹⁴⁶I cried unto thee, save me: that I may keep thy commandments. ¹⁴⁷I prevented the dawning of the day, and cried: because in thy words I very much hoped. ¹⁴⁸My eyes to thee have prevented the morning: that I might meditate on thy words. ¹⁴⁹Hear thou my voice, O Lord, according to thy mercy: and quicken me according to thy mercy. ¹⁵⁰They that persecute me have drawn nigh to iniquity; but they are gone far off from the law. ¹⁵¹Thou art near, O Lord: and all thy ways are truth. ¹⁵²I have known from the beginning concerning thy testimonies: that thou hast founded them for ever. RES ¹⁵³See my humiliation and deliver me: for I have not forgotten the law. ¹⁵⁴Judge my judgment and redeem me: quicken thou me for thy word's sake. ¹⁵⁵Salvation is far from sinners; because they have not sought thy justifications. ¹⁵⁶Many, O Lord, are thy mercies: quicken me according to thy judgment. ¹⁵⁷Many are they that persecute me, and afflict me; but I have not declined from thy testimonies. ¹⁵⁸I beheld the transgressors, and I pined away; because they kept not thy word. ¹⁵⁹Behold I have loved thy commandments, O Lord; quicken me thou in thy mercy. ¹⁶⁰The beginning of thy words is truth: all the judgments of thy justice are for ever. SIN ¹⁶¹Princes have persecuted me without cause: and my heart hath been in awe of thy words. ¹⁶²I will rejoice at thy words, as one that hath found great spoil. ¹⁶³I have hated and abhorred iniquity; but I have loved thy law. ¹⁶⁴Seven times a day I have given praise to thee, for the judgments of thy justice. ¹⁶⁵Much peace have they that love thy law, and to them there is no stumbling block ¹⁶⁶I looked to thy salvation, O Lord: and I loved thy commandments. ¹⁶⁷My soul hath kept thy testimonies: and hath loved them exceedingly. ¹⁶⁸I have kept thy commandments and thy testimonies: because all my ways are in thy sight. TAU ¹⁶⁹Let my supplication, O Lord, come near in thy sight: give me understanding according to thy word. ¹⁷⁰Let my request come in before thee; deliver thou me according to thy word. ¹⁷¹My lips shall utter a hymn, when thou shalt teach me thy justifications. ¹⁷²My tongue shall pronounce thy word: because all thy commandments are justice. ¹⁷³Let thy hand be with me to save me; for I have chosen thy precepts. ¹⁷⁴I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord; and thy law is my meditation. ¹⁷⁵My soul shall live and shall praise thee: and thy judgments shall help me. ¹⁷⁶I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost: seek thy servant, because I have not forgotten thy commandments.

Chapter 119

¹In my trouble I cried to the Lord: and he heard me. ²O Lord, deliver my soul from wicked lips, and a deceitful tongue. ³What shall be given to thee, or what shall be added to thee, to a deceitful tongue. ⁴The sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals that lay waste. ⁵Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged! I have dwelt with the inhabitants of cedar: ⁶my soul hath been long a sojourner. ⁷With them that hate peace I was peaceable: when I spoke to them they fought against me without cause.

Chapter 120

¹I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me. ²My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. ³May he not suffer thy foot to be moved: neither let him slumber that keepeth thee. ⁴Behold he shall neither slumber nor sleep, that keepeth Israel. ⁵The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy protection upon thy right hand. ⁶The sun shall not burn thee by day: nor the moon by night. ⁷The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: may the Lord keep thy soul. ⁸May the Lord keep thy going in and thy going out; from henceforth now and for ever.

Chapter 121

¹I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord. ²Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem. ³Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together. ⁴For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord: the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord. ⁵Because their seats have sat in judgment, seats upon the house of David. ⁶Pray ye for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem: and abundance for them that love thee. ⁷Let peace be in thy strength: and abundance in thy towers. ⁸For the sake of my brethren, and of my neighbours, I spoke peace of thee. ⁹Because of the house of the Lord our God, I have sought good things for thee.

Chapter 122

¹To thee have I lifted up my eyes, who dwellest in heaven. ²Behold as the eyes of the servants are on the hands of their masters, As the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress: so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us. ³Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us: for we are greatly filled with contempt. ⁴For our soul is greatly filled: we are a reproach to the rich, and contempt to the proud.

Chapter 123

¹If it had not been that the Lord was with us, let Israel now say: ²If it had not been that the Lord was with us, When men rose up against us ³perhaps they had swallowed us up alive. When their fury was enkindled against us, ⁴perhaps the waters had swallowed us up. ⁵Our soul hath passed through a torrent: perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable. ⁶Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us to be a prey to their teeth. ⁷Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the followers. The snare is broken, and we are delivered. ⁸Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Chapter 124

¹They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion: he shall not be moved for ever that dwelleth ²in Jerusalem. Mountains are round about it: so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth now and for ever. ³For the Lord will not leave the rod of sinners upon the lot of the just: that the just may not stretch forth their hands to iniquity. ⁴Do good, O Lord, to those that are good, and to the upright of heart. ⁵But such as turn aside into bonds, the Lord shall lead out with the workers of iniquity: peace upon Israel.

Chapter 125

¹When the lord brought back the captivity of Sion, we became like men comforted. ²Then was our mouth filled with gladness; and our tongue with joy. Then shall they say among the Gentiles: The Lord hath done great things for them. ³The Lord hath done great things for us: we are become joyful. ⁴Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as a stream in the south. ⁵They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. ⁶Going they went and wept, casting their seeds. ⁷But coming they shall come with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves.

Chapter 126

¹Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it. ²It is vain for you to rise before light, rise ye after you have sitten, you that eat the bread of sorrow. When he shall give sleep to his beloved, ³behold the inheritance of the Lord are children: the reward, the fruit of the womb. ⁴As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so the children of them that have been shaken. ⁵Blessed is the man that hath filled the desire with them; he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate.

Chapter 127

¹Blessed are all they that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways. ²For thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands: blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee. ³Thy wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of thy house. ⁴Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. ⁵May the Lord bless thee out of Sion: and mayest thou see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. ⁶And mayest thou see thy children's children, peace upon Israel.

Chapter 128

¹Often have they fought against me from my youth, let Israel now say. ²Often have they fought against me from my youth: but they could not prevail over me. ³The wicked have wrought upon my back: they have lengthened their iniquity. ⁴The Lord who is just will cut the necks of sinners: ⁵let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Sion. ⁶Let them be as grass on the tops of houses: which withered before it be plucked up: ⁷Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand: nor he that gathereth sheaves his bosom. ⁸And they that have passed by have not said: The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we have blessed you in the name of the Lord.

Chapter 129

¹Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord: ²Lord, hear my voice. Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. ³If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it. ⁴For with thee there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on his word: ⁵my soul hath hoped in the Lord. ⁶From the morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord. ⁷Because with the Lord there is mercy: and with him plentiful redemption. ⁸And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Chapter 130

¹Lord, my heart is not exalted: nor are my eyes lofty. Neither have I walked in great matters, nor in wonderful things above me. ²If I was not humbly minded, but exalted my soul: As a child that is weaned is towards his mother, so reward in my soul. ³Let Israel hope in the Lord, from henceforth now and for ever.

Chapter 131

¹O Lord, remember David, and all his meekness. ²How he swore to the Lord, he vowed a vow to the God of Jacob: ³If I shall enter into the tabernacle of my house: if I shall go up into the bed wherein I lie: ⁴If I shall give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids, ⁵Or rest to my temples: until I find out a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. ⁶Behold we have heard of it in Ephrata: we have found it in the fields of the wood. ⁷We will go into his tabernacle: We will adore in the place where his feet stood. ⁸Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place: thou and the ark, which thou hast sanctified. ⁹Let thy priests be clothed with justice: and let thy saints rejoice. ¹⁰For thy servant David's sake, turn not away the face of thy anointed. ¹¹The Lord hath sworn truth to David, and he will not make it void: of the fruit of thy womb I will set upon thy throne. ¹²If thy children will keep thy covenant, and these my testimonies which I shall teach them: Their children also for evermore shall sit upon thy throne. ¹³For the Lord hath chosen Sion: he hath chosen it for his dwelling. ¹⁴This is my rest for ever and ever: here will I dwell, for I have chosen it. ¹⁵Blessing, I will bless her widow: I will satisfy her poor with bread. ¹⁶I will clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall rejoice with exceeding great joy. ¹⁷There will I bring forth a horn to David: I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. ¹⁸His enemies I will clothe with confusion: but upon him will my sanctification flourish.

Chapter 132

¹Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity. ²Like the precious ointment on the head, that ran down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron, Which ran down to the skirt of his garment: ³as the dew of Hermon, which descendeth upon mount Sion. For there the Lord hath commandeth blessing, and life for evermore.

Chapter 133

¹Behold now bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord: Who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. ²In the nights lift up your hands to the holy places, and bless ye the Lord. ³May the Lord out of Sion bless thee, he that made heaven and earth.

Chapter 134

¹Praise ye the name of the Lord: O you his servants, praise the Lord: ²You that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. ³Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good: sing ye to his name, for it is sweet. ⁴For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself: Israel for his own possession. ⁵For I have known that the Lord is great, and our God is above all gods. ⁶Whatsoever the Lord hath pleased he hath done, in heaven, in earth, in the sea, and in all the deeps. ⁷He bringeth up clouds from the end of the earth: he hath made lightnings for the rain. He bringeth forth winds out of his stores: ⁸He slew the firstborn of Egypt from man even unto beast. ⁹He sent forth signs and wonders in the midst of thee, O Egypt: upon Pharao, and upon all his servants. ¹⁰He smote many nations, and slew mighty kings: ¹¹Sehon king of the Amorrhites, and Og king of Basan, and all the kingdoms of Chanaan. ¹²And gave their land for an inheritance, for an inheritance to his people Israel. ¹³Thy name, O Lord, is for ever: thy memorial, O Lord, unto all generations. ¹⁴For the Lord will judge his people, and will be entreated in favour of his servants. ¹⁵The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold, the works of men's hands. ¹⁶They have a mouth, but they speak not: they have eyes, but they see not. ¹⁷They have ears, but they hear not: neither is there any breath in their mouths. ¹⁸Let them that make them be like to them: and every one that trusteth in them. ¹⁹Bless the Lord, O house of Israel: bless the Lord, O house of Aaron. ²⁰Bless the Lord, O house of Levi: you that fear the Lord, bless the Lord. ²¹Blessed be the Lord out of Sion, who dwelleth in Jerusalem.

Chapter 135

¹Praise the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. ²Praise ye the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever. ³Praise ye the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever. ⁴Who alone doth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever. ⁵Who made the heavens in understanding: for his mercy endureth for ever. ⁶Who established the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever. ⁷Who made the great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever. ⁸The sun to rule over the day: for his mercy endureth for ever. ⁹The moon and the stars to rule the night: for his mercy endureth for ever. ¹⁰Who smote Egypt with their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever. ¹¹Who brought Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever. ¹²With a mighty hand and a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever. ¹³Who divided the Red Sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever. ¹⁴And brought out Israel through the midst thereof: for his mercy endureth for ever. ¹⁵And overthrew Pharao and his host in the Red Sea: for his mercy endureth for ever. ¹⁶Who led his people through the desert: for his mercy endureth for ever. ¹⁷Who smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever. ¹⁸And slew strong kings: for his mercy endureth for ever. ¹⁹Sehon king of the Amorrhites: for his mercy endureth for ever. ²⁰And Og king of Basan: for his mercy endureth for ever. ²¹And he gave their land for an inheritance: for his mercy endureth for ever. ²²For an inheritance to his servant Israel: for his mercy endureth for ever. ²³For he was mindful of us in our affliction: for his mercy endureth for ever. ²⁴And he redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever. ²⁵Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever. ²⁶Give glory to the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever. ²⁷Give glory to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Chapter 136

¹Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept: when we remembered Sion: ²On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments. ³For there they that led us into captivity required of us the words of songs. And they that carried us away, said: Sing ye to us a hymn of the songs of Sion. ⁴How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land? ⁵If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten. ⁶Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee: If I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy. ⁷Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem: Who say: Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. ⁸O daughter of Babylon, miserable: blessed shall he be who shall repay thee thy payment which thou hast paid us. ⁹Blessed be he that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock.

Chapter 137

¹I will praise thee, O lord, with my whole heart: for thou hast heard the words of my mouth. I will sing praise to thee in the sight of his angels: ²I will worship towards thy holy temple, and I will give glory to thy name. For thy mercy, and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy holy name above all. ³In what day soever I shall call upon thee, hear me: thou shall multiply strength in my soul. ⁴May all the kings of the earth give glory to thee: for they have heard all the words of thy mouth. ⁵And let them sing in the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of the Lord. ⁶For the Lord is high, and looketh on the low: and the high he knoweth afar off. ⁷If I shall walk in the midst of tribulation, thou wilt quicken me: and thou hast stretched forth thy hand against the wrath of my enemies: and thy right hand hath saved me. ⁸The Lord will repay for me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: O despise not the work of thy hands.

Chapter 138

¹Lord, thou hast proved me, and known me: ²thou hast know my sitting down, and my rising up. ³Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off: my path and my line thou hast searched out. ⁴And thou hast foreseen all my ways: for there is no speech in my tongue. ⁵Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things, the last and those of old: thou hast formed me, and hast laid thy hand upon me. ⁶Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me: it is high, and I cannot reach to it. ⁷Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face? ⁸If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present. ⁹If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea: ¹⁰Even there also shall thy hand lead me: and thy right hand shall hold me. ¹¹And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me: and night shall be my light in my pleasures. ¹²But darkness shall not be dark to thee, and night shall be light as day: the darkness thereof, and the light thereof are alike to thee. ¹³For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast protected me from my mother's womb. ¹⁴I will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well. ¹⁵My bone is not hidden from thee, which thou hast made in secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth. ¹⁶Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy book all shall be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them. ¹⁷But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable: their principality is exceedingly strengthened. ¹⁸I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand: I rose up and am still with thee. ¹⁹If thou wilt kill the wicked, O God: ye men of blood, depart from me: ²⁰Because you say in thought: They shall receive thy cities in vain. ²¹Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated thee: and pine away because of thy enemies? ²²I have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they are become enemies to me. ²³Prove me, O God, and know my heart: examine me, and know my paths. ²⁴And see if there be in me the way of iniquity: and lead me in the eternal way.

Chapter 139

¹Unto the end, a psalm for David. ²Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust man. ³Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long they designed battles. ⁴They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of saps is under their lips. ⁵Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked: and from unjust men deliver me. Who have proposed to supplant my steps. ⁶the proud have hidden a net for me. And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumblingblock by the wayside. ⁷I said to the Lord: Thou art my God: hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication. ⁸O Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation: thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle. ⁹Give me not up, O Lord, from my desire to the wicked: they have plotted against me; do not thou forsake me, lest they should triumph. ¹⁰The head of them compassing me about: the labour of their lips shall overwhelm them. ¹¹Burning coals shall fall upon them; thou wilt cast them down into the fire: in miseries they shall not be able to stand. ¹²A man full of tongue shall not be established in the earth: evil shall catch the unjust man unto destruction. ¹³I know that the Lord will do justice to the needy, and will revenge the poor. ¹⁴But as for the just, they shall give glory to thy name: and the upright shall dwell with thy countenance.

Chapter 140

¹I have cried to the, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to thee. ²Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice. ³Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth: and a door round about my lips. ⁴Incline not my heart to evil words; to make excuses in sins. With men that work iniquity: and I will not communicate with the choicest of them. ⁵The just shall correct me in mercy, and shall reprove me: but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. For my prayer also shall still be against the things with which they are well pleased: ⁶their judges falling upon the rock have been swallowed up. They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed: ⁷as when the thickness of the earth is broken up upon the ground: Our bones are scattered by the side of hell. ⁸But o to thee, O Lord, Lord, are my eyes: in thee have I put my trust, take not away my soul. ⁹Keep me from the snare, which they have laid for me, and from the stumblingblocks of them that work iniquity. ¹⁰The wicked shall fall in his net: I am alone until I pass.

Chapter 141

¹Of understanding for David. A prayer when he was in the cave. [1 Kings ²I cried to the Lord with my voice: with my voice I made supplication to the Lord. ³In his sight I pour out my prayer, and before him I declare my trouble: ⁴When my spirit failed me, then thou newest my paths. ⁵I looked on my right hand, and beheld, and there was no one that would know me. Flight hath failed me: and there is no one that hath regard to my soul. ⁶I cried to thee, O Lord: I said: Thou art my hope, my portion in the land of the living. ⁷Attend to my supplication: for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I. ⁸Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the just wait for me, until thou reward me. ²⁴24].

Chapter 142

¹Hear, O Lord, my prayer: give ear to my supplication in thy truth: hear me in thy justice. ²And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight no man living shall be justified. ³For the enemy hath persecuted my soul: he hath brought down my life to the earth. He hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been dead of old: ⁴and my spirit is in anguish within me: my heart within me is troubled. ⁵I remembered the days of old, I meditated on all thy works: I meditated upon the works of thy hands. ⁶I stretched forth my hands to thee: my soul is as earth without water unto thee. ⁷Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit hath fainted away. Turn not away thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. ⁸Cause me to hear thy mercy in the morning; for in thee have I hoped. Make the way known to me, wherein I should walk: for I have lifted up my soul to thee. ⁹Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord, to thee have I fled: ¹⁰teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Thy good spirit shall lead me into the right land: ¹¹for thy name's sake, O Lord, thou wilt quicken me in thy justice. Thou wilt bring my soul out of trouble: ¹²and in thy mercy thou wilt destroy my enemies. And thou wilt cut off all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.

Chapter 143

¹Blessed be the Lord my God, who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war. ²My mercy, and my refuge: my support, and my deliverer: My protector, and I have hoped in him: who subdueth my people under me. ³Lord, what is man, that thou art made known to him? or the son of man, that thou makest account of him? ⁴Man is like to vanity: his days pass away like a shadow. ⁵Lord, bow down thy heavens and descend: touch the mountains and they shall smoke. ⁶Send forth lightning, and thou shalt scatter them: shoot out thy arrows, and thou shalt trouble them. ⁷Put forth thy hand from on high, take me out, and deliver me from many waters: from the hand of strange children: ⁸Whose mouth hath spoken vanity: and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity. ⁹To thee, O God, I will sing a new canticle: on the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings I will sing praises to thee. ¹⁰Who givest salvation to kings: who hast redeemed thy servant David from the malicious sword: ¹¹Deliver me, And rescue me out of the hand of strange children; whose mouth hath spoken vanity: and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity: ¹²Whose sons are as new plants in their youth: Their daughters decked out, adorned round about after the similitude of a temple: ¹³Their storehouses full, flowing out of this into that. Their sheep fruitful in young, abounding in their goings forth: ¹⁴their oxen fat. There is no breach of wall, nor passage, nor crying out in their streets. ¹⁵They have called the people happy, that hath these things: but happy is that people whose God is the Lord.

Chapter 144

¹I will extol thee, O God my king: and I will bless thy name for ever; yea, for ever and ever. ²Every day I will bless thee: and I will praise thy name for ever; yea, for ever and ever. ³Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: and of his greatness there is no end. ⁴Generation and generation shall praise thy works: and they shall declare thy power. ⁵They shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of thy holiness: and shall tell thy wondrous works. ⁶And they shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and shall declare thy greatness. ⁷They shall publish the memory of the abundance of thy sweetness: and shall rejoice in thy justice. ⁸The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. ⁹The Lord is sweet to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. ¹⁰Let all thy works, O lord, praise thee: and let thy saints bless thee. ¹¹They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom: and shall tell of thy power: ¹²To make thy might known to the sons of men: and the glory of the magnificence of thy kingdom. ¹³Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages: and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. ¹⁴The Lord lifteth up all that fall: and setteth up all that are cast down. ¹⁵The eyes of all hope in thee, O Lord: and thou givest them meat in due season. ¹⁶Thou openest thy hand, and fillest with blessing every living creature. ¹⁷The Lord is just in all his ways: and holy in all his works. ¹⁸The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him: to all that call upon him in truth. ¹⁹He will do the will of them that fear him: and he will hear their prayer, and save them. ²⁰The Lord keepeth all them that love him; but all the wicked he will destroy. ²¹My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless thy holy name for ever; yea, for ever and ever.

Chapter 145

¹Alleluia, of Aggeus and Zacharias. ²Praise the Lord, O my soul, in my life I will praise the Lord: I will sing to my God as long as I shall be. Put not your trust in princes: ³in the children of men, in whom there is no salvation. ⁴His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his earth: in that day all their thoughts shall perish. ⁵Blessed is he who hath the God of Jacob for his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God: ⁶who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them. ⁷Who keepeth truth for ever: who executeth judgment for them that suffer wrong: who giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth them that are fettered: ⁸the Lord enlighteneth the blind. The Lord lifteth up them that are cast down: the Lord loveth the just. ⁹The Lord keepeth the strangers, he will support the fatherless and the widow: and the ways of sinners he will destroy. ¹⁰The Lord shall reign for ever: thy God, O Sion, unto generation and generation.

Chapter 146

¹Praise ye the Lord, because psalm is good: to our God be joyful and comely praise. ²The Lord buildeth up Jerusalem: he will gather together the dispersed of Israel. ³Who healeth the broken of heart, and bindeth up their bruises. ⁴Who telleth the number of the stars: and calleth them all by their names. ⁵Great is our Lord, and great is his power: and of his wisdom there is no number. ⁶The Lord lifteth up the meek, and bringeth the wicked down even to the ground. ⁷Sing ye to the Lord with praise: sing to our God upon the harp. ⁸Who covereth the heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth. Who maketh grass to grow on the mountains, and herbs for the service of men. ⁹Who giveth to beasts their food: and to the young ravens that call upon him. ¹⁰He shall not delight in the strength of the horse: nor take pleasure in the legs of a man. ¹¹The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him: and in them that hope in his mercy.

Chapter 147

¹Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem: praise thy God, O Sion. ¹³Because he hath strengthened the bolts of thy gates, he hath blessed thy children within thee. ¹⁴Who hath placed peace in thy borders: and filleth thee with the fat of corn. ¹⁵Who sendeth forth his speech to the earth: his word runneth swiftly. ¹⁶Who giveth snow like wool: scattereth mists like ashes. ¹⁷He sendeth his crystal like morsels: who shall stand before the face of his cold? ¹⁸He shall send out his word, and shall melt them: his wind shall blow, and the waters shall run. ¹⁹Who declareth his word to Jacob: his justices and his judgments to Israel. ²⁰He hath not done in like manner to every nation: and his judgments he hath not made manifest to them. Alleluia.

Chapter 148

¹Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise ye him in the high places. ²Praise ye him , all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. ³Praise ye him, O sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars and light. ⁴Praise him, ye heavens of heavens: and let all the waters that are above the heavens ⁵praise the name of the Lord. For he spoke, and they were made: he commanded, and they were created. ⁶He hath established them for ever, and for ages of ages: he hath made a decree, and it shall not pass away. ⁷Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all ye deeps: ⁸Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds which fulfil his word: ⁹Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars: ¹⁰Beasts and all cattle: serpents and feathered fowls: ¹¹Kings of the earth and all people: princes and all judges of the earth: ¹²Young men and maidens: let the old with the younger, praise the name of the Lord: ¹³for his name alone is exalted. ¹⁴The praise of him is above heaven and earth: and he hath exalted the horn of his people. A hymn to all his saints: to the children of Israel, a people approaching to him. Alleluia.

Chapter 149

¹Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: let his praise be in the church of the saints. ²Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: and let the children of Sion be joyful in their king. ³Let them praise his name in choir: let them sing to him with the timbrel and the psaltery. ⁴For the Lord is well pleased with his people: and he will exalt the meek unto salvation. ⁵The saints shall rejoice in glory: they shall be joyful in their beds. ⁶The high praise of God shall be in their mouth: and two-edged swords in their hands: ⁷To execute vengeance upon the nations, chastisements among the people: ⁸To bind their kings with fetters, and their nobles with manacles of iron. ⁹To execute upon them the judgment that is written: this glory is to all his saints. Alleluia.

Chapter 150

¹Praise ye the Lord in his holy places: praise ye him in the firmament of his power. ²Praise ye him for his mighty acts: praise ye him according to the multitude of his greatness. ³Praise him with sound of trumpet: praise him with psaltery and harp. ⁴Praise him with timbrel and choir: praise him with strings and organs. ⁵Praise him on high sounding cymbals: praise him on cymbals of joy: let every spirit praise the Lord. Alleluia.

The Book of Proverbs

This Book is so called, because it consists of wise and weighty sentences: regulating the morals of men: and directing them to wisdom and virtue. And these sentences are also called PARABLES, because great truths are often couched in them under certain figures and similitudes.

Chapter 1

¹The parables of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. ²To know wisdom, and instruction: ³To understand the words of prudence: and to receive the instruction of doctrine, justice, and judgment, and equity: ⁴To give subtilty to little ones, to the young man knowledge and understanding. ⁵A wise man shall hear and shall be wiser: and he that understandeth, shall possess governments. ⁶He shall understand a parable, and the interpretation, the words of the wise, and their mysterious sayings. ⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. ⁸My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother : ⁹That grace may be added to thy head, and a chain of gold to thy neck. ¹⁰My son, if sinners shall entice thee, consent not to them. ¹¹If they shall say: Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us hide snares for the innocent without cause: ¹²Let us swallow him up alive like hell, and whole as one that goeth down into the pit. ¹³We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoils. ¹⁴Cast in thy lot with us, let us all have one purse. ¹⁵My son, walk not thou with them, restrain thy foot from their paths. ¹⁶For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. ¹⁷But a net is spread in vain before the eyes of them that have wings. ¹⁸And they themselves lie in wait for their own blood, and practise deceits against their own souls. ¹⁹So the wage of every covetous man destroy the souls of the possessors. ²⁰Wisdom preacheth abroad, she uttereth her voice in the streets: ²¹At the head of multitudes she crieth out, in the entrance of the gates of the city she uttereth her words, saying: ²²O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge? ²³Turn ye at my reproof: behold I will utter my spirit to you, and will shew you my words. ²⁴Because I called, and you refused: I stretched out my hand, and there was none that regarded. ²⁵You have despised all my counsel, and have neglected my reprehensions. ²⁶I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared. ²⁷When sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand: when tribulation and distress shall come upon you: ²⁸Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear: they shall rise in the morning and shall not find me: ²⁹Because they have hated instruction and received not the fear of the Lord, ³⁰Nor consented to my counsel, but despised all my reproof. ³¹Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and shall be filled with their own devices. ³²The turning away of little ones shall kill them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. ³³But he that shall hear me, shall rest without terror, and shall enjoy abundance, without fear of evils.

Chapter 2

¹My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and wilt hide my commandments with thee, ²That thy ear may hearken to wisdom: Incline thy heart to know prudence: ³For if thou shalt call for wisdom, and incline thy heart to prudence: ⁴If thou shalt seek her as money, and shalt dig for her as for a treasure: ⁵Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and shalt find the knowledge of God. ⁶Because the Lord giveth wisdom: and out of his mouth cometh prudence and knowledge. ⁷He will keep the salvation of the righteous, and protect them that walk in simplicity. ⁸Keeping the paths of justice, and guarding the ways of saints. ⁹Then shalt thou understand justice, and judgment, and equity, and every good path. ¹⁰If wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge please thy soul: ¹¹Counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall preserve thee, ¹²That thou mayst be delivered from the evil way, and from the man that speaketh perverse things: ¹³Who leave the right way, and walk by dark ways: ¹⁴Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things: ¹⁵Whose ways are perverse, and their steps infamous. ¹⁶That thou mayst be delivered from the strange women, and from the stranger, who softeneth her words: ¹⁷And forsaketh the guide of her youth, ¹⁸And hath forgotten the covenant of her God: for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths to hell. ¹⁹None that go in unto her shall return again, neither shall they take hold of the paths of life, ²⁰That thou mayst walk in a good way: and mayst keep the paths of the just. ²¹For they that are upright shall dwell in the earth, and the simple shall continue in it. ²²But the wicked shall be destroyed from the earth: and they that do unjustly shall be taken away from it.

Chapter 3

¹My son, forget not my law, and let thy heart keep my commandments. ²For they shall add to thee length of days, and years of life and peace. ³Let not mercy and truth leave thee, put them about thy neck, and write them in the tables of thy heart: ⁴And thou shalt And grace and good understanding before God and men. ⁵Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own prudence. ⁶In all thy ways think on him, and he will direct thy steps. ⁷I Be not wise in thy own conceit: fear God, and depart from evil: ⁸For it shall be health to thy navel, and moistening to thy bones. ⁹Honour the Lord with thy substance, and give him of the first of all thy fruits : ¹⁰And thy barns shall be filled with abundance, and thy presses shall run over with wine. ¹¹My son, reject not the correction of the Lord: and do not faint when thou art chastised by him: ¹²For whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth: and as a father in the son he pleaseth himself. ¹³Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom and is rich in prudence: ¹⁴The purchasing thereof is better than the merchandise of silver, and her fruit than the chiefest and purest gold: ¹⁵She is more precious than all riches : and all the things that are desired, are not to be compared with her. ¹⁶Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and glory. ¹⁷Her ways are beautiful ways, and all her paths are peaceable. ¹⁸She is a tree of life to them that lay hold on her: and he that shall retain her is blessed. ¹⁹The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth, hath established the heavens by prudence. ²⁰By his wisdom the depths have broken out, and the clouds grow thick with dew ²¹My son, let not these things depart from thy eyes: keep the law and counsel: ²²And there shall be life to thy soul, and grace to thy mouth. ²³Then shalt thou walk confidently in thy way, and thy foot shall not stumble: ²⁴If thou sleep, thou shalt not fear: thou shalt rest, and thy sleep shall be sweet. ²⁵Be not afraid of sudden fear, nor of the power of the wicked falling upon thee. ²⁶For the Lord will be at thy side, and will keep thy foot that thou be not taken. ²⁷Do not withhold him from doing good, who is able: if thou art able, do good thyself also. ²⁸Say not to thy friend: Go, and come again: and to morrow I will give to thee: when thou canst give at present. ²⁹Practise not evil against thy friend, when he hath confidence in thee. ³⁰Strive not against a man without cause, when he hath done thee no evil. ³¹Envy not the unjust man, and do not follow his ways: ³²For every mocker is an abomination to the Lord, and his communication is with the simple. ³³Want is from the Lord in the house of the wicked: but the habitations of the just shall be blessed. ³⁴He shall scorn the scorners, and to the meek he will give grace. ³⁵The wise shall possess glory: the promotion of fools is disgrace.

Chapter 4

¹Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend that you may know prudence. ²I will give you a good gift, forsake not my law. ³For I also was my father's son, tender and as an only son in the sight of my mother: ⁴And he taught me, and said: Let thy heart receive my words, keep my commandments, and thou shalt live. ⁵Get wisdom, get prudence: forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth. ⁶Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee: love her, and she shall preserve thee. ⁷The beginning of wisdom, get wisdom, and with all thy possession purchase prudence. ⁸Take hold on her, and she shall exalt thee: thou shalt be glorified by her, when thou shalt embrace her. ⁹She shall give to thy head increase of graces, and protect thee with a noble crown. ¹⁰Hear, O my son, and receive my words, that years of life may be multiplied to thee. ¹¹I will shew thee the way of wisdom, I will lead thee by the paths of equity: ¹²Which when thou shalt have entered, thy steps shall not be straitened, and when thou runnest thou shalt not meet a stumblingblock. ¹³Take hold on instruction, leave it not: keep it, because it is thy life. ¹⁴Be not delighted in the paths of the wicked, neither let the way of evil men please thee. ¹⁵Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it. ¹⁶For they sleep not except they have done evil: and their sleep is taken away unless they have made some to fall. ¹⁷They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of iniquity. ¹⁸But the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day. ¹⁹The way of the wicked is darksome: they know not where they fall. ²⁰My son, hearken to my words, and incline thy ear to my sayings. ²¹Let them not depart from thy eyes, keep them in the midst of thy heart: ²²For they are life to those that find them, and health to all flesh. ²³With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it. ²⁴Remove from thee a froward mouth, and let detracting lips be far from thee. ²⁵Let thy eyes look straight on, and let thy eyelids go before thy steps. ²⁶Make straight the path for thy feet, and all thy ways shall be established. ²⁷Decline not to the right hand, nor to the left: turn away thy foot from evil. For the Lord knoweth the ways that are on the right hand: but those are perverse which are on the left hand. But he will make thy courses straight, he will bring forward thy ways in peace.

Chapter 5

¹My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence. ²That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman. ³For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil. ⁴But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword. ⁵Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell. ⁶They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable. ⁷Now therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth. ⁸Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house. ⁹Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel. ¹⁰Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man's house, ¹¹And thou mourn it the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say: ¹²Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof, ¹³And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not indined my ear to masters? ¹⁴I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation. ¹⁵Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well: ¹⁶Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters. ¹⁷Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee. ¹⁸Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth: ¹⁹Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times; he thou delighted continually with her love. ²⁰Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another ? ²¹The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps. ²²His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins. ²³He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.

Chapter 6

¹My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, thou hast engaged fast thy hand to a stranger. ²Thou art ensnared with the words of thy mouth, and caught with thy own words. ³Do therefore, my son, what I say, and deliver thyself: because thou art fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run about, make haste, stir up thy friend: ⁴Give not sleep to thy eyes, neither let thy eyelids slumber. ⁵Deliver thyself as a doe from the hand, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. ⁶Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom: ⁷Which, although she hath no guide, nor master, nor captain, ⁸Provideth her meat for herself in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. ⁹How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou rise out of thy sleep? ¹⁰Thou wilt sleep a little, thou wilt slumber a little, thou wilt fold thy hands a little to sleep: ¹¹And want shall come upon thee, as a traveller, and poverty as a man armed. But if thou be diligent, thy harvest shall come as a fountain, and want shall flee far from thee. ¹²A man that is an apostate, an unprofitable man, walketh with a perverse mouth, ¹³He winketh with the eyes, presseth with the foot, speaketh with the finger. ¹⁴With a wicked heart he deviseth evil, and at all times he soweth discord. ¹⁵To such a one his destruction shall presently come, and he shall suddenly be destroyed, and shall no longer have any remedy. ¹⁶Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth: ¹⁷Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸A heart that deviseth wicked plots, feet that are swift to run into mischief, ¹⁹A deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren. ²⁰My son, beep the commandments of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. ²¹Bind them in thy heart continually, and put them about thy neck. ²²When thou walkest, let them go with thee: when thou sleepest, let them keep thee; and when thou awakest, talk with them. ²³Because the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: ²⁴That they may keep thee from the evil woman, and from the flattering tongue of the stranger. ²⁵Let not thy heart covet her beauty, be not caught with her winks: ²⁶For the price of a harlot is scarce one loaf: but the woman catcheth the precious soul of a man. ²⁷Can a man hide fire in his bosom, and his garments not burn? ²⁸Or can he walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be burnt? ²⁹So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife, shall not be clean when he shall touch her. ³⁰The fault is not so great when a man hath stolen: for he stealeth to fill his hungry soul: ³¹And if he be taken he shall restore sevenfold, and shall give up all the substance of his house. ³²But he that is an adulterer, for the folly of his heart shall destroy his own soul: ³³He gathereth to himself shame and dishonour, and his reproach shall not be blotted out: ³⁴Because the jealousy and rage of the husband will not spare in the day of revenge, ³⁵Nor will he yield to any man's prayers, nor will he accept for satisfaction ever so many gifts.

Chapter 7

¹My son, keep my words, and lay up my precepts with thee. Son, ²Keep my commandments, and thou shalt live: and my law as the apple of thy eye: ³Bind it upon thy fingers, write it upon the tables of thy heart. ⁴Say to wisdom: Thou art my sister: and call prudence thy friend, ⁵That she may keep thee from the woman that is not thine, and from the stranger who sweeteneth her words. ⁶For I look out of the window of my house through the lattice, ⁷And I see little ones, I behold a foolish young man, ⁸Who passeth through the street by the corner, and goeth nigh the way of her house. ⁹In the dark, when it grows late, in the darkness and obscurity of the night, ¹⁰And behold a woman meeteth him in harlot's attire prepared to deceive souls; talkative and wandering, ¹¹Not bearing to be quiet, not able to abide still at home, ¹²Now abroad, now in the streets, now lying in wait near the corners. ¹³And catching the young man, she kisseth him, and with an impudent face, flattereth, saying: ¹⁴I vowed victims for prosperity, this day I have paid my vows. ¹⁵Therefore I am come out to meet thee, desirous to see thee, and I have found thee. ¹⁶I have woven my bed with cords, I have covered it with painted tapestry, brought from Egypt. ¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. ¹⁸Come, let us be inebriated with the breasts, and let us enjoy the desired embraces, till the day appear. ¹⁹For my husband is not at home, he is gone a very long journey. ²⁰He took with him a bag of money: he mill return home the day of the full moon. ²¹She entangled him with many words, and drew him away with the flattery of her lips. ²²Immediately he followeth her as an ox led to be a victim, and as a lamb playing the wanton, and not knowing that he is drawn like a fool to bonds, ²³Till the arrow pierce his liver: as if a bird should make haste to the snare, and knoweth not that his life is in danger. ²⁴Now therefore, my son, hear me, and attend to the words of my mouth. ²⁵Let not thy mind be drawn away in her ways: neither be thou deceived with her paths. ²⁶For she hath cast down many wounded, and the strongest have been slain by her. ²⁷Her house is the way to hell, reaching even to the inner chambers of death.

Chapter 8

¹Doth not wisdom cry aloud, and prudence put forth her voice ? ²Standing in the top of the highest places by the way, in the midst of the paths. ³Beside the gates of the city, in the very doors she speaketh, saying: ⁴O ye men, to you I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. ⁵O little ones, understand subtilty, and ye unwise, take notice. ⁶Hear, for I will speak of great things: and my lips shall be opened to preach right things. ⁷My mouth shall meditate truth, and my lips shall hate wickedness. ⁸All my words are just, there is nothing wicked nor perverse in them. ⁹They are right to them that understand, and just to them that find knowledge. ¹⁰Receive my instruction, and not money: choose knowledge rather than gold. ¹¹11For wisdom is better than all the most precious things: and whatsoever may be desired cannot be compared to ¹²I wisdom dwell in counsel, and am present in learned thoughts. ¹³The fear of the Lord hateth evil: I hate arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue. ¹⁴Counsel and equity is mine, prudence is mine, strength is mine. ¹⁵By me kings reign, and lawgivers decree just things, ¹⁶By me princes rule, and the mighty decree justice. ¹⁷I love them that love me: and they that in the morning early watch for me, shall find me. ¹⁸With me are riches and glory, glorious riches and justice. ¹⁹For my fruit is better than gold and the precious stone, and my blossoms than choice silver. ²⁰I walk in the way of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment, ²¹That I may enrich them that love me, and may fill their treasures. ²²The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing from the beginning. ²³I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made. ²⁴The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived. neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out: ²⁵The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been established: before the hills I was brought forth: ²⁶He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world. ²⁷When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths: ²⁸When he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters: ²⁹When he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when be balanced the foundations of the earth; ³⁰I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times; ³¹Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men. ³²Now therefore, ye children, hear me: Blessed are they that keep my ways. ³³Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. ³⁴Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. ³⁵He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord: ³⁶But he that shall sin against me, shall hurt his own soul. All that hate me love death.

Chapter 9

¹Wisdom hath built herself a house, she hath hewn her out seven pillars. ²She hath slain her victims, mingled her wine, and set forth her table. ³She hath sent her maids to invite to the tower, and to the walls of the city: ⁴Whosoever is a little one, let him come to me. And to the unwise she said: ⁵Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you. ⁶Forsake childishness, and live, and walk by the ways of prudence. ⁷He that teacheth a scorner, doth an injury to himself: and he that rebuketh a wicked man, getteth himself a blot. ⁸Rebuke not a scorner lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. ⁹Give an occasion to a wise man, and wisdom shall be added to him. Teach a just man, and he shall make haste to receive it. ¹⁰The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is prudence. ¹¹For by me shall thy days be multiplied, and years of life shall be added to thee. ¹²If thou be wise, thou shalt be so to thyself: and if a scorner, thou alone shalt bear the evil. ¹³A foolish woman and clamorous, and full of allurements, and knowing nothing at all, ¹⁴Sat at the door of her house, upon a seat, in a high place of the city, ¹⁵To call them that pass by the way, and go on their journey: ¹⁶He that is a little one, let him turn to me. And to the fool she said: ¹⁷Stolen waters are sweeter, and hid den bread is more pleasant. ¹⁸And he did not know that giants are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell. The Parables of Solomon

Chapter 10

¹A wise son maketh the father glad: but a foolish son is the sorrow of his mother. ²Treasures of wickedness shall profit nothing: but justice shall deliver from death. ³The Lord will not afflict the soul of the just with famine, and he will disappoint the deceitful practices of the wicked. ⁴The slothful hand hath wrought poverty: but the hand of the industrious getteth riches. He that trusteth to lies feedeth the winds: and the same runneth after birds that fly away. ⁵He that gathered in the harvest is a wise son: but he that snorteth in the summer, is the son of confusion. ⁶The blessing of the Lord is upon the head of the just: but iniquity covereth the mouth of the wicked. ⁷The memory of the just is with praises: and the name of the wicked shall rot. ⁸The wise of heart receiveth precepts: a fool is beaten with lips. ⁹He that walketh sincerely, walketh confidently: but he that perverteth his ways, shall be manifest. ¹⁰He that winketh with the eye shall cause sorrow: and the foolish in lips shall be beaten. ¹¹The mouth of the just is a vein of life: and the mouth of the wicked covereth iniquity. ¹²Hatred stirreth up strifes: and charity covereth all sins. ¹³In the lips of the wise is wisdom found: and a rod on the back of him that wanteth sense. ¹⁴Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the fool is next to confusion. ¹⁵The substance of a rich man is the city of his strength: the fear of the poor is their poverty. ¹⁶The work of the just is unto life: but the fruit of the wicked, unto sin. ¹⁷The way of life, to him that observeth correction: but he that forsaketh reproofs goeth astray. ¹⁸Lying lips hide hatred: he that uttereth reproach is foolish. ¹⁹In the multitude of words there shall not want sin: but he that refraineth his lips is most wise. ²⁰The tongue of the just is as choice silver: but the heart of the wicked is nothing worth. ²¹The lips of the just teach many: but they that are ignorant, shall die in the want of understanding. ²²The blessing of the Lord maketh men rich: neither shall affliction be joined to them. ²³A fool worketh mischief as it were for sport: but wisdom is prudence to a man. ²⁴That which the wicked feareth, shall come upon him: to the just their desire shall be given. ²⁵As a tempest that passeth, so the wicked shall be no more: but the just is as an everlasting foundation. ²⁶As vinegar to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that sent him. ²⁷The fear of the Lord shall prolong days: and the years of the wicked shall be shortened. ²⁸The expectation of the just is joy; but the hope of the wicked shall perish. ²⁹The strength of the upright is the way of the Lord: and fear to them that work evil. ³⁰The just shall never be moved: but the wicked shall not dwell on the earth. ³¹The mouth of the just shall bring forth wisdom: the tongue of the perverse shall perish. ³²The lips of the just consider what is acceptable: and the mouth of the wicked uttereth perverse things.

Chapter 11

¹A deceitful balance is an abomination before the Lord: and a just weight is his will. ²Where pride is, there also shall be reproach: but where humility is, there also is wisdom. ³The simplicity of the just shall guide them: and the deceitfulness of the wicked shall destroy them. ⁴Riches shall not profit in the day of revenge: but justice shall deliver from death. ⁵The justice of the upright shall make his way prosperous: and the wicked man shall fall by his own wickedness. ⁶The justice of the righteous shall deliver them: and the unjust shall be caught in their own snares. ⁷When the wicked man is dead, there shall be no hope any more: and the expectation of the solicitous shall perish. ⁸The just is delivered out of distress: and the wicked shall be given up for him. ⁹The dissembler with his mouth deceiveth his friend: but the just shall be delivered by knowledge. ¹⁰When it goeth well with the just the city shall rejoice: and when the wicked perish there shall be praise. ¹¹By the blessing of the just the city shall be exalted: and by the mouth of the wicked it shall be overthrown. ¹²He that despiseth his friend, is mean of heart: but the wise man will hold his peace. ¹³He that walketh deceitfully, revealeth secrets: but he that is faithful, concealeth the thing committed to him by his friend. ¹⁴Where there is no governor, the people shall fall: but there is safety where there is much counsel. ¹⁵He shall be afflicted with evil, that is surety for a stranger: but he that is aware of the snares, shall be secure. ¹⁶A gracious woman shall find glory: and the strong shall have riches. ¹⁷A merciful man doth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel casteth off even his own kindred. ¹⁸The wicked maketh an unsteady work: but to him that soweth justice, there is a faithful reward. ¹⁹Clemency prepareth life: and the pursuing of evil things, death. ²⁰A perverse heart is abominable to the Lord: and his will is in them that walk sincerely. ²¹Hand in hand the evil man shall not be innocent: but the seed of the just shall be saved. ²²A golden ring in a swine's snout, a woman fair and foolish. ²³The desire of the just is all good: the expectation of the wicked is indignation. ²⁴Some distribute their own goods, and grow richer: others take away what is not their own, and are always in want. ²⁵The soul which blesseth, shall be made fat: and he that inebriateth, shall be inebriated also himself. ²⁶He that hideth up corn, shall be cursed among the people: but a blessing upon the head of them that sell. ²⁷Well doth he rise early who seeketh good things; but he that seeketh after evil things shall be oppressed by them. ²⁸He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the just shall spring up as a green leaf. ²⁹He that troubleth his own house, shall inherit the winds: and the fool shall serve the wise. ³⁰The fruit of the just man is a tree of life: and he that gaineth souls, is wise. ³¹If the just man receive in the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner.

Chapter 12

¹He that loveth correction, loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is foolish. ²He that is good, shall draw grace from the Lord : but he that trusteth in his own devices doth wickedly. ³Men shall not be strengthened by wickedness: and the root of the just shall not be moved. ⁴A diligent woman is a crown to her husband: and she that doth things worthy of confusion, is a rottenness in his bones. ⁵The thoughts of the just are judgments: and the counsels of the wicked are deceitful. ⁶The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood: the mouth of the just shall deliver them. ⁷Turn the wicked, and they shall not be: but the house of the just shall stand firm. ⁸A man shall be known by his learning: but he that is vain and foolish, shall be exposed to contempt. ⁹Better is the poor man that provideth for himself, than he that is glorious and wanteth bread. ¹⁰The just regardeth the lives of his beasts: but the bowels of the wicked are cruel. ¹¹He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that pursueth idleness is very foolish. He that is delighted in passing his time over wine, leaveth a reproach in his strong holds. ¹²The desire of the wicked is the fortification of evil men: but the root of the just shall prosper. ¹³For the sins of the lips ruin draweth nigh to the evil mall: but the just shall escape out of distress. ¹⁴By the fruit of his own mouth shall a man be filled with good things, and according to the works of his hands it shall be repaid him. ¹⁵The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that is wise hearkeneth unto counsels. ¹⁶A fool immediately sheweth his anger: but he that dissembleth injuries is wise. ¹⁷He that speaketh that which he knoweth, sheweth forth justice: but he that lieth, is a deceitful witness. ¹⁸There is that promiseth, and is pricked as it were with a sword of conscience: but the tongue of the wise is health. ¹⁹The lip of truth shall be steadfast for ever: but he that is a hasty witness, frameth a lying tongue. ²⁰Deceit is in the heart of them that think evil things: but joy followeth them that take counsels of peace. ²¹Whatsoever shall befall the just man. it shall not make him sad: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief. ²²Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord: but they that deal faithfully please him. ²³A cautious man concealeth knowledge: and the heart of fools publisheth folly. ²⁴The hand of the valiant shall bear rule: but that which is slothful, shall be under tribute. ²⁵Grief in the heart of a man shall bring him low, but with a good word he shall be made glad. ²⁶He that neglecteth a loss for the sake of a friend, is just: but the way of the wicked shall deceive them. ²⁷The deceitful man shall not find gain: but the substance of a just man shall be precious gold. ²⁸In the path of justice is life: but the by-way leadeth to death.

Chapter 13

¹A wise son heareth the doctrine of his father: but he that is a scorner, beareth not when he is reproved. ²Of the fruit of his own mouth shall a man be filled with good things: but the soul of transgressors is wicked. ³He that keepeth his mouth, keepeth his soul: but he that hath no guard on his speech shall meet with evils. ⁴The sluggard willeth and willeth not: but the soul of them that work, shall be made fat. ⁵The just shall hate a lying word: but the wicked confoundeth, and shall be confounded. ⁶Justice keepeth the way of the innocent: but wickedness overthroweth the sinner. ⁷One is as it were rich, when he hath nothing: and another is as it were poor, when he hath great riches. ⁸The ransom of a man's life are his riches: but he that is poor beareth not reprehension. ⁹The light of the just giveth joy: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. ¹⁰Among the proud there are always contentions: but they that do all things with counsel, are ruled by wisdom. ¹¹Substance got in haste shall be diminished: but that which by little and little is gathered with the hand shall increase. ¹²Hope that is deferred afflicteth the soul: desire when it cometh is a tree of life. ¹³Whosoever speaketh ill of any thing, bindeth himself for the time to come: but he that feareth the commandment, shall dwell in peace. Deceitful souls go astray in sins: the just are merciful, and shew mercy. ¹⁴The law of the wise is a fountain of life, that he may decline from the ruin of death. ¹⁵Good instruction shall give grace: in the way of scorners is a deep pit. ¹⁶The prudent mall doth all things with counsel: but he that is a fool, layeth open his folly. ¹⁷The messenger of the wicked shall fall into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health. ¹⁸Poverty and shame to him that refuseth instruction: but he that yieldeth to reproof, shall be glorified. ¹⁹The desire that is accomplished, delighteth the soul: fools hate them that flee from evil things. ²⁰He that walketh with the wise, shall be wise: a friend of fools shall become like to them. ²¹21Evil pursueth sinners: and to the just good shall be repaid. ²²The good man leaveth heirs, sons, and grandsons: and the substance of the sinner is kept for the just. ²³Much food is in the tillage of fathers: but for others it is gathered with out judgment. ²⁴He that spareth the rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him correcteth him betimes. ²⁵The just eateth and filleth his soul: but the belly of the wicked is never to be filled.

Chapter 14

¹A wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish will pull down with her hands that also which is built. ²He that walketh in the right way, and feareth God, Cis despised by him that goeth by an infamous way. ³In the mouth of a fool is the rod of pride: but the lips of the wise preserve them. ⁴Where there are no oxen, the crib is empty: but where there is much corn, there the strength of the ox is manifest. ⁵A faithful witness will not lie: but a deceitful witness uttereth a lie. ⁶A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: the learning of the wise is easy. ⁷Go against a foolish man, and he knoweth not the lips of prudence. ⁸The wisdom of a. discreet man is to understand his way: and the imprudence of fools erreth. ⁹A fool will laugh at sin, but among the just grace shall abide. ¹⁰The heart that knoweth the bitterness of his own soul, in his joy the stranger shall not intermeddle. ¹¹The house of the wicked shall be destroyed: but the tabernacles of the just shall flourish. ¹²There is a way which seemeth just to a man: but the ends thereof lead to death. ¹³Laughter shall be mingled with sorrow, and mourning taketh hold of the end of joy. ¹⁴A fool shall be filled with his own ways, and the good man shall be above him. ¹⁵The innocent believeth every word: the discreet man considereth his steps. No good shall come to the deceitful son: but the wise servant shall prosper in his dealings, and his way shall be made straight. ¹⁶A wise man feareth and declineth from evil: the fool leapeth over and is confident. ¹⁷The impatient man shall work folly: and the crafty man is hateful. ¹⁸The childish shall possess folly, and the prudent, shall look for knowledge. ¹⁹The evil shall fall down before the good: and the wicked before the gates of the just. ²⁰The poor man shall be hateful even to his own neighbour: but the friends of the rich are many. ²¹He that despiseth his neighbour, sinneth: but he that sheweth mercy to the poor, shall be blessed. He that believeth in the Lord, loveth mercy. ²²They err that work evil: but mercy and truth prepare good things. ²³In much work there shall be abundance: but where there are many words, there is oftentimes want. ²⁴The crown of the wise is their riches: the folly of fools, imprudence. ²⁵A faithful witness delivereth souls: and the double dealer uttereth lies. ²⁶In the fear of the Lord is confidence of strength, and there shall be hope for his children. ²⁷The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to decline from the ruin of death. ²⁸In the multitude of people is the dignity of the king: and in the small number of people the dishonour of the prince. ²⁹He that is patient, is governed with much wisdom: but he that is impatient, exalteth his folly. ³⁰Soundness of heart is the life of the flesh: but envy is the rottenness of the bones. ³¹He that oppresseth the poor, upbraideth his Maker: but he that hath pity on the poor, honoureth him. ³²The wicked man shall be driven out in his wickedness: but the just hath hope in his death. ³³In the heart of the prudent resteth wisdom, and it shall instruct all the ignorant. ³⁴Justice exalteth a nation: but sin maketh nations miserable. ³⁵A wise servant is acceptable to the king: he that is good for nothing shall feel his anger.

Chapter 15

¹A mild answer breaketh wrath: but a harsh word stirreth up fury. ²The tongue of the wise adorneth knowledge: but the mouth of fools bubbleth out folly. ³The eyes of the Lord in every place behold the good and the evil. ⁴A peaceable tongue is a tree of life: but that which is immoderate, shall crush the spirit. ⁵A fool laugheth at the instruction of his father: but he that regardeth reproofs shall become prudent. In abundant justice there is the greatest strength: but the devices of the wicked shall be rooted out. ⁶The house of the just is very much strength: and in the fruits of the wicked is trouble. ⁷The lips of the wise shall disperse knowledge: the heart of fools shall be unlike. ⁸The victims of the wicked are abominable to the Lord: the vows of the just are acceptable. ⁹The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: he that followeth justice is beloved by him. ¹⁰Instruction is grievous to him that forsaketh the way of life: he that hateth reproof shall die. ¹¹Hell and destruction are before the Lord: how much more the hearts of the children of men? ¹²A corrupt man loveth not one that reproveth him: nor will he go to the wise. ¹³A glad heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by grief of mind the spirit is cast down. ¹⁴The heart of the wise seeketh instruction: and the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness. ¹⁵All the days of the poor are evil: a secure mind is like a continual feast. ¹⁶Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasures without content, ¹⁷It is better to be invited to herbs with love, than to a fatted calf with hatred. ¹⁸A passionate man stirreth up strifes: he that is patient appeaseth those that are stirred up. ¹⁹The way of the slothful is as a hedge of thorns; the way of the just is without offence. ²⁰A wise son maketh a father joyful: but the foolish man despiseth his mother. ²¹Folly is joy to the fool: and the wise man maketh straight his steps. ²²Designs are brought to nothing where there is no counsel: but where there are many counsellors, they are established. ²³A man rejoiceth in the sentence of his mouth: and a word in due time is best. ²⁴The path of life is above for the wise, that he may decline from the lowest hell. ²⁵The Lord will destroy the house of the proud: and will strengthen the borders of the widow. ²⁶Evil thoughts are an abomination to the Lord: and pure words most beautiful shall be confirmed by him. ²⁷He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house: but he that hateth bribes shall live. By mercy and faith sins are purged away: and by the fear of the Lord every one declineth from evil. ²⁸The mind of the just studieth obedience: the mouth of the wicked over floweth with evils. ²⁹The Lord is far from the wicked: and he will hear the prayers of the just. ³⁰The light of the eyes rejoiceth the soul: a good name maketh the bones fat. ³¹The ear that heareth the reproofs of life, shall abide in the midst of the wise. ³²He that rejecteth instruction, despiseth his own soul: but he that yieldeth to reproof possesseth understanding. ³³The fear of the Lord is the lesson of wisdom: and humility goeth before glory.

Chapter 16

¹It is the part of man to prepare the soul: and of the Lord to govern the tongue. ²All the ways of a man are open to his eyes: the Lord is the weigher of spirits. ³Lay open thy works to the Lord: and thy thoughts shall be directed. ⁴The Lord hath made all things for himself: the wicked also for the evil day. ⁵Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord: though hand should be joined to hand, he is not innocent. The beginning of a good way is to do justice; and this is more acceptable with God, than to offer sacrifices. ⁶By mercy and truth iniquity is redeemed: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. ⁷When the ways of man shall please the Lord, he will convert even his enemies to peace. ⁸Better is a little with justice, than great revenues with iniquity. ⁹The heart of man disposeth his way: but the Lord must direct his steps. ¹⁰Divination is in the lips of the king, his mouth shall not err in judgment. ¹¹Weight and balance are judgments of the Lord: and his work all the weights of the bag. ¹²They that act wickedly are abominable to the king: for the throne is established by justice. ¹³Just lips are the delight of kings: he that speaketh right things shall be loved. ¹⁴The wrath of a king is as messengers of death : and the wise man will pacify it. ¹⁵In the cheerfulness of the king's countenance is life: and his clemency is like the latter rain. ¹⁶Get wisdom, because it is better than gold: and purchase prudence, for it is more precious than silver. ¹⁷The path of the just departeth from evils: he that keepeth his soul keepeth his way. ¹⁸Pride goeth before destruction: and the spirit is lifted up before a fall. ¹⁹It is better to be humbled with the meek, than to divide spoils with the proud. ²⁰The learned in word shall find good things: and he that trusteth in the Lord is blessed. ²¹The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and he that is sweet in words shall attain to greater things. ²²Knowledge is a fountain of life to him that possesseth it: the instruction of fools is foolishness. ²³The heart of the wise shall instruct his mouth: and shall add grace to his lips. ²⁴Well ordered words are as a honeycomb: sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. ²⁵There is a way that seemeth to a man right: and the ends thereof lead to death. ²⁶The soul of him that laboureth, laboureth for himself, because his mouth hath obliged him to it. ²⁷The wicked man diggeth evil, and in his lips is a burning fire. ²⁸A perverse man stirreth up quarrels: and one full of words separateth princes. ²⁹An unjust man allureth his friend: and leadeth him into a way that is not good ³⁰He that with fixed eyes deviseth wicked things, biting his lips, bringeth: evil to pass. ³¹Old age is a crown of dignity, when it is found in the ways of justice. ³²The patient man is better than the valiant: and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh cities. ³³Lots are cast into the lap, but they are disposed of by the Lord.

Chapter 17

¹Better is a dry morsel with joy, than a house full of victims with strife. ²A wise servant shall rule over foolish sons, and shall divide the inheritance among the brethren. ³As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace: so the Lord trieth the hearts. ⁴The evil man obeyeth an unjust tongue: and the deceitful hearkeneth to lying lips. ⁵He that despiseth the poor, reproacheth his Maker; and he that rejoiceth at another man's ruin, shall not be unpunished. ⁶Children's children are the crown of old men: and the glory of children are their fathers. ⁷Eloquent words do not become a fool, nor lying lips a prince. ⁸The expectation of him that expecteth, is a most acceptable jewel: whithersoever he turneth himself, he understandeth wisely. ⁹He that concealeth a transgression. seeketh friendships: he that repeateth it again, separateth friends. ¹⁰A reproof availeth more with a wise man, than a hundred stripes with a fool. ¹¹An evil man always seeketh quarrels: but a cruel angel shall be sent against him. ¹²It is better to meet a bear robbed of her whelps, than a fool trusting in his own folly. ¹³He that rendereth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house. ¹⁴The beginning of quarrels is as when one letteth out water: before he suffereth reproach he forsaketh judgment. ¹⁵He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, both are abominable before God. ¹⁶What doth it avail a fool to have riches, seeing he cannot buy wisdom? He that maketh his house high, seeketh a downfall: and he that refuseth to learn, shall fall into evils. ¹⁷He that is a friend loveth at all times: and a brother is proved in distress. ¹⁸A foolish man will clap hands, when he is surety for his friend. ¹⁹He that studieth discords, loveth quarrels: and he that exalteth his door, seeketh ruin. ²⁰He that is of a perverse heart, shall not find good: and he that perverteth his tongue, shall fall into evil. ²¹A fool is born to his own disgrace: and even his father shall not rejoice in a fool. ²²A joyful mind maketh age flourishing: a sorrowful spirit drieth up the bones. ²³The wicked man taketh gifts out of the bosom, that he may pervert the paths of judgment. ²⁴Wisdom shineth in the face of the wise: the eyes of fools are in the ends of the earth. ²⁵A foolish son is the anger of the father: and the sorrow of the mother that bore him. ²⁶It is no good thing to do hurt to the just: nor to strike the prince, who judgeth right. ²⁷He that setteth bounds to his words. is knowing and wise: and the man of understanding is of a precious spirit. ²⁸Even a fool, if he will hold his peace shall be counted wise: and if he close his lips, a man of understanding.

Chapter 18

¹He that hath a mind to depart from a friend seeketh occasions: he shall ever be subject to reproach. ²A fool receiveth not the words of prudence: unless thou say those things which are in his heart. ³The wicked man when he is come into the depth of sine, contemneth: but ignominy and reproach follow him. ⁴Words from the mouth of a men are as deep water: and the fountain of wisdom as an overflowing stream. ⁵It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to decline from the truth of judgment. ⁶The lips of a fool intermeddle with strife: and his mouth provoketh quarrels. ⁷The mouth of a fool is his destruction: and his lips are the ruin of his soul. ⁸The words of the double tongued are as if they were harmless: and they reach even to the inner parts of the bowels. Fear casteth down the slothful: and the souls of the effeminate shall be hungry. ⁹He that is loose and slack in his work, is the brother of him that wasteth his own works. ¹⁰The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the just runneth to it, and shall be exalted. ¹¹The substance of the rich man is the city of his strength, and as a strong wall compassing him about. ¹²Before destruction, the heart of a man is exalted: and before he be glorified, it is humbled. ¹³He that answereth before he heareth sheweth himself to be a fool, and worthy of confusion. ¹⁴The spirit of a man upholdeth his infirmity: but a spirit that is easily angered, who can bear? ¹⁵A wise heart shall acquire knowledge: and the ear of the wise seeketh instruction. ¹⁶A man's gift enlargeth his may, and maketh him room before princes. ¹⁷The just is first accuser of himself: his friend cometh, and shall search him. ¹⁸The lot suppresseth contentions, and determineth even between the mighty. ¹⁹A brother that is helped by his brother, is like a strong city: and judgments are like the bars of cities. ²⁰Of the fruit of a man's mouth shall his belly be satisfied: and the offspring of his lips shall fill him. ²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue: they that love it, shall eat the fruits thereof. ²²He that hath found a good wife, hath found a good thing, and shall receive a pleasure from the Lord. He that driveth away a good wife, driveth away a good thing: but he that keepeth an adulteress, is foolish and wicked. ²³The poor will speak with supplications, and the rich will speak roughly. ²⁴A man amiable in society, shall be more friendly than a brother.

Chapter 19

¹Better is the poor man, that walketh in his simplicity, than a rich man that is perverse in his lips, and unwise. ²Where there is no knowledge of the soul, there is no good: and he that is hasty with his feet shall stumble. ³The folly of a man supplanteth his seeps: and he fretteth in his mind against God. ⁴Riches make many friends: but from the poor man, even they whom he had, depart. ⁵A false witness shall not be unpunished: and he that speaketh lies shall not escape. ⁶Many honour the person of him that is mighty, and are friends of him that giveth gifts. ⁷The brethren of the poor man hate him: moreover also his friends have departed far from him. He that followeth after words only, shall have nothing. ⁸But he that possesseth a mind, loveth his own soul, and he that keepeth prudence shall find good things. ⁹A false witness shall not be unpunished: and he that speaketh lies, shall perish. ¹⁰Delicacies are not seemly for a fool: nor for a servant to have rule over princes. ¹¹The learning of a man is known by patience and his glory is to pass over wrongs. ¹²As the roaring of a lion, so also is the anger of a king: and his cheerfulness as the dew upon the grass. ¹³A foolish son is the grief of his father: and a wrangling wife is like a roof continually dropping through. ¹⁴House and riches are given by parents: but a prudent wife is properly from the Lord. ¹⁵Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep, and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. ¹⁶He that keepeth the commandment, keepeth his own soul: but he that neglecteth his own way, shall die. ¹⁷He that hath mercy on the poor, lendeth to the Lord: and he will repay him. ¹⁸Chastise thy son, despair not: but to the killing of him set not thy soul. ¹⁹He that is impatient, shall suffer damage: and when he shall take away he shall add another thing. ²⁰Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayst be wise in thy latter end. ²¹There are many thoughts in the heart of a man: but the will of the Lord shall stand firm. ²²A needy man is merciful: and better is the poor than the lying man. ²³The fear of the Lord is unto life: and he shall abide in fulness without being visited with evil. ²⁴The slothful hideth his hand under his armpit, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth. ²⁵The wicked man being; scourged, the fool shall be wiser: but if thou rebuke a wise man he will understand discipline. ²⁶He that afflicteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is infamous and unhappy. ²⁷Cease not, O my son, to hear instruction, and be not ignorant of the words of knowledge. ²⁸An unjust witness scorneth judgment: and the mouth of the wicked devoureth iniquity. ²⁹Judgments are prepared for scorners: and striking hammers for the bodies of fools.

Chapter 20

¹Wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness riotous: whosoever is delighted therewith shell not be wise. ²As the roaring of a lion, so also is the dread of a king: he that provoketh him, sinneth against his own soul. ³It is an honour for a man to separate himself from quarrels: but all fools are meddling with reproaches. ⁴Because of the cold the sluggard would not plough: he shall beg therefore in the summer, and it shall not be given him. ⁵Counsel in the heart of a man is like deep water: but a wise man will draw it out. ⁶Many men are called merciful: but who shall find a faithful man? ⁷The just that walketh in his simplicity, shall leave behind him blessed children. ⁸The king, that sitteth on the throne of judgment, scattereth away all evil with his look. ⁹Who can say: My heart is clean, I am pure from sin? ¹⁰Diverse weights and diverse measures, both are abominable before God. ¹¹By his inclinations a child is known, if his works be clean and right. ¹²The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made them both. ¹³Love not sleep, lest poverty oppress thee: open thy eyes, and be filled with bread. ¹⁴It is nought, it is nought, saith every buyer: and when he is gone away, then he will boast. ¹⁵There is gold, and a multitude of jewels: but the lips of knowledge are a precious vessel. ¹⁶Take away the garment of him that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge from him for strangers. ¹⁷The bread of lying is sweet to a man: but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. ¹⁸Designs are strengthened by counsels: and wars are to be managed by governments. ¹⁹Meddle not with him that revealeth secrets, and walketh deceitfully, and openeth wide his lips. ²⁰He that curseth his father, and mother, his lamp shall be put out in the midst of darkness. ²¹The inheritance gotten hastily in the beginning, in the end shall be without a blessing. ²²Say not: I will return evil: wait for the Lord and he will deliver thee. ²³Diverse weights are an abomination before the Lord: a deceitful balance is not good. ²⁴The steps of man are guided by the Lord: but who is the man that can understand his own way? ²⁵It is ruin to a man to devour holy ones, and after vows to retract. ²⁶A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth over them the wheel. ²⁷The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, which searcheth all the hidden things of the bowels. ²⁸Mercy and truth preserve the king, and his throne is strengthened by clemency. ²⁹The joy of young men is their strength: and the dignity of old men, their grey hairs. ³⁰The blueness of a wound shall wipe away evils: and stripes in the more inward parts of the belly.

Chapter 21

¹As the divisions of waters, so the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord: whithersoever he will he shall turn it. ²Every way of a man seemeth right to himself: but the Lord weigheth the hearts. ³To do mercy and judgment, pleaseth the Lord more than victims. ⁴Haughtiness of the eyes is the enlarging of the heart: the lamp of the wicked is sin. ⁵The thoughts of the industrious always bring forth abundance: but every sluggard is always in want. ⁶He that gathereth treasures by a lying tongue, is vain and foolish, and shall stumble upon the snares of death. ⁷The robberies of the wicked shall be their downfall, because they would not do judgment. ⁸The perverse way of a man is strange: but as for him that is pure, his work is right. ⁹It is better to sit in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling women, and in a common house. ¹⁰The soul of the wicked desireth evil, he will not have pity on his neighbour. ¹¹When a pestilent man is punished, the little one will be wiser: and if he follow the wise, he will receive knowledge. ¹²The just considereth seriously the house of the wicked, that he may withdraw the wicked from evil. ¹³He that stoppeth his ear against the cry of the poor, shall also cry himself and shall not be heard. ¹⁴A secret present quencheth anger: and a gift in the bosom the greatest wrath. ¹⁵It is joy to the just to do judgment: and dread to them that work iniquity. ¹⁶A man that shall wander out of the way of doctrine, shall abide in the company of the giants. ¹⁷He that loveth good cheer, shall be in want: he that loveth wine, and fat things, shall not be rich. ¹⁸The wicked is delivered up for the just: and the unjust for the righteous. ¹⁹It is better to dwell in a wilderness, than with a quarrelsome and passionate woman. ²⁰There is a treasure to be desired, and oil in the dwelling of the just: and the foolish man shall spend it. ²¹He that followeth justice and mercy, shall find life, justice, and glory. ²²The wise man hath scaled the city of the strong, and hath cast down the strength of the confidence thereof. ²³He that keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from distress. ²⁴The proud and the arrogant is called ignorant, who in anger worketh pride. ²⁵Desires kill the slothful: for his hands have refused to work at all. ²⁶He longeth and desireth all the day : but he that is just, will give, and will not cease. ²⁷The sacrifices of the wicked are abominable, because they are offered of wickedness. ²⁸A lying witness shall perish: an obedient man shall speak of victory. ²⁹The wicked man impudently hardeneth his face: but he that is righteous, correcteth his way. ³⁰There is no wisdom, there is no prudence, there is no counsel against the Lord. ³¹The horse is prepared for the day of battle: but the Lord giveth safety.

Chapter 22

¹A good name is better than great riches: and good favour is above silver and gold. ²The rich and poor have met one another: the Lord is the maker of them both. ³The prudent man saw the evil, and hid himself: the simple passed on, and suffered loss. ⁴The fruit of humility is the fear of the Lord, riches and glory and life. ⁵Arms and swords are in the way of the perverse: but he that keepeth his own soul departeth far from them. ⁶It is a proverb: A young man according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it. ⁷The rich ruleth over the poor: and the borrower is servant to him that lendeth. ⁸He that soweth iniquity shall reap evils, and with the rod of his anger he shall be consumed. ⁹He that is inclined to mercy shall be blessed: for of his bread he hath given to the poor. He that maketh presents shall purchase victory and honour: but he carrieth away the souls of the receivers. ¹⁰Cast out the scoffer, and contention shall go out with him, and quarrels and reproaches shall cease. ¹¹He that loveth cleanness of heart, for the grace of his lips shall have the king for his friend. ¹²The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge: and the words of the unjust are overthrown. ¹³The slothful man saith: There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the midst of the streets. ¹⁴The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit: he whom the Lord is angry with, shall fall into it. ¹⁵Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, and the rod of correction shall drive it away. ¹⁶He that oppresseth the poor, to increase his own riches, shall himself give to one that is richer, and shall be in need. ¹⁷Incline thy ear, and hear the words of the wise: and apply thy heart to my doctrine : ¹⁸Which shall be beautiful for thee, if thou keep it in thy bowels, and it shall flow in thy lips: ¹⁹That thy trust may be in the Lord, wherefore I have also shewn it to thee this day. ²⁰Behold I have described it to thee three manner of ways, in thoughts and knowledge : ²¹That I might shew thee the certainty, and the words of truth, to answer out of these to them that sent thee. ²²Do no violence to the poor, because he is poor: and do not oppress the needy in the gate: ²³Because the Lord will judge his cause, and will afflict them that have afflicted his soul. ²⁴Be not a friend to an angry man, and do not walk with a furious man: ²⁵Lest perhaps thou learn his ways, and take scandal to thy soul. ²⁶Be not with them that fasten down their hands, and that offer themselves sureties for debts: ²⁷For if thou have not wherewith to restore, what cause is there, that he should take the covering from thy bed? ²⁸Pass not beyond the ancient bounds which thy fathers have set. ²⁹Hast thou seen a man swift in his work? he shall stand before kings, and shall not be before those that are obscure.

Chapter 23

¹When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face. ²And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy soul in thy own power. ³Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit. ⁴Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence. ⁵Lift not up thy eyes to riches which thou canst not have: because they shall make themselves wings like those of an eagle, and shall fly towards heaven. ⁶Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats: ⁷Because like a soothsayer, and diviner, he thinketh that which he knoweth not. Eat and drink, will he say to thee: and his mind is not with thee. ⁸The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words. ⁹Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech. ¹⁰Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless: ¹¹For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee. ¹²Let thy heart apply itself to instruction: and thy ears to words of knowledge. ¹³Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die. ¹⁴Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell. ¹⁵My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee: ¹⁶And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right. ¹⁷Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long: ¹⁸Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away. ¹⁹Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way. ²⁰Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat: ²¹Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together shall be consumed; and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags. ²²Hearken to thy father, that beget thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old. ²³Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. ²⁴The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him. ²⁵Let thy father, and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee. ²⁶My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways. ²⁷For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit. ²⁸She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill. ²⁹Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? ³⁰Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink of their cups. ³¹Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly, ³²But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk. ³³Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things. ³⁴And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep, when the stern is lost. ³⁵And thou shalt say: They have beaten me, but I was not sensible of pain: they drew me, and I felt not: when shall I awake, and find wine again?

Chapter 24

¹Seek not to be like evil men, neither desire to be with them: ²Because their mind studieth robberies, and their lips speak deceits. ³By wisdom the house shall be built, and by prudence it shall be strengthened. ⁴By instruction the storerooms shall be filled with all precious and most beautiful wealth. ⁵A wise man is strong: and a knowing man, stout and valiant. ⁶Because war is managed by due ordering: and there shall be safety where there are many counsels. ⁷Wisdom is too high for a fool, in the gate he shall not open his mouth. ⁸He that deviseth to do evils, shall be called a fool. ⁹The thought of a fool is sin: and the detracter is the abomination of men. ¹⁰If thou lose hope being weary in the day of distress, thy strength shall be diminished. ¹¹Deliver them that are led to death: and those that are drawn to death forbear not to deliver. ¹²If thou say: I have not strength enough: he that seeth into the heart, he understandeth, and nothing deceiveth the keeper of thy soul, end he shall render to a man according to his works. ¹³Fat honey, my son, because it is good, and the honeycomb most sweet to thy throat: ¹⁴So also is the doctrine of wisdom to thy soul: which when thou hast found, thou shalt have hope in the end, and thy hope shall not perish. ¹⁵Lie not in wait, nor seek after wickedness in the house of the just, nor spoil his rest. ¹⁶For a just mall shall fall seven times and shall rise again: but the wicked shall fall down into evil. ¹⁷When thy enemy shall fall, be not glad, and in his ruin let not thy heart rejoice: ¹⁸Lest the Lord see, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him. ¹⁹Contend not with the wicked, nor seek to be like the ungodly: ²⁰For evil men have no hope of things to come, and the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. ²¹My son, fear the Lord and the king: and have nothing to do with detracters. ²²For their destruction shall rise suddenly: and who knoweth the ruin of both? ²³These things also to the wise: It is not good to have respect to persons in judgment. ²⁴They that say to the wicked man: Thou art just: shall be cursed by the people, and the tribes shall abhor them. ²⁵They that rebuke him, shall be praised: and a blessing shall come upon them. ²⁶He shall kiss the lips, who answereth right words. ²⁷Prepare thy work without, and diligently till thy ground: that afterward thou mayst build thy house. ²⁸Be not witness without cause against thy neighbour: and deceive not any man with thy lips. ²⁹Say not: I will do to him as he hath done to me: I will render to every one according to his work. ³⁰I passed by the field of the slothful man, and by the vineyard of the foolish man: ³¹And behold it was all filled with nettles, and thorns had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall was broken down. ³²Which when I had seen, I laid it up in my heart, and by the example I received instruction. ³³Thou wilt sleep a little, said I, thou wilt slumber a little, thou wilt fold thy hands a little to rest: ³⁴And poverty shall come to thee as a runner, and beggary as an armed man.

Chapter 25

¹These are also parables of Solomon, which the men of Ezechias king of Juda copied out. ²It is the glory of God to conceal the word, and the glory of kings to search out the speech. ³The heaven above, and the earth beneath, and the heart of kings is unsearchable. ⁴Take away the rust from silver, and there shall come forth a most pure vessel: ⁵Take away wickedness from the face of the king, and his throne shall be established with justice. ⁶Appear not glorious before the king, and stand not in the place of great men. ⁷For it is better that it should be said to thee: Come up hither; than that thou shouldst be humbled before the prince. ⁸The things which thy eyes have seen, utter not hastily in a quarrel: lest afterward thou mayst not be able to make amends, when thou hast dishonoured thy friend. ⁹Treat thy cause with thy friend, and discover not the secret to a stranger: ¹⁰Lest he insult over thee, when he hath heard it, and cease not to upbraid thee. Grace and friendship deliver a man: keep these for thyself, lest thou fall under reproach. ¹¹To speak a word in due time, is like apples of gold on beds of silver. ¹²As an earring of gold and a bright pearl, so is he that reproveth the wise, and the obedient ear. ¹³As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to him that sent him, for he refresheth his soul. ¹⁴As clouds, and wind, when no rain followeth, so is the man that boasteth, and doth not fulfil his promises. ¹⁵By patience a prince shall be appeased, and a soft tongue shall break hardness. ¹⁶Thou hast found honey, eat what is sufficient for thee, lest being glutted therewith thou vomit it up. ¹⁷Withdraw thy foot from the house of thy neighbour, lest having his fill he hate thee. ¹⁸A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour, is like a dart and a sword and a sharp arrow. ¹⁹To trust to an unfaithful man in the time of trouble, is like a rotten tooth, and weary foot, ²⁰And one that looseth his garment in cold weather. As vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to a very evil heart. As a moth doth by a garment, and a worm by the wood: so the sadness of a man consumeth the heart. ²¹If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat: if he thirst, give him water to drink: ²²For thou shalt heap hot coals upon his head, and the Lord will reward thee. ²³The north wind driveth away rain, as doth a sad countenance a backbiting tongue. ²⁴It is better to sit m a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman, and in a common house. ²⁵As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good tidings from a far country. ²⁶A just man falling down before the wicked, is as a fountain troubled with the foot, and a corrupted spring. ²⁷As it is not good for a man to eat much honey, so he that is a searcher of majesty, shall be overwhelmed by glory. ²⁸As a city that lieth open and is not compassed with walls, so is a man that cannot refrain his own spirit in speaking.

Chapter 26

¹As snow in summer, and rain in harvest, so glory is not seemly for a fool. ²As a bird flying to other places, and a sparrow going here or there: so a curse uttered without cause shall come upon a man. ³A whip for a horse, and a snaffle for an ass, and a rod for the back of fools. ⁴Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be made like him. ⁵Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he imagine himself to be wise. ⁶He that sendeth words by a foolish messenger, is lame of feet and drinketh iniquity. ⁷As a lame man hath fair legs in vain: so a parable is unseemly in the mouth of fools. ⁸As he that casteth a stone into the heap of Mercury: so is he that giveth honour to a fool. ⁹As if a thorn should grow in the hand of a drunkard: so is a parable in the mouth of fools. ¹⁰Judgment determineth causes: and he that putteth a fool to silence, appeaseth anger. ¹¹As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly. ¹²Hast thou seen a man wise in his own conceit? there shall be more hope of a fool than of him. ¹³The slothful man saith: There is a lion in the way, and a lioness in the roads. ¹⁴As the door turneth upon its hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed. ¹⁵The slothful hideth his hand under his armpit, and it grieveth him to turn it to his mouth. ¹⁶The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit, than seven men that speak sentences. ¹⁷As he that taketh a dog by the ears, so is he that passeth by in anger, and meddleth with another man's quarrel. ¹⁸As he is guilty that shooteth arrows, and lances unto death : ¹⁹So is the man that hurteth his friend deceitfully: and when he is taken, saith: I did it in jest. ²⁰When the wood faileth, the fire shall go out: and when the talebearer is taken away, contentions shall cease. ²¹As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire, so an angry man stirreth up strife. ²²The words of a talebearer are as it were simple, but they reach to the innermost parts of the belly. ²³Swelling lips joined with a corrupt heart, are like an earthen vessel adorned with silver dross. ²⁴An enemy is known by his lips, when in his heart he entertaineth deceit. ²⁵When he shall speak low, trust him not: because there are seven mischiefs in his heart. ²⁶He that covereth hatred deceitfully, his malice shall be laid open in the public assembly. ²⁷He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that rolleth a stone, it shall return to him. ²⁸A deceitful tongue loveth not truth: and a slippery mouth worketh ruin.

Chapter 27

¹Boast not for to morrow, for thou knowest not what the day to come may bring forth. ²Let another praise thee, and not thy own mouth: a stranger, and not thy own lips. ³A stone is heavy, and sand weighty: but the anger of a fool is heavier than them both. ⁴Anger hath no mercy, nor fury when it breaketh forth: and who can bear the violence of one provoked? ⁵Open rebuke is better than hidden love. ⁶Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy. ⁷A soul that is full shall tread upon the honeycomb : and a soul that is hungry shall take even bitter for sweet. ⁸As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that leaveth his place. ⁹Ointment and perfumes rejoice the heart: and the good counsels of a friend are sweet to the soul. ¹⁰Thy own friend, and thy father's friend forsake not: and go not into thy brother's house in the day of thy affliction. Better is a neighbour that is near, than a brother afar off. ¹¹Study wisdom, my son, and make my heart joyful, that thou mayst give an answer to him that reproacheth. ¹²The prudent man seeing evil hideth himself: little ones passing on have suffered losses. ¹³Take away his garment that hath been surety for a stranger: and take from him a pledge for strangers. ¹⁴He that blesseth his neighbour with a loud voice, rising in the night, shall be like to him that curseth. ¹⁵Roofs dropping through in a cold day, and a contentious woman are alike. ¹⁶He that retaineth her, is as he that would hold the wind, and shall call in the oil of his right hand. ¹⁷Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. ¹⁸He that keepeth the fig tree, shall eat the fruit thereof: and he that is the keeper of his master, shall be glorified. ¹⁹As the faces of them that look therein, shine in the water, so-the hearts of men are laid open to the wise. ²⁰Hell and destruction are never filled: so the eyes of men are never satisfied. ²¹As silver is tried in the fining-pot and gold in the furnace: so a man is tried by the mouth of him that praiseth. The heart of the wicked seeketh after evils, but the righteous heart seeketh after knowledge. ²²Though thou shouldst bray a fool in the mortar, as when a pestle striketh upon sodden barley, his folly would not be taken from him. ²³Be diligent to know the countenance of thy cattle, and consider thy own flocks : ²⁴For thou shalt not always have power: but a crown shall be given to generation and generation. ²⁵The meadows are open, and the green herbs have appeared, and the hay is gathered out of the mountains. ²⁶Lambs are for thy clothing: and kids for the price of the field. ²⁷Let the milk of the goats be enough for thy food, and for the necessities of thy house, and for maintenance for thy handmaids.

Chapter 28

¹The wicked man fleeth, when no man pursueth: but the just, bold as a lion, shall be without dread. ²For the sine of the land many are the princes thereof: and for the wisdom of a man, and the knowledge of those things that are said, the life of the prince shall be prolonged. ³A poor man that oppresseth the poor, is like a violent shower, which bringeth a famine. ⁴They that forsake the law, praise the wicked man: they that keep it, are incensed against him. ⁵Evil men think not on judgment: but they that seek after the Lord, take notice of all things. ⁶Better is the poor man walking in his simplicity, than the rich in crooked ways. ⁷He that keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that feedeth gluttons, shameth his father. ⁸He that heapeth together riches by usury and loan, gathereth them for him that will be bountiful to the poor. ⁹He that turneth away his ears from hearing the law, his prayer shall be as abomination. ¹⁰He that deceiveth the just in a wicked way, shall fall in his own destruction: and the upright shall possess his goods. ¹¹The rich man seemeth to himself wise: but the poor man that is prudent shall search him out. ¹²In the joy of the just there is great glory: when the wicked reign, men are ruined. ¹³He that hideth his sins, shall not prosper: but he that shall confess, and forsake them, shall obtain mercy. ¹⁴Blessed is the man that is always fearful: but he that is hardened in mind, shall fall into evil. ¹⁵As a roaring lion, and a hungry bear, so is a wicked prince over the poor people. ¹⁶A prince void of prudence shall oppress many by calumny: but he that hateth covetousness, shall prolong his days. ¹⁷A man that doth violence to the blood of a person, if he flee even to the pit, no man will stay him. ¹⁸He that walketh uprightly, shall be saved: he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once. ¹⁹He that tilleth his ground, shall be filled with bread: but he that followeth idleness shall be filled with poverty. ²⁰A faithful man shall be much praised: but he that maketh haste to be rich, shall not be innocent. ²¹He that hath respect to a person in judgment, doth not well: such a man even for a morsel of bread forsaketh the truth. ²²A man, that maketh haste to be rich, and envieth others, is ignorant that poverty shall come upon him. ²³He that rebuketh a man, shall afterward find favour with him, more than he that by a flattering tongue deceiveth him. ²⁴He that stealeth any thing from his father, or from his mother: and saith, This is no sin, is the partner of a murderer. ²⁵He that boasteth, and puffeth up himself, stirreth up quarrels: but he that trusteth in the Lord, shall be healed. ²⁶He that trusteth in his own heart, is a fool: but he that walketh wisely, he shall be saved. ²⁷He that giveth to the poor, shall not want: he that despiseth his entreaty, shall suffer indigence. ²⁸When the wicked rise up, men shall hide themselves: when they perish, the lust shall be multiplied.

Chapter 29

¹The man that with a stiff neck despiseth him that reproveth him, shall suddenly be destroyed: and health shall not follow him. ²When just men increase, the people shall rejoice: when the wicked shall bear rule, the people shall mourn. ³A man that loveth wisdom, rejoiceth his father: but he that maintaineth bar lots, shall squander away his substance. ⁴A just king setteth up the land: a covetous man shall destroy it. ⁵A man that speaketh to his friend with flattering and dissembling words, spreadeth a net for his feet. ⁶A snare shall entangle the wicked man when he sinneth: and the just shall praise and rejoice. ⁷The just taketh notice of the cause of the poor: the wicked is void of knowledge. ⁸Corrupt men bring a city to ruin: but wise men turn away wrath. ⁹If a wise man contend with a fool, whether he be angry or laugh, he shall find no rest. ¹⁰Bloodthirsty men hate the upright: but just men seek his soul. ¹¹A fool uttereth all his mind: a wise man deferreth, and keepeth it till afterwards. ¹²A prince that gladly heareth lying words, hath all his servants wicked. ¹³The poor man and the creditor have met one another: the Lord is the enlightener of them both. ¹⁴The king that judgeth the poor in truth, his throne shall be established for ever. ¹⁵The rod and reproof give wisdom: but the child that is left to his own will bringeth his mother to shame. ¹⁶When the wicked are multiplied, crimes shall be multiplied: but the just shall see their downfall. ¹⁷Instruct thy son, and he shall refresh thee, and shall give delight to thy soul. ¹⁸When prophecy shall fail, the people shall be scattered abroad: but he that keepeth the law is blessed. ¹⁹A slave will not be corrected by words: because he understandeth what thou sayest, and will not answer. ²⁰Hast thou seen a man hasty to speak? folly is rather to be looked for, than his amendment. ²¹He that nourisheth his servant delicately from his childhood, afterwards shall find him stubborn. ²²A passionate man provoketh quarrels: and he that is easily stirred up to wrath, shall be more prone to sin. ²³Humiliation followeth the proud: and glory shall uphold the humble of spirit. ²⁴He that is partaker with a thief, hateth his own soul: he heareth one putting him to his oath, and discovereth not. ²⁵He that feareth man, shall quickly fall: he that trusteth in the Lord, shall be set on high. ²⁶Many seek the face of the prince: but the judgment of every one cometh forth from the Lord. ²⁷The just abhor the wicked man: and the wicked loathe them that are in the right way. The son that keepeth the word, shall be free from destruction.

Chapter 30

¹The words of Gatherer the son of Vomiter. The vision which the man spoke with whom God is, and who being strengthened by God, abiding with him, said: ²I am the most foolish of men, and the wisdom of men is not with me. ³I have not learned wisdom, and have not known the science of saints. ⁴Who hath ascended up into heaven, and descended? who hath held the wind in his hands? who hath bound up the waters together as in a garment? who hath raised up all the borders of the earth? what is his name, and what is the name of his son, if thou knowest? ⁵Every word of God is fire tried: he is a buckler to them that hope in him. ⁶Add not any thing to his words, lest thou be reproved, and found a liar: ⁷Two things I have asked of thee, deny them not to me before I die. ⁸Remove far from me vanity, and lying words. Give me neither beggary, nor riches: give me only the necessaries of life: ⁹Lest perhaps being filled, I should be tempted to deny, and say: Who is the Lord? or being compelled by poverty, I should steal, and forswear the name of my God. ¹⁰Accuse not a servant to his master, lest he curse thee, and thou fall. ¹¹There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. ¹²A generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not washed from their filthiness. ¹³A generation, whose eyes are lofty, and their eyelids lifted up on high. ¹⁴A generation, that for teeth hath swords, and grindeth with their jaw teeth, to devour the needy from off the earth, and the poor from among men. ¹⁵The horseleech hath two daughters that say: Bring, bring. There are three things that never are satisfied, and the fourth never saith: It is enough. ¹⁶Hell, and the mouth of the womb, and the earth which is not satisfied with water: and the fire never saith: It is enough. ¹⁷The eye that mocketh at his father, and that despiseth the labour of his mother in bearing him, let the ravens of the brooks pick it out, and the young eagles eat it. ¹⁸Three things are hard to me, and the fourth I am utterly ignorant of. 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 in youth. ²⁰Such is also the way of an adulterous woman, who eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith: I have done no evil. ²¹By three things the earth is disturbed, and the fourth it cannot bear: ²²By a slave when he reigneth: by a fool when he is filled with meat: ²³By an odious woman when she is married: and by a bondwoman when she is heir to her mistress. ²⁴There are four very little things of the earth, and they are wiser than the wise: ²⁵The ants, a feeble people, which provide themselves food in the harvest: ²⁶The rabbit, a weak people, which maketh its bed in the rock: ²⁷The locust hath no king, yet they all go out by their bands. ²⁸The stellio supporteth itself on hands, and dwelleth in kings' houses. ²⁹There are three things, which go well, and the fourth that walketh happily: ³⁰A lion, the strongest of beasts, who hath no fear of any thing he meeteth: ³¹A cock girded about the loins: and a ram: and a king, whom none can resist. ³²There is that hath appeared a fool after he was lifted up on high: for if he had understood, he would have laid his hand upon his mouth. ³³And he that strongly squeezeth the papa to bring out milk, straineth out butter: and he that violently bloweth his nose, bringeth out blood: and he that provoketh wrath bringeth forth strife.

Chapter 31

¹The words of king Lamuel. The vision wherewith his mother instructed him. ²What, O my beloved, what, O the beloved of my womb, what, O the beloved of my vows? ³Give not thy substance to women, and thy riches to destroy kings. ⁴Give not to kings, O Lamuel, give not wine to kings: because there is no secret where drunkenness reigneth: ⁵And lest they drink and forget judgments, and pervert the cause of the children of the poor. ⁶Give strong drink to them that are sad: and wine to them that are grieved in mind: ⁷Let them drink, and forget their want, and remember their sorrow no more. ⁸Open thy mouth for the dumb, and for the causes of all the children that pass. ⁹Open thy mouth, decree that which is just, and do justice to the needy and poor. ¹⁰Who shall find a valiant woman? far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her. ¹¹The heart of her husband trusteth in her, and he shall have no need of spoils. ¹²She will render him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. ¹³She hath sought wool and flax, and hath wrought by the counsel of her hands. ¹⁴She is like the merchant's ship, she bringeth her bread from afar. ¹⁵And she hath risen in the night, and given a prey to her household, and victuals to her maidens. ¹⁶She hath considered a field, and bought it: with the fruit of her hands she hath planted a vineyard. ¹⁷She hath girded her loins with strength, and hath strengthened her arm. ¹⁸She hath tasted and seen that her traffic is good: her lamp shall not be put out in the night. ¹⁹She hath put out her hand to strong things, and her fingers have taken hold of the spindle. ²⁰She hath opened her hand to the needy, and stretched out her hands to the poor. ²¹She shall not fear for her house in the cold of snow: for dl her domestics are clothed with double garments. ²²She hath made for herself clothing of tapestry: fine linen, and purple is her covering. ²³Her husband is honourable in the gates, when he sitteth among the senators of the land. ²⁴She made fine linen, and sold it, end delivered a girdle to the Chanaanite. ²⁵Strength and beauty are her clothing, and she shall laugh in the latter day. ²⁶She hath opened her mouth to wisdom, and the law of clemency is on her tongue. ²⁷She hath looked well to the paths of her house, and hath not eaten her bread idle. ²⁸Her children rose up, and called her blessed: her husband, and he praised her. ²⁹Many daughters have gathered together riches: thou hast surpassed them all. ³⁰Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: the woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. ³¹Give her of the fruit of her hands: and let her works praise her in the gates.

Ecclesiastes

This Book is called Ecclesiastes, or The Preacher (in Hebrew, Coheleth,) because in it, Solomon, as an excellent preacher, setteth forth the vanity of the things of this world: to withdraw the hearts and affections of men from such empty toys.

Chapter 1

¹The words of Ecclesiastes, the son of David, king of Jerusalem. ²Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. ³What hath a man more of all his labour, that he taketh under the sun? ⁴One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth standeth for ever. ⁵The sun riseth, and goeth down, and returneth to his place: and there rising again, ⁶Maketh his round by the south, and turneth again to the north: the spirit goeth forward surveying all places round about, and returneth to his circuits. ⁷All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea doth not overflow: unto the place from whence the rivers come, they return, to flow again. ⁸All things are hard: man cannot explain them by word. The eye is not filled with seeing, neither is the ear filled with hearing. ⁹What is it that hath been? the same thing that shall be. What is it that hath been done? the same that shall be done. ¹⁰Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before in the ages that were before us. ¹¹There is no remembrance of former things: nor indeed of those things which hereafter are to come, shall there be any remembrance with them that shall be in the latter end. ¹²I Ecclesiastes was king over Israel in Jerusalem, ¹³And I proposed in my mind to seek and search out wisely concerning all things that are done under the sun. This painful occupation hath God given to the children of men, to be exercised therein. ¹⁴I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold all is vanity, and vexation of spirit. ¹⁵The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite. ¹⁶I have spoken in my heart, saying: Behold I am become great, and have gone beyond all in wisdom, that were before me in Jerusalem: and my mind hath contemplated many things wisely, and I have learned. ¹⁷And I have given my heart to know prudence, and learning, and errors, and folly: and I have perceived that in these also there was labour, and vexation of spirit, ¹⁸Because In much wisdom there is much indignation: and he that addeth knowledge, addeth also labour.

Chapter 2

¹I said in my heart: I will go, and abound with delights, and enjoy good things. And I saw that this also was vanity. ²Laughter I counted error: and to mirth I said: Why art thou vainly deceived? ³I thought in my heart, to withdraw my flesh from wine, that I might turn my mind to wisdom, and might avoid folly, till I might see what was profitable for the children of men: and what they ought to do under the sun, all the days of their life. ⁴I made me great works, I built me houses, and planted vineyards, ⁵I made gardens, and orchards, and set them with trees of all kinds, ⁶And I made me ponds of water, to water therewith the wood of the young trees, ⁷I got me menservants, and maidservants, and had a great family: and herds of oxen, and great flocks of sheep, above all that were before me in Jerusalem: ⁸I heaped together for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings, and provinces: I made me singing men, and singing women, and the delights of the sons of men, cups and vessels to serve to pour out wine: ⁹And I surpassed in riches all that were before me in Jerusalem: my wisdom also remained with me. ¹⁰And whatsoever my eyes desired, I refused them not: and I withheld not my heart from enjoying every pleasure, and delighting itself in the things which I had prepared: and esteemed this my portion, to make use of my own labour. ¹¹And when I turned myself to all the works which my hands had wrought, and to the labours wherein I had laboured in vain, I saw in all things vanity, and vexation of mind, and that nothing was lasting under the sun. ¹²I passed further to behold wisdom, and errors and folly, (What is man, said I, that he can follow the King his maker?) ¹³And I saw that wisdom excelled folly, as much as light differeth from darkness. ¹⁴The eyes of a wise man are in his head: the fool walketh in darkness: and I learned that they were to die both alike. ¹⁵And I said in my heart: If the death of the fool and mine shall be one, what doth it avail me, that I have applied myself more to the study of wisdom? And speaking with my own mind, I perceived that this also was vanity. ¹⁶For there shall be no remembrance of the wise no more than of the fool for ever, and the times to come shall cover all things together with oblivion: the learned dieth in like manner as the unlearned. ¹⁷And therefore I was weary of my life, when I saw that all things under the sun are evil, and all vanity and vexation of spirit. ¹⁸Again I hated all my application wherewith I had earnestly laboured under the sun, being like to have an heir after me, ¹⁹Whom I know not whether he will be a wise man or a fool, and he shall have rule over all my labours with which I have laboured and been solicitous: and is there any thing so vain? ²⁰Wherefore I left off and my heart renounced labouring any more under the sun. ²¹For when a man laboureth in wisdom, and knowledge, and carefulness, he leaveth what he hath gotten to an idle man: so this also is vanity, and a great evil. ²²For what profit shall a man have of all his labour, and vexation of spirit, with which he bath been tormented under the sun? ²³All his days axe full of sorrows and miseries, even in the night he doth not rest in mind: and is not this vanity? ²⁴Is it not better to eat and drink, and to shew his soul good things of his labours? and this is from the hand of God. ²⁵Who shall so feast and abound with delights as I? ²⁶God hath given to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he hath given vexation, and superfluous care, to heap up and to gather together, and to give it to him that hath pleased God: but this also is vanity, and a fruitless solicitude of the mind.

Chapter 3

¹All things have their season, and in their times all things pass 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 destroy, and a time to build. ⁴A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. ⁵A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. ⁶A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. ⁷A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. ⁸A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace. ⁹What hath man more of his labour? ¹⁰I have seen the trouble, which God hath given the sons of men to be exercised in it. ¹¹He hath made all things good in their time, and hath delivered the world to their consideration, so that man cannot flnd out the work which God hath made from the beginning to the end. ¹²And I have known that there was no better thing than to rejoice, and to do well in this life. ¹³For every man that eateth and drinketh, and seeth good of his labour, this is the gift of God. ¹⁴I have learned that all the works which God hath made, continue for ever: we cannot add any thing, nor take away from those things which God hath made that he may be feared. ¹⁵That which hath been made, the same continueth: the things that shall be, have already been: and God restoreth that which is past. ¹⁶I saw under the sun in the place of judgment wickedness, and in the place of justice iniquity. ¹⁷And I said in my heart: God shall judge both the just and the wicked, and then shall be the time of every thing. ¹⁸I said in my heart concerning the sons of men, that God would prove them, and shew them to be like beasts. ¹⁹Therefore the death of man, and of beasts is one, and the condition of them both is equal: as man dieth, so they also die: all things breathe alike, and man hath nothing more than beast: all things are subject to vanity. ²⁰And all things go to one place: of earth they were made, and into earth they return together. ²¹Who knoweth if the spirit of the children of Adam ascend upward, and if the spirit of the beasts descend downward? ²²And I have found that nothing is better than for a man to rejoice in his work, and that this is his portion. For who shall bring him to know the things that shall be after him?

Chapter 4

¹I turned myself to other things, and I saw the oppressions that are done under the sun, and the tears of the innocent, and they had no comforter; and they were not able to resist their violence, being destitute of help from any. ²And I praised the dead rather than the living: ³And I judged him happier than them both, that is not yet born, nor hath seen the evils that are done under the sun. ⁴Again I considered all the labours of men, and I remarked that their industries are exposed to the envy of their neighhour: so in this also there is vanity, and fruitless care. ⁵The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh, saying: ⁶Better is a handful with rest, than both hands full with labour, and vexation of mind. ⁷Considering I found also another vanity under the sun: ⁸There is but one, and he hath not a second, no child, no brother, and yet he ceaseth not to labour, neither are his eyes satisfied with riches, neither doth he reflect, saying: For whom do I labour, and defraud my soul of good things? in this also is vanity, and a grievous vexation. ⁹It is better therefore that two should be together, than one: for they have the advantage of their society: ¹⁰If one fall he shall be supported by the other: woe to him that is alone, for when he falleth, he hath none to lift him up. ¹¹And if two lie together, they shall warm one another: how shall one alone be warmed? ¹²And if a man prevail against one, two shall withstand him: a threefold cord is not easily broken. ¹³Better is a child that is poor and wise, than a king that is old and foolish, who knoweth not to foresee for hereafter. ¹⁴Because out of prison and chains sometimes a man cometh forth to a kingdom: and another born king is consumed with poverty. ¹⁵I saw all men living, that walk under the sun with the second young man, who shall rise up in his place. ¹⁶The number of the people, of all that were before him is infinite: and they that shall come afterwards, shall not rejoice in him: but this also is vanity, and vexation of spirit. ¹⁷Keep thy foot, when thou goest into the house of God, and draw nigh to hear. For much better is obedience, than the victims of fools, who know not what evil they do.

Chapter 5

¹Speak not any thing rashly, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. ²Dreams follow many cares: and in many words shall be found folly. ³If thou hast vowed any thing to God, defer not to pay it: for an unfaithful and foolish promise displeaseth him: but whatsoever thou hast vowed, pay it. ⁴And it is much better not to vow, than after a vow not to perform the things promised. ⁵Give not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin: and say not before the angel: There is no providence: lest God be angry at thy words, and destroy all the works of thy hands. ⁶Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities, and words without number: but do thou fear God. ⁷If thou shalt see the oppressions of the poor, and violent judgments, and justice perverted in the province, wonder not at this matter: for he that is high hath another higher, and there are others still higher than these: ⁸Moreover there is the king that reigneth over all the land subject to him. ⁹A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money: and he that loveth riches shall reap no fruit from them: so this also is vanity. ¹⁰Where there are great riches, there are also many to eat them. And what doth it profit the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes? ¹¹Sleep is sweet to a labouring man, whether he eat lttle or much: but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. ¹²There is also another grievous evil, which I have seen under the sun: riches kept to the hurt of the owner. ¹³For they are lost with very great affliction: he hath begotten a son, who shall be in extremity of want. ¹⁴As he came forth naked from his mother's womb, so shall he return, and shall take nothing away with him of his labour. ¹⁵A most deplorable evil: as he came, so shall he return. What then doth it profit him that he hath laboured for the wind? ¹⁶All the days of his life he eateth in darkness, and in many cares, and in misery, and sorrow. ¹⁷This therefore hath seemed good to me, that a man should eat and drink, and enjoy the fruit of his labour, wherewith he hath laboured under the sun, all the days of his life, which God hath given him: and this is his portion. ¹⁸And every man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to enjoy his portion, and to rejoice of his labour: this is the gift of God. ¹⁹For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God entertaineth his heart with delight,

Chapter 6

¹There is also another evil, which I have seen under the sun, and that frequent among men: ²A man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and honour, and his soul wanteth nothing of all that he desireth: yet God doth not give him power to eat thereof, but a stranger shall eat it up. This is vanity and a great misery. ³If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, and attain to a great age, and his soul make no use of the goods of his substance, and he be without burial: of this man I pronounce, that the untimely born is better than he. ⁴For he came in vain, and goeth to darkness, and his name shall be wholly forgotten. ⁵He hath not seen the sun, nor known the distance of good and evil: ⁶Although he lived two thousand years, and hath not enjoyed good things: do not all make haste to one place? ⁷All the labour of man is for his mouth, but his soul shall not be filled. ⁸What hath the wise man more than the fool? and what the poor man, but to go thither, where there is life? ⁹Better it is to see what thou mayst desire, than to desire that which thou canst not know. But this also is vanity, and presumption of spirit. ¹⁰He that shall be, his name is already called: and it is known, that he is man, and cannot contend in judgment with him that is stronger than himself. ¹¹There are many words that have much vanity in disputing.

Chapter 7

¹What needeth a man to seek things that are above him, whereas he knoweth not what is profitable for him in his life, in all the days of his pilgrimage, and the time that passeth like a shadow? Or who can tell him what shall be after him under the sun? ²A good name is better than precious ointments: and the day of death than the day of one's birth. ³It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of feasting: for in that we are put in mind of the end of all, and the living thinketh what is to come. ⁴Anger is better than laughter: because by the sadness of the countenance the mind of the offender is corrected. ⁵The heart of the wise is where there is mourning, and the heart of fools where there is mirth. ⁶It is better to be rebuked by a wise man, than to be deceived by the flattery of fools. ⁷For as the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool: now this also is vanity. ⁸Oppression troubleth the wise, and shall destroy the strength of his heart. ⁹Better is the end of a speech than the beginning. Better is the patient man than the presumptuous. ¹⁰Be not quickly angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of a fool. ¹¹Say not: What thinkest thou is the cause that former times were better than they are now? for this manner of question is foolish. ¹²Wisdom with riches is more profitable, and bringeth more advantage to them that see the sun. ¹³For as wisdom is a defence, so money is a defence : but learning and wisdom excel in this, that they give life to him that possesseth them. ¹⁴Consider the works of God, that no man can correct whom he hath despised. ¹⁵In the good day enjoy good things, and beware beforehand of the evil day: for God hath made both the one and the other, that man may not find against him any just complaint. ¹⁶These things also I saw in the days of my vanity: A just man perisheth in his justice, and a wicked man liveth a long time in his wickedness. ¹⁷Be not over just: and be not more wise than is necessary, lest thou become stupid. ¹⁸Be not overmuch wicked: and be not foolish, lest thou die before thy time. ¹⁹It is good that thou shouldst hold up the just, yea and from him withdraw not thy hand: for he that feareth God, neglecteth nothing. ²⁰Wisdom hath strengthened the wise more than ten princes of the city. ²¹For there is no just man upon earth, that doth good, and sinneth not. ²²But do not apply thy heart to all words that are spoken: lest perhaps thou hear thy servant reviling thee. ²³For thy conscience knoweth that thou also hast often spoken evil of others. ²⁴I have tried all things in wisdom. I have said: I will be wise: and it departed farther from me, ²⁵Much more than it was: it is a great depth, who shall find it out? ²⁶I have surveyed all things with my mind, to know, and consider, and seek out wisdom and reason: and to know the wickedness of the fool, and the error of the imprudent: ²⁷And I have found a woman more bitter than death, who is the hunter's snare, and her heart is a net, and her hands are bands. He that pleaseth God shall escape from her: but he that is a sinner, shall be caught by her. ²⁸Lo this have I found, said Ecclesiastes, weighing one thing after another, that I might find out the account, ²⁹Which yet my soul seeketh, and I have not found it. One man among a thousand I have found, a woman among them all I have not found. ³⁰Only this I have found, that God made man right, and he hath entangled himself with an infinity of questions. Who is as the wise man? and who hath known the resolution of the word?

Chapter 8

¹The wisdom of a man shineth in his countenance, and the most mighty will change his face. ²I observe the mouth of the king, and the commandments of the oath of God. ³Be not hasty to depart from his face, and do not continue in an evil work: for he will do all that pleaseth him: ⁴And his word is full of power: neither can any man say to him: Why dost thou so? ⁵He that keepeth the commandments shall find no evil. The heart of a wise man understandeth time and answer. ⁶There is a time and opportunity for every business, and great affliction for man: ⁷Because he is ignorant of things past, and things to come he cannot know by any messenger. ⁸It is not in man's power to stop the spirit, neither hath he power in the day of death, neither is he suffered to rest when war is at hand, neither shall wickedness save the wicked. ⁹All these things I have considered, and applied my heart to all the works that are done under the sun. Sometimes one man ruleth over another to his own hurt. ¹⁰I saw the wicked buried: who also when they were yet living were in the holy place, and were praised in the city as men of just works: but this also is vanity. ¹¹For because sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of men commit evils without any fear. ¹²But though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and by patience be borne withal, I know from thence that it shall be well with them that fear God, who dread his face. ¹³But let it not be well with the wicked, neither let his days be prolonged, but as a shadow let them pass away that fear not the face of the Lord. ¹⁴There is also another vanity, which is done upon the earth. There are just men to whom evils happen, as though they had done the works of the wicked: and there are wicked men, who are as secure, as though they had the deeds of the just: but this also I judge most vain. ¹⁵Therefore I commended mirth, because there was no good for a man under the sun, but to eat, and drink, and be merry, and that he should take nothing else with him of his labour in the days of his life, which God hath given him under the sun. ¹⁶And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to understand the distraction that is upon earth: for there are some that day and night take no sleep with their eyes. ¹⁷And I understood that man can find no reason of all those works of God that are done under the sun: and the more he shall labour to seek, so much the less shall he find: yea, though the wise man shall say, that he knoweth it, he shall not be able to find it.

Chapter 9

¹All these things have I considered in my heart, that I might carefully understand them: there are just men and wise men, and their works are in the hand of God: and yet man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love, or hatred: ²But all things are kept uncertain for the time to come, because all things equally happen to the just and to the wicked, to the good and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean, to him that offereth victims, and to him that despiseth sacrifices. As the good is, so also is the sinner: as the perjured, so he also that sweareth truth. ³This is a very great evil among all things that are done under the sun, that the same things happen to all men: whereby also the hearts of the children of men are filled with evil, and with contempt while they live, and afterwards they shall be brought down to hell. ⁴There is no man that liveth always, or that hopeth for this: a living dog is better than a dead lion. ⁵For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing more, neither have they a reward any more: for the memory of them is forgotten. ⁶Their love also, and their hatred, and their envy are all perished, neither have they any part in this world, and in the work that is done under the sun. ⁷Go then, and eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with gladness: because thy works please God. ⁸At all times let thy garments be white, and let not oil depart from thy head. ⁹Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest, all the days of thy unsteady life, which are given to thee under the sun, all the time of thy vanity: for this is thy portion in life, and in thy labour wherewith thou labourest under the sun. ¹⁰Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly: for neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening. ¹¹I turned me to another thing, and I saw that under the sun, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the learned, nor favour to the skilful: but time and chance in all. ¹²Man knoweth not his own end: but as fishes are taken with the hook, and as birds are caught with the snare, so men are taken in the evil time, when it shall suddenly come upon them. ¹³This wisdom also I have seen under the sun, and it seemed to me to be very great: ¹⁴A little city, and few men in it: there came against it a great king, and invested it, and built bulwarks round about it, and the siege was perfect. ¹⁵Now there was found in it a man poor and wise, and he delivered the city by his wisdom, and no man afterward remembered that poor man. ¹⁶And I said that wisdom is better than strength: how then is the wisdom of the poor man slighted, and his words not heard? ¹⁷The words of the wise are heard in silence, more than the cry of a prince among fools. ¹⁸Better is wisdom, than weapons of war: and he that shall offend in one, shall lose many good things.

Chapter 10

¹Dying flies spoil the sweetness of the ointment. Wisdom and glory is more precious than a small and shortlived folly. ²The heart of a wise man is in his right hand, and the heart of a fool is in his left hand. ³Yea, and the fool when he walketh in the way, whereas be himself is a fool, esteemeth all men fools. ⁴If the spirit of him that hath power, ascend upon thee, leave not thy place: because care will make the greatest sins to cease. ⁵There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were by an error proceeding from the face of the prince: ⁶A fool set in high dignity, and the rich sitting beneath. ⁷I have seen servants upon horses: and princes walking on the ground as servants. ⁸He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him. ⁹He that removeth stones, shall be hurt by them: and he that cutteth trees, shall be wounded by them. ¹⁰If the iron be blunt, and be not as before, but be made blunt, with much labour it shall be sharpened: and after industry shall follow wisdom. ¹¹If a serpent bite in silence, he is nothing better that backbiteth secretly. ¹²The words of the mouth of a wise man are grace: but the lips of a fool shall throw him down headlong. ¹³The beginning of his words is folly, and the end of his talk is a mischievous error. ¹⁴A fool multiplieth words. A man cannot tell what hath been before him: and what shall be after him, who can tell him? ¹⁵The labour of fools shall afflict them that know not bow to go to the city. ¹⁶Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and when the princes eat in the morning. ¹⁷Blessed is the land, whose king is noble, and whose princes eat in due season for refreshment, and not for riotousness. ¹⁸By slothfulness a building shall be brought down, and through the weakness of hands, the house shall drop through. ¹⁹For laughter they make bread, and wine that the living may feast: and all things obey money. ²⁰Detract not the king, no not in thy thought; and speak not evil of the rich man in thy private chamber: because even the birds of the air will carry thy voice, and he that hath wings will tell what thou hast said.

Chapter 11

¹Cast thy bread upon the running waters: for after a long time thou shalt find it again. ²Give a portion to seven, and also to eight: for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. ³If the clouds be full, they will pour out rain upon the earth. If the tree fall to the south, or to the north, in what place soever it shall fall, there shall it be. ⁴He that observeth the wind, shall not sow: and he that considereth the clouds, shall never reap. ⁵As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child: so thou knowest not the works of God, who is the maker of all. ⁶In the morning sow thy seed, and In the evening let not thy hand cease: for thou knowest not which may rather spring up, this or that: and if both together, it shall be the better. ⁷The light is sweet, and it is delightful for the eyes to see the sun. ⁸If a man live many years, and have rejoiced in them all, he must remember the darksome time, and the many days: which when they shall come, the things past shall be accused of vanity. ⁹Rejoice therefore, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart be in that which is good in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thy eyes: and know that for all these God will bring thee into judgment. ¹⁰Remove anger from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh. For youth and pleasure are vain.

Chapter 12

¹Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the time of affliction come, and the years draw nigh of which thou shalt say: They please me not: ²Before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars be darkened, and the clouds return after the rain: ³When the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall stagger, and the grinders shall be idle in a small number, and they that look through the holes shall be darkened: ⁴And they shall shut the doors in the street, when the grinder's voice shall be low, and they shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall grow deaf. ⁵And they shall fear high things, and they shall be afraid in the way, the almond tree shall flourish, the locust shall be made fat, and the caper tree shall be destroyed: because man shall go into the house of his eternity, and the mourners shall go round about in the street. ⁶Before the silver cord be broken, and the golden fillet shrink back, and the pitcher be crushed at the fountain, and the wheel be broken upon the cistern, ⁷And the dust return into its earth, from whence it was, and the spirit return to God, who gave it. ⁸Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, and all things are vanity. ⁹And whereas Ecclesiastes was very wise, he taught the people, and declared the things that he had done: and seeking out, he set forth many parables. ¹⁰He sought profitable words, and wrote words most right, and full of truth. ¹¹The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails deeply fastened in, which by the counsel of masters are given from one shepherd. ¹²More than these, my son, require not. Of making many books there is no end: and much study is an affliction of the flesh. ¹³Let us all hear together the conclusion of the discourse. Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is all man: ¹⁴And all things that are done, God will bring into judgment for every error, whether it be good or evil.

Solomon's Canticle of Canticles

This Book is called the Canticle of Canticles, that is to say, the most excellent of all canticles: because it is full of high mysteries, relating to the happy union of Christ and his spouse: which is here begun by love; and is to be eternal in heaven. The spouse of Christ is the church: more especially as to the happiest part of it, viz., perfect souls, every one of which is his beloved, but, above all others, the immaculate and ever blessed virgin mother.

Chapter 1

¹Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth: for thy breasts are better than wine, ²Smelling sweet of the best ointments. Thy name is as oil poured out: therefore young maidens have loved thee. ³Draw me: we will run after thee to the odour of thy ointments. The king hath brought me into his storerooms: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, remembering thy breasts more than wine: the righteous love thee. ⁴I am black but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon. ⁵Do not consider me that I am brown, because the sun hath altered my colour: the sons of my mother have fought against me, they have made me the keeper in the vineyards: my vineyard I have not kept. ⁶Shew me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou liest in the midday, lest I begin to wander after the flocks of thy companions. ⁷If thou know not thyself, O fairest among women, go forth, and follow after the steps of the flocks, and feed thy kids beside the tents of the shepherds. ⁸To my company of horsemen, in Pharao's chariots, have I likened thee, O my love. ⁹Thy cheeks are beautiful as the turtledove's, thy neck as jewels. ¹⁰We will make thee chains of gold, inlaid with silver. ¹¹While the king was at his repose, my spikenard sent forth the odour thereof. ¹²A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, he shall abide between my breasts. ¹³A cluster of cypress my love is to me, in the vineyards of Engaddi. ¹⁴Behold thou art fair, O my love, behold thou art fair, thy eyes are as those of doves. ¹⁵Behold thou art fair, my beloved, and comely. Our bed is flourishing. ¹⁶The beams of our houses are of cedar, our rafters of cypress trees.

Chapter 2

¹I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys. ²As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. ³As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow, whom I desired: and his fruit was sweet to my palate. ⁴He brought me into the cellar of wine, he set in order charity in me. ⁵Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples: because I languish with love. ⁶His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me. ⁷I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and the harts of the, fields, that you stir not up, nor make the beloved to awake, till she please. ⁸The voice of my beloved, behold he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping over the hills. ⁹My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart. Behold he standeth behind our wall, looking through the windows, looking through the lattices. ¹⁰Behold my beloved speaketh to me: Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come. ¹¹For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone. ¹²The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land: ¹³The fig tree hath put forth her green figs: the vines in flower yield their sweet smell. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come: ¹⁴My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall, shew me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice is sweet, and thy face comely. ¹⁵Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vines: for our vineyard hath flourished. ¹⁶My beloved to me, and I to him who feedeth among the lilies, ¹⁷Till the day break, and the shadows retire. Return: be like, my beloved, to a roe, or to a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

Chapter 3

¹In my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and found him not. ²I will rise, and will go about the city: in the streets and the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and I found him not. ³The watchmen who keep the city, found me: Have you seen him, whom my soul loveth? ⁴When I had a little passed by them, I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him: and I will not let him go, till I bring him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that bore me. ⁵I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and the harts of the fields, that you stir not up, nor awake my beloved, till she please. ⁶Who is she that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer? ⁷Behold threescore valiant ones of the most valiant of Israel, surrounded the bed of Solomon? ⁸All holding swords, and most expert in war : every man's sword upon his thigh, because of fears in the night. ⁹King Solomon hath made him a litter of the wood of Libanus: ¹⁰The pillars thereof he made of silver, the seat of gold, the going up of purple : the midst he covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem. ¹¹Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and see king Solomon in the diadem, wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the joy of his heart.

Chapter 4

¹How beautiful art thou, my love, how beautiful art thou! thy eyes are doves' eyes, besides what is hid within. Thy hair is as flocks of goats, which Come up from mount Galaad. ²Thy teeth as flocks of sheep, that are shorn which come up from the washing, all with twins, and there is none barren among them. ³Thy lips are as a scarlet lace: and thy speech sweet. Thy cheeks are as a piece of a pomegranate, besides that which lieth hid within. ⁴Thy neck, is as the tower of David, which is built with bulwarks: a thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the armour of valiant men. ⁵Thy two breasts like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies. ⁶Till the day break, and the shadows retire, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. ⁷Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee. ⁸Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus, come: thou shalt be crowned from the top of Amana, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards. ⁹Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast wounded my heart with one of thy eyes, and with one hair of thy neck. ¹⁰How beautiful are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse! thy breasts are more beautiful than wine, and the sweet smell of thy ointments above all aromatical spices. ¹¹Thy lips, my spouse, are as a dropping honeycomb, honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments, as the smell of frankincense. ¹²My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up. ¹³Thy plants are a paradise of pomegranates with the fruits of the orchard. Cypress with spikenard. ¹⁴Spikenard and saffron, sweet cane and cinnamon, with all the trees of Libanus, myrrh and aloes with all the chief perfumes. ¹⁵The fountain of gardens: the well of living waters, which run with a strong stream from Libanus. ¹⁶Arise, O north wind, and come, O south wind, blow through my garden, and let the aromatical spices thereof flow.

Chapter 5

¹Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat the fruit of his apple trees. I am come into my garden, O my sister, my spouse, I have gathered my myrrh, with my aromatical spices: I have eaten the honeycomb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved. ²I sleep, and my heart watcheth; the voice of my beloved knocking: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is full of dew, and my locks of the drops of the nights. 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 his hand through the key hole, and my bowels were moved at his touch. ⁵I arose up to open to my beloved: my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers were full of the choicest myrrh. ⁶I opened the bolt of my door to my beloved: but he had turned aside, and was gone. My soul melted when he spoke: I sought him, and found him not: I called, and he did not answer me. ⁷The keepers that go about the city found me: they struck me: and wounded me: the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. ⁸I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I languish with love. ⁹What manner of one is thy beloved of the beloved, O thou most beautiful among women? what manner of one is thy beloved of the beloved, that thou hast so adjured us? ¹⁰My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands. ¹¹His head is as the finest gold: his locks as branches of palm trees, black as a raven. ¹²His eyes as doves upon brooks of waters, which are washed with milk, and sit beside the plentiful streams. ¹³His cheeks are as beds of aromatical spices set by the perfumers. His lips are as lilies dropping choice myrrb. ¹⁴His hands are turned and as of gold, full of hyacinths. His belly as of ivory, set with sapphires. ¹⁵His legs as pillars of marble, that are set upon bases of gold. His form as of Libanus, excellent as the cedars. ¹⁶His throat most sweet, and he is all lovely: such is my beloved, and he is my friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem. ¹⁷Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou most beautiful among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside, and we will seek him with thee?

Chapter 6

¹My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the bed of aromatical spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. ²I to my beloved, and my beloved to me, who feedeth among the lilies. ³Thou art beautiful, O my love, sweet and comely as Jerusalem: terrible as an army set in array. ⁴Turn away thy eyes from me, for they have made me flee away. Thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from Galaad. ⁵Thy teeth as a flock of sheep, which come up from the washing, all with twins, and there is none barren among them. ⁶Thy cheeks are as the bark of a pomegranate, beside what is hidden within thee. ⁷There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and young maidens without number. ⁸One is my dove, my perfect one is but one, she is the only one of her mother, the chosen of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and declared her most blessed: the queens and concubines, and they praised her. ⁹Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array? ¹⁰I went down into the garden of nuts, to see the fruits of the valleys, and to look if the vineyard had flourished, and the pomegranates budded. ¹¹I knew not: my soul troubled me for the chariots of Aminadab. ¹²Return, return, O Sulamitess : return, return that we may behold thee.

Chapter 7

¹What shalt thou see in the Sulamitess but the companies of camps? How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O prince's daughter! The joints of thy thighs are like jewels, that are made by the hand of a skilful workman. ²Thy navel is like a round bowl never wanting cups. Thy belly is like a heap of wheat, set about with lilies. ³Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins. ⁴Thy neck as a tower of ivory. Thy eyes like the fishpools in Hesebon, which are in the gate of the daughter of the multitude. Thy nose is as the tower of Libanus, that looketh toward Damascus. ⁵Thy head is like Carmel: and the hairs of thy head as the purple of the king bound in the channels. ⁶How beautiful art thou, and how comely, my dearest, in delights! ⁷Thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes. ⁸I said: I will go up into the palm tree, and will take hold of the fruit thereof: and thy breasts shall be as the clusters of the vine: and the odour of thy mouth like apples. ⁹Thy throat like the best wine, worthy for my beloved to drink, and for his lips and his teeth to ruminate. ¹⁰I to my beloved, and his turning is towards me. ¹¹Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, let us abide in the villages. ¹²Let us get up early to the vineyards, let us see if the vineyard flourish, if the flowers be ready to bring forth fruits, if the pomegranates flourish: there will I give thee my breasts. ¹³The mandrakes give a smell. In our gates are all fruits: the new and the old, my beloved, I have kept for thee.

Chapter 8

¹Who shall give thee to me for my brother, sucking the breasts of my mother, that I may find thee without, and kiss thee, and now no man may despise me? ²I will take hold of thee, and bring thee Into my mother's house: there thou shalt teach me, and I will give thee a cup of spiced wine and new wine of my pomegranates. ³His left hand under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me. ⁴I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not up, nor awake my love till she please. ⁵Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I raised thee up: there thy mother was corrupted, there she was defloured that bore thee. ⁶Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell, the lamps thereof are fire and flames. ⁷Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown it: if a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing. ⁸Our sister is little, and hath no breasts. What shall we do to our sister in the day when she is to be spoken to? ⁹If she be a wall: let us build upon it bulwarks of silver: if she be a door, let us join it together with boards or cedar. ¹⁰I am a wall: and my breasts are as a tower since I am become in his presence as one finding peace. ¹¹The peaceable had a vineyard, in that which hath people: he let out the same to keepers, every man bringeth for the fruit thereof a thousand pieces of silver. ¹²My vineyard is before me. A thousand are for thee, the peaceable, and two hundred for them that keep the fruit thereof. ¹³Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the friends hearken: make me hear thy voice. ¹⁴Flee away, O my beloved, and be like to the roe, and to the young hart upon the mountains of aromatical spices.

The Prophecy of Isaias

This inspired writer is called by the Holy Ghost, the great prophet, (Ecclesiasticus 48.25,) from the greatness of his prophetic spirit, by which he hath foretold so long before, and in so clear a manner, the coming of Christ, the mysteries of our redemption, the calling of the Gentiles, and the glorious establishment, and perpetual flourishing of the church of Christ: insomuch that he may seem to have been rather an evangelist than a prophet. His very name is not without mystery; for Isaias in Hebrew signifies the salvation of the Lord, or Jesus is the Lord. He was, according to the tradition of the Hebrews, of the blood royal of the kings of Juda: and after a most holy life, ended his days by a glorious martyrdom; being sawed in two, at the command of his wicked son in law, King Manasses, for reproving his evil ways.

Chapter 1

¹The vision of Isaias the son of Amos I which he saw concerning Juda and Jerusalem in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda ²Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have brought up children, and exalted them: but they have despised me. ³The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood. ⁴Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards. ⁵For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad. ⁶From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil. ⁷Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies. ⁸And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste. ⁹Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha. ¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha. ¹¹To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats. ¹²When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts? ¹³Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination tome. The new moons, and the sabbaths, and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked. ¹⁴My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them. ¹⁵And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood. ¹⁶Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes: cease to do perversely, ¹⁷Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow. ¹⁸And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool. ¹⁹if you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land. ²⁰But if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. ²¹How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? justice dwelt in it, but now murderers. ²²Thy silver is turned into dress: thy wine is mingled with water. ²³Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love bribes, the run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and the widow's cometh not in to them. ²⁴Therefore saith the Lord the God of hosts, the mighty one of Israel: Ah! I will comfort myself over my adversaries: and I will be revenged of my enemies. ²⁵And I will turn my hand to thee, and I will clean purge away thy dress, and I will take away all thy tin. ²⁶And I will restore thy judges se they were before, and thy counsellors as of old. After this thou shalt be called the city of the just, a faithful city. ²⁷Sion shall be redeemed in judgment, and they shall bring her back in justice. ²⁸And he shall destroy the wicked, and the sinners together: and they that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed. ²⁹For they shall be confounded for the idols, to which they have sacrificed: and you shall be ashamed of the gardens which you have chosen. ³⁰When you shall be as an oak with the leaves falling off, and as a garden without water. ³¹And your strength shall be as the ashes of tow, and your work as a spark: and both shall burn together, and there shall be none to quench it.

Chapter 2

¹The word that Isaias the son of Amos saw, concerning Juda and Jerusalem. ²And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. ³And many people shall go, and say: Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. ⁴And he shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people: and they shall turn their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they be exercised any more to war. ⁵O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. ⁶For thou hast cast off thy people, the house of Jacob: because they are filled as in times past, and have had soothsayers as the Philistines, and have adhered to strange children. ⁷Their land is filled with silver and gold: and there is no end of their treasures. ⁸And their land is filled with horses: and their chariots are innumerable. Their land also is full of idols: they have adored the work of their own hands, which their own fingers have made. ⁹And man hath bowed himself down, and man hath been debased: therefore forgive them not. ¹⁰Enter thou into the rock, and hide thee in the pit from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty. ¹¹The lofty eyes of man are humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be made to stoop: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. ¹²Because the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and highminded, and upon every one that is arrogant, and he shall be humbled. ¹³And upon all the tall and lofty cedars of Libanus, and upon all the oaks of Basan. ¹⁴And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the elevated hills. ¹⁵And upon every high tower, and every fenced wall. ¹⁶And upon all the ships of Tharsis, and upon all that is fair to behold. ¹⁷And the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. ¹⁸And idols shall be utterly destroyed. ¹⁹And they shall go into the holes of rocks, and into the caves of the earth from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall rise up to strike the earth. ²⁰In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which he had made for himself to adore, moles and bats. ²¹21And he shall go into the clefts of rocks, and into the holes of stones from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall rise up to strike the earth. ²²Cease ye therefore from the man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for he is reputed high.

Chapter 3

¹For behold the sovereign the Lord of hosts shall take away from Jerusalem, and from Juda the valiant and the strong, the whole strength of bread, and the whole strength of water. ²The strong man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the cunning man, and the ancient. ³The captain over fifty, and the honourable in countenance, and the counsellor, and the architect, and the skilful in eloquent speech. ⁴And I will give children to be their princes, and the effeminate shall rule over them. ⁵And the people shall rush one upon another, and every man against his neighbour: the child shall make it tumult against the ancient, and the base against the honourable. ⁶For a man shall take hold or his brother, one of the house of his father, saying: Thou hast a garment, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand. ⁷In that day he shall answer, saying: I am no healer, and in my house there is no bread, nor clothing: make me not ruler of the people. ⁸For Jerusalem is ruined, and Juda is fallen: because their tongue, and their devices are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his majesty. ⁹The shew of their countenance hath answered them: and they have proclaimed abroad their sin as Sodom, and they have not hid it: woe to their souls, for evils are rendered to them. ¹⁰Say to the just man that it is well, for he shall eat the fruit of his doings. ¹¹Woe to the wicked unto evil: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. ¹²As for my people, their oppressors have stripped them, and women have ruled over them. O my people, they that call thee blessed, the same deceive thee, and destroy the way of thy steps. ¹³The Lord standeth up to judge, and he standeth to judge the people. ¹⁴The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and its princes: for you have devoured the vineyard, and the spoil of the poor is in your house. ¹⁵Why do you consume my people, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord the God of hosts. ¹⁶And the Lord said: Because the daughters of Sion are haughty, and have walked with stretched out necks, and wanton glances of their eyes, and made a noise as they walked with their feet and moved in a set pace: ¹⁷The Lord will make bald the crown of the head of the daughters of Sion, and the Lord will discover their hair. ¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away the ornaments of shoes, end little moons, ¹⁹And chains and necklaces, and bracelets, and bonnets, ²⁰And bodkins, and ornaments of the legs, and tablets, and sweet balls, and earrings, ²¹And rings, and jewels hanging on the forehead, ²²And changes of apparel, and short cloaks, and fine linen, and crisping pins, ²³And looking-glasses, and lawns, and headbands, and fine veils. ²⁴And instead of a sweet smell there shall be stench, and instead of a girdle, a cord, and instead of curled hair, baldness, and instead of a stomacher, haircloth. ²⁵Thy fairest men also shall fall by the sword, and thy valiant ones in battle. ²⁶And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she shall sit desolate on the ground.

Chapter 4

¹And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying: We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, take away our reproach. ²In that day the bud of the Lord shall be in magnificence and glory, and the fruit of the earth shall be high, and a great joy to them that shall have escaped of Israel. ³And it shall come to pass, that every one that shall be left in Sion, and that shall remain in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, every one that is written in life in Jerusalem. ⁴If the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Sion, and shall wash away the blood of Jerusalem out of the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. ⁵And the Lord will create upon every place of mount Sion, and where he is called upon, a cloud by day, and a smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire in the night: for over all the glory shall be a protection. ⁶And there shall be a tabernacle for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a security and covert from the whirlwind, and from rain.

Chapter 5

¹For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one little measure, and thirty bushels of seed shall yield three bushels. ¹¹Woe to you that rise up early in the morning to follow drunkenness, and to drink till the evening, to be inflamed with wine. ¹²The harp, and the lyre, and the timbrel, and the pipe, and wine are in your feasts: and the work of the Lord you regard not, nor do you consider the works of his hands. ¹³Therefore is my people led away captive, because they had not knowledge, and their nobles have perished with famine, and their multitude were dried up with thirst. ¹⁴Therefore hath hell enlarged her soul, and opened her mouth without any bounds, and their strong ones, and their people, and their high and glorious ones shall go down into it. ¹⁵And man shall be brought down, and man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be brought low. ¹⁶And the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be sanctified in justice. ¹⁷And the lambs shall feed according to their order, and strangers shall eat the deserts turned into fruitfulness. ¹⁸Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as the rope of a cart. ¹⁹That say: Let him make haste, and let his work come quickly, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it. ²⁰Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. ²¹Woe to you that rue wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own conceits. ²²Woe to you that are mighty to drink wine, and stout men at drunkenness. ²³That justify the wicked for gifts, and take away the justice of the just from him. ²⁴Therefore as the tongue of the fire devoureth the stubble, and the heat of the dame consumeth it: so shall their root be as ashes, and their bud shall go up se dust: for they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and have blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel. ²⁵Therefore is the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched out his hand upon them, and struck them: and the mountains were troubled, and their carcasses became as dung 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 a sign to the nations afar off, and will whistle to them from the ends of the earth: and behold they shall come with speed swiftly. ²⁷There is none that shall faint, nor labour among them: they shall not slumber nor sleep, neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken. ²⁸Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows are bent. The hoofs of their horses shall be like the hint, and their wheels like the violence of a tempest. ²⁹Their roaring like that of a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea they shall roar, and take hold of the prey, and they shall keep fast hold of it, and there shall be none to deliver it. ³⁰And they shall make a noise against them that day, like the roaring of the sea; we shall look towards the land, and behold darkness of tribulation, and the light is darkened with the mist thereof.

Chapter 6

¹In the year that king Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated: and his train filled the temple. ²Upon it stood the seraphims: the one had six wings, and the other had six wings: with two they covered his face, and with two they covered his feet, and with two they hew. ³And they cried one to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of his glory. ⁴And the lintels of the doors were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. ⁵And I said: Woe is me, because I have held my peace; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people that hath unclean lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King the Lord of hosts. ⁶And one of the seraphims flew to me, and in his hand was a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs off the altar. ⁷And he touched my mouth, and said: Behold this hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquities shall be taken away, and thy sin shall be cleansed. ⁸And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send? and who shall go for us? And I said: Lo, here am I, send me. ⁹And he said: Go, and thou shalt say to this people: Hearing, hear, and understand not: and see the vision, and know it not. ¹⁰Blind the heart of this people, 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 be converted and I heal them. ¹¹And I said: How long, O Lord? And he said: Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land shall be left desolate. ¹²And the Lord shall remove men far away, and she shall be multiplied that was left in the midst of the earth. ¹³And there shall be still a tithing therein, and she shall turn, and shall be made a show as a turpentine tree, and as an oak that spreadeth its branches: that which shall stand therein, shall be a holy seed.

Chapter 7

¹And it came to pass in the days of Achaz the son of Joathan, the son of Ozias, king of Juda, that Basin king of Syria, and Phacee the son of Romelia king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem, to fight against it: but they could not prevail over it. ²And they told the house of David, saying: Syria hath rested upon Ephraim, and his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind. ³And the Lord said to Isaias: Go forth to meet Achaz, thou and Jasub thy son that is left, to the conduit of the upper pool, a in the way of the fuller's held. ⁴And thou shalt say to him: See thou be quiet: fear not, and let not thy heart be afraid of the two tails of these fire brands, smoking with the wrath of the fury of Rasin king of Syria, end of the son of Romelia. ⁵Because Syria hath taken counsel against thee, unto the evil of Ephraim and the son of Romelia, saying: ⁶Let us go up to Juda, and rouse it up, and draw it away to us, and make the son of Tabeel king in the midst thereof. ⁷Thus saith the Lord God: It shall not stand, and this shall not be. ⁸But the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Basin: and within threescore and five years, Ephraim shall cease to be a people: ⁹And the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria the son of Romelia. If you will not believe, you shall not continue. ¹⁰And the Lord spoke again to Achaz, saying: ¹¹Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God either unto the depth of hell, or unto the height above. ¹²And Achaz said: I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord. ¹³And he said: Hear ye therefore, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to be grievous to men, that you are grievous to my God also? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel. ¹⁵He shall eat butter and honey, that he may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good. ¹⁶For before the child know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good, the land which thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of the face of her two kings. ¹⁷The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon the house of thy father, days that have not come since the time of the separation of Ephraim from Juda with the king of the Assyrians. ¹⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly, that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹And they shall come, and shall all of them rest in the torrents of the valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all places set with shrubs, and in all hollow places. ²⁰In that day the Lord shall shave with a razor that is hired by them that are beyond the river, by the king of the Assyrians, the head and the hairs of the feet, and the whole beard. ²¹And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep. ²²And for the abundance of milk he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that shall be left in the midst of the land. ²³And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place where there were a thousand vines, at a thousand pieces of silver, shall become thorns and briers. ²⁴With arrows and with bows they shall go in thither: for briars and thorns shall be in all the land. ²⁵And as for all the hills that shall be raked with a rake, the fear of thorns and briers shall not come thither, but they shall be for the ox to feed on, and the lesser cattle to tread upon.

Chapter 8

¹And the Lord said to me: Take thee a great book, and write in it with a man's pen. Take sway the spoils with speed, quickly take the prey. ²And I took unto me faithful witnesses, Urias the priest, and Zacharias the son of Barachias. ³And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. And the Lord said to me: Call his name, Hasten to take away the spoils: Make haste to take away the prey. ⁴For before the child know to call his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of the Assyrians. ⁵And the Lord spoke to me again, saying: ⁶Forasmuch as this people hath cast away the waters of Siloe, that go with silence, and hath rather taken Basin, and the son of Romelia: ⁷Therefore behold the Lord will bring upon them the waters of the river strong and many, the king of the Assyrians, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and shall overflow all his banks, ⁸And shall pass through Juda, overflowing, and going over shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel. ⁹Gather yourselves together, O ye people, and be overcome, and give ear, all ye lands afar off: strengthen yourselves, end be overcome, gird yourselves, and be overcome. ¹⁰Take counsel together, and it shall be defeated: speak a word, and it shall not be done: because God is with us. ¹¹For thus saith the Lord to me: As he hath taught me, with a strong arm, that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying: ¹²Say ye not: A conspiracy: for all that this people speaketh, is a conspiracy: neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. ¹³Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself: and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ¹⁴And he shall be a sanctification to you. But for a stone or stumbling, and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel, for a snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵And very many of them shall stumble and fall, and shall be broken in pieces, and shall be snared, and taken. ¹⁶Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. ¹⁷And I will wait for the Lord, who hath hid his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. ¹⁸Behold I and my children, whom the Lord hath given me for a sign, and for a wonder in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Sion. ¹⁹And when they shall say to you: Seek of pythons, and of diviners, who mutter in their enchantments: should not the people seek of their God, for the living of the dead? ²⁰To the law rather, and to the testimony. And if they speak not according to this word, they shall not have the morning light. ²¹And they shall pass by it, they shall fall, and be hungry: and when they shall be hungry, they will be angry, and curse their king, and their God, and look upwards. ²²And they shall look to the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, weakness and distress, and a mist following them, and they cannot fly away from their distress.

Chapter 9

¹At the first time the land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephtali was lightly touched: and at the last the way of the sea beyond the Jordan of the Galilee of the Gentiles was heavily loaded. ²The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen. ³Thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast not increased the joy. They shall rejoice before thee, as they that rejoice in the harvest, as conquerors rejoice after taking a prey, when they divide the spoils. ⁴For the yoke of their burden, and the rod of their shoulder, and the sceptre of their oppressor thou best overcome, as in the day of Median. ⁵For every violent taking of spoils, with tumult, and garment mingled with blood, shall be burnt, and be fuel for the fire. ⁶For a CHILD IS BORN to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace. ⁷His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. ⁸The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. ⁹And all the people of Ephraim shall know, and the inhabitants of Samaria that say in the pride and haughtiness of their heart: ¹⁰The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with square stones: they have cut down the sycamores, but we will change them for cedars. ¹¹And the Lord shall set up the enemies of Rasin over him, and shall bring on his enemies in a crowd: ¹²The Syrians from the east, and the Philistines from the west: and they shall devour Israel with open mouth, For all this his indignation is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. ¹³And the people are not returned to him who hath struck them, and have not sought after the Lord of hosts. ¹⁴And the Lord shall destroy out of Israel the head and the tail, him that bendeth down, and him that holdeth back, in one day. ¹⁵The aged and honourable, he is the head: and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. ¹⁶And they that call this people blessed, shall cause them to err: and they that are called blessed, shall be thrown down headlong. ¹⁷Therefore the Lord shell have no joy in their young men: neither shall he have mercy on their fatherless, and widows: for every one is a hypocrite and wicked, and every mouth hath spoken folly. For all this his indignation is not turned away, but his bend is stretched out still. ¹⁸For wickedness is kindled as a fire, it shall devour the brier and the thorn: and shall kindle in the thicket of the forest, and it shall be wrapped up in smoke ascending on high. ¹⁹By the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is troubled, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire: no man shall spare his brother. ²⁰And he shall turn to the right hand, and shall be hungry: and shall eat on the left hand, and shall not be filled: every one shell eat the flesh of his own arm: Manasses Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasses, and they together shall be against Juda. ²¹After all these things his indignation is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Chapter 10

¹Woe to them that make wicked laws: and when they write, write injustice: ²To oppress the poor in judgment, and do violence to the cause of the humble of my people: that widows might be their prey, and that they might rob the fatherless. ³What will you do in the day of visitation, and of the calamity which cometh from afar? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? ⁴That you be not bowed down under the bond, and fall with the slain? In all these things his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. ⁵Woe to the Assyrian, he is the rod and the staff of my anger, and my indignation is in their hands. ⁶I will send him to a deceitful nation, and I will give him a charge against the people of my wrath, to take away the spoils, and to lay hold on the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. ⁷But he shall not take it so, and his heart shall not think so: but his heart shall be set to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few. ⁸For he shall say: ⁹Are not my princes as so many kings ? is not Calano as Charcamis: and Emath as Arphad? is not Samaria as Damascus? ¹⁰As my hand hath found the kingdom of the idol, so also their idols of Jerusalem, and of Samaria. ¹¹Shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? ¹²And it shall come to pass, that when the Lord shall have performed all his works in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, I will visit the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of the haughtiness of his eyes. ¹³For he hath said: By the strength of my own hand I have done it, and by my own wisdom I have understood: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have taken the spoils of the princes, and as a mighty man hath pulled down them that sat on high. ¹⁴And my hand hath found the strength of the people as a nest; and as eggs are gathered, that are left, so have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or made the least noise. ¹⁵Shall the axe boast itself against him that cutteth with it? or shall the saw exalt itself against him by whom it is drawn? as if a rod should lift itself up against him that lifteth it up, and a staff exalt itself, which is but wood. ¹⁶Therefore the sovereign Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall send leanness among his fat ones: and under his glory shall be kindled a burning, as it were the burning of a fire. ¹⁷And the light of Israel shall be as a fire, and the Holy One thereof as a flame: and his thorns and his briers shall be set on fire, and shall be devoured in one day. ¹⁸And the glory of his forest, and of his beautiful hill, shall be consumed from the soul even to the flesh, and he shall run away through fear. ¹⁹And they that remain of the trees of his forest shall be so few, that they shall easily be numbered, and a child shall write them down. ²⁰And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and they that shall escape of the house of Jacob, shall lean no more upon him that striketh them: but they shall lean upon the Lord the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹The remnant shall be converted, the remnant, I say, of Jacob, to the mighty God. ²²For if thy people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be converted, the consumption abridged shall overflow with justice. ²³For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, and an abridgment in the midst of all the land. ²⁴Therefore, thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: O my people that dwellest in Sion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall strike thee with his rod, and he shall lift up his staff over thee in the way of Egypt. ²⁵For yet a little and a very little while, and my indignation shall cease, and my wrath shall be upon their wickedness. ²⁶And the Lord of hosts shall raise up a scourge against him, according to the slaughter of Madian in the rock of Oreb, and his rod over the sea, and he shall lift it up in the way of Egypt. ²⁷And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall putrify at the presence of the oil. ²⁸He shall come into Aiath, he shall pass into Magron: at Machmas he shall lay up his carriages. ²⁹They have passed in haste, Gaba is our lodging: Rama was astonished, Gabaath of Saul fled away. ³⁰Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim, attend, O Laisa, poor Anathoth. ³¹Medemena is removed: ye inhabitants of Gabim, take courage. ³²It is yet day enough, to remain in Nobe: he shall shake his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Sion, the hill of Jerusalem. ³³Behold the sovereign Lord of hosts shall break the earthen vessel with terror, and the tall of stature shall be cut down, and the lofty shall be humbled. ³⁴And the thickets of the forest shall be cut down with iron, and Libanus with its high ones shall fall.

Chapter 11

¹And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. ²And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. ³And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears. ⁴But he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: land he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. ⁵And justice shall be the girdle of his loins: and faith the girdle of his reins. ⁶The wolf shall dwell with the lamb: and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: the calf and the lion, and the sheep shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them. ⁷The calf and the bear shall feed: their young ones shall rest 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 thrust his hand into the den of the basilisk. ⁹They shall not hurt, nor shall they kill in all my holy mountain, for the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the covering waters of the sea. ¹⁰In that day the root of Jesse, who standeth for an ensign of the people, him the Gentiles shall beseech, and his sepulchre shall be glorious. ¹¹And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand the second time to possess the remnant of his people, which shall be left from the Assyrians, and from Egypt, and from Phetros, and from Ethiopia, and from Elam, and from Sennaar, and from Emath, and from the islands of the sea. ¹²And he shall set up a standard unto the nations, and shall assemble the fugitives of Israel, and shall gather together the dispersed of Juda from the four quarters of the earth. ¹³And the envy of Ephraim shall be taken away, and the enemies of Juda shall perish: Ephraim shall not envy Juda, and Juda shall not fight against Ephraim. ¹⁴But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines by the sea, they together shall spoil the children of the east: Edom, and Moab shall be under the rule of their hand, and the children of Ammon shall be obedient. ¹⁵And the Lord shall lay waste the tongue of the sea of Egypt, and shall lift up his hand over the river in the strength of his spirit: and he shall strike it in the seven streams, so that men may pass through it in their shoes. ¹⁶And there shall be a highway for the remnant of my people, which shall be left from the Assyrians: as there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

Chapter 12

¹And thou shalt say in that day: I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, for thou wast angry with me: thy wrath is turned away, and thou hast comforted me. ²Behold, God is my saviour, I will deal confidently, and will not fear: O because the Lord is my strength, and my praise, and he is become my salvation. ³You shall draw waters with joy out of the saviour's fountains: ⁴And you shall say in that day: Praise ye the Lord, and call upon his name: make his works known among the people: remember that his name is high. ⁵Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath done great things: shew this forth in all the earth. ⁶Rejoice, and praise, O thou habitation of Sion: for great is he that is in the midst of thee, the Holy One of Israel.

Chapter 13

¹The burden of Babylon, which Isaias the son of Amos saw. ²Upon the dark mountain lift ye up a banner, exalt the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers go into the gates. ³I have commanded my sanctified ones, and have called my strong ones in my wrath, them that rejoice in my glory. ⁴The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as it were of many people, the noise of the sound of kings, of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts hath given charge to the troops of war. ⁵To them that come from a country afar off, from the end of heaven: tile Lord and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy the whole land. ⁶Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is near: it shall come as a destruction from the Lord. ⁷Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every heart of man shall melt, ⁸And shall be broken. Gripings and pains shall take hold of them, they shall be in pain as a woman in labour. Every one shall be amazed at his neighbour, their countenances shall be as faces burnt. ⁹Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. ¹⁰For the stars of heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light. ¹¹And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity: and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogancy of the mighty. ¹²A man shall be more precious than gold, yea a man than the finest of gold. ¹³For this I will trouble the heaven: and the earth shall be moved out of her place, for the indignation of the Lord of hosts, and for the day of his tierce wrath. ¹⁴And they shall be as a doe fleeing away, and as a sheep: and there shall be none to gather them together: every man shall turn to his own people, and every one shall flee to his own land. ¹⁵Every one that shall be found, shall be slain: and every one that shall come to their aid, shall fall by the sword. ¹⁶Their infants shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes: their houses shall be pillaged, and their wives shall be ravished. ¹⁷Behold I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not seek silver, nor desire gold: ¹⁸But with their arrows they shall kill the children, and shall have no pity upon the sucklings of the womb, and their eye shall not spare their sons. ¹⁹And that Babylon, glorious among kingdoms, the famous pride of the Chaldeans, shall be even as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha. ²⁰It shall no more be inhabited for ever, and it shall not be founded unto generation and generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch his tents there, nor shall shepherds rest there. ²¹But wild beasts shall rest there, and their houses shall be filled with serpents, and ostriches shall dwell there, and the hairy ones shall dance there: ²²And owls shall answer one another there, in the houses thereof, and sirens in the temples of pleasure.

Chapter 14

¹Her time is near at hand, and her days shall not be prolonged. For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose out of Israel, and will make them rest upon their own ground: and the stranger shall be joined with them, and shall adhere to the house of Jacob. ²And the people shall take them, and bring them into their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall make them captives that had taken them, and shall subdue their oppressors. ³And it shall come to pass in that day, that when God shall give thee rest from thy labour, and from thy vexation, and from the hard bondage, wherewith thou didst serve before, ⁴Thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and shalt say: How is the oppressor come to nothing, the tribute hath ceased? ⁵The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers, ⁶That struck the people in wrath with an incurable wound, that brought nations under in fury, that persecuted in a cruel manner. ⁷The whole earth is quiet and still, it is glad and hath rejoiced. ⁸The fir trees also have rejoiced over thee, and the cedars of Libanus, saying: Since thou hast slept, there hath none come up to cut us down. ⁹Hell below was in an uproar to meet thee at thy coming, it stirred up the giants for thee. All the princes of the earth are risen up from their thrones, all the princes of nations. ¹⁰All shall answer, and say to thee: Thou also art wounded as well as we, thou art become like unto us. ¹¹11Thy pride is brought down to hell, thy carcass is fallen down: under thee shall the moth be strewed, and worms shall be thy covering. ¹²How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? how art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations? ¹³And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north. ¹⁴I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the most High. ¹⁵But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth of the pit. ¹⁶They that shall see thee, shall turn toward thee, and behold thee. Is this the man that troubled the earth, that shook kingdoms, ¹⁷That made the world a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the prison to his prisoners? ¹⁸All the kings of the nations have all of them slept in glory, every one in his own house. ¹⁹But thou art cast out of thy grave, as an unprofitable branch defiled, and wrapped up among them that were slain by the sword, and art gone down to the bottom of the pit, as a rotten carcass. ²⁰Thou shalt not keep company with them, even in burial: for thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people: the seed of the wicked shall not be named for ever. ²¹Prepare his children for slaughter for the iniquity of their fathers: they shall not rise up, nor inherit the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. ²²And I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will destroy the name of Babylon, and the remains, and the bud, and the offspring, saith the Lord. ²³And I will make it a possession for the ericius and pools of waters, and I will sweep it and wear it out with a besom, saith the Lord of hosts. ²⁴The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying: Surely as I have thought, so shall it be: and as I have purposed, ²⁵So shall it fall out: That I will destroy the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: and his yoke shall be taken away from them, and his burden shall be taken off their shoulder. ²⁶This is the counsel, that I have purposed upon all the earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all nations. ²⁷For the Lord of hosts hath decreed, and who can disannul it? and his hand is stretched out: and who shall turn it away? ²⁸In the year that king Achaz died, was this burden: ²⁹Rejoice not thou, whole Philistia, that the rod of him that struck thee is broken in pieces: for out of the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk, and his seed shall swallow the bird. ³⁰And the firstborn of the poor shall be fed, and the poor shall rest with confidence: and I will make thy root perish with famine, and I will kill thy remnant. ³¹Howl, O gate; cry, O city: all Philistia is thrown down: for a smoke shall come from the north, and there is none that shall escape his troop. ³²And what shall be answered to the messengers of the nations? That the Lord hath founded Sion, and the poor of his people shall hope in him.

Chapter 15

¹The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, it is silent: because the wall of Moab is destroyed in the night, it is silent. ²The house is gone up, and Dibon to the high places to mourn over Nabo, and over Medaba, Moab hath howled: ton all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard shall be shaven. ³In their streets they are girded with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets all shall howl and come down weeping. ⁴Hesebon shall cry, and Eleale, their voice is heard even to Jasa. For this shall the well appointed men of Moab howl, his soul shall howl to itself. ⁵My heart shall cry to Moab, the bars thereof shall flee unto Segor a heifer of three years old: for by the ascent of Luith they shall go up weeping: and in the way of Oronaim they shall lift up a cry of destruction. ⁶For the waters of Nemrim shall be desolate, for the grass is withered away, the spring is faded, all the greenness is perished. ⁷According to the greatness of their work, is their visitation also: they shall lead them to the torrent of the willows. ⁸For the cry is gone round about the border of Moab: the howling thereof unto Gallim, and unto the well of Elim the cry thereof. ⁹For the waters of Dibon are filled with blood: for I will bring more upon Dibon: the lion upon them that shall flee of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.

Chapter 16

¹Send forth, O Lord, the lamb, the ruler of the earth, from Petra of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Sion. ²And it shall come to pass, that as a bird fleeing away, and as young ones flying out of the nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be in the passage of Arnon. ³Take counsel, gather a council: make thy shadow as the night in the midday: hide them that flee, and betray not them that wander about. ⁴My fugitives shall dwell with thee: O Moab, be thou a covert to them from the face of the destroyer: for the dust is at an end, the wretch is consumed: he hath failed, that trod the earth under foot. ⁵And a throne shall be prepared in mercy, and one shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment and quickly rendering that which is just. ⁶We have heard of the pride of Moab, he is exceeding proud: his pride and his arrogancy, and his indignation is more than his strength. ⁷Therefore shall Moab howl to Moab, every one shall howl: to them that rejoice upon the brick walls, tell ye their stripes. ⁸For the suburbs of Hesebon are desolate, and the lords of the nations have destroyed the vineyard of Sabama: the branches thereof have reached even to Jazer: they have wandered in the wilderness, the branches thereof are left, they are gone over the sea. ⁹Therefore I will lament with the weeping of Jazer the vineyard of Sabama: I will water thee with my tears, O Hesebon, and Eleale: for the voice of the treaders hath rushed in upon thy vintage, and upon thy harvest. ¹⁰And gladness and joy shall be taken away from Carmel, and there shall be no rejoicing nor shouting in the vineyards. He shall not tread out wine in the press that was wont to tread it out: the voice of the treaders I have taken away. ¹¹Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for the brick wall. ¹²And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is wearied on his high places, that he shall go in to his sanctuaries to pray, and shall not prevail. ¹³This is the word, that the Lord spoke to Moab from that time: ¹⁴And now the Lord hath spoken, saying: In three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be taken away for all the multitude of the people, and it shall be left small and feeble, not many.

Chapter 17

¹The burden of Damascus. Behold Damascus shall cease to be a city, and shall be as a ruinous heap of stones. ²The cities of Aroer shall be left for flocks, and they shall rest there, and there shall be none to make them afraid. ³And aid shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus: and the remnant of Syria shall be as the glory of the children of Israel: saith the Lord 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 one gathereth in the harvest that which remaineth, and his arm shall gather the ears of corn: and it shall be as he that seeketh ears in the vale of Raphaim. ⁶And the fruit thereof that shall be left upon it, shall be as one cluster of grapes, and as the shaking of the olive tree, two or three berries in the top of a bough, or four or five upon the top of the tree, saith the Lord the God of Israel. ⁷In that day man shall bow down himself to his Maker, and his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel. ⁸And he shall not look to the altars which his hands made: and he shall not have respect to the things that his fingers wrought, such as groves and temples. ⁹In that day his strong cities shall be forsaken, as the ploughs, and the corn that were left before the face of the children of Israel, and thou shalt be desolate. ¹⁰Because thou hast forgotten God thy saviour, and hast not remembered thy strong helper: therefore shalt thou plant good plants, and shalt sow strange seed. ¹¹In the day of thy planting shall be the wild grape, and in the morning thy seed shall flourish: the harvest is taken away in the day of inheritance, and shall grieve thee much. ¹²Woe to the multitude of many people, like the multitude of the roaring sea: and the tumult of crowds, like the noise of many waters. ¹³Nations shall make a noise like the noise of waters overflowing, but he shall rebuke him, and he shall flee far off: and he shall be carried away as the dust of the mountains before the wind, and as a whirlwind before a tempest. ¹⁴In the time of the evening, behold there shall be trouble: the morning shall come, and he shall not be: this is the portion of them that have wasted us, and the lot of them that spoiled us.

Chapter 18

¹Woe to the land, the winged cymbal, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, ²That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, and in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters. Go, ye swift angels, to a nation rent and torn in pieces: to a terrible people, after which there is no other: to a nation expecting and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled. ³All ye inhabitants of the world, who dwell on the earth, when the sign shall be lifted up on the mountains, you shall see, and you shall hear the sound of the trumpet. ⁴For thus saith the Lord to me: I will take my rest, and consider in my place, as the noon light is clear, and as a cloud of dew in the day of harvest. ⁵For before the harvest it was all flourishing, and it shall bud without perfect ripeness, and the sprigs thereof shall be cut off with pruning hooks: and what is left shall be cut away and shaken out. ⁶And they shall be left together to the birds of the mountains, and the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall be upon them all the summer, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. ⁷At that time shall a present be brought to the Lord of hosts, from a people rent and torn in pieces: from a terrible people, after which there hath been no other: from a nation expecting, expecting and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to mount Sion.

Chapter 19

¹The burden of Egypt. Behold the Lord will ascend upon a swift cloud, and will enter into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst thereof. ²And I will set the Egyptians to fight against the Egyptians: and they shall fight brother against brother, and friend against friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. ³And the spirit of Egypt shall be broken in the bowels thereof, and I will cast down their counsel: and they shall consult their idols, and their diviners, and their wizards, and soothsayers. ⁴And I will deliver Egypt into the hand of cruel masters, and a strong king shall rule over them, saith the Lord the God of hosts. ⁵And the water of the sea shall be dried up, and the river shall be wasted and dry. ⁶And the rivers shall fail: the streams of the banks shall be diminished, and be dried up. The reed and the bulrush shall wither away. ⁷The channel of the river shall be laid bare from its fountain, and every thing sown by the water shall be dried up, it shall wither away, and shall be no more. ⁸The fishers also shall mourn, and all that cast a hook into the river shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish away. ⁹They shall be confounded that wrought in flax, combing and weaving fine linen. ¹⁰And its watery places shall be dry, all they shall mourn that made pools to take fishes. ¹¹The princes of Tanis are become fools, the wise counsellors of Pharao have given foolish counsel: how will you say to Pharao: I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? ¹²Where are now thy wise men? let them tell thee, and shew what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. ¹³The princes of Tanis are become fools, the princes of Memphis are gone astray, they have deceived Egypt, the stay of the people thereof. ¹⁴The Lord hath mingled in the midst thereof the spirit of giddiness: and they have caused Egypt to err in all its works, as a drunken man staggereth and vomiteth. ¹⁵And there shall be no work for Egypt, to make head or tail, him that bendeth down, or that holdeth back. ¹⁶In that day Egypt shall be like unto women, and they shall be amazed, and afraid, because of the moving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shall move over it. ¹⁷And the land of Juda shall be a terror to Egypt: every one that shall remember it shall tremble because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he hath determined concerning it. ¹⁸In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt, speaking the language of Chanaan, and swearing by the Lord of hosts: one shall be called the city of the sun. ¹⁹In that day there shall be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a monument of the Lord at the borders thereof: ²⁰It shall be for a sign, and for a testimony to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. For they shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressor, and he shall send them a Saviour and a defender to deliver them. ²¹And the Lord shall be known by Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall worship him with sacrifices and offerings: and they shall make vows to the Lord, and perform them. ²²And the Lord shall strike Egypt with a scourge, and shall heal it, and they shall return to the Lord, and he shall be pacified towards them, and heal them. ²³In that day there shall be a way from Egypt to the Assyrians, and the Assyrian shall enter into Egypt, and the Egyptian to the Assyrians, and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrian. ²⁴In that day shall Israel be the third to the Egyptian and the Assyrian: a blessing in the midst of the land, ²⁵Which the Lord of hosts hath blessed, saying: Blessed be my people of Egypt, and the work of my hands to the Assyrian: but Israel is my inheritance.

Chapter 20

¹In the year that Tharthan entered into Azotus, when Sargon the king of the Assyrians had sent him, and he had fought against Azotus, and had taken it: ²At that same time the Lord spoke by the hand of Isaias the son of Amos, saying: Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and take off thy shoes from thy feet. And he did so, and went naked, and barefoot. ³And the Lord said: As my servant Isaias hath walked, naked and barefoot, it shall be a sign and a wonder of three years upon Egypt, and upon Ethiopia, ⁴So shall the king of the Assyrians lead away the prisoners of Egypt, and the captivity of Ethiopia, young and old. naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt. ⁵And they shall be afraid, and ashamed of Ethiopia their hope, and of Egypt their glory. ⁶And the inhabitants of this isle shall say in that day: Lo this was our hope, to whom we fled for help, to deliver up from the face of the king of the Assyrians: and how shall we be able to escape?

Chapter 21

¹The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds come from the south, it cometh from the desert from a terrible land. ²A grievous vision is told me: he that is unfaithful dealeth unfaithfully : and he that is a spoiler, spoileth. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Mede: I have made all the mourning thereof to cease. ³Therefore are my loins filled with pain, anguish hath taken hold of me, as the anguish of a woman in labour: I fell down at the hearing of it, I was troubled at the seeing of it. ⁴My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is become a wonder to me. ⁵Prepare the table, behold in the watchtower them that eat and drink: arise, ye princes, take up the shield. ⁶For thus hath the Lord said to me: Go, and set a watchman: and whatsoever he shall see, let him tell. ⁷And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, a rider upon an ass, and a rider upon a camel: and he beheld them diligently with much heed. ⁸And a lion cried out: I am upon the watchtower of the Lord, standing continually by day: and I am upon my ward, standing whole nights. ⁹Behold this man cometh, the rider upon the chariot with two horsemen, and he answered, and said: Babylon is fallen, she is fallen, and all the graven gods thereof are broken unto the ground. ¹⁰O my thrashing and the children of my door, that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto you. ¹¹The burden of Duma calleth to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of the eight? watchman, what of the night? ¹²The watchman said: The morning cometh, also the night: if you seek, seek: return, come. ¹³The burden in Arabia. In the forest at evening you shall sleep, in the paths of Dedanim. ¹⁴Meeting the thirsty bring him water, you that inhabit the land of the south, meet with bread him that fleeth. ¹⁵For they are fled from before the swords, from the sword that hung over them, from the bent bow, from the face of a grievous battle. ¹⁶For thus saith the Lord to me: Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away. ¹⁷And the residue of the number of strong archers of the children of Cedar shall be diminished: for the Lord the God of Israel hath spoken it.

Chapter 22

¹The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee also, that thou too art wholly gone up to the housetops? ²Full of clamour, a populous city, a joyous city: thy slain are not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle. ³All the princes are fled together, and are bound hard: all that were found, are bound together, they are fled far off. ⁴Therefore have I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: labour not to comfort me, for the devastation of the daughter of my people. ⁵For it is a day of slaughter and of treading down, and of weeping to the Lord the God of hosts in the valley of vision, searching the wall, and magnificent upon the mountain. ⁶And Elam took the quiver, the chariot of the horseman, and the shield was taken down from the wall. ⁷And thy choice valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horseman shall place themselves in the gate. ⁸And the covering of Juda shall be discovered, and thou shalt see in that day the armoury of the house of the forest. ⁹And you shall see the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and you have gathered together the waters of the lower pool, ¹⁰And have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and broken down houses to fortify the wall. ¹¹And you made a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: and you have not looked up to the maker thereof, nor regarded him even at a distance, that wrought it long ago. ¹²And the Lord, the God of hosts, in that day shall call to weeping, and to mourning, to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: ¹³And behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying rams, eating flesh, and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die. ¹⁴And the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die, saith the Lord God of hosts. ¹⁵Thus saith the Lord God of hosts: Go, get thee in to him that dwelleth in the tabernacle, to Sobna who is over the temple: and thou shalt say to him: ¹⁶What dost thou here, or as if thou wert somebody here? for thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, thou hast hewed out a monument carefully in a high place, a dwelling for thyself in a rock. ¹⁷Behold the Lord will cause thee to be carried away, as a cock is carried away, and he will lift thee up as a garment. ¹⁸He will crown thee with a crown of tribulation, he will toss thee like a ball into a large and spacious country: there shalt thou die, and there shall the chariot of thy glory be, the shame of the house of thy Lord. ¹⁹And I will drive thee out From thy station, and depose thee from thy ministry. ²⁰And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliacim the son of Helcias, ²¹And I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda. 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 peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to the house of his father. ²⁴And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, divers kinds of vessels, every little vessel, from the vessels of cups even to every instrument of music. ²⁶In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the peg be removed, that was fastened in the sure place: and it shall be broken and shall fall: and that which hung thereon, shall perish, because the Lord hath spoken it.

Chapter 23

¹The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of the sea, for the house is destroyed, from whence they were wont to come: from the land of Cethim it is revealed to them. ²Be silent, you that dwell in the island: the merchants of Sidon passing over the sea, have filled thee. ³The seed of the Nile in many waters, the harvest of the river is her revenue: and she is become the mart of the nations. ⁴Be thou ashamed, O Sidon: for the sea speaketh, even the strength of the sea, saying: I have not been in labour, nor have I brought forth, nor have I nourished up young men, nor brought up virgins. ⁵When it shall be heard in Egypt, they will be sorry when they shall hear of Tyre: ⁶Pass over the seas, howl, ye inhabitants of the island. ⁷Is not this your city, which gloried from of old in her antiquity? her feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn. ⁸Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, that was formerly crowned, whose merchants were princes, and her traders the nobles of the earth? ⁹The Lord of hosts hath designed it, to pull down the pride of all glory, and bring to disgrace all the glorious ones of the earth. ¹⁰Pass thy land as a river, O daughter of the sea, thou hast a girdle no more. ¹¹He stretched out his hand over the sea, he troubled kingdoms: the Lord hath given a charge against Chanaan, to destroy the strong ones thereof. ¹²And he said: Thou shalt glory no more, O virgin daughter of Sidon, who art oppressed: arise and sail over to Cethim, there also thou shalt have no, rest. ¹³Behold the land of the Chaldeans, there was not such a people, the Assyrian founded it: they have led away the strong ones thereof into captivity, they have destroyed the houses thereof, they have brought it to ruin. ¹⁴Howl, O ye ships of the sea, for your strength is laid waste. ¹⁵And it shall come to pass in that day that thou, O Tyre, shalt be forgotten, seventy years, according to the days of one king: but after seventy years, there shall be unto Tyre as the song of a harlot. ¹⁶Take a harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten: sing well, sing many a song, that thou mayst be remembered. ¹⁷And it shall come to pass after seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre, and will bring her back again to her traffic: and she shall commit fornication again with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. ¹⁸And her merchandise and her hire shall be sanctified to the Lord: they shall not be kept in store, nor laid up: for her merchandise shall be for them that shall dwell before the Lord, that they may eat unto fulness, and be clothed for a continuance.

Chapter 24

¹Behold the Lord shall lay waste the earth, and shall strip it, and shall afflict the face thereof, and scatter abroad the inhabitants thereof. ²And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest: and as with the servant, so with his master: as with the handmaid, so with her mistress: as with the buyer, so with the seller: as with the lender, so with the borrower: as with him that calleth for his money, so with him that oweth. ³With desolation shall the earth be laid waste, and it shall be utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. ⁴The earth mourned, and faded away, and is weakened: the world faded away, the height of the people of the earth is weakened. ⁵And the earth is infected by the inhabitants thereof: because they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinance, they have broken the everlasting covenant. ⁶Therefore shall a curse devour the earth, and the inhabitants thereof shall sin: and therefore they that dwell therein shall be mad, and few men shall be left. ⁷The vintage hath mourned, the vine hath languished away, all the merryhearted have sighed. ⁸The mirth of timbrels hath ceased, the noise of them that rejoice is ended, the melody of the harp is silent. ⁹They shall not drink wine with a song: the drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. ¹⁰The city of vanity is broken down, every house is shut up, no man cometh in. ¹¹There shall be a crying for wine in the streets: all mirth is forsaken: the joy of the earth is gone away. ¹²Desolation is left in the city, and calamity shall oppress the gates. ¹³For it shall be thus in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the people, as if a few olives, that remain, should be shaken out of the olive tree: or grapes, when the vintage is ended. ¹⁴These shall lift up their voice, and shall give praise: when the Lord shall be glorified, they shall make a joyful noise from the sea. ¹⁵Therefore glorify ye the Lord in instruction: the name of the Lord God of Israel in the islands of the sea. ¹⁶From the ends of the earth we have heard praises, the glory of the just one. And I said: My secret to myself, my secret to myself, woe is me: the prevaricators have prevaricated, and with the prevarication of transgressors they have prevaricated. ¹⁷Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, O thou inhabitant of the earth. ¹⁸And it shall come to pass, that he that shall flee from the noise of the fear, shall fall into the pit: and he that shall rid himself out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for the flood-gates from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth shall be shaken. ¹⁹With breaking shall the earth be broken, with crushing shall the earth be crushed, with trembling shall the earth be moved. ²⁰With shaking shall the earth be shaken as a drunken man, and shall be removed as the tent of one night: and the iniquity thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fell, and not rise again. ²¹And it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord shall visit upon the host of heaven on high, and upon the kings of the earth, on the earth. ²²And they shall be gathered together as in the gathering of one bundle into the pit, and they shall be shut up there in prison: and after many days they shall be visited. ²³fend the moon shall blush, and the sun shall be ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified in the sight of his ancients.

Chapter 25

¹For the hand of the Lord shall rest in this mountain: and Moab shall be trodden down under him, as straw is broken in pieces with the wain. ¹¹And he shall stretch forth his hands under him, as he that swimmeth stretcheth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down his glory with the dashing of his hands. ¹²And the bulwarks of thy high walls shall fall, and be brought low, and shall be pulled down to the ground, even to the dust.

Chapter 26

¹In that day shall this canticle be sung the land of Juda. Sion the city of our strength a saviour, a wall and a bulwark shall be set therein. ²Open ye the gates, and let the just nation, that keepeth the truth, enter in. ³The old error is passed away: thou wilt keep peace: peace, because we have hoped in thee. ⁴You have hoped in the Lord for evermore, in the Lord God mighty for ever. ⁵For he shall bring down them that dwell on high, the high city he shall lay low. He shall bring it down even to the ground, he shall pull it down even to the dust. ⁶The foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy. ⁷The way of the just is right, the path of the just is right to walk in. ⁸And in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, we have patiently waited for thee: thy name, and thy remembrance are the desire of the soul. ⁹My soul hath desired thee in the night: yea, and with my spirit within me in the morning early I will watch to thee. When thou shalt do thy judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn justice. ¹⁰Let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice: in the land of the saints he hath done wicked things, and he shall not see the glory of the Lord. ¹¹Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let the envious people see, and be confounded: and let fire devour thy enemies. ¹²Lord, thou wilt give us peace: for thou hast wrought all our works for us. ¹³O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, only in thee let us remember thy name. ¹⁴Let not the dead live, let not the giants rise again: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and best destroyed all their memory. ¹⁵Thou hast been favourable to the nation, O Lord, thou hast been favourable to the nation: art thou glorified? thou hast removed all the ends of the earth far off. ¹⁶Lord, they have sought after thee in distress, in the tribulation of murmuring thy instruction was with them. ¹⁷As a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs: so are we become in thy presence, O Lord. ¹⁸We have conceived, and been as it were in labour, and have brought forth wind: we have not wrought salvation on the earth, therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen. ¹⁹Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: awake, and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is the dew of the light: and the land of the giants thou shalt pull down into ruin. ²⁰Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee, hide thyself a little for a moment, until the indignation pass away. ²¹For behold the Lord will come out of his place, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth against him: and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall cover her slain no more.

Chapter 27

¹In that day the Lord with his hard, and great, and strong sword shall visit leviathan the bar serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent, and shall slay the whale that is in the see. ²In that day there shall be singing to the vineyard of pure wine. ³I am the Lord that keep it, I will suddenly give it drink: lest any hurt come to it, I keep it night and day. ⁴There is no indignation in m: who shall make me a thorn and a brier in battle: shall march against it, shall I set it on fire together? ⁵Or rather shall it take hold of my strength, shall it make peace with me, shall it make peace with me? ⁶When they shall rush in unto Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud, and they shall fill the face of the world with seed. ⁷Hath he struck him according to the stroke of him that struck him? or is he slain, as he killed them that were slain by him? ⁸In measure against measure, when it shall be cast off, thou shalt judge it. He hath meditated with his severe spirit in the day of heat. ⁹Therefore upon this shall the iniquity of the house of Jacob be forgiven: and this is all the fruit, that the sin thereof should be taken away, when he shall have made all the stones of the altar, as burnt stones broken in pieces, the groves and temples shall not stand. ¹⁰For the strong city shall be desolate, the beautiful city shall be forsaken, and shall be left as a wilderness : there the calf shall feed, and there shall he lie down, and shall consume its branches. ¹¹Its harvest shall be destroyed with drought, women shall come and teach it: for it is not a wise people, therefore he that made it, shall not have mercy on it: and he that formed it, shall not spare it. ¹²And it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord will strike from the channel of the river even to the torrent of Egypt, and you shall be gathered together one by one, O ye children of Israel. ¹³And it shall come to pass, that in that day a noise shall be made with a great trumpet, and they that were lost, shall come from the land of the Assyrians, and they that were outcasts in the land of Egypt, and they shall adore the Lord in the holy mount in Jerusalem.

Chapter 28

¹Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower the glory of his joy, who were on the head of the fat valley, staggering with wine. ²Behold the Lord is mighty and strong, as a storm of hail: a destroying whirlwind, as the violence of many waters overflowing, and sent forth upon a spacious land. ³The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet. ⁴And the fading flower the glory of his joy, who is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as a hasty fruit before the ripeness of autumn: which when he that seeth it shall behold, as soon as he taketh it in his hand, he will eat it up. ⁵In that day the Lord of hosts shall be a crown of glory, and a garland of joy to the residue of his people: ⁶And a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and strength to them that return out of the battle to the gate. ⁷But these also have been ignorant through wine, and through drunkenness have erred: the priest and the prophet have been ignorant through drunkenness, they are swallowed up with wine, they have gone astray in drunkenness, they have not known him that seeth, they have been ignorant of judgment. ⁸For all tables were full of vomit and filth, so that there was no more place. ⁹Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand the hearing? them that are weaned from the milk, that are drawn away from the breasts. ¹⁰For command, command again; command, command again; expect, expect again; expect, expect again: a little there, a little there. ¹¹For with the speech of lips, and with another tongue he will speak to this people. ¹²To whom he said: This is my rest, refresh the weary, and this is my refreshing: and they would not hear. ¹³And the word of the Lord shall be to them: Command, command again; command, command again: expect, expect again; expect, expect again: a little there, a little there: that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. ¹⁴Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, who rule over my people that is in Jerusalem. ¹⁵For you have said : We have entered into a league with death, and we have made a covenant with hell. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come upon us: for we have placed our hope in lies, and by falsehood we are protected. ¹⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a corner stone, a precious stone, founded in the foundation. He that believeth, let him not hasten. ¹⁷And I will set judgment in weight, and justice in measure: and hail shall overturn the hope of falsehood: and waters shall overflow its protection. ¹⁸And Sour league with death shall be abolished, and your covenant with hell shall not stand: when the overflowing scourge shall pass, you shall be trodden down by it. ¹⁹Whensoever it shall pass through, it shall take you away: because in the morning early it shall pass through, in the day and in the night, and vexation alone shall make you understand what you hear. ²⁰For the bed is straitened, so that one must fall out, and a short covering cannot cover both. ²¹For the Lord shall stand up as in the mountain of divisions: he shall be angry as in the valley which is in Gabaon: that he may do his work, his strange work: that he may perform his work, his work is strange to him. ²²And now do not mock, lest your bonds be tied strait. For I have heard of the Lord the God of hosts a consumption and a cutting short upon all the earth. ²³Give ear, and hear my voice, hearken, and hear my speech. ²⁴Shall the ploughman plough all the day to sow, shall he open and harrow his ground? ²⁵Will he not, when he hath made plain the surface thereof, sow gith, and scatter cummin, and put wheat in order, and barley, and millet, and vetches in their bounds? ²⁶For he will instruct him in judgment : his God will teach him. ²⁷For gith shall not be thrashed with saws, neither shall the cart wheel turn about upon cummin: but gith shall be beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a staff. ²⁸But bread corn shall be broken small: but the thrasher shall not thrash it for ever, neither shall the cart wheel hurt it, nor break it with its teeth. ²⁹This also is come forth from the Lord God of hosts, to make his counsel wonderful, and magnify justice.

Chapter 29

¹Woe to Ariel, to Ariel the city which David took: year is added to year: the solemnities are at an end. ²And I will make a trench about Ariel, and it shall be in sorrow and mourning, and it shall be to me as Ariel. ³And I will make a circle round about thee, and will cast up a rampart against thee, and raise up bulwarks to besiege thee. ⁴Thou shalt be brought down, thou shalt speak out of the earth, and thy speech shall be heard out of the ground: and thy voice shall be from the earth like that of the python, and out of the ground thy speech shall mutter. ⁵And the multitude of them that fan thee, shall be like small dust: and as ashes passing away, the multitude of them that have prevailed against thee. ⁶And it shall be at an instant suddenly. A visitation shall come from the Lord of hosts in thunder, and with earthquake, and with a great noise of whirlwind and tempest, and with the flame of devouring fire. ⁷And the multitude of all nations that have fought against Ariel, shall be as the dream of a vision by night, and all that have fought, and besieged and prevailed against it. ⁸And as he that is hungry dreameth, and eateth, but when he is awake, his soul is empty: and as he that is thirsty dreameth, and drinketh, and after he is awake, is yet faint with thirst, and his soul is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the Gentiles, that have fought against mount Sion. ⁹Be astonished, and wander, waver, and stagger: be drunk, and not with wine: stagger, and not with drunkenness. ¹⁰For the Lord hath mingled for you the spirit of a deep sleep, he will shut up your eyes, he will cover your prophets and princes, that see visions. ¹¹And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which when they shall deliver to one that is learned, they shall say: Read this: and he shall answer: I cannot, for it is sealed. ¹²And the book shall be given to one that knoweth no letters, and it shall be said to him: Read: and he shall answer: I know no letters. ¹³And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men: ¹⁴Therefore behold I will proceed to cause an admiration in this people, by a great and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from their wise men, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. ¹⁵Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the Lord: and their works are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us? ¹⁶This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to the maker thereof: Thou madest me not: or the thing framed should say to him that fashioned it: Thou understandest not. ¹⁷Is it not yet a very little while, and Libanus shall be turned into charmel, and charmel shall be esteemed as a forest? ¹⁸And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness and obscurity the eyes of the blind shall see. ¹⁹And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. ²⁰For he that did prevail hath failed, the scorner is consumed, and they are all cut off that watched for iniquity: ²¹That made men sin by word, and supplanted him that reproved them in the gate, and declined in vain from the just. ²²Therefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Jacob, he that redeemed Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, neither shall his countenance now be ashamed: ²³But when he shall see his children, the work of my hands in the midst of him sanctifying my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall glorify the God of Israel: ²⁴And they that erred in spirit, shall know understanding, and they that murmured, shall learn the law.

Chapter 30

¹Woe to you, apostate children, saith the Lord, that you would take counsel, and not of me: and would begin a web, and not by my spirit, that you might add sin upon sill: ²Who walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth, hoping for help in the strength of Pharao, and trusting in the shadow of Egypt. ³And the strength of Pharao shall be to your confusion, and the confidence of the shadow of Egypt to your shame. ⁴For thy princes were in Tanis, and thy messengers came even to Hanes. ⁵They were all confounded at a people that could not profit them: they were no help, nor to any profit, but to confusion and to reproach. ⁶The burden of the beasts of the south. In a land of trouble and distress, from whence come the lioness, and the lion, the viper and the flying basilisk, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of beasts, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels to a people that shall not be able to profit them. ⁷For Egypt shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this: It is pride only, sit still. ⁸Now therefore go in and write for them upon box, and note it diligently in a book, and it shall be in the latter days for a testimony for ever. ⁹For it is a people that provoketh to wrath, and lying children, children that will not hear the law of God. ¹⁰Who say to the seers: See not: and to them that behold: Behold not for us those things that are right: speak unto us pleasant things, see errors for us. ¹¹Take away from me the way, turn away the path from me, let the Holy One of Israel cease from before us. ¹²Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel: Because you have rejected this word, and have trusted in oppression and tumult, and have leaned upon it: ¹³Therefore shall this iniquity be to you as a breach that falleth, and is found wanting in a high wall, for the destruction thereof shall come on a sudden, when it is not looked for. ¹⁴And it shall be broken small, as the potter's vessel is broken all to pieces with mighty breaking, and there shall not a sherd be found of the pieces thereof, wherein a little fire may be carried from the hearth, or a, little water be drawn out of the pit. ¹⁵For thus saith the Lord God the Holy One of Israel: If you return and be quiet, you shall be saved: in silence and in hope shall your strength be. And you would not: ¹⁶But have said: No, but we will flee to horses: therefore shall you flee. And we will mount upon swift ones: therefore shall they be swifter that shall pursue after you. ¹⁷A thousand men shall flee for fear of one: and for fear of five shall you flee, till you be left as the mast of a ship on the top of a mountain, and as an ensign upon a hill. ¹⁸Therefore the Lord waiteth that be may have mercy on you: and therefore shall he be exalted sparing you: because the Lord is the God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. ¹⁹For the people of Sion shall dwell in Jerusalem: weeping thou shalt not weep, he will surely have pity on thee: at the voice of thy cry, se soon as he shell hear, he will answer thee. ²⁰And the Lord will give you spare bread, and short water: and will not cause thy teacher to flee away from thee any more, and thy eyes shall see thy teacher. ²¹And thy ears shall hear the word of one admonishing thee behind thy back: This is the way, walk ye in it: and go not aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left. ²²And thou shalt defile the plates of thy graven things of silver, and the garment of thy molten things of gold, and shalt cast them away as the uncleanness of a menstruous woman. Thou shalt say to it: Get thee hence. ²³And rain shall be given to thy seed, wheresoever thou shalt sow in the land: and the bread of the corn of the land shall be most plentiful, and fat. The lamb in that day shall feed at large in thy possession: ²⁴And thy oxen, and the ass colts that till the ground, shall eat mingled pro vender as it was winnowed in the floor. ²⁵And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every elevated hill rivers of running waters in the day of the slaughter of many, when the tower shall fall. ²⁶And the light of the moon shall be se the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days: in the day when the Lord shall bind up the wound of his people, and shall heal the stroke of their wound. ²⁷Behold the name of the Lord cometh from afar, his wrath burneth, and is heavy to bear: his lips are filled with indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire. ²⁸His breath as a torrent overflowing even to the midst of the neck, to destroy the nations unto nothing, and the bridle of error that was in the jaws of the people. ²⁹You shall have a song as in the night of the sanctified solemnity, and joy of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe, to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel. ³⁰And the Lord shall make the glory of his voice to be heard, and shall shew the terror of his arm, in the threatening of wrath, and the dame of devouring fire: he shall crush to pieces with whirlwind, and hailstones. ³¹For at the voice of the Lord the Assyrian shall fear being struck with the rod. ³²And the passage of the rod shall be strongly grounded, which the Lord shall make to rest upon him with timbrels and harps, and in great battles he shall over throw them. ³³For Topheth is prepared from yesterday, prepared by the king, deep, and wide. The nourishment thereof is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord as a torrent of brimstone kindling it.

Chapter 31

¹Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, trusting in horses, and putting their confidence in chariots, because they me many: and in horsemen, because they me very strong: and have not trusted in the Holy One of Israel, and have not sought after the Lord. ²But he that is the wise one hath brought evil, and hath not removed his words: and he will rise up against the house of the wicked, and against the aid of them that work iniquity. ³Egypt is man, and not God: and their horses, flesh, and not spirit: and the Lord shall put down his hand, and the helper shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall, and they shall al be confounded together. ⁴For thus saith the Lord to me: Like as the lion roareth, and the lion's whelp upon his prey, and when a multitude of shepherds shall come against him, he will not fear at their voice, nor be afraid of their multitude: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight upon mount Sion, and upon the hill thereof. ⁵As birds dying, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem, protecting and delivering, passing over and saving. ⁶Return as you had deeply revolted, O children of Israel. ⁷For in that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your hands have made for you to sin. ⁸And the Assyrian shall fall by the sword not of a man, and the sword not of a man shall devour him, and he shall flee not at the face of the sword: and his young men shall be tributaries. ⁹And his strength shall pass away with dread, and his princes fleeing shall be afraid: the Lord hath said it, whose die is in Sion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.

Chapter 32

¹Behold a king shall reign in justice, and princes shell rule in judgment. ²And a man shall be as when one is hid from the wind, and hideth himself from a storm, as rivers of waters in drought, and the shadow of a rock that standeth out in a desert land. ³The eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken diligently. ⁴And the heart of fools shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of stammerers shall speak readily and plain. ⁵The fool shall no more be called prince: neither shall the deceitful be called great: ⁶For the fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and speak to the Lord deceitfully, and to make empty the soul of the hungry, and take away drink from the thirsty. ⁷The vessels of the deceitful are most wicked: for he hath framed devices to destroy the meek, with lying words, when the poor man speaketh judgment. ⁸But the prince will devise such things as are worthy of a prince, and he shall stand above the rulers. ⁹Rise up, ye rich women, and hear my voice: ye confident daughters, give ear to my speech. ¹⁰For after days and a year, you that are confident shall be troubled: for the vintage is at an end, the gathering shall come no more. ¹¹Be astonished, ye rich women, be troubled, ye confident ones: strip yen, and be confounded, gird your loins. ¹²Mourn for your breasts, for the delightful country, for the fruitful vineyard. ¹³Upon the land of my people shall thorns and briers come up: how much more upon all the houses of joy, of the city that rejoiced? ¹⁴For the house is forsaken, the multitude of the city is left, darkness and obscurity are come upon its dens for ever. A joy of wild asses, the pastures of docks, ¹⁵Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high: and the desert shall be se a charmel, and charmel shall be counted for a forest. ¹⁶And judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and justice shall sit in charmel. ¹⁷And the work of justice shall be peace, and the service of justice quietness, and security for ever. ¹⁸And my people shall sit in the beauty of peace, and in the tabernacles of confidence, and in wealthy rest. ¹⁹But hail shall be in the descent of the forest, and the city shall be made very low. ²⁰Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters, sending thither the foot of the ox and the ass.

Chapter 33

¹Woe to thee that spoilest, shalt not thou thyself also be spoiled? and thou that despisest, shalt not thyself also be despised? when thou shalt have made an end of spoiling, thou shalt be spoiled: when being wearied thou shalt cease to despise, thou shalt be despised. ²O Lord, have mercy on us: for we have waited for thee: be thou our arm in the morning, and our salvation in the time of trouble. ³At the voice of the angel the people fled, and at the lifting up thyself the nations are scattered. ⁴And your spoils shall be gathered together as the locusts are gathered, as when the ditches are full of them. ⁵The Lord is magnified, for he hath dwelt on high: he hath filled Sion with judgment and justice. ⁶And there shall be faith in thy times: riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is his treasure. ⁷Behold they that see shall cry without, the angels of peace shall weep bitterly. ⁸The ways are made desolate, no one passeth by the road, the covenant is made void, he hath rejected the cities, he hath not regarded the men. ⁹The land hath mourned, and languished: Libanus is confounded and become foul, and Saron is become as a desert: and Basan and Carmel are shaken. ¹⁰Now will I rise up, saith the Lord: now will I be exalted, now will I lift up myself. ¹¹You shall conceive heat, you shall bring forth stubble: your breath as fire shall devour you. ¹²And the people shall be as ashes after a fire, as a bundle of thorns they shall be burnt with fire. ¹³Hear, you that are far off, what I have done, and you that are near know my strength. ¹⁴The sinners in Sion are afraid, trembling hath seized upon the hypocrites. Which of you can dwell with devouring fire? which of you shall dwell with everlasting burnings? ¹⁵He that walketh in justices, and speaketh truth, that casteth away avarice by oppression, and shaketh his hands from all bribes, that stoppeth his ears lest he hear blood, and shutteth his eyes that he may see no evil. ¹⁶He shall dwell on high, the fortifications of rocks shall be his highness: bread is given him, his waters are sure. ¹⁷His eyes shall see the king in his beauty, they shall see the land far off. ¹⁸Thy heart shall meditate fear: where is the learned? where is he that pondereth the words of the law? where is the teacher of little ones? ¹⁹The shameless people thou shalt not see, the people of profound speech: so that thou canst not understand the eloquence of his tongue, in whom there is no wisdom. ²⁰Look upon Sion the city of our solemnity: thy eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich habitation, a tabernacle that cannot be removed: neither shall the nails thereof be taken away for ever, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken: ²¹Because only there our Lord is magnificent: it place of rivers, very broad and spacious streams: no ship with oars shall pass by it, neither shall the great galley pass through it. ²²For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king: he will save us. ²³Thy tacklings are loosed, and they shall be of no strength: thy mast shall be in such condition, that thou shalt not be able to spread the flag. Then shall the spoils of much prey be divided: the lame shall take the spoil. ²⁴Neither shall he that is near, say: I am feeble. The people that dwell therein, shall have their iniquity taken away from them.

Chapter 34

¹Come near, ye Gentiles, and hear, and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein, the world, and every thing that cometh forth of it. ²For the indignation of the Lord if upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath killed them, and delivered them to slaughter. ³Their slain shall be cast forth, and out of their carcasses shall rise a slink: the mountains shall be melted with their blood. ⁴And all the host of the heavens shall pine away, and the heavens shall be folded together as a book: and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the vine, and from the fig tree. ⁵For my sword is inebriated in heaven: behold it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my slaughter unto judgment. ⁶The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with the blood of lambs and buck goats, with the blood of rams full of marrow: for there is a victim of the Lord in Bosra and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. ⁷And the unicorns shall go down with them, and the bulls with the mighty: their land shall be soaked with blood, and their ground with the fat of fat ones. ⁸For it is the day of the vengeance of the Lord, the year of recompenses of the judgment of Sion. ⁹And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the ground thereof into brimstone: and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. ¹⁰Night and day it shall not be quenched, the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste, none shall pass through it for ever and ever. ¹¹The bittern and ericius shall possess it: and the ibis and the raven shall dwell in it: and a line shall be stretched out upon it, to bring it to nothing, and a plummet, unto desolation. ¹²The nobles thereof shall not be there: they shall call rather upon the king, and all the princes thereof shall be nothing. ¹³And thorns and nettles shall grow up in its houses, and the thistle in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be the habitation of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches. ¹⁴And demons and monsters shall meet, and the hairy ones shall cry out one to another, there hath the lamia lain down, and found rest for herself. ¹⁵There hath the ericius had its hole, and brought up its young ones, and hath dug round about, and cherished them in the shadow thereof: thither are the kites gathered together one to another. ¹⁶Search ye diligently in the book of the Lord, and read: not one of them was wanting, one hath not sought for the other: for that which proceedeth out of my mouth, he hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. ¹⁷And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it to them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation they shall dwell therein.

Chapter 35

¹The land that was desolate and impassable shall be glad, and the wilderness shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily. ²It shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise: the glory of Libanus is given to it: the beauty of Carmel, and Saron, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of our God. ³Strengthen ye the feeble hands, and confirm the weak knees. ⁴Say to the fainthearted: Take courage, and fear not: behold your God will bring the revenge of recompense: God himself will come and will save you. ⁵Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. ⁶Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free: for waters are broken out in the desert, and streams in the wilderness. ⁷And that which was dry land, shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. In the dens where dragons dwell before, shall rise up the verdure of the reed and the bulrush. ⁸And a path and a way shall be there, and it shall be called the holy way: the unclean shall not pass over it, and this shall be unto you a straight way, so that fools shall not err therein. ⁹No lion shall be there, nor shall any mischievous beast go up by it, nor be found there: but they shall walk there that shall be delivered. ¹⁰And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and shall come into Sion with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

Chapter 36

¹And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Ezechias, that Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came up against all the fenced cities of Juda, and took them. ²And the king of the Assyrians sent Rabsaces from Lachis to Jerusalem, to king Ezechias with a great army, and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the way of the fuller's held. ³And there went out to him Eliacim the son of Helcias, who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder. ⁴And Rabsaces said to them: Tell Ezechias: Thus saith the great king, the king of the Assyrians: What is this confidence wherein thou trustest? ⁵Or with what counsel or strength dost thou prepare for war? on whom dost thou trust, that thou art revolted from me? ⁶Lo thou trustest upon this broken staff of a reed, upon Egypt: upon which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharao king or Egypt to all that trust in him. ⁷But if thou wilt answer me: We trust in the Lord our God: is it not he whose high places and altars Ezechias hath taken away, and hath said to Juda and Jerusalem: You shall worship before this altar? ⁸And now deliver thyself up to my lord the king of the Assyrians, and I will give thee two thousand horses, and thou wilt not be able on thy part to find riders for them. ⁹And how wilt thou stand against the face of the judge of one place, of the least of my master's servants? But if thou trust in Egypt, in chariots and in horsemen: ¹⁰And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up against this land, and destroy it. ¹¹And Eliacim, and Sobna, and Joahe said to Rabsaces: Speak to thy servants in the Syrian tongue: for we understand it: speak not to us in the Jews' language in the hearing of the people, that are upon the wall. ¹²And Rabsaces said to them: Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee, to speak all these words; and not rather to the men that sit on the wall; that they may eat their own dung, and drink their urine with you? ¹³Then Rabsaces stood, and cried out with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said: Hear the words of the great king, the king of the Assyrians. ¹⁴Thus saith the king: Let not Ezechias deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you. ¹⁵And let not Ezechias make you trust in the Lord, saying: The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hands of the king of the Assyrians. ¹⁶Do not hearken to Ezechias: for thus said the king of the Assyrians: Do with me that which is for your advantage, and come out to me, and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his dg tree, and drink ye every one the water of his cistern, ¹⁷Till I come and take you away to a land, like to your own, a land of corn and of wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸Neither let Ezechias trouble you, saying: The Lord will deliver us. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their land out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians? ¹⁹Where is the god of Emath and of Arphad? where is the god of Sepharvaim? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ²⁰Who is there among all the gods of these lands, that hath delivered his country out of my hand, that the Lord may deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? ²¹And they held their peace, and answered him not a word. For the king had commanded, saying: answer him not. ²²And Eliacim the son of Helcias, that was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder, went in to Ezechias with their garments rent, and told him the words of Rabsaces.

Chapter 37

¹And it came to pass, when king Ezechias had heard it, that he rent his garments and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ²And he sent Eliacim who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and the ancients of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaias the son of Amos the prophet. ³And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. ⁴It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians his master hath sent to blaspheme the living God, and to reproach with words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. ⁵And the servants of Ezechias came to Isaias. ⁶And Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me. ⁷Behold, I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a message, and shall return to his own country, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own country. ⁸And Rabsaces returned, end found the king of the Assyrians besieging Lobna. W For he had heard that he was departed from Lachis. ⁹And he heard say about Tharaca the king of Ethiopia: He is come forth to fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Ezechias, saying: ¹⁰Thus shall you speak to Ezechias the king of Juda, saying: Let not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou trustest, saying: Jerusalem shall not be given into the hands of the king of the Assyrians. ¹¹Behold thou hast heard all that the kings of the Assyrians hare done to all countries which they have destroyed, and canst thou be delivered? ¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozam, and Haram, and Reseph, and the children of Eden, that were in Thalassar? ¹³Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava? ¹⁴And Ezechias took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it, and went up to the house of the Lord, and Ezechias spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵And Ezechias prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁶O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who sittest upon the cherubims, thou alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth. ¹⁷Incline, O Lord, thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to blaspheme the living God. ¹⁸For of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste lands, and their countries. ¹⁹And they have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the works of men's hands, of wood and stone: and they broke them in pieces. ²⁰And now, O Lord our God, save us out of his hand: and let all the kingdoms of the earth know, that thou only art the Lord. ²¹And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: For the prayer thou hast made to me concerning Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians: ²²This is the word which the Lord hath spoken of him: The virgin the daughter of Sion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn: the daughter of Jerusalem hath wagged the head after thee. ²³Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed, and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. ²⁴By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord: and hast said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the top of Libanus: and I will out down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees, end will enter to the top of its height, to the forest of its Carmel. ²⁵I have digged, and drunk water, and have dried up with the sole of my foot, all the rivers shut up in banks. ²⁶Hast thou not heard what I have done to him of old? from the days of old I have formed it: and now I have brought it to effect: and it hath come to pass that hills fighting together, and fenced cities should be destroyed. ²⁷The inhabitants of them were weak of hand, they trembled, and were confounded: they became like the grass of the field, and the herb of the pasture, and like the grass of the housetops, which withered before it was ripe. ²⁸I know thy dwelling, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. ²⁹When thou wast mad against me, thy pride came up to my ears: therefore I will put a ring in thy nose, and a bit between thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. ³⁰But to thee this shall be a sign: Eat this year the things that spring of themselves, and in the second year eat fruits: but in the third year sow and reap, and giant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. ³¹And that which shall be saved of the house of Juda, and which is left, shall take root downward, and shall bear fruit upward : ³²For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a, remnant, and salvation from mount Sion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. ³³Wherefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of the Assyrians: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow into it, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a trench about it. ³⁴By the way that he came, he shall return, and into this city he shall not come, saith the Lord. ³⁵And I will protect this city, and will save it for my own sake, and for the sake of David my servant. ³⁶And the angel of the Lord went out, and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And they arose in the morning, and behold they were all dead corpses. ³⁷And Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians went out and departed, and returned, and dwelt in Ninive. ³⁸And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nesroch his god, that Adramelech and Sarasar his sons slew him with the sword: and they fled into the land of Ararat, and Asarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 38

¹In those days Ezechias was sick even to death, and Isaias the son of Amos the prophet came unto him, and said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Take order with thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live. ²And Ezechias turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, ³And said: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Ezechias wept with great weeping. ⁴And the word of the Lord came to Isaias, saying: ⁵Go and say to Ezechias: Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, and 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 the Assyrians, and I will protect it. ⁷And this shall be a sign to thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this word which he hath spoken: ⁸Behold I will bring again the shadow of the lines, by which it is now gone down in the sun dial of Achaz with the sun, ten lines backward. And the sun returned ten lines by the degrees by which it was gone down. ⁹The writing of Ezechias king of Juda, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness. ¹⁰I said: In the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of hell: I sought for the residue of my years. ¹¹I said: I shall not see the Lord God in the land of the living. I shall behold man no more, nor the inhabitant of rest. ¹²My generation is at an end, and it is rolled away from me, as a shepherd's tent. My life is cut off, as by a weaver: whilst I was yet but beginning, he out me off: from morning even to night thou wilt make an end of me. ¹³I hoped till morning, as a lion so hath he broken all my bones: from morning even to night thou wilt make an end of me. ¹⁴I will cry like a young swallow, I will meditate like a dove: my eyes are weakened looking upward: Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou for me. ¹⁵What shall I say, or what shall he answer for me, whereas he himself hath done it? I will recount to thee all my years in the bitterness of my soul. ¹⁶O Lord, if man's life be such, and the life of my spirit be in such things as these, thou shalt correct me, and make me to live. ¹⁷Behold in peace is my bitterness most bitter: but thou best delivered my soul that it should not perish, thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. ¹⁸For hell shall not confess to thee, neither shall death praise thee: nor shall they that go down into the pit, look for thy truth. ¹⁹The living, the living, he shall give praise to thee, as I do this day: the father shall make thy truth known to the children. ²⁰O Lord, save me, and we will sing our psalms all the days of our life in the house of the Lord. ²¹Now Isaias had ordered that they should take a lump of figs, and lay it as it plaster upon the wound, and that he should be healed. ²²And Ezechias bed said: What shall be the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?

Chapter 39

¹At that time Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan king of Babylon, sent letters and presents to Ezechias: for he had heard that he had been sick and was recovered. ²And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he shewed them the storehouses of his aromatical spices, and of the silver, and of the gold, and of the sweet odours, and of the precious ointment, and all the storehouses of his furniture, and all things that were found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion that Ezechias shewed them not. ³Then Isaias the prophet came to king Ezechias, and said to him: What said these men, and from whence came they to thee? And Ezechias said: From a far country they came to me, from Babylon ⁴And he said: What saw they in thy house? And Ezechias said: All things that are in my house have they seen, there was not any thing which I have not shewn them in my treasures. ⁵And Isaias said to Ezechias: Rear the word of the Lord of hosts. ⁶Behold the days shall come, that all that is in thy house, and that thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried away into Babylon: there shall not any thing be left, saith the Lord. ⁷And of thy children, that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, they shall take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. ⁸And Ezechias said to Isaias: The word of the Lord, which he hath spoken, is good. And he said: Only let peace and truth be in my days.

Chapter 40

¹Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God. ²Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil is come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she hath received of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins. ³The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of 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 ways plain. ⁵And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken. ⁶The voice of one, saying: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the held. ⁷The grass is withered, and the dower is fallen, because the spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass: ⁸The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen: but the word of our Lord endureth for ever. ⁹Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Juda: Behold your God: ¹⁰Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and his arm shall rule: Behold his reward is with him and his work is before him. ¹¹He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young. ¹²Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and weighed the heavens with his palm? who hath poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? ¹³Who hath forwarded the spirit of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor, and hath taught him? ¹⁴With whom hath he consulted, and who hath instructed him, and taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and shewed him the way of understanding? ¹⁵Behold the Gentiles are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the smallest grain of a balance: behold the islands are as a little dust. ¹⁶And Libanus shall not be enough to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. ¹⁷All nations are before him as if they had no being at all, and are counted to him as nothing, and vanity. ¹⁸To whom then have you likened God? or what image will you make for him? ¹⁹Hath the workman cast a graven statue? or hath the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver? ²⁰He hath chosen strong wood, and that will not rot: the skilful workman seeketh how he may set up an idol that may not be moved. ²¹Do you not know? hath it not been heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood the foundations of the earth ? ²²It is he that sitteth upon the globe of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts: he that stretcheth out the heavens as nothing, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. ²³He that bringeth the searchers of secrets to nothing, that hath made the judges of the earth as vanity. ²⁴And surely their stock was neither planted, nor sown, nor rooted in the earth: suddenly he hath blown upon them, and they are withered, and a whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. ²⁵And to whom have ye likened me, or made me equal, saith the Holy One? ²⁶Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these things: who bringeth out their host by number, and calleth them all by their names: by the greatness of his might, and strength, and power, not one of them was missing. ²⁷Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel: My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? ²⁸Knowest thou not, or hast thou not heard? the Lord is the everlasting God, who hath created the ends of the earth: he shall not faint, nor labour, neither is there any searching out of his wisdom. ²⁹It is he that giveth strength to the weary, and increaseth force and might to them that are not. ³⁰Youths shall faint, and labour, and young men shall fall by infirmity. ³¹But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Chapter 41

¹Let the islands keep silence before me, and the nations take new strength: let them come near, and then speak, let us come near to judgment together. ²Who hath raised up the just one from the east, hath called him to follow him? he shall give the nations in his sight, and he shall rule over kings: he shall give them as the dust to his sword, as stubble driven by the wind, to his bow. ³He shall pursue them, he shall pass in peace, no path shall appear after his feet. ⁴Who hath wrought and done these things, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, I am the first and the last. ⁵The islands saw it, and feared, the ends of the earth were astonished, they drew near, and came. ⁶Every one shall help his neighbour, and shall say to his brother: Be of good courage. ⁷The coppersmith striking with the hammer encouraged him that forged at that time, saying: It is ready for soldering: and he strengthened it with nails, that it should not be moved. ⁸But thou Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend: ⁹In whom I have taken thee from the ends of the earth, and from the remote parts thereof have called thee, and said to thee: Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee, and have not cast thee away. ¹⁰Fear not, for I am with thee: turn not aside, for I am thy God: I have strengthened thee, and have helped thee, and the right hand of my just one hath upheld thee. ¹¹Behold all that fight against thee shall be confounded and ashamed, they shall be as nothing, and the men shall perish that strive against thee. ¹²Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find the men that resist thee: they shall be as nothing: and as a thing consumed the men that war against thee. ¹³For I am the Lord thy God, who take thee by the hand, and say to thee: Fear not, I have helped thee. ¹⁴Fear not, thou worm of Jacob, you that are dead of Israel: I have helped thee, saith the Lord: and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵I have made thee as a new thrashing wain, with teeth like a saw: thou shall thrash the mountains, and break them in pieces: and shalt make the hills as chaff. ¹⁶Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, in the Holy One of Israel thou shalt be joyful. ¹⁷The needy and the poor seek for waters, and there are none: their tongue hath been dry with thirst. I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. ¹⁸I will open rivers in the high bills, and fountains in the midst of the plains: I will turn the desert into pools of waters, and the impassable land into streams of waters. ¹⁹I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, and the thorn, and the myrtle, and the olive tree: I will set in the desert the fir tree, the elm, and the box tree together: ²⁰That they may see and know, and consider, and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it. ²¹Bring your cause near, saith the Lord: bring hither, if you have any thing to allege, saith the King of Jacob. ²²Let them come, and tell us all things that are to come: tell us the former things what they were: and we will set our heart upon them, and shall know the latter end of them, and tell us the things that are to come. ²³Shew the things that are to come hereafter, and we shall know that ye are gods. Do ye also good or evil, if you can: and let us speak, and see together. ²⁴Behold, you are of nothing, and your work of that which hath no being: he that hath chosen you is an abomination. ²⁵I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come from the rising of the sun: he shall call upon my name, and he shall make princes to be as dirt, and as the potter treading clay. ²⁶Who bath declared from the beginning, that we may know: and from time of old, that we may say: Thou art just. There is none that sheweth, nor that foretelleth, nor that heareth your words. ²⁷The first shall say to Sion: Behold they are here, and to Jerusalem I will give an evangelist. ²⁸And I saw, and there was no one even among them to consult, or who, when I asked, could answer a word. ²⁹Behold they are all in the wrong, and their works are vain: their idols are wind and vanity.

Chapter 42

¹Behold my servant, I will uphold him: my elect, my soul delighteth in him: I have given my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. ²He shall not cry, nor have respect to person, neither shall his voice be heard abroad. ³The bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. ⁴He shall not be sad, nor troublesome, till he set judgment in the earth: and the islands shall wait for his law. ⁵Thus saith the Lord God that created the heavens, and stretched them out: that established the earth, and the things that spring out of it: that giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that tread thereon. ⁶I the Lord have called thee in justice, and taken thee by the hand, and preserved thee. And I have given thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles: ⁷That thou mightest open the eyes of the blind, and bring forth the prisoner out of prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. ⁸I the Lord, this is my name: I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven things. ⁹The things that were first, behold they are come: and new things do I declare: before they spring forth, I will make you head them. ¹⁰Sing ye to the Lora a new song, his praise is from the ends of the earth: you that go down to the sea, and all that are therein: ye islands, and ye inhabitants of them. ¹¹Let the desert and the cities thereof be exalted: Cedar shall dwell in houses: ye inhabitants of Petra, give praise, they shall cry from the top of the mountains. ¹²They shall give glory to the Lord, and shall declare his praise in the islands. ¹³The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, as a man of war shall he stir up zeal: he shall shout and cry: he shall prevail against his enemies. ¹⁴I have always held my peace, I have I kept silence, I have been patient, I will speak now as a woman in labour: I will destroy, and swallow up at once. ¹⁵I will lay waste the mountains and hills, and will make all their grass to wither: and I will turn rivers into islands, and will dry up the standing pools. ¹⁶And I will lead the blind into the way which they know not: and in the paths which they were ignorant of I will make them walk: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight: these things have I done to them, and have not forsaken them. ¹⁷They are turned back: let them be greatly confounded, that trust in a graven thing, that say to a molten thing: You are our god. ¹⁸Hear, ye deaf, and, ye blind, behold that you may see. ¹⁹Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, but he to whom I have sent my messengers? Who is blind, but he that is sold? or who is blind, but the servant of the Lord? ²⁰20. Thou that seest many things, wilt thou not observe them? thou that hast ears open, wilt thou not hear? ²¹And the Lord was willing to sanctify him, and to magnify the law, and exalt it. ²²But this is a people that is robbed and wasted: they are all the snare of young men, and they are hid in the houses of prisons: they are made a prey, and there is none to deliver them: a spoil, and there is none that saith: Restore. ²³Who is there among you that will give ear to this, that will attend and hearken for times to come? ²⁴Who hath given Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to robbers? hath not the Lord himself, against whom we have sinned? And they would not walk in his ways, and they have not hearkened to his law. ²⁵And he hath poured out upon him the indignation of his fury, and a strong battle, and hath burnt him round about, and he knew not: and set him on fire, and he understood not.

Chapter 43

¹And now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, and called thee by thy name: thou art mine. ²When thou shalt pass through the waters, I will be with thee, and the rivers shall not cover thee: when thou shalt walk in the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, and the flames shall not burn in thee: ³For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I have given Egypt for thy atonement, Ethiopia and Saba for thee. ⁴Since thou becamest honourable in my eyes, thou art glorious: I have loved thee, and I will give men for thee, and people for 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 afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. ⁷And every one that calleth upon my name, I have created him for my glory, I have formed him, and made him. ⁸Bring forth the people that are blind, and have eyes: that are deaf, and have ears. ⁹All the nations are assembled together, and the tribes are gathered: who among you can declare this, and shall make us hear the former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, let them be justified, and hear, and say: It is truth. ¹⁰You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that you may know, and believe me, and understand that I myself am. Before me there was no God formed, and after me there shall be none. ¹¹I am, I am the Lord: and there is no saviour besides me. ¹²I have declared, and have saved. I have made it heard, and there was no strange one among you. You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and I am God. ¹³And from the beginning I am the same, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall turn it away? ¹⁴Thus saith the Lord your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their bars, and the Chaldeans glorying in their ships. ¹⁵I am the Lord your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. ¹⁶Thus saith the Lord, who made a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters. ¹⁷Who brought forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the strong: they lay down to sleep together, and they shall not rise again: they are broken as flax, and are extinct. ¹⁸Remember not former things, and look not on things of old. ¹⁹Behold I do new things, and now they shall spring forth, verily you shall know them: I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. ²⁰The beast of the field shall glorify me, the dragons and the ostriches: because I have given waters in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, to my chosen. ²¹This people have I formed for myself, they shall shew forth my praise. ²²But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob, neither hast thou laboured about me, O Israel. ²³Thou hast not offered me the ram of thy holocaust, nor hast thou glorified me with thy victims: I have not caused thee to serve with oblations, nor wearied thee with incense. ²⁴Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy victims. But thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thy iniquities. ²⁵I am, I am he that blot out thy iniquities for my own sake, and I will not remember thy sins. ²⁶Put me in remembrance, and let us plead together: tell if thou hast any thing to justify thyself. ²⁷Thy brat father sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me. ²⁸And I have profaned the holy princes, I have given Jacob to slaughter, and Israel to reproach.

Chapter 44

¹And now hear, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. ²Thus saith the Lord that made and formed thee, thy helper from the womb: Fear not, O my servant Jacob, and thou most righteous whom I have chosen. ³For I will pour out waters upon the thirsty ground, and streams upon the dry land: I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy stock. ⁴And they shall spring up among the herbs, as willows beside the running waters. ⁵One shall say: I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand, To the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. ⁶Thus saith the Lord the king of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts: I am the brat, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God. ⁷Who is like to me? let him call and declare: and let him set before me the order, since I appointed the ancient people: and the things to come, and that shall be hereafter, let them shew unto them. ⁸Fear ye not, neither be ye troubled, from that time I have made thee to hear, and have declared: you are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me, a maker, whom I have not known? ⁹The makers of idols are all of them nothing, and their best beloved things shall not profit them. They are their witnesses, that they do not see, nor understand, that they may be ashamed. ¹⁰Who hath formed a god, and made a graven thing that is profitable for nothing? ¹¹Behold, all the partakers thereof shall be confounded: for the makers are men: they shall all assemble together, they shall stand and fear, and shall be confounded together. ¹²The smith hath wrought with his file, with coals, and with hammers he hath formed it, and hath wrought with the strength of his arm: he shall hunger and faint, he shall drink no water, and shall be weary. ¹³The carpenter hath stretched out his rule, he hath formed it with a plane: he hath made it with corners, and hath fashioned it round with the compass: and he hath made the image of a man as it were a beautiful man dwelling in a house. ¹⁴He hath cut down cedars, taken the holm, and the oak that stood among the trees of the forest: he hath planted the pine tree, which the rain hath nourished. ¹⁵And it hath served men for fuel: he took thereof, and warmed himself: and he kindled it, and baked bread: but of the rest he made a god, and adored it: he made a graven thing, and bowed down before it. ¹⁶Part of it he burnt with fire, and with part of it he dressed his meat: he boiled pottage, and was filled, and was warmed, and said: Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. ¹⁷But the residue thereof he made a god, and a graven thing for himself: he boweth down before it, and adoreth it, and prayeth unto it, saying: Deliver me, for thou art my God. ¹⁸They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart. ¹⁹They do not consider in their mind, nor know, nor have the thought to say: I have burnt part of it in the fire, and I have baked bread upon the coals thereof: I have broiled flesh and have eaten, and of the residue thereof shall I make an idol? shall I fall down before the stock of a tree? ²⁰Part thereof is ashes: his foolish heart adoreth it, and he will not save his soul, nor say: Perhaps there is a lie in my right hand. ²¹Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for thou art my servant. I have formed thee, thou art my servant, O Israel, forget me not. ²²I have blotted out thy iniquities as a cloud, and thy sins as a mist: return to me, for I have redeemed thee. ²³Give praise, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath shewn mercy: shout with joy, ye ends of the earth: ye mountains, resound with praise, thou, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and Israel shall be glorified. ²⁴Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, and thy maker, from the womb: I am the Lord, that make all things, that alone stretch out the heavens, that establish the earth, and there is none with me. ²⁵That make void the tokens of diviners, and make the soothsayers mad. That turn the wise backward, and that, make their knowledge foolish. ²⁶That raise up the word of my servant and perform the counsel of my messengers, who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be inhabited: and to the cities of Juda: You shall be built, and I will raise up the wastes thereof. ²⁷Who say to the deep: Be thou desolate, and I will dry up thy rivers. ²⁸Who say to Cyrus: Thou art my shepherd, and thou shalt perform all my pleasure. Who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be built: and to the temple: Thy foundations shall be laid.

Chapter 45

¹Thus saith the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken hold of, to subdue nations before his face, and to turn the backs of kings, and to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut. ²I will go before thee, and will humble the great ones of the earth: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and will burst the bars of iron. ³And I will give thee hidden treasures, and the concealed riches of secret places: that thou mayest know that I am the Lord who call thee by thy name, the God of Israel. ⁴For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have made a likeness of thee, and thou hast not known me. ⁵I am the Lord, and there is none else: there is no God, besides me: I girded thee, and thou hast not known me: ⁶That they may know who are from the rising of the sun, and they who are from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is none else: ⁷I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord that do all these things. ⁸Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a saviour: and let justice spring up together: I the Lord have created him. ⁹Woe to him that gainsayeth his maker, a sherd of the earthen pots: shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it: What art thou making, and thy work is without hands? ¹⁰Woe to him that saith to his father: Why begettest thou? and to the woman: Why dost thou bring forth? ¹¹Thus saith the Lord the Holy One of Israel, his maker: Ask me of things to come, concerning my children, and concerning the work of my hands give ye charge to me. ¹²I made the earth: and I created man upon it: my hand stretched forth the heavens, and I have commanded all their host. ¹³I have raised him up to justice, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and let go my captives, not for ransom, nor for presents, saith the Lord the God of hosts. ¹⁴Thus saith the Lord: The labour of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and of Sabaim, men of stature shall come over to thee, and shall be thine: they shall walk after thee, they shall go bound with manacles: and they shall worship thee, and shall make supplication to thee: only in thee is God, and there is no God besides thee. ¹⁵Verily thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel the saviour. ¹⁶They are all confounded and ashamed: the forgers of errors are gone together into confusion. ¹⁷Israel is saved in the Lord with as eternal salvation: you shall not be confounded, and you shall not be ashamed for ever and ever. ¹⁸For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth, and made it, the very maker thereof: he did not create it in vain: he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is no other. ¹⁹I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I have not said to the seed of Jacob: Seek me in vain. I am the Lord that speak justice, that declare right things. ²⁰Assemble yourselves, and come, and draw near together, ye that are saved of the Gentiles: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven work, and pray to a god that cannot save. ²¹Tell ye, and come, and consult together: who hath declared this from the beginning, who hath foretold this from that time? Have not I the Lord, and there is no God else besides me? A just God and a saviour, there is none besides me. ²²Be converted to me, and you shall be saved, all ye ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is no other. ²³I have sworn by myself, the word of justice shall go out of my mouth, and shall not return: ²⁴For every knee shall be bowed to me, and every tongue shall swear. ²⁵Therefore shall he say: In the Lord are my justices and empire: they shall come to him, and all that resist him shall be confounded. ²⁶In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and praised.

Chapter 46

¹Bel is broken, Nebo is destroyed: their idols are put upon beasts and cattle, your burdens of heavy weight even unto weariness. ²They are consumed, and are broken together: they could not save him that carried them, and they themselves shall go into captivity. ³Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who are carried by my bowels, are borne up by my womb. ⁴Even to your old age I am the same, and to your grey hairs I will carry you: I have made you, and I will bear: I will carry and will save. ⁵To whom have you likened me, and made me equal, and compared me, and made me like? ⁶You that contribute gold out of the bag, and weigh out silver in the scales: and hire a goldsmith to make a god: and they fall down and worship. ⁷They bear him on their shoulders and carry him, and set him in his piece, and he shall stand, and shall not stir out of his place. Yea, when they shall cry also unto him, he shall not hear: he shall not save them from tribulation. ⁸Remember this, and be ashamed: return, ye transgressors, to the heart. ⁹Remember the former age, for I am God, and there is no God beside, neither is there the like to me: ¹⁰Who shew from the beginning the things that shall be at last, and from ancient times the things that as yet are not done, saying: My counsel shall stand, and all my will shall be done: ¹¹Who call a bird from the east, and from a far country the man of my own will, and I have spoken, and will bring it to pass: I have created, and I will do it. Hear me, O ye hardhearted, who are far from justice. ¹²I have brought my justice near, it shall not be afar off: and my salvation shall not tarry. I will give salvation in Sion, and my glory in Israel.

Chapter 47

¹Come down, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for thou shalt no more be called delicate and tender. ²Take a millstone and grind meal: uncover thy shame, strip thy shoulder, make bare thy legs, pass over the rivers. ³Thy nakedness shall be discovered, and thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and no man shall resist me. ⁴Our redeemer, the Lord 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 shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms. ⁶I was angry with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and have given them into thy bend: thou hast shewn no mercy to them: upon the ancient thou hast laid thy yoke exceeding heavy. ⁷And thou hast said: I shall be a lady for ever: thou hast not laid these things to thy heart, neither hast thou remembered thy latter end. ⁸And now hear these things, thou that art delicate, and dwellest confidently, that sayest in thy heart: I am, and there is none else besides me: I shall not sit as a widow, and I shall not know barrenness. ⁹These two things shall come upon thee suddenly in one day, barrenness and widowhood. All things are come upon thee, because of the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great hardness of thy enchanters. ¹⁰And thou best trusted in thy wickedness, and hast said: There is none that seeth me. Thy wisdom, and thy knowledge, this hath deceived thee. And thou best said in thy heart: I am, and besides me there is no other. ¹¹Evil shall come upon thee, and then shalt not know the rising thereof: and calamity shall fall violently upon thee, which thou canst not keep off: misery shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. ¹²Stand now with thy enchanters, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, in which thou hast laboured from thy youth, if so be it may profit thee any thing, or if thou mayst become stronger. ¹³Thou hast failed in the multitude or thy counsels: let now the astrologers stand and save thee, they that gazed at the stars, and counted the months, that from them they might tell the things that shall come to thee. ¹⁴Behold they are as stubble, fire hath burnt them, they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the dames: there are no coals wherewith they may be warmed, nor fire, that they may sit thereat. ¹⁵Such are all the things become to thee, in which thou best laboured: thy merchants from thy youth, every one hath erred in his own way, there is none that can save thee.

Chapter 48

¹Hear ye these things, O house of Jacob, you that are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Juda, you who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in justice. ²For they are called of the holy city, and are established upon the God of Israel: the Lord of hosts is his name. ³The former things of old I have declared, and they went forth out of my mouth, and I have made them to be heard: I did them suddenly and they came to pass. ⁴For I knew that thou art stubborn, and thy neck is as an iron sinew, and thy forehead as brass. ⁵I foretold thee of old, before they came to pass I told thee, lest thou shouldst say: My idols have done these things, and my graven and molten things have commanded them. ⁶See now all the things which thou hast heard: but have you declared them? I have shewn thee new things from that time, and things are kept which thou knowest not: ⁷They are created now, and not of old: and before the day, when thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldst say: Behold I knew them. ⁸Thou hast neither heard, nor known, neither was thy ear opened of old. For I know that transgressing thou wilt transgress, and I have called thee a transgressor from the womb. ⁹For my name's sake I will remove my wrath far off: and for my praise I will bridle thee, lest thou shouldst perish. ¹⁰Behold I have refined thee, but not as silver, I have chosen thee in the furnace of poverty. ¹¹For my own sake, for my own sake will I do it, that I may not be blasphemed: and I will not give my glory to another. ¹²Hearken to me, O Jacob, and thou Israel whom I call: I am he, I am the first, and I am the last. ¹³My hand also hath founded the earth, and my right hand hath measured the heavens: I shall call them, and they shall stand together. ¹⁴Assemble yourselves together, all you, and hear: who among them hath declared these things? the Lord hath loved him, he will do his pleasure in Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans. ¹⁵I, even I have spoken and called him: I have brought him, and his way is made prosperous. ¹⁶Come ye near unto me, and hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning: from the time before it was done, I was there, and now the Lord God hath sent me, and his spirit. ¹⁷Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God that teach thee profitable things, that govern thee in the way that thou walkest. ¹⁸O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments: thy peace had been as a river, and thy justice as the waves of the sea, ¹⁹And thy seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof: his name should not have perished, nor have been destroyed from before my face. ²⁰Come forth out of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, declare it with the voice of joy: make this to be heard, and speak it out even to the ends of the earth. Say: The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob. ²¹They thirsted not in the desert, when he led them out: he brought forth water out of the rock for them, and he clove the rock, and the waters gushed out. ²²There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord.

Chapter 49

¹Give ear, ye islands, and hearken, ye people from afar. The Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother he hath been mindful of my name. ²And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword: in the shadow of his hand he hath protected me, and hath made me as a chosen arrow: in his quiver he hath hidden me. ³And he said to me: Thou art my servant Israel, for in thee will I glory. ⁴And I said: I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength without cause and in vain: therefore my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. ⁵And now saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be his servant, that I may bring back Jacob unto him, and Israel will not be gathered together: and I am glorified in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is made my strength. ⁶And he said: It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel. Behold, I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth. ⁷Thus saith the Lord the redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to the soul that is despised, to the nation that is abhorred, to the servant of rulers: Kings shall see, end princes shall rise up, and adore for the Lord's sake, because he is faithful, and for the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee. ⁸Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped thee: and I have preserved thee, and given thee to be a covenant of the people, that thou mightest raise up the earth, and possess the inheritances that were destroyed: ⁹That thou mightest say to them that are bound: Come forth: and to them that are in darkness: Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in every plain. ¹⁰They shall not hunger, nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them: for he that is merciful to them, shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters he shall give them drink. ¹¹And I will make all my mountains a way, and my paths shall be exalted. ¹²Behold these shall come from afar, and behold these from the north and from the sea, and these from the south country. ¹³Give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice, O earth, ye mountains, give praise with jubilation: because the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his poor ones. ¹⁴And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me. ¹⁵Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee. ¹⁶Behold, I have graven thee in my hands: thy walls are always before my eyes. ¹⁷Thy builders are come: they that destroy thee and make thee waste shall go out of thee. ¹⁸Lift up thy eyes round about, and see all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be clothed with all these se with an ornament, and as a bride thou shalt put them about thee. ¹⁹For thy deserts, and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction shall now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, end they that swallowed thee up shall be chased far away. ²⁰The children of thy barrenness shall still say in thy ears: The place is too strait for me, make me room to dwell in. ²¹And thou shalt-say in thy heart: Who hath begotten these? I was barren and brought not forth, led away, and captive: and who hath brought up these? I was destitute and alone: and these, where were they? ²²Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and will set up my standard to the people. And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and carry thy daughters upon their shoulders. ²³And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nurses: they shall worship thee with their face toward the earth, and they shall lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be confounded that wait for him. ²⁴Shall the prey be taken from the strong? or can that which was taken by the mighty be delivered? ²⁵For thus saith the Lord: Yea verily, even the captivity shall be taken away from the strong: and that which was taken by the mighty, shall be delivered. But I will judge those that have judged thee, and thy children I will save. ²⁶And I will feed thy enemies with their own flesh: and they shall be made drunk with their own blood, as with new wine: and all flesh shall know, that I am the Lord that save thee, and thy Redeemer the Mighty One of Jacob.

Chapter 50

¹Thus saith the Lord: What is this bill of the divorce of your mother, with which I have put her away? or who is my creditor, to whom I sold you: behold you are sold for your iniquities, and for your wicked deeds have I put your mother away. ²Because I came, and there was not a man: I called, and there was none that would hear. Is my hand shortened and become little, that I cannot redeem? or is there no strength in me to deliver? Behold at my rebuke I will make the sea a desert, I will turn the rivers into dry land: the fishes shall rot for want of water, and shall die for thirst. ³I will clothe the heavens with darkness, and will make sackcloth their covering. ⁴The Lord hath given me a learned tongue, that I should know how to uphold by word him that is weary: he wakeneth in the morning, in the morning he wakeneth my ear, that I may hear him as a master. ⁵The Lord God hath opened my ear, and I do not resist: I have not gone back. ⁶I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them: I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me, and spit upon me. ⁷The Lord God is my helper, therefore am I not confounded: therefore have I set my face as a most hard rock, and I know that I shall not be confounded. ⁸He is near that justifieth me, who will contend with me? let us stand together, who is my adversary? let him come near to me. ⁹Behold the Lord God is my helper: who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they shall all be destroyed as a garment, the moth shall eat them up. ¹⁰Who is there among you that feareth the Lord, that heareth the voice of his servant, that hath walked in darkness, and hath no light? let him hope in the name of the Lord, and lean upon his God. ¹¹Behold all you that kindle a fire, encompassed with dames, walk in the light of your fire, and in the dames which you have kindled: this is done to you by my hand, you shall sleep in sorrows.

Chapter 51

¹Give ear to me, you that follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug out. ²Look unto Abraham your father, and to Sara that bore you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him. ³The Lord therefore will comfort Sion, and will comfort all the ruins thereof: and he will make her desert as a place of pleasure, and her wilderness as the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of praise. ⁴Hearken unto me, O my people, and give ear to me, O my tribes: for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment shall rest to be a light of the nations. ⁵My just one is near at hand, my saviour is gone forth, and my arms shall judge the people: the islands shall look for me, and shall patiently wait for my arm. ⁶Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look down to the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth shall be worn away like a garment, and the inhabitants thereof shall perish in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice shall not fail. ⁷Hearken to me, you that know what is just, my people who have my law in your heart: fear ye not the reproach of men, and be not afraid of their blasphemies. ⁸For the worm shall eat them up as a garment: and the moth shall consume them as wool: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice from generation to generation, ⁹Arise, arise, put on strength, O thou arm of the Lord, arise as in the days of old, in the ancient generations. Hast not thou struck the proud one, and wounded the dragon? ¹⁰Hast not thou dried up the sea, the water of the mighty deep, who madest the depth of the sea a way, that the delivered might pass over? ¹¹And now they that are redeemed by the Lord, shall return, and shall come into Sion singing praises, and joy everlasting shall be upon their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning shall flee away. ¹²I, I myself will comfort you: who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a mortal man, and of the son of man, who shall wither away like grass? ¹³And thou hast forgotten the Lord thy maker, who stretched out the heavens, and founded the earth: and thee hast been afraid continually all the day at the presence of his fury who afflicted thee, and had prepared himself to destroy thee: where is now the fury of the oppressor? ¹⁴He shall quickly come that is going to open unto you, and he shall not kill unto utter destruction, neither shall his bread fail. ¹⁵But I am the Lord thy God, who trouble the sea, and the waves thereof swell: the Lord of hosts is my name. ¹⁶I have put my words in thy mouth, and have protected thee in the shadow of my hand, that thou mightest plant the heavens, and found the earth: and mightest say to Sion: Thou art my people. ¹⁷Arise, arise, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath; thou hast drunk even to the bottom of the cup of dead sleep, and thou hast drunk even to the dregs. ¹⁸There is none that can uphold her among all the children that she hath brought forth: and there is none that taketh her by the hand among all the children that she hath brought up. ¹⁹There are two things that have happened to thee: who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword, who shall comfort thee? ²⁰Thy children are cast forth, they have slept at the head of all the ways, as the wild ox that is snared: full of the indignation of the Lord, of the rebuke of thy God. ²¹Therefore hear this, thou poor little one, and thou that art drunk but no with wine. ²²Thus saith thy Sovereign the Lord and thy God, who will fight for his people: Behold I have taken out of thy hand the cup of dead sleep, the dregs of the cup of my indignation, thou shalt not drink it again any more. ²³And I will put it in the hand of them that have oppressed thee, and have said to thy soul: Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as a way to them that went over.

Chapter 52

¹Arise, arise, put on thy strength, O Sion, put on the garments of thy glory, O Jerusalem, the city of the Holy One: for henceforth the uncircumcised, and unclean shall no more pass through thee. ²Shake thyself from the dust, arise, sit up, O Jerusalem: loose the bonds from off thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion. ³For thus saith the Lord: You were sold gratis, and you shall be redeemed without money. ⁴For thus saith the Lord God: My people went down into Egypt at the beginning to sojourn there: and the Assyrian hath oppressed them without any cause at all. ⁵And now what have I here, saith the Lord: for my people is taken away gratis. They that rule over them treat them unjustly, saith the Lord, and my name is continually blasphemed all the day long. ⁶Therefore my people shall know my name in that day: for I myself that spoke, behold I am here. ⁷How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, and that preacheth peace: of him that sheweth forth good, that preacheth salvation, that saith to Sion: Thy God shall reign! ⁸The voice of thy watchmen: they have lifted up their voice, they shall praise together: for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall convert Sion ⁹Rejoice, and give praise together, O ye deserts of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people: he hath redeemed Jerusalem. ¹⁰The Lord hath prepared his holy arm in the sight of all the Gentiles: and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. ¹¹Depart, depart, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing: go out of the midst of her, be ye clean, you that carry the vessels of the Lord. ¹²For you shall not go out in a tumult, neither shall you make haste by flight: For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will gather you together. ¹³Behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted, and extolled, and shall be exceeding high. ¹⁴As many have been astonished at thee, so shall his visage be inglorious among men, and his form among the sons of men. ¹⁵He shall sprinkle many nations, kings shall shut their mouth at him: for they to whom it was not told of him, have seen: and they that heard not, have beheld.

Chapter 53

¹Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? ²And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root out of a thirsty ground: there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and we have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of him: ³Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not. ⁴Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. ⁵But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed. ⁶All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. ⁷He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth. ⁸He was taken away from distress, and from judgment: who shall declare his generation? because he is cut oh out of the land of the living: for the wickedness of my people have I struck him. ⁹And he shall give the ungodly for his burial, and the rich for his death: because he hath done no iniquity, neither was there deceit in his mouth. ¹⁰And the Lord was pleased to bruise him in infirmity: if he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in his hand. ¹¹Because his soul hath laboured, he shall see and be filled: by his knowledge shall this my just servant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities. ¹²Therefore will I distribute to him very many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong, because he hath delivered his soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and he hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors.

Chapter 54

¹Give praise, O thou barren, that bearest not: sing forth praise, and make a joyful noise, thou that didst not travail with child: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband, saith the Lord. ²Enlarge the place of thy tent, and stretch out the skins of thy tabernacles, spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. ³For thou shalt pass on to the right hand, and to the left: and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and shall inhabit the desolate cities. ⁴Fear not, for thou shalt not be confounded, nor blush: for thou shalt not be put to shame, because thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt remember no more the reproach of thy widowhood. ⁵For he that made thee shall rule over thee, the Lord of hosts is his name: and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, shall be called the God of all the earth. ⁶For the Lord hath called thee as woman forsaken and mourning in spirit, end se a wife cast off from her youth, said thy God. ⁷For a, small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. ⁸In a moment of indignation have I hid my face a little while from thee, but with everlasting kindness have I had mercy on thee, said the Lord thy Redeemer. ⁹This thing is to me as in the days of Noe, to whom I swore, that I would no more bring in the waters of Noe upon the earth: so have I sworn not to be angry with thee, and not to rebuke thee. ¹⁰For the mountains shall be moved, and the hills shall tremble; but my mercy shall not depart from thee, and the covenant of my peace shall not be moved: said the Lord that hath mercy on thee. ¹¹O poor little one, tossed with tempest, without all comfort, behold I will lay thy stones in order, and will lay thy foundations with sapphires, ¹²And I will make thy bulwarks of jasper: and thy gates of graven stones, and all thy borders of desirable stones. ¹³All thy children shall be taught of the Lord: and great shall be the peace of thy children. ¹⁴And thou shalt be founded in justice: depart far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee. ¹⁵Behold, an inhabitant shall come, who was not with me, he that was a stranger to thee before, shall be joined to thee. ¹⁶Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and bringeth forth an instrument for his work, and I have created the killer to destroy. ¹⁷No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper: and every tongue that resisteth thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their justice with me, saith the Lord.

Chapter 55

¹All you that thirst, come to the waters: and you that have no money make haste, buy, and eat: come ye, buy wine and milk without money, and without any price. ²Why do you spend money for that which is not breed, and your labour for that which doth not satisfy you? Hearken diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and your soul shall be delighted in fatness. ³Incline your ear and come to me: hear and your soul shall lire, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the faithful mercies of David. ⁴Behold I have given him for a witness to the people, for a leader and a master to the Gentiles. ⁵Behold thou shalt call a nation, which thou knewest not: and the nations that knew not thee shall run to thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. ⁶Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found: call upon him, while he is near. ⁷Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God: for he is bountiful to forgive. ⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord. ⁹For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts. ¹⁰And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the earth, and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: ¹¹So shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it. ¹²For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall sing praise before yen, and all the trees of the country shall clap their hands. ¹³Instead of the shrub, shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the nettle, shall come up the myrtle tree: and the Lord shall be named for an everlasting sign, that shall not be taken away.

Chapter 56

¹Thus saith the Lord : Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my justice to be revealed. ²Blessed is the man that doth this, and the son of man that shall lay hold on this: that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, that keepeth his hands from doing any evil. ³And let not the son of the stranger, that adhereth to the Lord, speak, saying: The Lord will divide and separate me from his people. And let not the eunuch say: Behold I am a dry tree. ⁴For thus saith the Lord to the eunuchs, They that shall keep my sabbaths, and shall choose the things that please me, and shall hold fast my covenant: ⁵I will give to them in my house, and within my walls, a place, and a name better than sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name which shall never perish. ⁶And the children of the stranger that adhere to the Lord, to worship him, and to love his name, to be his servants: every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and that holdeth fast my covenant: ⁷I will bring them into my holy mount, and will make them joyful in my house of prayer: their holocausts, and their victims shall please me upon my altar: for my house shall be called the house of prayer, for all nations. ⁸The Lord God, who gathereth the scattered of Israel, saith: I will still gather unto him his congregation. ⁹All ye beasts of the field come to devour, all ye beasts of the forest. ¹⁰His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams. ¹¹And meet impudent dogs, they never had enough: the shepherds themselves knew no understanding: all have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last. ¹²Come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness: and it shall be as to day, so also to morrow, and much more.

Chapter 57

¹The just perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart, and men of mercy are taken away, because there is none that understandeth; for the just man is taken away from before the face of evil. ²Let peace come, let him rest in his bed that hath walked in his uprightness. ³But draw near hither, you sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer, and of the harlot. ⁴Upon whom have you jested? upon whom have you opened your mouth wide, and put out your tongue? are not you wicked children, a false seed, ⁵Who seek your comfort in idols under every green tree, sacrificing children in the torrents, under the high rocks? ⁶In the parts of the torrent is thy portion, this is thy lot: and thou hast poured out libations to them, thou hast offered sacrifice. Shall I not be angry at these things? ⁷Upon a high and lofty mountain thou hast laid thy bed, and hast gone up thither to offer victims. ⁸And behind the door, and behind the post thou best set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered thyself near me, and hast received an adulterer: thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made a covenant with them: thou hast loved their bed with open hand. ⁹And thou hast adorned thyself for the king with ointment, and hast multiplied thy perfumes. Thou hast sent thy messengers far off, and wast debased even to hell. ¹⁰Thou hast been wearied in the multitude of thy ways: yet thou saidst not: I will rest: thou hast found life of thy hand, therefore thou hast not asked. ¹¹For whom hast thou been solicitous and afraid, that thou hast lied, and hast not been mindful of me, nor thought on me in thy heart? for I am silent, and as one that seeth not, and thou hast forgotten me. ¹²I will declare thy justice, and thy works shall not profit thee. ¹³When thou shalt cry, let thy companies deliver thee, but the wind shall carry them all off, a breeze shall take them away, but he that putteth his trust in me, shall inherit the land, and shall possess my holy mount. ¹⁴And I will say: Make a way: give free passage, turn out of the path, take away the stumblingblocks out of the way of my people. ¹⁵For thus saith the High and the Eminent that inhabiteth eternity: and his name is Holy, who dwelleth in the high and holy place, and with 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 for ever, neither will I be angry unto the end: because the spirit shall go forth from my face, end breathings I will make. ¹⁷For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry, and I struck him: I hid my face from thee, and was angry: and he went away wandering in his own heart. ¹⁸I saw his ways, and I healed him, and brought him back, and restored comforts to him, and to them that mourn for him. ¹⁹I created the fruit of the lips, peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, said the Lord, and I healed him. ²⁰But the wicked are like the raging sea, which cannot rest, and the waves thereof cast up dirt and mire. ²¹There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 58

¹Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their wicked doings, and the house of Jacob their sins. ²For they seek me from day to day, sad desire to know my ways, as a nation that hath done justice, and hath not forsaken the judgment of their God: they ask of me the judgments of justice: they are willing to approach to God. ³Why have we fasted, and thou hast not regarded: have we humbled our souls, and thou hast not taken notice? Behold in the day of your fast your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors. ⁴Behold you fast for debates and strife. and strike with the fist wickedly. Do not fast as you have done until this day, to make your cry to be heard on high. ⁵Is this such a fast as I have chosen: for a man to afflict his soul for a day? is this it, to wind his head about like a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? ⁶Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken go free, and break asunder every burden. ⁷Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh. ⁸Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, end the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up. ⁹Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear: thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou wilt take away the chain out of the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not. ¹⁰When thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday. ¹¹And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water whose waters shall not fail ¹²And the places that have been desolate for ages shall be built in thee: thou shalt raise up the foundations of generation and generation: and thou shalt be called the repairer of the fences, turning the paths into rest. ¹³If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy own will in my holy day, and call the sabbath delightful, and the holy of the Lord glorious, and glorify him, while thou dost not thy own ways, and thy own will is not found: to speak a word: ¹⁴Then shalt thou be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift thee up above the high places of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Chapter 59

¹Behold the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear. ²But your iniquities have divided between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he should not hear. ³For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity: your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue uttereth iniquity. ⁴There is none that calleth upon justice, neither is there any one that judgeth truly: but they trust in a mere nothing, and speak vanities: they have conceived labour, and brought forth iniquity. ⁵They have broken the eggs of asps, and have woven the webs of spiders: he that shall eat of their eggs, shall die: and that which is brought out, shall be hatched into a basilisk. ⁶Their webs shall not be for clothing, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are unprofitable works, and the work of iniquity is in their hands. ⁷Their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are unprofitable thoughts: wasting and destruction are in their ways. ⁸They have not known the way of peace, and there is no judgment in their steps: their paths are become crooked to them, every one that treadeth in them, knoweth no peace. ⁹Therefore is judgment far from us, and justice shall not overtake us. We looked for light, and behold darkness: brightness, and we have walked in the dark. ¹⁰We have groped for the wall, and like the blind we have groped as if we had no eyes: we have stumbled at noonday as in darkness, we are in dark places as dead men. ¹¹We shall roar all of us like bears, and shall lament as mournful doves. We have looked for judgment, and there is none: for salvation, and it is far from us. ¹²For our iniquities are multiplied before thee, and our sins have testified against us: for our wicked doings are with us, and we have known our iniquities: ¹³In sinning and lying against the Lord: and we have turned away so that we went not after our God, but spoke calumny and transgression : we have conceived, and uttered from the heart, words of falsehood. ¹⁴And judgment is turned away backward, and justice hath stood far off: because truth bath fallen down in the street, and equity could not come in. ¹⁵And truth hath been forgotten: and he that departed from evil, lay open to be a prey: and the Lord saw, and it appeared evil in his eyes, because there is no judgment. ¹⁶And he saw that there is not a man: and he stood astonished, because there is none to oppose himself: and his own arm brought salvation to him, and his own justice supported him. ¹⁷He put on justice as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head: he put on the garments of vengeance, and was clad with zeal as with a cloak. ¹⁸As unto revenge, as it were to repay wrath to his adversaries, and a reward to his enemies: he will repay the like to the islands. ¹⁹And they from the west, shall fear the name of the Lord: and they from the rising of the sun, his glory: when he shall come as a violent stream, which the spirit of the Lord driveth on: ²⁰And there shall come a, redeemer to Sion, and to them that return from iniquity in Jacob, saith the Lord. ²¹This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: My spirit that is in thee, and my words that 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, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.

Chapter 60

¹Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. ²For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. ³And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising. ⁴Lift up thy eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side. ⁵Then shalt thou see, and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the. strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee. ⁶The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Madian and Epha: all they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense: and shewing forth praise to the Lord. ⁷All the flocks of Cedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nabaioth shall minister to thee: they shall be offered upon my acceptable altar, and I will glorify the house of my majesty. ⁸Who are these, that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows? ⁹For, the islands wait for me, and the ships of the sea in the beginning: that I may bring thy sons from afar: their silver, and their gold with them, to the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee. ¹⁰And the children of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister to thee: for in my wrath have I struck thee, and in my reconciliation have I had mercy upon thee. ¹¹And thy gates shall be open continually: they shall not be shut day nor night, that the strength of the Gentiles may be brought to thee, and their kings may be brought. ¹²For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve thee, shall perish: and the Gentiles shall be wasted with desolation. ¹³The glory of Libanus shall come to thee, the Ar tree, and the box tree, and the pine tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary: and I will glorify the place of my feet. ¹⁴And the children of them that afflict thee, shall come bowing down to thee, and all that slandered thee shall worship the steps of thy feet, and shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Sion of the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵Because thou wast forsaken, and hated, and there was none that passed through thee, I will make thee to be an everlasting glory, a joy unto generation and generation: ¹⁶And thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, and thou shalt be nursed with the breasts of kings: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord thy Saviour, 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: and I will make thy visitation peace, and thy overseers justice. ¹⁸Iniquity shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction in thy borders, and salvation shall possess thy walls, and praise thy gates. ¹⁹Thou shalt no more have the sun for thy light by day, neither shall the brightness of the moon enlighten thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee for an everlasting light, and thy God for thy glory. ²⁰Thy sun shall go down no more, and thy moon shall not decrease: for the Lord shall be unto thee for an everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. ²¹And thy people shall be all just, they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hand to glorify me. ²²The least shall become a thousand, and a little one a most strong nation: I the Lord will suddenly do this thing in its time.

Chapter 61

¹The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me: he hath sent me to preach to the meek, to heal the contrite of heart, and to preach a release to the captives, and deliverance to them that are shut up. ²To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God: to comfort all that mourn: ³To appoint to the mourners of Sion, and to give them a crown for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, a garment of praise for the spirit of grief: and they shall be called in it the mighty ones of justice, the planting of the Lord to glorify hint. ⁴And they shall build the places that have been waste from of old, and shall raise up ancient ruins, and shall repair the desolate cities, that were destroyed for generation and generation. ⁵And strangers shall stand and shall feed your flocks: and the sons of strangers shall be your husbandmen, and the dressers of your vines. ⁶But you shall be called the priests of the Lord: to you it shall be said: Ye ministers of our God: you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and you shall pride yourselves in their glory. ⁷For your double confusion and shame, they shall praise their part: therefore shall they receive double in their land, everlasting joy shall be unto them. ⁸For I am the Lord that love judgment, and hate robbery in a holocaust: and I will make their work in truth, and I will make a perpetual covenant with them. ⁹And they shall know their seed among the Gentiles, and their offspring in the midst of peoples: all that shall see them, shall know them, that these are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. ¹⁰I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God: for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation: and with the robe of justice he hath covered me, as a bridegroom decked with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels. ¹¹For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth her seed to shoot forth: so shall the Lord God make justice to spring forth, and praise before all the nations.

Chapter 62

¹For Sion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for the sake of Jerusalem, I will not rest till her just one come forth as brightness, and her saviour be lighted as a lamp. ²And the Gentiles shall see thy just one, and all kings thy glorious one: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. ³And thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. ⁴Thou shalt no more be called Forsaken: and thy land shall no more be called Desolate: but thou shalt be called My pleasure in her, and thy land inhabited. Because the Lord hath been well pleased with thee: and thy land shall be inhabited. ⁵For the young man shall dwell with the virgin, and thy children shall dwell in thee. And the bridegroom shall rejoice over the bride, and thy God shall rejoice over thee. ⁶Upon thy wails, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen all the day, and all the night, they shall never hold their peace. You that are mindful of the Lord, hold not your peace, ⁷And give him no silence till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. ⁸The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength: Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thy enemies: and the sons of the strangers shall not drink thy wine, for which thou hast laboured. ⁹For they that gather it, shall eat it, and shall praise the Lord: and they that bring it together, shall drink it in my holy courts. ¹⁰Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people, make the road plain, pick out the stones, and lift up the standard to the people. ¹¹Behold the Lord hath made it to be heard in the ends of the earth, tell the daughter of Sion: Behold thy Saviour cometh: behold his reward is with him, and his work before him. ¹²And they shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. But thou shalt be called: A city sought after, and not forsaken.

Chapter 63

¹Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra, this beautiful one in his robe, walking in the greatness of his strength. I, that speak justice, and am a defender to save. ²Why then is thy apparel red, and thy garments like theirs that tread in the winepress? ³I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with me: I have trampled on them in my indignation, and have trodden them down in my wrath, and their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my apparel. ⁴For the day of vengeance is in my heart, the year of my redemption is come. ⁵I looked about, and there was none to help: I sought, and there was none to give aid: and my own arm hath saved for me, and my indignation itself hath helped me. ⁶And I have trodden down the people in my wrath, and have made them drunk in my indignation, and have brought down their strength to the earth. ⁷I will remember the tender mercies of the Lord, the praise of the Lord for all the things that the Lord hath bestowed upon us, and for the multitude of his good things to the house of Israel, which he hath given them according to his kindness, and according to the multitude of his mercies. ⁸And he said: Surely they are my people, children that will not deny: so he became their saviour. ⁹In all their affliction he was not troubled, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love, and in his mercy he redeemed them, and he carried them and lifted them up all the days of old. ¹⁰But they provoked to wrath, and afflicted the spirit of his Holy One: and he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them. ¹¹And he remembered the days of old of Moses, and of his people: Where is he that brought them up out of the sea, with the shepherds of his flock? where is he that put in the midst of them the spirit of his Holy One? ¹²He that brought out Moses by the right hand, by the arm of his majesty: that divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name. ¹³He that led them out through the deep, as a horse in the wilderness that stumbleth not. ¹⁴As a beast that goeth down in the field, the spirit of the Lord was their leader: so didst thou lead thy people to make thyself a glorious name. ¹⁵Look down from heaven, and behold from thy holy habitation and the place of thy glory: where is thy zeal, and thy strength, the multitude of thy bowels, and of thy mercies? they have held back themselves from me. ¹⁶For thou art our father, and Abraham hath not known us, and Israel hath been ignorant of us: thou, O Lord, art our father, our redeemer, from everlasting is thy name. ¹⁷Why hast thou made us to err, O Lord, from thy ways: why hast thou hardened our heart, that we should not fear thee? return for the sake of thy servants, the tribes of thy inheritance. ¹⁸They have possessed thy holy people as nothing: our enemies have trodden down thy sanctuary. ¹⁹We are become as in the beginning, when thou didst not rule over us, and when we were not called by thy name.

Chapter 64

¹That thou wouldst rend the heavens, and wouldst come down: the mountains would melt away at thy presence. ²They would melt as at the burning of fire, the waters would burn with fire, that thy name might be made known to thy enemies: that the nations might tremble at thy presence. ³When thou shalt do wonderful things, we shall not bear them: thou didst come down, and at thy presence the mountains melted away. ⁴From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor perceived with the ears: the eye hath not seen, O God, besides thee, what things thou hast prepared for them that wait for thee. ⁵Thou hast met him that rejoiceth, and doth justice: in thy ways they shall remember thee: behold thou art angry, and we have sinned: in them we have been always, and we shall be saved. ⁶And we are all become as one unclean, and all our justices as the rag of a menstruous woman: and we have all fallen as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. ⁷There is none that calleth upon thy name: that riseth up, and taketh hold of thee: thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast crushed us in the hand of our iniquity. ⁸And now, O Lord, thou art our father, and we are clay: and thou art our maker, and we all are the works of thy hands. ⁹Be not very angry, O Lord, and remember no longer our iniquity: behold, see we are all thy people. ¹⁰The city of thy sanctuary is become a desert, Sion is made a desert, Jerusalem is desolate. ¹¹The house of our holiness, and of our glory, where our fathers praised thee, is burnt with fire, and all our lovely things are turned into ruins. ¹²Wilt thou refrain thyself, O Lord, upon these things, wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us vehemently?

Chapter 65

¹They have sought me that before asked not for me, they have found me that sought me not. I said: Behold me, behold me, to a nation that did not call upon my name. ²I have spread forth my hands all the day to an unbelieving people, who walk in a way that is not good after their own thoughts. ³A people that continually provoke me to anger before my face: that immolate in gardens, and sacrifice upon bricks. ⁴That dwell in sepulchres, and sleep in the temple of idols: that eat swine's flesh, and profane broth is in their vessels. ⁵That say: Depart from me, come not near me, because thou art unclean: these shall be smoke in my anger, a fire burning all the day. ⁶Behold it is written before me: I will not be silent, but I will render and repay into their bosom. ⁷Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, who have sacrificed upon the mountains, and have reproached me upon the hills; and I will measure back their first work in their bosom. ⁸Thus saith the Lord: As if a grain be found in a cluster, and it be said: Destroy it not, because it is a blessing: so will I do for the sake of my servants, that I may not destroy the whole. ⁹And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Juda a possessor of my mountains: and my elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. ¹⁰And the plains shall be turned to folds of hocks, and the valley of Achor into a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me. ¹¹And you, that have forsaken the Lord, that have forgotten my holy mount, that set a table for fortune, and offer libations upon it, ¹²I will number you in the sword, and you shall all fall by slaughter: because I called and you did not answer: I spoke, and you did not hear: and you did evil in my eyes, and you have chosen the things that displease me. ¹³Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry: behold my servants shall drink, and you shall be thirsty. ¹⁴Behold my servants shall rejoice, and you shall be confounded: behold my servants shall praise for joyfulness of heart, and you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for grief of spirit. ¹⁵And you shall leave your name for an execration to my elect: and the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name. ¹⁶In which he that is blessed upon the earth, shall be blessed in God, amen: and he that sweareth in the earth, shall swear by God, amen: because the former distresses 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 in remembrance, and they shell not come upon the heart. ¹⁸But you shall be glad and rejoice for ever in these things, which I create: for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, end the people thereof joy. ¹⁹And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. ²⁰There shall no more be an infant of days there, nor an old man that shall not fill up 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 fruits of them. ²²They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of my people, and the works of their hands shall be of long continuance. ²³My elect shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth in trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their posterity with them. ²⁴And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will hear; as they are yet speaking, I will hear. ²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall feed together; the lion and the ox shall eat straw; and dust shall be the serpent's food: they shall not hurt nor kill in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.

Chapter 66

¹Thus saith the Lord: Heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool: what is this house that you will build to me? and what is this place of my rest? ²My hand made all these things, and all these things were made, saith the Lord. But to whom shall I have respect, but to him that is poor and little, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my words? ³He that sacrificeth an ox, is as if he slew a man: he that killeth a sheep in sacrifice, as if he should brain a dog: he that offereth an oblation, as if he should offer swine's blood; he that remembereth incense, as if he should bless an idol. All these things have they chosen in their ways, and their soul is delighted in their abominations. ⁴Wherefore I also will choose their mockeries, and will bring upon them the things they feared: y because I called, and there was none that would answer; I have spoken, and they heard not; and they have done evil in my eyes, and have chosen the things that displease me. ⁵Hear the word of the Lord, you that tremble at his word: Your brethren that hate you, and cast you out for my name's sake, have said: Let the Lord be glorified, and we shall see in your joy: but they shall be confounded. ⁶A voice of the people from the city, a voice from the temple, the voice of the Lord that rendereth recompense to his enemies. ⁷Before she was in labour, she brought forth; before her time came to be delivered, she brought forth a man child. ⁸Who hath ever heard such a thing? and who hath seen the like to this? shall the earth bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be brought forth at once, because Sion hath been in labour, and hath brought forth her children? ⁹Shall not I that make others to bring forth children, myself bring forth, saith the Lord? shall I, that give generation to others, be barren, saith the Lord thy God? ¹⁰Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her. ¹¹That you may suck, and be filled with the breasts of her consolations: that you may milk out, and flow with delights, from the abundance of her glory. ¹²For thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring upon her as it were a river of peace, and as an overflowing torrent the glory of the Gentiles, which you shall suck; you shall be carried at the breasts, end upon the knees they shall caress you. ¹³As one whom the mother caresseth, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. ¹⁴You shall see and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb, and the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants, and he shall be angry with his enemies. ¹⁵For behold the Lord will come with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind, to render his wrath in indignation, and his rebuke with flames of fire. ¹⁶For the Lord shall judge by fire, and by his sword unto all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many. ¹⁷They that were sanctified, and thought themselves clean in the gardens behind the gate within, they that did eat swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse: they shall be consumed together, saith the Lord. ¹⁸But I know their works, and their thoughts: I come that I may gather them together with 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 of them that shall be saved, to the Gentiles into the sea, into Africa, and Lydia them that draw the bow: into Italy, and Greece, to the islands afar off, to them that have not heard of me, and have not seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory to the Gentiles: ²⁰And they shall bring all your brethren out of all nations for a gift to the Lord, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and in coaches, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as if the children of Israel should bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. ²¹And I will take of them to be priests, and Levites, saith the Lord. ²²For as the new heavens, and the new earth, which I will make to stand before me, saith the Lord: so shall your seed stand, and your name. ²³And there shall be month after month, and sabbath after sabbath: and all flesh shall come to adore before my face, saith the Lord. ²⁴And they shall go out, and see the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched: and they shall be a loathsome sight to all flesh.

The Prophecy of Jeremias

Jeremias was a priest, a native of Anathoth, a priestly city in the tribe of Benjamin: and was sanctified from his mother's womb, to be a prophet of God; which office he began to execute when he was yet a child in age. He was in his whole life, according to the signification of his name, Great before the Lord; and a special figure of Jesus Christ, in the persecutions he underwent for discharging his duty; in his charity for his persecutors; and in the violent death he suffered at their hands: it being an ancient tradition of the Hebrews, that he was stoned to death by the remnant of the Jews who had retired into Egypt.

Chapter 1

¹The words of Jeremias the son of Helcias, of the priests that were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin. ²The word of the Lord which came to him in the days of Josias the son of Amon king of Juda, in the thirteenth year of his reign. ³And which came to him in the days of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, unto the end of the eleventh year of Sedecias the son of Josias king of Juda, even unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive, in the fifth month. ⁴And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ⁵Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee: and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet unto the nations. ⁶And I said: Ah, ah, ah, Lord God: behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. ⁷And the Lord said to me: Say not: I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee: and whatsoever I shall command thee, thou shalt speak. ⁸Be not afraid at their presence: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. ⁹And the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth: and the Lord said to me: Behold I have given my words in thy mouth: ¹⁰Lo, I have set thee this day over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root up, and pull down, and to waste, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant. ¹¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What seest thou, Jeremias? And I said: I see a rod watching. ¹²And the Lord said to me: Thou hast seen well: for I will watch over my word to perform it. ¹³And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying: What seest thou? I see a boiling caldron, and the face thereof from the face of the north. ¹⁴And the Lord said to me: from the north shall an evil break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁵For behold I will call together all the families of the kingdoms of the north: saith the Lord: and they shall come, and shall set every one his throne in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and upon all the walls thereof round about, and upon all the cities of Juda, ¹⁶And I will pronounce my judgements against them, touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have sacrificed to strange gods, and have adored the work of their own hands. ¹⁷Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command thee. Be not afraid at their presence : for I will make thee not to fear their countenance. ¹⁸For behold I have made thee this day a fortified city, and a pillar of iron, and a wall of brass, over all the land, to the kings of Juda, to the princes thereof, and to the priests, and to the people of the land. ¹⁹And they shall fight against thee, and shall not prevail: for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.

Chapter 2

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord: I have remembered thee, pitying thy soul, pitying thy youth, and the love of thy espousals, when thou followedst me in the desert, in a land that is not sown. ³Israel is holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his increase: all they that devour him offend: evils shall come upon them, saith the Lord. ⁴Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all ye families of the house of Israel. ⁵Thus saith the Lord: What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? ⁶And they have not said: Where is the Lord, that made us come up out of the land of Egypt? that led us through the desert, through a land uninhabited and unpassable, through a land of drought, and the image of death, through a land wherein no man walked, nor any man dwelt? ⁷And I brought you into the land of Carmel, to eat the fruit thereof, and the best things thereof: ad when ye entered in, you defiled my land, and made my inheritance an abomination. ⁸The priests did not say: Where is the Lord? and they that held the law knew me not, and the pastors transgressed against me: and the prophets prophesied in Baal, and followed idols. ⁹Therefore will I yet contend in judgement with you, saith the Lord, and I will plead with your children. ¹⁰Pass over to the isles of Cethim, and see: and send into Cedar, and consider diligently: and see if there hath been done any thing like this. ¹¹If a nation hath changed their gods, and indeed they are not gods,: but my people have changed their glory into an idol. ¹²Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and ye gates thereof, be very desolate, saith the Lord. ¹³For my people have done two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. ¹⁴Is Israel a bondman, or a homeborn slave? why then is he become prey? ¹⁵The lions have roared upon him, and have made a noise, they have made his land a wilderness: his cities are burnt down and there is none to dwell in them. ¹⁶The children also of Memphis, and of Taphnes have deflowered thee, even to the crown of the head. ¹⁷Hath not this been done to thee, because thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God at that time, when he led thee by the way? ¹⁸And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the troubled water? And what hast thou to do with the way of the Assyrians, to drink the water of the river? ¹⁹Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee. Know thou, and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee, to have left the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not with thee, saith the Lord the God of hosts. ²⁰Of old time thou hast broken my yoke, thou hast burst my bands, and thou saidst: I will not serve. For on every high hill, and under every green tree thou didst prostitute thyself. ²¹Yet I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art thou turned unto me into that which is good for nothing, O strange vineyard? ²²Though thou wash thyself with nitre, and multiply to thyself the herb borith, thou art stained in thy iniquity before me, saith the Lord God. ²³How canst thou say: I am not polluted, and I have not walked after Baalim? see thy ways in the valley, know what thou hast done: as a swift runner pursuing his course. ²⁴A wild ass accustomed to the wilderness in the desire of his heart, snuffed up the wind of his love: none shall turn her away: all that seek her shall not fail: in her monthly filth they shall find her. ²⁵Keep thy foot from being bare, and thy throat from thirst. But thou saidst: I have lost all hope, I will not do it: for I have loved strangers, and I will walk after them. ²⁶As the thief is confounded when he is taken, so is the house of Israel confounded, they and their kings, their princes and their priests, and their prophets. ²⁷Saying to a stock: Thou art my father: and to a stone: thou hast begotten me: they have turned their back to me, and not their face: and in the time of their affliction they will say: Arise, and deliver us. ²⁸Where are the gods, whom thou hast made thee? let them arise and deliver thee in the time of thy affliction: for according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Juda. ²⁹Why will you contend with me in judgement? you have all forsaken me, saith the Lord. ³⁰In vain have I struck your children, they have not received correction: your sword hath devoured your prophets, your generation is like a ravaging lion. ³¹See ye the word of the Lord: Am I become a wilderness to Israel, or a lateward springing land? why then have my people said: We are revolted, we will come to thee no more. ³²Will a virgin forget her ornament, or a bride her stomacher? but my people hath forgotten me days without number. ³³Why dost thou endeavor to shew thy way good to seek my love, thou who has also taught thy malices to be thy ways, ³⁴And in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor and innocent? not in ditches have I found them, but in all places, which I mentioned before. ³⁵And thou hast said: I am without sin and am innocent: and therefore let thy anger be turned away from me. Behold, I will contend with thee in judgement, because thou hast said: I have not sinned. ³⁶How exceeding base art thou become, going the same ways over again! and thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria. ³⁷For from thence thou shalt go, and thy hand shall be upon thy head: for the Lord hath destroyed thy trust, and thou shalt have nothing prosperous therein.

Chapter 3

¹It is commonly said: If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and marry another man, shall he return to her any more? shall not that woman be polluted, and defiled? but thou hast prostituted thyself to many lovers: nevertheless return to me, saith the Lord, and I will receive thee. ²Lift up thy eyes on high: and see where thou hast not prostuted thyself: Thou didst sit in the ways, waiting for them as a robber in the wilderness: and thou hast polluted the land with thy fornications, and with thy wickedness. ³Therefore the showers were withholden, and there was no lateward rain: thou hadst a harlot's forehead, thou wouldst not blush. ⁴Therefore at least at this time call to me: Thou art my father, the guide of my virginity: ⁵Wilt thou be angry for ever, or wilt thou continue until the end? Behold, thou hast spoken, and hast done evil things, and hast been able. ⁶And the Lord said to me in the days of king Josias: Hast thou seen what rebellious Israel hast done? she hath gone out of herself upon every high mountain, and under every green tree, and hath played the harlot there. ⁷And when she had done all these things, I said: Return to me, and she did not return. And her treacherous sister Juda saw, ⁸That because the rebellious Israel had played the harlot, I had put her away, and had given her a bill of divorce: yet her treacherous sister Juda was not afraid, but went and played the harlot also herself. ⁹And by the facility of her fornication she defiled the land, and played the harlot with stones and with stocks. ¹⁰And after all this, her treacherous sister Juda hath not returned to me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, saith the Lord. ¹¹And the Lord said to me: The rebellious Israel hath justified her soul, in comparison of the treacherous Juda. ¹²Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and thou shalt say: Return, O rebellious Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not turn away my face from you: for I am holy, saith the Lord, and I will not be angry for ever. ¹³But yet acknowledge thy iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God: and thou hast scattered thy ways to strangers under every green tree, and hast not heard my voice, saith the Lord. ¹⁴Return, O ye revolting children, saith the Lord: for I am your husband: and I will take you, one of a city, and two of a kindred, and will bring you into Sion. ¹⁵And I will give you pastors according to my own heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge and doctrine. ¹⁶And when you shall be multiplied, and increase in the land in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more: The ark of the covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come upon the heart, neither shall they remember it, neither shall it be visited, neither shall that be done any more. ¹⁷At that time Jerusalem shall be called the thrown of the Lord: and all the nations shall be gathered together to it, in the name of the Lord to Jerusalem, and they shall not walk after the perversity of their most wicked heart. ¹⁸In those days the house of Juda shall go to the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land which I gave to your fathers. ¹⁹But I said: How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a lovely land, the goodly inheritance of the armies of the Gentiles? And I said: Thou shalt call me father and shalt cease to walk after me. ²⁰But as a woman that despiseth her lover, so hath the house of Israel despised me, saith the Lord. ²¹A voice was heard in the highways, weeping and howling of the children of Israel: because they have made their way wicked, they have forgotten the Lord their God. ²²Return, you rebellious children, and I will heal your rebellions. Behold we come to thee: for thou art the Lord our God. ²³In very deed the hills were liars. and the multitude of the mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. ²⁴Confusion hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. ²⁵We shall sleep in our confusion, and our shame shall cover us, because we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers from our youth even to this day, and we have not hearkened to the voice of theLord our God.

Chapter 4

¹If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return to me: if thou wilt take away thy stumblingblocks out of my sight, thou shalt not be moved. ²And thou shalt swear: As the Lord liveth, in truth, and in judgement, and in justice: and the Gentiles shall bless him, and shall praise him. ³For thus saith the Lord to the men of Juda and Jerusalem: Break up anew your fallow ground, and sow not upon thorns: ⁴Be circumcised to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, ye men of Juda, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my indignation come forth like fire, and burn, and there be none that can quench it: because of the wickedness of your thoughts. ⁵Declare ye in Juda, and make it heard in Jerusalem: speak, and sound with the trumpet in the land: cry aloud, and say: Assemble yourselves, and let us go into strong cities. ⁶Set up the standard in Sion. Strengthen yourselves, stay not: for I bring evil from the north, and great destruction. ⁷The lion is come up out of his den, and the robber of nations hath roused himself: he is come forth out of his place, to make thy land desolate: thy cities shall be laid waste, remaining without an inhabitant. ⁸For this gird yourselves with haircloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned away from us. ⁹And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord: That the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes: and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall be amazed ¹⁰And I said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, hast thou then deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying: You shall have peace: and behold the sword reacheth even to the soul? ¹¹At that time it shall be said to this people, and to Jerusalem: A burning wind is in the ways that are in the desert of the way of the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse. ¹²A full wind from these places shall come to me: and now I will speak my judgments with them. ¹³Behold he shall come up as a cloud, and his chariots as a tempest: his horses are swifter than eagles: woe unto us, for we are laid waste. ¹⁴Wash thy heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that thou mayst be saved: how long shall hurtful thoughts abide in thee? ¹⁵For a voice of one declaring from Dan, and giving notice of the idol from mount Ephraim. ¹⁶Say ye to the nations: Behold it is heard in Jerusalem, that guards are coming from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Juda. ¹⁷They are set round about her, as keepers of fields: because she hath provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord. ¹⁸They ways, and thy devices have brought these things upon thee: this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it hath touched thy heart. ¹⁹My bowels, my bowels are in pain, the senses of my heart are troubled within me, I will not hold my peace, for my soul hath heard the sound of the trumpet, the cry of battle. ²⁰Destruction upon destruction is called for, and all the earth is laid waste: my tents are destroyed on a sudden, and my pavilions in a moment. ²¹How long shall I see men fleeing away, how long shall I hear the sound of the trumpet? ²²For my foolish people have not known me: they are foolish and senseless children: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. ²³I beheld the earth, and lo it was void, and nothing: and the heavens, and there was no light in them. ²⁴I looked upon the mountains, and behold they trembled: and all the hills were troubled. ²⁵I beheld, and lo there was no man: and all the birds of the air were gone. ²⁶I looked, and behold Carmel was a wilderness: and all its cities were destroyed at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of the wrath of his indignation. ²⁷For thus saith the Lord: All the land shall be desolate, but yet I will not utterly destroy. ²⁸The earth shall mourn, and the heavens shall lament from above: because I have spoken, I have purposed, and I have not repented, neither am I turned away from it. ²⁹At the voice of the horsemen, and the archers, all the city is fled away; they have entered into thickets and have climbed up the rocks: all the cities are forsaken, and there dwelleth not a man in them. ³⁰But when thou art spoiled what wilt thou do? though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, and paintest thy eyes with stibic stone, thou shalt dress thyself out in vain: thy lovers have despised thee, they will seek thy life. ³¹For I have heard the voice as of a woman in travail, anguishes as of a woman in labor of a child. The voice of the daughter of Sion, dying away, spreading her hands: Woe is me, for my soul hath fainted because of them that are slain.

Chapter 5

¹Go about through the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and consider, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can fins a man that executeth judgement, and seeketh faith: and I will be merciful unto it. ²And though they say: The Lord liveth; this also they will swear falsely. ³O Lord, thy eyes are upon truth: thou hast struck them, and they have not grieved: thou hast bruised them, and they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than the rock, and they have refused to return. ⁴But I said: Perhaps these are poor and foolish, that know not the way of the Lord, the judgement of their God. ⁵I will go therefore to the great men, and I will speak to them: for they known the way of the Lord, the judgement of their God: and behold these have together broken the yoke more, and have burst the bonds. ⁶Wherefore a lion out of the wood hath slain them, a wolf in the evening, hath spoiled them, a leopard watcheth for their cities: every one that shall go out thence shall be taken, because their transgressions are multiplied, their rebellions are strengthened. ⁷How can I be merciful to thee? thy children have forsaken me, and swear by them that are not gods: I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and rioted in the harlot's house. ⁸They are become as amorous horses and stallions, every one neighed after his neighbor's wife. ⁹Shall I not visit for these things, sayeth the Lord? and shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation? ¹⁰Scale down the walls thereof, and throw them down, but do not utterly destroy: take away the branches thereof, because they are not the Lord's. ¹¹For the house of Israel, and the house of Juda have greatly transgressed against me, saith the Lord. ¹²They have denied the Lord, and said, It is not he: and the evil shall not come upon us: we shall not see the sword and famine. ¹³The prophets have spoken in the wind, and there was no word of God in them: these things therefore shall befall them. ¹⁴Thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: Because you have spoken this word, behold I will make my words in thy mouth as fire, and this people as wood, and it shall devour them. ¹⁵Behold I will bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: a strong nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou shalt not know, nor understand what they say. ¹⁶Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all valiant. ¹⁷And they shall eat up thy corn, and thy bread: they shall devour thy sons, and thy daughters: they shall eat up thy flocks, and thy herds: they shall eat thy vineyards, and thy figs: and with the sword they shall destroy thy strong cities, wherein thou trustest. ¹⁸Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not bring you to utter destruction. ¹⁹And if you shall say: why hath the Lord our God done all these things to us? thou shalt say to them: As you have forsaken me, and served a strange god in your own land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not your own. ²⁰Declare ye this to the house of Jacob, and publish it in Juda, saying: ²¹Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not. ²²Will not you then fear me, saith the Lord: and will you not repent at my presence? I have set the sand a bound for the sea, an everlasting ordinance, which it shall not pass over: and the waves thereof shall toss themselves, and shall not prevail: they shall swell, and shall not pass over it. ²³But the heart of this people is become hard of belief and provoking, they are revolted and gone away. ²⁴And they have not said in their heart: let us fear the Lord our God, who giveth us the early and the latter rain in due season: who preserveth for us the fullness of the yearly harvest. ²⁵Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withholden good things from you. ²⁶For among my people are found wicked men, that lie in wait as fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men. ²⁷As a net is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit: therefore are they become great and enriched. ²⁸They are grown gross and fat: andhave most wickedly transgressed my words. They have not judged the cause of the widow, they have not managed the cause of the fatherless, they have not judged the judgement of the poor. ²⁹Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation? ³⁰Astonishing and wonderful things have been done in the land. ³¹The prophets prophesied falsehood, and the priests clapped their hands: and my people loved such things: what then shall be done in the end thereof?

Chapter 6

¹Strengthen yourselves, ye sons of Benjamin, in the midst of Jerusalem, and sound the trumpet in Thecua, and set up the standard over Bethacarem: for evil is seen out of the north, and a great destruction. ²I have likened the daughter of Sion to a beautiful and delicate woman. ³The shepherds shall come to her with their flocks: they have pitched their tents against her round about: every one shall feed them that are under his hand. ⁴Prepare ye war against her: arise, and let us go up at midday: woe unto us, for the day is declined, for the shadows of the evening are grown longer. ⁵Arise, and let us go up in the night, and destroy her houses. ⁶For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hew down her trees, cast up a trench about Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited, all oppression is in the midst of her. ⁷As a cistern maketh its water cold, so hath she made her wickedness cold: violence and spoil shall be heard in her, infirmity and stripes are continually before me. ⁸Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land uninhabited. ⁹Thus saith the Lord of hosts: They shall gather the remains of Israel, as in a vine, even to one cluster: turn back thy hand, as a grape gatherer into the basket. ¹⁰To whom shall I speak? and to whom shall I testify, that he may hear? behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear: behold the word of the Lord is become unto them a reproach: and and they will not receive it. ¹¹Therefore am I full of the fury of the Lord, I am weary with holding in: pour it out upon the child abroad, and upon the council of the young men together: for man and woman shall be taken, the ancient and he that is full of days. ¹²And their houses shall be turned over to others, with their lands and their wives together: for I will stretch for my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord. ¹³For from the least of them even to the greatest, all are given to covetousness: and from the prophet even to the priest, all are guilty of deceit. ¹⁴And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people disgracefully, saying: Peace, peace: and there was no peace. ¹⁵They were confounded, because they commmitted abomination: yea, rather they were not confounded with confusion, and they knew not how to blush: wherefore they shall fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall fall down, saith the Lord. ¹⁶Thus saith the Lord: Stand ye on the ways, and see and ask for the old paths which is the good way, and walk ye in it: and you shall find refreshment for your souls. And they said: we will not walk. ¹⁷And I appointed watchmen over you, saying: Hearken ye to the sound of the trumpet. And they said: We will not hearken. ¹⁸Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what great things I will do to them. ¹⁹Hear, O earth: Behold I will bring evils upon this people, the fruits of their own thoughts: because they have not heard my words, and they have cast away my law. ²⁰To what purpose do you bring me frankincense from Saba, and the sweet smelling cane from a far country? your holocausts are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me. ²¹Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will bring destruction upon this people, by which fathers and sons together shall fall, neighbor and kinsman shall perish. ²²Thus saith the Lord: Behold a people cometh from the land of the north, and a great nation shall rise up from the ends of the earth. ²³They shall lay hold on arrow and shield: they are cruel, and will have no mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea: and they shall mount upon horses, prepared as men for war, against thee, O daughter of Sion. ²⁴We have heard the fame thereof, our hands grow feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, as a woman in labor. ²⁵Go not out into the fields, nor walk in the highway: for the sword of the enemy, and fear is on every side. ²⁶Gird thee with sackcloth, O daughter of my people, and sprinkle thee with ashes: make thee mourning as for an only son, a bitter lamentation, because the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us. ²⁷I have set thee for a strong trier among my people: and thou shalt know and prove their way. ²⁸All of these princes go out of the way, they walk deceitfully, they are brass and iron: they are all corrupted. ²⁹The bellows have failed, the lead is consumed in the fire, the founder hath melted in vain: for their wicked deeds are not consumed. ³⁰Call them reprobate silver, for the Lord hath rejected them.

Chapter 7

¹The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying: ²Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord, and proclaim there this word, and say: Hear ye the word of the Lord, all ye men of Juda, that enter in at these gates, to adore the Lord. ³Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Make your ways and your doings good: and I will dwell with you in this place. ⁴Trust not in lying words, saying: The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, it is the temple of the Lord. ⁵For if you will order well your ways, and your doings: if you will execute judgement between a man and his neighbor, ⁶If you opress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, and walk not after strange gods to your own hurt, ⁷I will dwell with you in this place: in the land, which I gave to your fathers from the beginning and for evermore. ⁸Behold you put your trust in lying words, which shall not profit you: ⁹To steal, to murder, to commit adultery, to swear falsely, to offer to Baalim, and to go after strange gods, which you know not. ¹⁰And you have come, and stood before me in this house, in which my name is called upon, and have said: We are delivered, because we have done all these abominations. ¹¹Is this house then, in which my name hath been called upon, in your eyes become a den of robbers? I, I am he: I have seen it, saith the Lord. ¹²Go ye to my place in Silo, where my name dwelt from the beginning: and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel: ¹³And now, because you have done all these works, saith the Lord: and I have spoken to you rising up early, and speaking, and you have not heard: and I have called you, and you have not answered: ¹⁴I will do to this house, in which my name is called upon, and in which you trust, and to the places which I have given you and your fathers, as I did to Silo. ¹⁵And I will cast you away from before my face, as I have cast away all your brethren, the whole seed of Ephraim. ¹⁶Therefore, do not thou pray for this people, nor take to thee praise and supplication for them: and do not withstand me: for I will not hear thee. ¹⁷Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to offer libations to strange gods, and to provoke me to anger. ¹⁹Do they provoke me to anger, saith the Lord? Is it not themselves, to the confusion of their contenance? ²⁰Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold my wrath and my indignation was enkindled against this place, upon men and upon beasts, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruits of the land, and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched. ²¹Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat ye the flesh. ²²For I spoke not to your fathers, and I commanded them not, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³But this thing I commanded them, saying: Hearken to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people: and walk ye in all the way that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you. ²⁴But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear: but walked in their own will, and in the perversity of their wicked heart: and went backward and not forward, ²⁵From the day that their fathers came out of the land of Egypt, even to this day. And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets from day to day, rising up early and sending. ²⁶And they have not hearkened to me: nor inclined their ear: but have hardened their neck, and have done worse than their fathers. ²⁷And thou shalt speak to them all these words, but they will not hearken to thee: and thou shalt call them, but they will not answer thee. ²⁸And thou shalt say to them: This is a nation which hath not hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, nor received instruction: Faith is lost, and is carried away out of their mouth. ²⁹Cut off thy hair, and cast it away: and take up a lamentation on high: for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath, ³⁰Because the children of Juda have done evil in my eyes, saith the Lord. They have set their abominations in the house in which my name is called upon, to pollute it; ³¹And they have built the high places of Topeth, which is in the valley of the son of Ennom, to burn their sons, and their daughters in the fire: which I commanded not, nor thought on in my heart. ³²Therefore behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and it shall no more be called Topeth, nor the valley of the son of Ennom: but the valley of slaughter, and they shall bury in Topeth, because there is no place. ³³And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be non to drive them away. ³⁴And I will cause ot cease out of the cities of Juda, and out of the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of joy, and the coice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.

Chapter 8

¹At that time, saith the Lord, they shall cast out the bones of the kings of Juda, and the bones of the princes thereof, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. ²And they shall spread them abroad to the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and adored: they shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried: they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth. ³And death shall be chosen rather than life by all that shall remain of this wicked kindred in all places, which are left, to which I have cast them out, saith the Lord of hosts. ⁴And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Shall not he that falleth, rise again? and he that is turned away, shall he not turn again? ⁵Why then is this people in Jerusalem turned away with a stubborn revolting? they have laid hold on lying, and have refused to return. ⁶I attended, and hearkened; no man speaketh what is good, there is none that doth penance for his sin, saying: What have I done? They are all turned to their own course, as a horse rushing to the battle. ⁷The kite in the air hath known her time: the turtle, and the swallow, and the stork have observed the time of their coming: but my people have not known the judgment of the Lord. ⁸How do you say: We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Indeed the lying pen of the scribes hath wrought falsehood. ⁹The wise men are confounded, they are dismayed, and taken: for they have cast away the word of the Lord, and there is no wisdom in them. ¹⁰Therefore I will give their women to strangers, their fields to others for an inheritance: because from the least even to the greatest all follow covetousness: from the prophet even to the priest, all deal deceitfully. ¹¹And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people disgracefully, saying Peace, peace: when there was no peace. ¹²They are confounded, because they have committed abomination: yea rather they are not confounded with confusion, and they have not know how to blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall; in the time of their visitation they shall fall, saith the Lord. ¹³Gathering I will gather them together, saith the Lord, there is no grape on the vines, and there are no figs on the fig tree, the leaf is fallen: and I have given them the things that are passed away. ¹⁴Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fenced city, and let us be silent there: for the Lord our God hath put us to silence, and hath given us water of gall to drink: for we have sinned against the Lord. ¹⁵We looked for peace and no good came: for a time of healing, and behold fear. ¹⁶The snorting of his horse was heard from Dan, all the land was moved at the sound of the neighing of his warriors: and they came and devoured the land, and all that was in it: the city and its inhabitants. ¹⁷For behold I will send among you serpents, basilisks, against which there is no charm: and they shall bite you, saith the Lord. ¹⁸My sorrow is above sorrow, my heart mourneth within me. ¹⁹Behold the voice of the daughter my people from a far country: Is not the Lord in Sion, or is not her king in her? why then have they provoked me to wrath with their idols, and strange vanities? ²⁰The harvest is passed, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. ²¹For the affliction of the daughter of my people I am afflicted, and made sorrowful, astonishment hath taken hold on me. ²²Is there no balm in Galaad? or is no physician there? Why then is not the wound of the daughter of my people closed?

Chapter 9

¹Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? and I will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people. ²Who will give me in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, and I will leave my people, and depart from them? because they are all adulterers, an assembly of transgressors. ³And they have bent their tongue, as a bow, for lies, and not for truth: they have strengthened themselves upon the earth, for they have proceeded from evil to evil, and me they have not known, saith the Lord. ⁴Let every man take heed of his neighbor, and let his not trust in any brother of his: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every friend will walk deceitfully. ⁵And a man shall mock his brother, and they will not speak the truth: for they have taught their tongue to speak lies: they have laboured to commit iniquity. ⁶Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit: Through deceit they have refused to know me, saith the Lord. ⁷Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will melt, and try them: for what else shall I do before the daughter of my people? ⁸Their tongue is a piercing arrow, it hath spoken deceit: with his mouth one speaketh peace with his friend, and secretly he lieth in wait for him. ⁹Shall I not visit them for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not my soul be revenged on such a nation? ¹⁰For the mountains I will take up weeping and lamentation, and for the beautiful places of the desert, mourning: because they are burnt up, for that there is not a man that passeth through them: and they have not heard the voice of the owner: from the fowl of the air to the beasts they are gone away and departed. ¹¹And I will make Jerusalem to be heaps of sand, and dens of dragons: and I will make the cities of Juda desolate, for want of an inhabitant. ¹²Who is the wise man, that may understand this, and to whom the word of the mouth of the Lord may come that he may declare this, why the land hath perished, and is burnt up like a wilderness, which none passeth through? ¹³And the Lord said: Because they have forsaken my law, which I gave them, and have not heard my voice, and have not walked in it. ¹⁴But they have gone after the perverseness of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them. ¹⁵Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. ¹⁶And I will scatter them among the nations, which they and their fathers have not known: and I will send the sword after them till they be consumed. ¹⁷Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, and let them come: and send to them that are wise women, and let them make haste: ¹⁸Let them hasten and take up a lamentation for us: let our eyes shed tears, and our eyelids run down with waters. ¹⁹For a voice of wailing is heard out of Sion: How are we wasted and greatly confounded? because we have left the land, because our dwellings are cast down. ²⁰Hear therefore, ye women, the word of the Lord: and let your ears receive the word of his mouth: and teach your daughters wailing: and every one her neighbor mourning. ²¹For death is come up through our windows, it is entered into our houses to destroy the children from without, the young men from the streets. ²²Speak: Thus saith the Lord: Even the carcass of man shall fall as dung upon the face of the country, and as grass behind the back of the mower, and there is none to gather it. ²³Thus saith the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in his riches: ²⁴But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, for I am the Lord that exercise mercy, and judgment, and justice in the earth: for these things please me, saith the Lord. ²⁵Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will visit upon every one that hath the foreskin circumcised. ²⁶Upon Egypt, and upon Juda, and upon Edom, and upon the children of Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all that have their hair polled round, that dwell in the desert: for all the nations are uncircumcised in the flesh, but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.

Chapter 10

¹Hear ye the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O house of Israel. ²Thus saith the Lord: Learn not according to the ways of the Gentiles: and be not afraid of the signs of heaven, which the heathens fear: ³For the laws of the people are vain: for the works of the hand of the workman hath cut a tree out of the forest with an axe. ⁴He hath decked it with silver and gold: he hath put it together with nails and hammers, that it may not fall asunder. ⁵They are framed after the likeness of a palm tree, and shall not speak: they must be carried to be removed, because they cannot go. Therefore, fear them not, for they can neither do evil nor good. ⁶There is none like to thee, O Lord: thou art great and great is thy name in might. ⁷Who shall fear thee, O king of nations? for thine is the glory: among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms there is none like unto thee. ⁸They shall all proved together to be senseless and foolish: the doctrine of their vanity is wood. ⁹Silver spread into plates is brought from Tharsis, and gold from Ophaz: the work of the artificer, and of the hand of the coppersmith: violet and purple is their clothing: all these things are the work of artificers. ¹⁰But the Lord is the true God: he is the living God, and the everlasting king, at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his threatening. ¹¹Thus then shall you say to them: The gods that have not made heaven and earth, let them perish from the earth, and from among those places that are under heaven. ¹²He that maketh the earth by his power, that prepareth the world by his wisdom, and stretcheth out the heavens by his knowledge. ¹³At his voice he giveth a multitude of waters in the heaven, and lifteth up the clouds from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings for rain, and bringeth for the wind out of his treasures. ¹⁴Every man is become a fool for knowledge every artist is confounded in his graven idol: for what he hath cast is false, and there is no spirit in them. ¹⁵They are vain things and a ridiculous work: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. ¹⁶The portion of Jacob is not like these: for it is he who formed all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is his name. ¹⁷Gather up thy shame out of the land, thou that dwellest in a siege. ¹⁸For thus saith the Lord: Behold I will cast away far off the inhabitants of the land at this time: and I will afflict them, so that they may be found. ¹⁹Woe is me for my destruction, my wound is very grievous. But I said: Truly this is my own evil, and I will bear it. ²⁰My tabernacle is laid waste, all my cords are broken: my children are gone out from me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. ²¹Because the pastors have done foolishly, and have not sought the Lord: therefore have they not understood, and all their flock is scattered. ²²Behold the sound of a noise cometh, a great commotion out of the land of the north: to make the cities of Juda a desert, and a dwelling for dragons. ²³I know, O Lord, that the way of a man is not his: neither is it in a man to walk, and to direct his steps. ²⁴Correct me, O Lord, but yet with judgement: and not in fury, lest thou bring me to nothing. ²⁵Pour out thy indignation upon the nations that have not known thee, and upon the provinces that have not called upon thy name: because they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have destroyed his glory.

Chapter 11

¹The word that came from the Lord to Jeremias, saying: ²Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ³And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Cursed is the man that shall not hearken to the words of yethis covenant, ⁴Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying: Hear ye my voice, and do all things that I command you: and you shall be my people, and I will be your God: ⁵That I may accomplish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. And I answered and said: Amen, O Lord. ⁶And the Lord said to me: Proclaim aloud all these words in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear ye the words of the covenant, and do them: ⁷For protesting I conjured your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt even to this day: rising early I conjured them, and said: Hearken ye to my voice: ⁸And they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear: but walked every one in the perverseness of his own wicked heart: and I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not. ⁹And the Lord said to me: A conspiracy is found among the men of Juda, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They are returned to the former iniquities of their fathers, who refused to hear my words: so these likewise have gone after strange gods, to serve them: the house of Israel, and the house of Juda have made void my covenant, which I made with their fathers. ¹¹Wherefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring in evils upon them, which they shall not be able to escape: and they shall cry to me, and I will not hearken to them. ¹²And the cities of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall go, and cry to the gods to whom they offer sacrifice, and they shall not save them in the time of their affliction. ¹³For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Juda: and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem thou hast set up altars of confusion, altars to offer sacrifice to Baalim. ¹⁴Therefore, do not thou pray for this people, and do not take up praise and prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time of their cry to me, in the time of their affliction. ¹⁵What is the meaning that my beloved hath wrought muck wickedness in my house? shall the holy flesh take away from thee thy crimes, in which thou hast boasted? ¹⁶The Lord called thy name, a plentiful olive tree, fair, fruitful, and beautiful: at the noise of a word, a great fire was kindled in it and the branches thereof are burnt. ¹⁷And the Lord of hosts that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee: for the evils of the house of Israel, and the house of Juda, which they have done to themselves, to provoke me, offering sacrifice to Baalim. ¹⁸But thou, O Lord, hast shewn me, and I have known: then thou shewedst me their doings. ¹⁹And I was as a meek lamb, that is carried to be a victim: and I knew not that they had devised counsels against me, saying: Let us put wood on his bread, and cut him off from the land of the living, and let his name be remembered no more. ²⁰But thou, O Lord of Sabaoth, who judgest justly, and triest the reins and hearts, let me see thy revenge on them: for to thee I have revealed my cause. ²¹Therefore thus saith the Lord to the men of Anathoth, who seek thy life, and say: Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of the Lord, and thou shalt not die in our hands. ²²Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will visit upon them: and their young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine. ²³And there shall be no remains of them: for I will bring in evil upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their visitation.

Chapter 12

¹Thou indeed, O Lord, art just, if I plead with thee, but yet I will speak what is just to thee: Why doth the way of the wicked prosper: why is it well with all them that transgress, and do wickedly? ²Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they prosper and bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins. ³And thou, O Lord, hast known me, thou hast seen me, and proved my heart with thee: gather them together as sheep for a sacrifice, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. ⁴How long shall the land mourn, and the herb of every field wither for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? The beasts and the birds are consumed: because they have said: He shall not see our last end. ⁵If thou hast wearied with running with footmen, how canst thou contend with horses? and if thou hast been secure in a land of peace, what wilt thou do in the swelling of the Jordan? ⁶For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have fought against thee, and have cried after thee with full voice: believe them not when they speak good things to thee. ⁷I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance: I have given my dear soul into the land of her enemies. ⁸My inheritance is become to me as a lion in the wood: is hath cried out against me, therefore have I hated it. ⁹Is my inheritance to me as a speckled bird? Is it as a bird died throughout? come ye, assemble yourselves, all the beasts of the earth, make haste to devour. ¹⁰Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot: they have changed my delightful portion into a desolate wilderness. ¹¹They have laid it waste, and it hath mourned for me. With desolation is all the land made desolate; because there is none that considereth in the heart. ¹²The spoilers are come upon all the ways of the wilderness, for the sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the land to the other end thereof: there is no peace for all flesh. ¹³They have sown wheat, and reaped thorns: they have received an inheritance, and it shall not profit them: you shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce wrath of the Lord. ¹⁴Thus saith the Lord against all my wicked neighbors, that touch the inheritance that I have shared out to my people Israel: Behold I will pluck them out of their land, and I will pluck the house of Juda out of the midst of them. ¹⁵And when I shall have plucked them out, I will return, and have mercy on them: and I will bring them back, every man to his inheritance, and every man to his land. ¹⁶And it shall come to pass, if they will be taught, and will learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name: The Lord liveth, as they have taught my people to swear by baal: that they shall be built up in the midst of my people. ¹⁷But if they will not hear, I will utterly pluck out and destroy that nation, saith the Lord.

Chapter 13

¹Thus saith the Lord to me: Go, and get thee a linen girdle, and thou shalt put it about thy loins, and shalt not put it into water. ²And I got a girdle accoding to the word of the Lord, and put it about my loins. ³And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying: ⁴Take the girdle which thou hast got, which is about thy loins, and arise, and go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock. ⁵And I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me. ⁶And it came to pass after many days, that the Lord said to me: Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from thence the girdle, which I commanded thee to hide there. ⁷And I went to the Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle out of the place where I had hid it: and behold the girdle was rotten, so that it was fit for no use. ⁸And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ⁹Thus saith the Lord: after this manner will I make the pride of Juda, and the great pride of Jerusalem to rot. ¹⁰This wicked people, that will not hear my words, and that walk in the perverseness of their heart, and have gone after strange gods to serve them, and to adore them: and they shall be as this girdle which is fit for no use. ¹¹For as the girdle sticketh close to the loins of a man, so have I brought close to me all of the house of Israel, and all the house of Juda, saith the Lord: that they might be my people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear. ¹²Thou shalt speak therefore to them this word: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Every bottle shall be filled with wine, and they shall say to thee: Do we not know that every bottle shall be filled with wine? ¹³And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings of the race of David that sit upon his throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. with drunkenness. ¹⁴And I will scatter them every man from his brother, and fathers and sons in like manner, saith the Lord: I will not spare, and I will not pardon: nor will I have mercy, but to destroy them. ¹⁵Hear ye, and give ear: Be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken. ¹⁶Give ye glory to the Lord your God, before it be dark, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains: you shall look for light, and he will turn it into the shadow of death, and into darkness. ¹⁷But if you will not hear this, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride: weeping it shall weep, and my eyes shall run down the tears, because the flock of the Lord is carried away captive. ¹⁸Say to the king, and to the queen: Humble yourselves, sit down: for the crown of your glory is come down from your head. ¹⁹The cities of the south are shut up, and there is none to open them: all Juda is carried away captive with an entire captivity. ²⁰Lift up your eyes, and see, you that come from the north: where is the flock that is given thee, thy beautiful cattle? ²¹What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee? for thou hast taught them against thee, and instructed them against thy own head: shall not sorrows lay hold on thee, as a woman in labour? ²²And if thou shalt say in thy heart: Why are these things come upon me? For the greatness of thy iniquity, thy nakedness is discovered, the soles of thy feet are defiled. ²³If the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots: you may also do well, when you have learned evil. ²⁴And I will scatter them as stubble, which is carried away by the wind in the desert. ²⁵This is thy lot, and the portion of thy measure from me, saith the Lord, because thou hast forgotten me, and hast trusted in falsehood. ²⁶Wherefore I have also bared my thighs against thy face, and thy shame hath appeared. ²⁷I have seen thy adulteries, and thy neighing, the wickedness of thy fornication: and thy abominations, upon the hills in the field. Woe to thee, Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean after me: how long yet?

Chapter 14

¹The Word of the Lord that came to Jeremias concerning the words of the drought. ²Judea hath mourned, and the gates thereof are fallen, and are become obscure on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. ³The great ones sent their inferiors to the water: they came to draw, they found no water, they carried back their vessels empty: they were confounded and afflicted, and covered their heads. ⁴For the destruction of the land, because there came no rain upon the earth, the husbandmen were confounded, they covered their heads. ⁵Yea, the hind also brought forth in the field, and left it, because there was no grass. ⁶And the wild asses stood upon the rocks, they snuffed up the wind like dragons, their eyes failed, because there was no grass. ⁷If our iniquities have testified against us, O Lord, do thou it for thy name's sake, for our rebellions are many, we have sinned against thee. ⁸O expectation of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble: why wilt thou be a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man turning in to lodge? ⁹Why wilt thou be as a wandering man, as a mighty man that cannot save? but thou, O Lord, art among us, and thy name is called upon by us, forsake us not. ¹⁰Thus saith the Lord to his people, that have loved to move their feet, and have not rested, and have not pleased the Lord: He will now remember their iniquities, and visit their sins. ¹¹And the Lord said to me: Pray not for this people for their good. ¹²When they fast I will not hear their prayers: and if they offer holocausts and victims, I will not receive them: for I will consume them by the sword, and by famine, and by the pestilence. ¹³And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, the prophets say to them: You shall not see the sword, and there shall be no famine among you, but he will give you true peace in this place. ¹⁴And the Lord said to me: The prophets prophesy falsely in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, nor have I spoken to them: they prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination and deceit, and the seduction of their own heart. ¹⁵Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophecy in my name, whom I did not send, that say: Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. ¹⁶And the people to whom they prophecy, shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the fanmine and the sword, and there shall be none to bury them: they and their wives, their sons and their daughters, and I will pour out their wickedness upon them. ¹⁷And thou shalt speak this word to them: Let my eyes shed down tears night and day, and let them not cease, because the virgin daughter of my people is afflicted with a great affliction, with an exceeding grievous evil. ¹⁸If I go forth into the fields, behold the slain with the sword: and if I enter into the city, behold them that are consumed with famine. The prophet also and the priest are gone into a land which they knew not. ¹⁹Hast thou utterly cast away Juda, or hath thy soul abhorred Sion? why then hast thou struck us, so that there is no healing for us? we have looked for peace, and there is no good: and for the time of healing, and behold trouble. ²⁰We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, the iniquities of our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. ²¹Give us not to be a reproach, for thy name's sake, and do not disgrace in us the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us. ²²Are there any among the graven things of the Gentiles that can send rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou the Lord our God, whom we have looked for? for thou hast made all these things.

Chapter 15

¹And the Lord said to me: If Moses and Samuel shall stand before me, my soul is not towards this people: cast them out from my sight, and let them go forth. ²And if they shall say unto thee: Whither shall we go forth? thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Such as are for death, to death: and such as are to the sword, to the sword: and such as are for famine, to famine: and such as are to captivity, to captivity. ³And I will visit them with four kinds, saith the Lord: The sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy. ⁴And I will give them up to the rage of all the kingdoms of the earth: because of Manasses the son of Ezechias the king of Juda, for all that he did in Jerusalem. ⁵For who shall have pity on thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go to pray for thy peace? ⁶Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward: and I will stretch out my hand against thee, and I will destroy thee: I am weary of entreating thee. ⁷And I will scatter them with a fan in the gates of the land: I have killed and destroyed my people, and yet they are not returned form their ways. ⁸Their widows are multiplied unto me above the sand of the sea: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young man a spoiler at noonday: I have cast a terror on a sudden upon the cities. ⁹She that hath borne seven is become weak, her soul hath fainted away: her sun is gone down, while it was yet day: she is confounded, and ashamed: and the residue of them I will give up to the sword in the sight of their enemies, saith the Lord. ¹⁰Woe is me, my mother: why hast thou borne me a man of strife, a man of contention to all the earth? I have not lent on usury, neither hath any man lent to me on usury: yet all curse me. ¹¹The Lord saith to me: Assuredly it shall be well with thy remnant, assuredly I shall help thee in the time of affliction, and in the time of tribulation against the enemy. ¹²Shall iron be allied with the iron from the north, and the brass? ¹³Thy riches and thy treasures I will give unto spoil for nothing, because of all thy sins, even in all thy borders. ¹⁴And I will bring thy enemies out of a land, which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in my rage, it shall burn upon you. ¹⁵O Lord, thou knowest, remember me, and visit me, and defend me from them that persecute me, do not defend me in thy patience: know that for thy sake I have sufferred reproach. ¹⁶Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was to me a joy and gladness of my heart: for thy name is called upon me, O Lord God of hosts. ¹⁷I sat not in the assembly of jesters, nor did I make a boast of the presence of thy hand: I sat alone, because thou hast filled me with threats. ¹⁸Why is my sorrow become perpetual, and my wound desperate so as to refuse to be healed? it is become to me as the falsehood of deceitful waters that cannot be trusted. ¹⁹Therefore thus saith the Lord: If thou wilt be converted, I will convert thee, and thou shalt stand before my face; and if thou wilt separate the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: they shall be turned to thee, and thou shalt not be turned to them. ²⁰And I will make thee to this people as a strong wall of brass: and they shall fight against thee, and shall not prevail: for I am with thee to save thee, and to deliver thee, saith the Lord. ²¹And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the mighty.

Chapter 16

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have thee sons and daughters in this place. ³For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and daughters, that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bore them: and concerning their fathers, of whom they were born in this land: ⁴They shall die by the death of grievous illnesses: they shall not be lamented, and they shall not be buried, they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed with the sword, and with famine: and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of the air, and for the beasts of the earth. ⁵For thus saith the Lord: Enter not into the house of feasting, neither go thou to mourn, nor to comfort them: because I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the Lord, my mercy and commiserations. ⁶Both the great and the little shall die in the land: they shall not be buried nor lamented, and men shall not cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. ⁷And they shall not break bread among them to him that mourneth, to comfort him for the dead: neither shall they give them to drink of the cup, to comfort them for their father and mother. ⁸And do not thou go into the house of feasting, to sit with them, and to eat and drink. ⁹For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold I will take away out of this place in your sight, 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 when thou shalt tell this people all these words, and they shall say to thee: Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced against us all this great evil? what is our iniquity? and what is our sin, that we have sinned against the Lord our God? ¹¹Thou shalt say to them: Because your fathers forsook me, saith the Lord: and went after strange gods, and served them, and adored them: and they forsook me, and kept not my law. ¹²And you also have done worse than your fathers: for behold every one of you walketh after the perverseness of his evil heart, so as not to hearken to me. ¹³So I will cast you forth out of this land, into a land which you know not, nor you fathers: and there you shall serve strange gods day and night, which shall not give you any rest. ¹⁴Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, when it shall be said no more: The Lord liveth, that brought for the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt: ¹⁵But, the Lord liveth, that brought the children of Israel out of the land of the north, and out of all the lands to which I cast them out: and I will bring them again into their land, which I gave to their fathers. ¹⁶Behold I will send many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them: and after this I will send them many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. ¹⁷For my eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, and their iniquity hath not been hid from my eyes. ¹⁸And I will repay first their double iniquities, and their sins: because they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their idols, and they have filled my inheritance with their abominations. ¹⁹O Lord, my might, and my strength, and my refuge in the day of tribulation: to thee the Gentiles shall come from the ends of the earth, and shall say: Surely our fathers have possessed lies, a vanity which hath not profited them. ²⁰Shall a man make gods unto himself, and there are no gods? ²¹Therefore, behold I will this once cause them to know, I will shew them my hand and my power: and they shall know that my name is the Lord.

Chapter 17

¹The sin of Juda is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond, it is graven upon the table of their heart, upon the horns of their altars. ²When their children shall remember their altars, and their groves, and their green trees upon high mountains, ³Sacrificing in the field: I will give thy strength, and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin in all thy borders. ⁴And thou shalt be left stripped of thy inheritance, which I gave thee: and I will make thee serve thy enemies in a land which thou knowest not: because thou hast kindled a fire in my wrath, it shall burn for ever. ⁵Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. ⁶For he shall be like tamaric in the desert, and he shall not see when good shall come: but he shall dwell in dryness in the desert in a salt land, and not inhabited. ⁷Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence. ⁸And he shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture: and it shall not fear when the heat cometh. And the leaf thereof shall be green, and in the time of drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at any time to bring forth fruit. ⁹The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable, who can know it? ¹⁰I am the Lord who search the heart and prove the reins: who give to every one according to his way, and according to the fruit of his devices. ¹¹As the partridge hath hatched eggs which she did not lay: so is he that hath gathered riches, and not by right: in the midst of his days he shall leave them, and in his latter end he shall be a fool. ¹²A high and glorious throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctification: ¹³O Lord the hope of Israel: all that forsake thee shall be confounded: they that depart from thee, shall be written in the earth: because they have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters. ¹⁴Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed: save me, and I shall be saved, for thou art my praise. ¹⁵Behold they say to me: Where is the word of the Lord? let it come. ¹⁶And I am not troubled, following thee for my pastor, and I have not desired the day of man, thou knowest. That which went out of my lips, hath been right in thy sight. ¹⁷Be not thou a terror unto me, thou art my hope in the day of affliction. ¹⁸Let them be confounded that persecute me, and let not me be confounded: let them be afraid, and let not me be afraid: bring upon them the day of affliction, and with a double destruction, destroy them. ¹⁹Thus saith the Lord to me: Go, and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Juda come in, and go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem: ²⁰And thou shalt say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, ye kings of Juda, and all Juda, and all the inhabitant of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates. ²¹Thus saith the Lord: Take heed to your souls and carry no burdens on the Sabbath day: and bring them not in by the gates of Jerusalem. ²²And do not bring burdens out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work: sanctify the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. ²³But they did not hear, nor incline their ear: but hardened their neck, that they might not hear me, and might not receive instruction. ²⁴And it shall come to pass: if you will hearken to me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burdens by the gates of this city on the sabbath day: and if you will sanctify the sabbath day, to do no work therein: ²⁵Then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes, sitting upon the throne of David, and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall be inhabited forever. ²⁶And they shall come from the cities of Juda, and from the places round about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plains, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing holocausts, and victims, and sacrifices, and frankincense, and they shall bring in an offering into the house of the Lord. ²⁷But if you will not hearken to me, to sanctify the sabbath day, and not to carry burdens, and not to bring them in by the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day: I will kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

Chapter 18

¹The word that came from Jeremias to the Lord, saying: ²Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there thou shalt hear my words. ³And I went down into the potter's house, and behold he was doing a work on the wheel. ⁴And the vessel was broken which he was making with clay with his hands: and turning he made another vessel, as it seemed good in his eyes to make it. ⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ⁶Cannot I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord? behold as clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷I will suddenly speak against a nation, and against a kingdom, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy it. ⁸If that nation against which I have spoken, shall repent of their evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do to them. ⁹And I will suddenly speak of a nation and of a kingdom, to build up and plant it. ¹⁰If it shall do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice: I will repent of the good that I have spoken to do unto it. ¹¹Now therefore tell the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: let every man of you return from his evil way, and make ye your ways and your doings good. ¹²And they said: We have no hopes: for we will go after our own thoughts, and we will do every one according to the perverseness of his evil heart. ¹³Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ask among the nations: Who hath heard such horrible things, as the virgin of Israel hath done to excess? ¹⁴Shall now the snow of Libanus fail from the rock of the field? or can the cold waters that gush out and run down, be taken away? ¹⁵Because my people have forgotten me, sacrificing in vain, and stumbling in their ways, in ancient paths, to walk by them in a way not trodden: ¹⁶That their land might be given up to desolation, and to a perpetual hissing: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and wag his head. ¹⁷As a burning will I scatter them before the enemy: I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their destruction. ¹⁸And they said: Come, and let us invent devices against Jeremias: for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet: come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us give no heed to all his words. ¹⁹Give heed to me, O Lord, and hear the voice of my adversaries. ²⁰Shall evil be rendered for good, because they have digged a pit for my soul? Remember that I have stood in thy sight, so speak good for them, and turn away thy indignation from them. ²¹Therefore deliver up their children to famine, and bring them into the hands of the sword: let their wives be bereaved of children and widows: and let their husbands be slain by death: let their young men be stabbed with the sword in battle. ²²Let a cry be heard out of their houses: for thou shalt bring the robber upon them suddenly: because they have digged a pit to take me, and have hid snares for my feet. ²³But thou, O Lord, knowest all their counsel against me unto death: forgive not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight: let them be overthrown before thy eyes, in the time of thy wrath do thou destroy them.

Chapter 19

¹Thus saith the Lord: Go, and take a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests: ²And go forth into the valley of the son of Ennom, which is by the entry of the earthen gate: and there thou shalt proclaim the words that I shall tell thee. ³And thou shalt say: Hear the word of the Lord, O ye kings of Juda, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold I will bring an affliction upon this place: so that whoever shall hear it, his ears shall tingle: ⁴Because they have forsaken me, and have profaned this place: and have sacrificed therein to strange gods, whom neither they nor their fathers knew, nor the kings of Juda: and they have filled this place with the blood of innocents. ⁵And they have built the high places of Baalim, to burn their children with fire for a holocaust to Baalim: which I did not command, nor speak of, neither did it once come into my mind. ⁶Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Ennom, but the valley of slaughter. ⁷And I will defeat the counsel of Juda and of Jerusalem in this place: and I will destroy them with the sword in the sight of their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and I will give their carcasses to be meat for the fowls of the air, and for the beasts of the earth. ⁸And I will make this city an astonishent, and a hissing: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and shall hiss because of all the plagues thereof. ⁹And I will feed them with the flesh of their sons, and with the flesh of their daughters: and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege, and in the distress wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives shall straiten them. ¹⁰And thou shalt break the bottle in the sight of the men that shall go with thee. ¹¹And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: even so will I break this people, and this city, as the potter's vessel is broken, which cannot be made whole again: and they shall be buried in Topheth, because there is no other place to bury in. ¹²Thus will I do to this place, saith the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof: and I will make this city as Topheth. ¹³And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of Juda shall be unclean as the place of Topheth: all the houses upon whose roots they have sacrificed to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings to strange gods. ¹⁴Then Jeremias came from Topheth, whither the Lord had sent him to prophecy, and he stood in the court of the house of the Lord, and said to all people: ¹⁵Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold I will bring in upon this city, and upon all the cities thereof all the evils that I have spoken against it: because they have hardened their necks, and they might not hear my words.

Chapter 20

¹Now Phassur the son of Emmur, the priest, who was appointed chief in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremias prophesying these words. ²And Phassur struck Jeremias the prophet, and put him in the stocks, that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, in the house of the Lord. ³And when it was light the next day, Phassur brought Jeremias out of the stocks. And Jeremias said to him: The Lord hath not called thy name Phassur, but fear on every side. ⁴For thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver thee up to fear, thee and all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thy eyes shall see it, and I will give all Juda into the hand of the king of Babylon: and he shall strike them with the sword. ⁵And I will give all the substance of this city, and all its labour, and every precious thing thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Juda will I give into the hands of their enemies: and they shall pillage them, and take them away, and carry them to Babylon. ⁶But thou, Phassur, and all that dwell in thy house, shall go into captivity, and thou shalt go to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and there thou shalt be buried, thou and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied a lie. ⁷Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I am deceived: thou hast been stronger than I, and thou hast prevailed. I am become a laughing-stock all the day, all scoff at me. ⁸For I am speaking now this long time, crying out against iniquity, and I often proclaim devistation: and the word of the Lord is made a reproach to me, and a derision all the day. ⁹Then I said: I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name: and there came in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was wearied, not being able to bear it. ¹⁰For I heard the reproaches of many, and terror on every side: Persecute him, and let us persecute him: from all the men that were my familiars, and continued at my side: if by any means he may be deceived, and we may prevail against him, and be revenged on him. ¹¹But the Lord is with me as a strong warrior: therefore they that persecute me shall fall, and shall be weak: they shall be greatly confounded, because they have not understood the everlasting reproach, which never shall be effaced. ¹²And thou, O Lord of hosts, prover of the just, who seest the reins and the heart: let me see, I beseech thee, thy vengeance on them: for to thee I have laid open my cause. ¹³Sing ye to the Lord, praise the Lord: because he hath delivered the soul of the poor out of the hand of the wicked. ¹⁴Cursed be the day wherein I was borne: let not the day in which my mother bore me, be blessed. ¹⁵Cursed be the man that brought the tidings to my father, saying: A man child is born to thee: and made him greatly rejoice. ¹⁶Let that man be as the cities that the Lord hath overthrown, and hath not repented: let him hear a cry in the morning, and howling at noontide: ¹⁷Who slew me not from the womb, that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb an everlasting conception. ¹⁸Why came I out of the womb, to see labour and sorrow, and that my days should be spent in confusion?

Chapter 21

¹The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, when king Sedecias sent unto him Phassur, the son of Melchias, and Sophonias, the son of Maasias the priest, saying: ²Inquire of the Lord for us, for Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon maketh war against us: if so be the Lord will deal with us according to all his wonderful works, that he may depart from us. ³And Jeremias said to them: Thus shall you say to Sedecias: ⁴Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and the Chaldeans, that besiege you round about the walls: and I will gather them together in the midst of this city. ⁵And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand, and with a strong arm, and in fury, and in indignation, and in great wrath. ⁶And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, men and beasts shall die of a great pestilence. ⁷And after this, saith the Lord, I will give Sedecias the king of Juda, and his servants, and his people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, and the sword , and the famine, into the hand of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword, and he shall not be moved to pity, nor spare them, nor shew mercy on them. ⁸And to this people thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. ⁹He that shall abide in this city, shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that shall go out and flee over to the Chaldeans, that besiege you, shall live, and his life shall be to him as a spoil. ¹⁰For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. ¹¹And to the house of the king of Juda: Hear ye the word of the Lord, ¹²O house of David, this saith the Lord: Judge ye judgement in the morning, and deliver him that is oppressed by violence out of the hand of the oppressor: lest my indignation go forth like a fire, and be kindled, and there be none to quench it, because of the evil of your ways. ¹⁴Behold I come to thee that dwelleth in a valley upon a rock above a plain, saith the Lord: and you say: Who shall strike us? and who shall enter into our houses? ¹⁵But I will visit upon you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the Lord: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof: and it shall devour all things round about it.

Chapter 22

¹Thus saith the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Juda, and there thou shalt speak this word, ²And thou shalt say: Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Juda, that sittest upon the throne of David: thou and thy servants, and thy people, who enter in by these gates. ³Thus saith the Lord: Execute judgement and justice, and deliver him that is oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor: and afflict not the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, nor oppress them unjustly: and shed not innocent blood in this place. ⁴For if you will do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house, kings of the race of David sitting upon his throne, and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants, and their people. ⁵But if you will not hearken to these words: I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation. ⁶For thus saith the Lord to the house of the king of Juda: Thou art to me Galaad the head of Libanus: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities not habitable. ⁷And I will prepare against thee the destroyer and his weapons: and they shall cut down thy chosen cedars, and shall cast them headlong into the fire. ⁸And many nations shall pass by this city: and they shall say every man to his neighbor: Why hath the Lord done so to this great city? ⁹And they shall answer: Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and have adored strange gods, and served them. ¹⁰Weep not for him that is dead, nor bemoan him with your tears: lament him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. ¹¹For thus saith the Lord to Sellum the son of Josias the king of Juda, who reigned instead of his father, who went forth out of this place: He shall return hither no more: ¹²But in the place, to which I have removed him, there shall he die, and he shall not see this land any more. ¹³Woe to him that buildeth up his house by injustice, and his chambers not in judgement: that will oppress his friend without cause, and will not pay him his wages. ¹⁴Who saith: I will build me a wide house and large chambers: who openeth to himself windows, and maketh roofs of cedar, and painteth them with vermilion. ¹⁵Shalt thou reign, because thou comparest thyself to the cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and it was then well with him? ¹⁶He judged the cause of the poor and needy for his own good: was it not therefore because he knew me, saith the Lord? ¹⁷But thy eyes and thy heart are set upon covetousness, and upon shedding innocent blood, and upon oppression, and running after evil works. ¹⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda: They shall not mourn for him, Alas, my brother, and Alas, sister: they shall not lament for him, Alas, my Lord, or, Alas, the noble one. ¹⁹He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, rotten and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem. ²⁰Go up to Libanus, and cry: and lift up thy voice in Basan, and cry to them that pass by, for all thy lovers are destroyed. ²¹I spoke to thee in thy properity: and thoiu saidst: I will not hear: this hath been thy way from thy youth, because thou hast not heard my voice. ²²The wind shall feed all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: and then shalt thou be confounded, and ashamed of all thy wickedness. ²³Thou that sittest in Libanus, and makest thy nest in the cedars, how hast thou mourned when sorrows came upon thee, as the pains of a woman in labour? ²⁴As I live, saith the Lord, if Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda were a ring on my right hand, I would pluck him thence. ²⁵And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, and into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. ²⁶And I will send thee, and thy mother that bore thee, into a strange country, in which you were not born, and there you shall die: ²⁷And they shall not return into the land, whereunto they lift up their mind to return thither. ²⁸Is this man Jechonias an earthen and a broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein there is no pleasure? why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? ²⁹O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. ³⁰Thus saith the Lord: Write this man barren, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for there shall not be a man of his seed that shall sit upon the throne of David, and have power any more in Juda.

Chapter 23

¹Woe to the pastors, that destroy and tear the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. ²Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to the pastors that feed my people: You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold I will visit upon you for the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. ³And I will gather together the remnant of my flock, out of all the lands into which I have cast them out: and I will make them return to their own fields, and they shall increase and be multiplied. ⁴And I will set up pastors over them, and they shall feed them: they shall fear no more, and they shall not be dismayed: and none shall be wanting of their number, saith the Lord. ⁵Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch: and a king shall reign, and shall be wise, and shall execute judgement and justice in the earth. ⁶In those days shall Juda be saved, and Israel shall dwell confidently: and this is the name that they shall call him: the Lord our just one. ⁷Therefore behold the days to come, saith the Lord, and they shall say no more: The Lord liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt: ⁸But the Lord liveth, who hath brought out, and brought hither the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north, and out of all the lands, to which I had cast them forth: and they shall dwell in their own land. ⁹To the prophets: My heart is broken within me, all my bones tremble: I am become as a drunken man, and as a man full of wine, at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of his holy words. ¹⁰Because the land is full of adulterers, because the land hath mourned by reason of cursing, the fields of the desert are dried up: and their course is become evil, and their strength unlike. ¹¹For the prophet and the priest are defiled: and in my house I have found their wickedness, saith the Lord. ¹²Therefore their way shall be as a slippery way in the dark: for they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evils upon them, the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. ¹³And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied in Baal, and deceived my people Israel. ¹⁴And I have seen the likeness of adulterers, and the way of lying in the peophets of Jerusalem: and they strengthened the hand of the wicked, that no man should return from his evil doings: that are all become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gamorrha. ¹⁵Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts to the prophets: Behold I will feed them with wormwood, and I will give them gall to drink: for from the prophets of Jerusalem corruption has gone forth into all the land. ¹⁶Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you, and deceive you: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁷They say tothem that blaspheme me: The Lord hath said: You shall have peace: and to every one that walketh in the perverseness of his own heart, they have said: No evil shall come to you. ¹⁸For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath seen and heard his word? Who hath considered his word and heard it? ¹⁹Behold the whirlwind of the Lord's indignation shall come forth, and a tempest shall break out and come upon the head of the wicked. ²⁰The wrath of the Lord shall not return till he execute it, and till he accomplish the thought of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand his counsel. ²¹I did not send prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. ²²If they stood in my counsel, and had made my words known to my people, I should have turned them from their evil way and from their wicked doings. ²³Am I, think ye, a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? ²⁴Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see him, saith the Lord? do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? ²⁵I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesylies in my name, and say: I have dreamed, I have dreamed. ²⁶How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, and that prophesy the delusions of their own heart? ²⁷Who seek to make my people forget my name through their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbor: as their fathers forgot my name for Baal. ²⁸The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream: and he that hath my word, let him speak my word with truth: what hath the chaff to do with the wheat, saith the Lord? ²⁹Are not my words as a fire, saith the Lord: and as a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? ³⁰Therefore behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who steal my words every one from his neighbor. ³¹Behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who use their tongues, and say: The Lord saith it. ³²Behold I am against the prophets that have lying dreams, saith the Lord: and tell them, and cause my people to err by their lying, and by their wonders: when I sent them not, nor commanded them, who have not profited this people at all, saith the Lord. ³³If therefore this people, or the prophet, or the priest shall ask thee, saying: What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt say to them: You are the burden: for I will cast you away, saith the Lord. ³⁴And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people that shall say: The burden of the Lord: I will visit upon that man, and upon his house. ³⁵Thus shall you say every one to his neighbor, and to his brother: What hath the Lord answered? and what hath the Lord spoken? ³⁶And the burden of the Lord shall be mentioned no more, for every man's word shall be his burden: for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God. ³⁷Thus shalt thou say to the prophet: What hath the Lord answered thee? and what hath the Lord spoken? ³⁸But if you shall say: The burden of the Lord: therefore thus saith the Lord: Because you have said this word: The burden of the Lord: and I have sent to you saying: Say not, Tne burden of the Lord: ³⁹Therefore behold I will take you away carrying you, and will forsake you, and the city which I gave to you, and to your fathers, out of my presence. ⁴⁰And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame which shall never be forgotten.

Chapter 24

¹The Lord shewed me: and behold two baskets full of figs, set before the temple of the Lord: after that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had carried away Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda, and his chief men, and the craftsmen, and engravers of Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. ²One basket had very good figs, like the figs of the first season: and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, because they were bad. ³And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Jeremias? And I said: Figs, the good figs, very good: and the bad figs, very bad, which cannot be eaten because they are bad. ⁴And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ⁵Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Juda, whom I have sent forth out of this place into the land oif the Chaldeans, for their own good. ⁶And I will set my eyes upon them to be pacified, and I will bring them again into this land: and I will be their God: and I will build them up, 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 the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: because they shall return to me with their whole heart. ⁸And as the very bad figs, that cannot be eaten, because they are bad: thus saith the Lord: So will I give Sedecias the king of Juda, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that have remained in this city, and that dwell in the land of Egypt. ⁹And I will deliver them up to vexation, and affliction, to all the kingdoms of the earth: to be a reproach, and a byword, and a proverb, and to be a curse in all places, to which I have cast them out. ¹⁰And I will send among them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: till they be consumed out of the land which I gave to them, and their fathers.

Chapter 25

¹The word that came to Jeremias concerning all the people of Juda, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, (the same is the first year of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon,) ²Which Jeremias the prophet spoke to all the people of Juda, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: ³From the thirteenth year of Josias the son of Ammon king of Juda until this day: this is the three and twentieth year, the word of the Lord hath come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising before day, and speaking, and you have not hearkened. ⁴And the Lord hath sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising early, and sending, and you have not hearkened, nor inclined your ears to hear. ⁵When he said: Return ye, every one from his evil way, and from your wicked devices, and you shall dwell in the land which the Lord hath given to you, and your fathers for ever and ever. ⁶And go not after strange gods to serve them, and adore them: nor provoke me to wrath by the works of your hands, and I will not afflict you. ⁷And you have not heard me, saith the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, to your own hurt. ⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Because you have not heard my words: ⁹Behold I will send, and take all the kindreds of the north, saith the Lord, and Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon my servant: and I will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all the nations that are round about it: and I will destroy them, and make them an astonishment and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. ¹⁰And I will take away 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 mill, and the light of the lamp. ¹¹And all this land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment: and all these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ¹²And when the seventy years shall be expired, I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans: and I will make it perpetual desolations. ¹³And I will bring upon the land all my words, that I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, all that Jeremias hath prophesied against all nations: ¹⁴For they have served them, whereas they were many nations, and great kings: and I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their hands. ¹⁵For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Take the cup of wine of this fury at my hand: and thou shalt make all nations to drink thereof, unto which I shall send thee. ¹⁶And they shall drink, and be troubled, and be mad because of the sword, which I shall send among them. ¹⁷And I took the cup at the hand of the Lord, and I presented it to all the nations to drink of it, to which the Lord sent me: ¹⁸To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Juda, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof: to make them a desolation, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a curse, as it is at this day. ¹⁹Pharao the king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people, ²⁰And all in general: all the kings of the land of Ausitis, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ascalon, and Gaza, and Accaron, and the remnant of Azotus. ²¹And Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon. ²²And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon: and the kings of the land of the islands that are beyond the sea. ²³And Dedan, and Thema, and Buz, and all that have their hair cut round. ²⁴And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the west, that dwell in the desert. ²⁵And all the kings of Zambri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Medes: ²⁶And all the kings of the north far and near, every one against his brother: and all the kingdoms of the earth, which are upon the face thereof: and the king of Sesac shall drink after them. ²⁷And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Dring ye, and be drunken, and vomit: and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword, which I shall send among you. ²⁸And if they refuse to take the cup at thy hand to drink, thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Drinking you shall drink: ²⁹For behold I begin to bring evil on the city wherein my name is called upon: and shall you be as innocent and escape free? you shall not escape free: for I will call for the sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts. ³⁰And thou shalt prophesy unto them all these words, and thou shalt say to them: The Lord shall roar from on high, and shall utter his voice from his holy habitation: roaring he shall roar upon the place of his beauty: the shout as it were of them that tread grapes shall be given out against all the inhabitants of the earth. ³¹The noise is come even to the ends of the earth: for the Lord entereth into judgement with the nations: he entereth into judgement with all flesh; the wicked I have delivered up to the sword, saith the Lord. ³²Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold evil shall go forth from nation to nation: and a great whirlwind shall go forth from the ends of the earth. ³³And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end thereof: they shall not be lamented, and they shall not be gathered up, nor buried: they shall lie as dung upon the face of the earth. ³⁴Howl, ye shepherds, and cry: and sprinkle yourselves with ashes, ye leaders of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and your dispersion are accomplished, and you shall fall like precious vessels. ³⁵And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to save themselves. ³⁶A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the principal of the flock: because the Lord hath watsed their pastures. ³⁷And the fields of peace have been silent, because of the fierce anger of the Lord. ³⁸He has forsaken his covert as the lion, for the land is laid waste because of the wrath of the dove, and because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

Chapter 26

¹In the beginning of the reign of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, came this word from the Lord, saying: ²Thus saith the Lord: Stand in the court of the house of the Lord, and speak to all the cities of Juda, out of which they come, to adore in the house of the Lord, all the words which I have commanded thee to to speak unto them: leave not out one word. ³If so be they will hearken and be converted every one from his evil way; that I may repent me of the evil that I think to do unto them for the wickedness of their doings. ⁴And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: If you will not hearken to me to walk in my law, which I have given to you: ⁵To give ear to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent to you rising up early: and sending, and you have not hearkened: ⁶I will make this house like Silo: and I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. ⁷And the priests, and the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremias speaking these words in the house of the Lord. ⁸And when Jeremias made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests, and the prophets, and all the people laid hold on him, saying: Let him be put to death. ⁹Why hath he prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying: This house shall be like Silo; and this city shall be made desolate, without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered together against Jeremias in the house of the Lord. ¹⁰And the princes of Juda heard these words: and they went up from the king's house into the house of the Lord, and sat in the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord. ¹¹And the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes, and to all the people, saying: The judgement of death is for this man: because he hath prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears. ¹²Then Jeremias spoke to all the princes, and to all the people, saying: The Lord sent me to prophesy concerning this house, and concerning this city all the words you have heard. ¹³Now therefore amend your ways, and your doings, and hearken to the voice of the Lord your God: and the Lord will repent of the evil that he hath spoken against you. ¹⁴But as for me, behold I am in your hands: do with me what is good and right in your eyes: ¹⁵But know ye, and understand, that if you put me to death, you will shed innocent blood against your own selves, and against this city, and the inhabitants thereof. For in truth the Lord sent me to you, to speak all these words in your hearing. ¹⁶Then the princes, and all the people said to the priests, and to the prophets: There is no judgement of death for this man: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. ¹⁷And some of the ancients of the land rose up: and they spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying: ¹⁸Micheas of Morasthi was a prophet in the days of Ezechias king of Juda, and he spoke to all the people of Juda, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Sion shall be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem shall be a heap of stones: and the mountain of the house the high places of woods. ¹⁹Did Ezechias king of Juda, and all Juda, condemn him to death? did they not fear the Lord, and beseech the face of the Lord: and the Lord repented of the evil that they had spoken against them? therefore we are doing a great evil against our souls. ²⁰There was also a man that prophesied in the name of the Lord, Urias the son of Semei of Cariathiarim: and he prophesied against this city, and against this land, according to all the words of Jeremias. ²¹And Joakim, and all his men in power, and his princes heard these words: and the king sought to put him to death. And Urias heard it, and was afraid, and fled and went into Egypt. ²²And king Joakim sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achobor, and men with him into Egypt. ²³And they brought Urias out of Egypt: and brought him to king Joakim, and he slew him with the sword: and he cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. ²⁴So the hand of Ahicam the son of Saphan was with Jeremias, that he should not be delivered into the hands of the people, to put him to death.

Chapter 27

¹In the beginning of the reign of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, this word came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying: ²Thus saith the Lord to me: Make thee bands, and chains: and thou shalt put them on thy neck. ³And thou shalt send them to the of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon: by the hand of the messengers that are come to Jerusalem to Sedecias the king of Juda. ⁴And thou shalt command them to speak to their masters: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to your masters: ⁵I made the earth, and the men, and the beasts that are upon the face of the earth, by my great power, and by my stretched out arm: and I have given it to whom it seemed good in my eyes. ⁶And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon my servant: moreover also the beasts of the field I have given him to serve him. ⁷And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son: till the time come for his land and himself: and many nations and great kings shall serve him. ⁸But the nation and kingdom that will not serve Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and whosoever will not bend his neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon: I will visit upon that nation with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, saith the Lord: till I consume them by his hand. ⁹Therefore hearken not to your prophets, and diviners, and dreamers, and soothsayers, and sorcerers, that say to you: You shall not serve the king Babylon. ¹⁰For they prophesy lies to you: to remove you far from your country, and east you out, and to make you perish. ¹¹But the nation that shall bend down their neck under the yoke of the king Babylon, and shall serve him: Will let them remain in their own land, saith the Lord: and they shall till it, and dwell in it. ¹²And I spoke to Sedecias the king of Juda according to all these words, saying: Bend down your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, and his people, and you shall live. ¹³Why will you die, thou and thy people by the sword, and by famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? ¹⁴Hearken not to the words of the prophets that say to you: You shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they tell you a lie. ¹⁵For I have not sent them, saith the Lord: and they prophesy in my name falsely: to drive you out, and that you may perish, both you, and the prophets that prophesy to you. ¹⁶I spoke also to the priests, and to this people, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Hearken not to the words of your prophets, that prophesy to you, saying: Behold the vessels of the Lord shall now in a short time be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you. ¹⁷Therefore hearken not to them, but serve the king of Babylon, that you may live. Why should this city be given up to desolation? ¹⁸But if they be prophets, and the word of the Lord be in them: let them interpose themselves before the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which were left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Juda, and in Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon. ¹⁹For thus saith the Lord of hosts d to the pillars, and to the sea, and to the bases, and to the rest of the vessels that remain in this city: ²⁰Which Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the great men of Juda and Jerusalem. ²¹For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Juda and Jerusalem: ²²They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day of their visitation, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to be brought, and to be restored in this place.

Chapter 28

¹And it came to pass in that year, in the beginning of the reign of Sedecias king of Juda, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananias the son of Azur, a prophet of Gabaon spoke to me, in the house of the Lord before the priests, and all the people, saying: ²Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. ³As yet two years of days, and I will cause all the vessels of the house of the Lord to be brought back into this place, which Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon. ⁴And I will bring back to this place Jechonias the son of Joakim king of Juda, and all the captives of Juda, that are gone to Babylon, saith the Lord: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. ⁵And Jeremias the prophet said to Hananias the prophet in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the Lord: ⁶And Jeremias the prophet said: Amen, the Lord do so: the Lord perform thy words, which thou hast prophesied: that the vessels may be brought again into the house of the Lord, and all the captives may return out of Babylon to this place. ⁷Nevertheless hear this word that I speak in thy ears, and in the ears of all the people: ⁸The prophets that have been before me, and before thee from the beginning, and have prophesied concerning many countries, and concerning great kingdoms, of war, and of affliction, and of famine. ⁹The prophet that prophesied peace when his word shall come to pass, the prophet shall be known, whom the Lord hath sent in truth. ¹⁰And Hananias the prophet took the chain from the neck of Jeremias the prophet, and broke it. ¹¹And Hananias spoke in the presence of all the people, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Even so will I break the yoke of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon after two full years from off the neck of all the nations. ¹²And Jeremias the prophet went his way. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, after that Hananias the prophet had broken the chain from off the neck of Jeremias the prophet, saying: ¹³Go, and tell Hananias: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast broken chains of wood, and thou shalt make for them chains of iron. ¹⁴For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, to serve Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and they shall serve him: moreover also I have given him the beasts of the earth. ¹⁵And Jeremias the prophet said to Hananias the prophet: Hear now, Hananias: the Lord hath not sent thee, and thou hast made this people to trust in a lie. ¹⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will send thee away from off the face of the earth: this year shalt thou die: for thou hast spoken against the Lord. ¹⁷And Hananias the prophet died in that year, in the seventh month.

Chapter 29

¹Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremias, the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the ancients that were carried into captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nabuchodonosor had carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: ²After that Jechonias the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, and the princes of Juda, and of Jerusalem, and the craftsman, and the engravers were departed out of Jerusalem : ³By the hand of Elasa the son of Saphan, and Gamarias the son of Helcias, whom Sedecias king of Juda sent to Babylon to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, saying: ⁴Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵Build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant orchards, 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, and let them bear sons and daughters: and be ye multiplied there, and be not few in number. ⁷And seek the peace of the city, to which I have caused you to be carried away captives; and pray to the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall be your peace. ⁸For thus saith the Lord of hoses the God of Israel: Let not your prophets that are in the midst of you, and your diviners deceive you: and give no heed to your dreams which you dream: ⁹For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: and I have not sent them, saith the Lord. ¹⁰For thus saith the Lord: When the seventy years shall begin to be accomplished in Babylon, I will visit you: and I will perform my good word in your favour, to bring you again to this place. ¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of affliction, to give you an end and patience. ¹²And you shall call upon me, and you shall go: and you shall pray to me, and I will hear you. ¹³You shall seek me, and shall And me: when you shall seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴And I will be found by you, saith the Lord: and I will bring back your captivity, and I will gather you out of all nations, and from all the places to which I have driven you out, saith the Lord: and I will bring you back from the place to which I caused you to be carried away captive. ¹⁵Because you have said: The Lord hath raised us up prophets in Babylon: ¹⁶For thus saith the Lord to the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and to all the people that dwell in this city, to your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity. ¹⁷Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will send upon them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and I will make them like bad figs that cannot be eaten, because they are very bad. ¹⁸And I will persecute them with the sword, and with famine, and pith the pestilence: and I will give them up unto affliction to all the kingdoms of the earth: to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach to all the nations to which I have driven them out: ¹⁹Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord: which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising by night, and sending: and you have not heard, saith the Lord. ²⁰Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent out from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²¹Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to Achab the son of Colias, and to Sedecias the son of Maasias, who prophesy unto you in my name falsely: Behold I will deliver them up into the hands of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon: and he shall kill them before your eyes. ²²And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Juda, that are in Babylon, saying: The Lord make thee like Sedecias, and like Achab, whom the king of Babylon fried in the fire : ²³Because they have acted folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with the wives of their friends, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I commanded them not: I am the judge and the witness, saith the Lord. ²⁴And to Semeias the Nehelamite thou shalt say: ²⁵Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Because thou hast sent letters in thy name to all the people that are in Jerusalem, and to Sophonias the son of Maasias the priest, and to all the priests, saying: ²⁶The Lord hath made thee priest instead of Joiada the priest, that thou shouldst be ruler in the house of the Lord, over every man that raveth and prophesieth, to put him in the stocks, and into prison. ²⁷And now why hast thou not rebuked Jeremias the Anathothite, who prophesieth to you? ²⁸For he hath also sent to us in Babylon, saying: It is a long time: build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant gardens, and eat the fruits of them. ²⁹So Sophonias the priest read this letter, in the hearing of Jeremias the prophet. ³⁰And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying: ³¹Send to all them of the captivity, saying: Thus saith the Lord to Semeias the Nehelamite: Because Semeias hath prophesied to you, and I sent him not: and hath caused you to trust in a lie : ³²Therefore thus saith the Lord: behold I will visit upon Semeias the Nehelamite, and upon his seed: he shall not have a man to sit in the midst of this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, saith the Lord: because he hath spoken treason against the Lord.

Chapter 30

¹This is the word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying: ²Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, saying: Write thee all the words that I have spoken to thee, in a book. ³For behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Juda, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land which I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. ⁴And these are the words that the Lord hath spoken to Israel and to Juda: ⁵For thus saith the Lord: We have heard a voice of terror : there is fear and no peace. ⁶Ask ye, and see if a man bear children ? why then have I seen every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labour, and all faces are turned yellow? ⁷Alas, for that day is great, neither is there the like to it; and it Is the time of tribulation to Jacob, but he shall be saved out of it. ⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst his bands: and strangers shall no more rule over him: ⁹But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them. ¹⁰Therefore fear thou not, my servant Jacob, saith the Lord, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for behold, I will save thee from a country afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity: and Jacob shall return, and be at rest, and abound with all good things, and there shall be none whom he may fear: ¹¹For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: for I will utterly consume all the nations, among which I have scattered thee: but I will not utterly consume thee: but I will chastise thee in judgment, that thou mayst not seem to thyself innocent. ¹²For thus saith the Lord: Thy bruise is incurable, thy wound is very grievous. ¹³There is none to judge thy judgment to bind it up : thou hast no healing medicines. ¹⁴All thy lovers have forgotten thee, and will not seek after thee: for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with a cruel chastisement: by reason of the multitude of thy iniquities, thy sins are hardened. ¹⁵Why criest thou for thy affliction? thy sorrow is incurable: for the multitude of thy iniquity, and for thy hardened sins I have done these things to thee. ¹⁶Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured: and all thy enemies shall be carried into captivity : and they that waste thee shall be wasted, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey. ¹⁷For I will close up thy scar, and will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord. Because they have called thee, O Sion, an outcast: This is she that hath none to seek after her. ¹⁸Thus saith the Lord: Behold I bring back the captivity of the pavilions of Jacob, and will have pity on his houses, and the city shall be built in her place, and the temple shall be found according to the order thereof. ¹⁹And out of them shall come forth praise, and the voice of them that play: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be made few : and I will glorify them, and they shall not be lessened. ²⁰And their children shall be as from the beginning, and their assembly be permanent before me : and I will against all that afflict them. ²¹And their leader shall be of themselves: and their prince shall come forth from the midst of them : and I will bring him near, and he shall come to me: for who is this that setteth his heart to approach to me, saith the Lord? ²²And you shall be my people: and I will be your God. ²³Behold the whirlwind of the Lord, his fury going forth, a violent storm, it shall rest upon the head of the wicked. ²⁴The Lord will not turn away the wrath of his indignation, till he have executed and performed the thought o his heart: in the latter days you shall understand these things.

Chapter 31

¹At that time, saith the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of and they shall be my people. ²Thus saith the Lord: The people were left and escaped from the sword, found grace in the desert: Israel shall to his rest. ³The Lord hath appeared from afar to me. Yea I have loved thee with everlasting love, therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee. ⁴And I will build thee again, and thou shalt be built, virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy timbrels, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry. ⁵Thou shalt yet plant vineyards in the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and they shall not gather the vintage before the time. ⁶For there shall be a day, in which the watchmen on mount Ephraim, shall cry: Arise, and let us go up to Sion to the Lord our God. ⁷For thus saith the Lord: Rejoice ye in the joy of Jacob, and neigh before the head of the Gentiles: shout ye, and sing, and say: Save, O Lord, thy people, the remnant of Israel. ⁸Behold I will bring them from the north country, and will gather them from the ends of the earth: and among them shall be the blind, and the lame, the woman with child, and she that is bringing forth, together, a great company of them returning hither. ⁹They shall come with weeping: and I will bring them back in mercy: and I will bring them through the torrents of waters in a right way, and they shall not stumble in it: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. ¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the islands that are afar off, and say: He that scattered Israel will gather him: and he will keep him as the shepherd doth his flock. ¹¹For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and delivered him out of the hand of one that was mightier than he. ¹²And they shall come, and shall give praise in mount Sion: and they shall flow together to the good things of the Lord, for the corn, and wine, and oil, and the increase of cattle and herds, and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall be hungry no more. ¹³Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, the young men and old men together: and I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them joyful after their sorrow. ¹⁴And I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness: and my people shall be filled with my good things, saith the Lord. ¹⁵Thus saith the Lord: A voice was heard on high of lamentation, of mourning, and weeping, of Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted for them, because they are not. ¹⁶Thus saith the Lord: Let thy voice cease from weeping, and thy eyes from tears: for there is a reward for thy work, saith the Lord: and they shall return out of the land of the enemy. ¹⁷And here is hope for thy last end, saith the Lord: and the children shall return to their own borders. ¹⁸Hearing I heard Ephraim when he went into captivity: thou hast chastised me, and I was instructed, as a young bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Convert me, and I shall be converted, for thou art the Lord my God. ¹⁹For after thou didst convert me, I did penance: and after thou didst shew unto me, I struck my thigh: I am confounded and ashamed, because I have borne the reproach of my youth. ²⁰Surely Ephraim is an honourable son to me, surely he is a tender child: for since I spoke of him, I will still remember him. Therefore are my bowels troubled for him: pitying I will pity him, saith the Lord. ²¹Set thee up a watchtower, make to thee bitterness: direct thy heart into the right way, wherein thou hast walked: return, O virgin of Israel, return to these thy cities. ²²How long wilt thou be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: A WOMAN SHALL COMPASS A MAN. ²³Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As yet shall they say this word in the land of Juda, and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring back their captivity: The Lord bless thee, the beauty of justice, the holy mountain. ²⁴And Juda and all his cities shall dwell therein together: the husbandmen and they that drive the docks. ²⁵For I have inebriated the weary soul: and I have filled every hungry soul. ²⁶Upon this I was as it were awaked out of a sleep, and I saw, and my sleep was sweet to me. ²⁷Behold the days come, saith the Lord: and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Juda with the seed of men, and with the seed of beasts. ²⁸And as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to throw down, and to scatter, and destroy, and afflict: so will I watch over them, to build up, and to plant them, saith the Lord. ²⁹In those days they shall say no more: The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the teeth of the children are set on edge. ³⁰But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that shall eat the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. ³¹Behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda: ³²Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt: the covenant which they made void, and I had dominion over them, saith the Lord. ³³But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my law in their bowels, and I will write it in their heart: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying: Know the Lord: for all shall know me from the least of them even to the greatest, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. ³⁵Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for the light of the day, the order of the moon and of the stars, for the light of the night: who stirreth up the sea, and the waves thereof roar, the Lord of hosts is his name. ³⁶If these ordinances shall fail before me, saith the Lord: then also the seed of Israel shall fail, so as not to be a nation before me for ever. ³⁷Thus saith the Lord: If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I also will cast away all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the Lord. ³⁸Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hanameel even to the gate of the corner. ³⁹And the measuring line shall go out farther in his sight upon the hill Gareb: and it shall compass Goatha, ⁴⁰And the whole valley of dead bodies and of ashes, and all the country of death, even to the torrent Cedron, and the corner of the horse gate towards the east, the Holy of the Lord: it shall not be plucked up, and it shall not be destroyed any more for ever.

Chapter 32

¹The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord in the tenth year of Sedecias king of Juda: the same is eighteenth year of Nabuchodonosor. ²At that time the army of the king o Babylon besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremias the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the house of the king of Juda. ³For Sedecias king of Juda had shut him up, saying: Why dost thou prophesy, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it? ⁴And Sedecias king of Juda shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans: but he shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon: and he shall speak to him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall see his eyes. ⁵And he shall lead Sedecias to Babylon: and he shall be there till I visit him, saith the Lord. But if you will fight against the Chaldeans, you shall have no success. ⁶And Jeremias said: The word of the Lord came to me, saying: ⁷Behold, Hanameel the son of Sellum thy cousin shall come to thee, saying: Buy thee my field, which is in Anathoth, for it is thy right to buy it, being akin. ⁸And Hanameel my uncle's son came to me, according to the word of the Lord, to the entry of the prison, and said to me: Buy my field, which is in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and thou art next of kin to possess it. And I understood that this was the word of the Lord. ⁹And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that is in Anathoth: and I weighed him the money, seven staters, and ten pieces of silver. ¹⁰And I wrote it in a book and sealed it, and took witnesses: and I weighed him the money in the balances. ¹¹And I took the deed of the purchase that was sealed, and the stipulations, and the ratifications with the seals that were on the outside. ¹²And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neri the son of Maasias in the sight of Hanameel my uncle's son, in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, and before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison. ¹³And I charged Baruch before them, saying: ¹⁴Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Take these writings, this deed of the purchase that is sealed up, and this deed that is open: and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days. ¹⁵For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Houses, and fields, and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land. ¹⁶And after I had delivered the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neri, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁷Alas, alas, alas, Lord God, behold thou hast made heaven and earth by thy great power, and thy stretched out arm: no word shall be hard to thee: ¹⁸Thou shewest mercy unto thousands, and returnest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: O most mighty, great, and powerful, the Lord of hosts is thy name. ¹⁹Great in counsel and incomprehensible in thought: whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the children of Adam, to render unto every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his devices. ²⁰Who hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt even until this day, and in Israel, and amongst men, and hast made thee a name as at this day. ²¹And hast brought forth thy people Israel, out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm, and with great terror. ²²And best given them this land which thou didst swear 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, and they walked not in thy law: and they did not any of those things that thou didst command them to do, and all these evils are come upon them. ²⁴Behold works are built up against the city to take it: and the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans, who fight against it, by the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken, is all come to pass, as thou thyself seest. ²⁵And sayest thou to me, O Lord God: Buy a field for money, and take witnesses, whereas the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans? ²⁶And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying: ²⁷Behold I am the Lord the God of all flesh: shall any thing be hard for me? ²⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver this city into the hands of the Chaldeans, and into the hands of the king of Babylon, and they shall take it. ²⁹And the Chaldeans that fight against this city, shall come and set it on fire, and burn it, with the houses upon whose roofs they offered sacrifice to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to strange gods, to provoke me to wrath. ³⁰For the children of Israel, and the children of Juda, have continually done evil in my eyes from their youth: the children of Israel who even till now provoke me with the work of their hands, saith the Lord. ³¹For this city hath been to me a provocation and indignation from the day that they built it, until this day, in which it shall be taken out of my sight. ³²Because of all the evil of the children of Israel, and of the children of Juda, which they have done, provoking me to wrath, they and their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³And they have turned their backs to me, and not their faces: when I taught them early in the morning, and instructed them, and they would not hearken to receive instruction. ³⁴And they have set their idols in the house, in which my name is called upon, to defile it. ³⁵And they have built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Ennom, to consecrate their sons and their daughters to Moloch: which I commanded them not, neither entered it into my heart, that they should do this abomination, and cause Juda to sin. ³⁶And now, therefore, thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to this city, whereof you say that it shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence : ³⁷Behold I will gather them together out of all the lands to which I have cast them out in my anger, and in my wrath, and in my great indignation: and I will bring them again into this place, and will cause them to dwell securely. 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 all days : and that it may be well with them, and with their children after them. ⁴⁰And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and will not cease to do them good: and I will give my fear in their heart, that they may not revolt from me. ⁴¹And I will rejoice over them, when I shall do them good: and I will plant them in this land in truth, with my whole heart, and with all my soul. ⁴²For thus saith the Lord: As I have brought upon this people all this great evil: so will I bring upon them all the good that I now speak to them. ⁴³And fields shall be purchased in this land: whereof you say that it is desolate, because there remaineth neither man nor beast, and it is given into the hands of the Chaldeans. ⁴⁴Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be written, and sealed, and witnesses shall be taken, in the land of Benjamin, and round about Jerusalem, in the cities of Juda, and in the cities on the mountains, and in the cities of the plains, and in the cities that are towards the south: for I will bring their captivity, saith the Lord.

Chapter 33

¹And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying: ²Thus saith the Lord, who will do, and will form it, and prepare it, the Lord is his name. ³Cry to me and I will hear thee: and I will shew thee great things, and sure things which thou knowest not. ⁴For thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to the houses of this city, and to the houses of the king of Juda, which rue destroyed, and to the bulwarks, and to the sword. ⁵Of them that come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of the men whom I have slain in my wrath, and in my indignation, hiding my face from this city because of all their wickedness. ⁶Behold I will close their wounds and give them health, and I will cure them: and I will reveal to them the prayer of peace and truth. ⁷And I will bring back the captivity of Juda, and the captivity of Jerusalem: and I will build them as from the beginning. ⁸And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me: and I will forgive all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned against me, and despised me. ⁹And it shall be to me a name, and a joy, and a praise, and a gladness before all the nations of the earth, that shall hear of all the good things which I will do to them: and they shall fear and be troubled for all the good things, and for all the peace that I will make for them. ¹⁰Thus saith the Lord: There shall be heard again in this place (which you say is desolate, because there is neither man nor beast: in the cities of Juda, and without Jerusalem, which 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 them that shall say: Give ye glory to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring their vows into the house of the Lord: for I will bring back the captivity of the land as at the first, saith the Lord. ¹²Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall be again in this place that is desolate without man, and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. ¹³And in the cities on the mountains, and in the cities of the plains, and in the cities that are towards the south: and in the land of Benjamin, and round about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Juda shall the flocks pass again under the hand of him that numbereth them, saith the Lord. ¹⁴Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform the good word that I have spoken to the house of Israel, and to the house of Juda. ¹⁵In those days, and at that time, I will make the bud of justice to spring forth unto David, and he shall do judgment and justice in the earth. ¹⁶In those days shall Juda be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell securely: and this is the name that they shall call him, The Lord our just one. ¹⁷For thus saith the Lord: There shall not be cut off from David a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel. ¹⁸Neither shall there be cut off from the priests and Levites a man before my face to offer holocausts, and to burn sacrifices, and to kill victims continually: ¹⁹And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying: ²⁰Thus saith the Lord: If my covenant with the day can be made void, and my covenant with the night, that there should not be day and night in their season: ²¹Also my covenant with David my servant may be made void, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne, and with the Levites and priests my ministers. ²²As the stars of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea be measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites my ministers. ²³And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying: ²⁴Hast thou not seen what this people hath spoken, saying: The two families which the Lord had chosen, are cast off: and they have despised my people, so that it is no more a nation before them? ²⁵Thus saith the Lord: If I have not set my covenant between day and night, and laws to heaven and earth: ²⁶Surely I will also cast; off the seed of Jacob, and of David my servant, so as not to take any of his seed to be rulers of the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will bring back their captivity, and will have mercy on them.

Chapter 34

¹The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, (when Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth, that were under the power of his hand, and all the people fought against Jerusalem and against all the cities thereof,) saying: ²Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Go, and speak to Sedecias king of Juda, and say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. ³And thou shalt not escape out of his hand: but thou shalt surely be taken, and thou shalt be delivered into his hand: and thy eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth shall speak with thy mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon. ⁴Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Sedecias king of Juda: Thus saith the Lord to thee: Thou shalt not die by the sword. ⁵But thou shalt die in peace, and according to the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings that were before thee, so shall they burn thee: and they shall mourn for thee, saying: Alas, Lord: for I have spoken the word, saith the Lord. ⁶And Jeremias the prophet spoke all these words to Sedecias the king of Juda in Jerusalem. ⁷And the army of the king of Babylon fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Juda that were left, against Lachis, and against Azecha: for these remained of the cities of Juda, fenced cities. ⁸The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, after that king Sedecias had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem making a proclamation: ⁹That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, go free: and that they should not lord it over them, to wit, over the Jews their brethren. ¹⁰And all the princes, and all the people who entered into the covenant, heard that every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant go free, and should no more have dominion over them: and they obeyed, and let them go free. ¹¹But afterwards they turned: and brought back again their servants and their handmaids, whom they had let go free, and brought them into subjection as menservants and maidservants. ¹²And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying: ¹³Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying: ¹⁴At the end of seven years, let ye go every man his brother being a Hebrew, who hath been sold to thee, so he shall serve thee six years: and thou shalt let him go free from thee: and your fathers did not hearken to me, nor did they incline their ear. ¹⁵And you turned to day, and did that which was right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother: and you made a covenant in my sight, in the house upon which my name is invocated. ¹⁶And you are fallen back, and have defiled my name: and you have brought back again every man his manservant, and every man his maidservant, whom you had let go free, and set at liberty: and you have brought them into subjection to be your servants and handmaids. ¹⁷Therefore thus saith the Lord: You have not hearkened to me, in proclaiming liberty every man to his brother and every man to his friend: behold I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine: and I will cause you to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, and have not performed the words of the covenant which they agreed to in my presence, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts thereof: ¹⁹The princes of Juda, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land that passed between the parts of the calf: ²⁰And I will give them into the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of them that seek their life : and their dead bodies shall be for meat to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth. ²¹And Sedecias the king of Juda, and his princes, I will give into the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of them that seek their lives, and into the hands of the armies of the king of Babylon, which are gone from you. ²²Behold I will command, saith the Lord, and I will bring them again to this city, and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Juda a desolation, without an inhabitant.

Chapter 35

¹The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord in the days of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, saying: ²Go to the house of the Rechabites: and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers of the treasures, and thou shalt give them wine to drink. ³And I took Jezonias the son of Jeremias the son of Habsanias, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites. ⁴And I brought them into the house of the Lord, to the treasure house of the sons of Hanan, the son of Jegedelias the man of God, which was by the treasure house of the princes, above the treasure of Maasias the son of Sellum, who was keeper of the entry. ⁵And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups: and I said to them: Drink ye wine. ⁶And they answered : We will not drink wine: because Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying: You shall drink no wine, neither you, nor your children, for ever: ⁷Neither shall ye build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyards, nor have any: but you shall dwell in tents all your days, that you may live many days upon the face of the earth, in which you are strangers. ⁸Therefore we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all things that he commanded us: so as to drink no wine all our days: neither we, nor our wives, nor our sons, nor our daughters: ⁹Nor to build houses to dwell in, nor to have vineyard, or field, or seed: ¹⁰But we have dwelt in tents, and have been obedient according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹But when Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came up to our land, we said: Come, let us go into Jerusalem from the face of the army of the Chaldeans, and from the face of the army of Syria: and we have remained in Jerusalem. ¹²And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying: ¹³Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Go, and say to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Will you not receive instruction, to obey my words, saith the Lord ? ¹⁴The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, by which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, have prevailed: and they have drunk none to this day, because they have obeyed the commandment of their father: but I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, and you have not obeyed me. ¹⁵And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and sending and saying: Return ye every man from his wicked way, and make your ways good: and follow not strange gods, nor worship them, and you shall dwell in the land, which I gave you and your fathers: and you have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened to me. ¹⁶So the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have constantly kept the commandment of their father, which he commanded them: but this people hath not obeyed me. ¹⁷Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will bring upon Juda, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them, and they have not heard: I have called to them, and they have not answered me. ¹⁸And Jeremias said to the house of the Rechabites: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the Cod of Israel: Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and have kept all his precepts, and have done all that he commanded you: ¹⁹Therefore thus saith the Lord of host the God of Israel: There shall not be wanting a man of the race of Jonadab the son of Rechab, standing before me for ever.

Chapter 36

¹And it came to pass in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, that this word came to Jeremias by the Lord, saying: ²Take thee a roll of a book, and thou shalt write in it all the words that I have spoken to thee against Israel and Juda, and against all the nations from the day that I spoke to thee, from the days of Josias even to this day. ³If so be, when the house of Juda shall hear all the evils that I purpose to do unto them, that they may return every man from his wicked way: and I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin. ⁴So Jeremias called Baruch the son of Nerias: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremias all the words of the Lord, which he spoke to him, upon the roll of a book. ⁵And Jeremias commanded Baruch, saying: I am shut up, and cannot go into the house of the Lord. ⁶Go thou in therefore, and read out of the volume, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the Lord, in the hearing of all the people in the house of the Lord on the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the hearing of all Juda that come out of their cities: ⁷If so be they may present their supplication before the Lord, and may return every one from his wicked way: for great is the wrath and indignation which the Lord hath pronounced against this people. ⁸And Baruch the son of Nerias did according to all that Jeremias the prophet had commanded him, reading out of the volume the words of the Lord in the house of the Lord. ⁹And it came to pass in the fifth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that were come together out of the cities of Juda to Jerusalem. ¹⁰And Baruch read out of the volume the words of Jeremias in the house of the Lord, in the treasury of Gamarias the son of Saphan the scribe, in the upper court, in the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord, in the hearing of all the people. ¹¹And when Micheas the son of Gamarias the son of Saphan had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord, ¹²He went down into the king's house to the secretary's chamber: and behold all the princes sat there, Elisama the scribe, and Dalaias the son of Semeias, and Elnathan the son of Achobor, and Gamarias the son of Saphan, and Sedecias the son of Hananias, and all the princes. ¹³And Micheas told them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read out of the volume in the hearing of the people. ¹⁴Therefore all the princes sent Judi the son of Nathanias, the son of Selemias, the son of Chusi, to Baruch, saying: Take in thy hand the volume in which thou hast read in the hearing of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Nerias took the volume in his hand, and came to them. ¹⁵And they said to him: Sit down and read these things in our hearing. And Baruch read in their hearing. ¹⁶And when they had heard all the words, they looked upon one another with astonishment, and they said to Baruch: We must tell the king all these words. ¹⁷And they asked him, saying: Tell us how didst thou write all these words from his mouth. ¹⁸And Baruch said to them: With his mouth he pronounced all these words as if he were reading to me: and I wrote in a volume with ink. ¹⁹And the princes said to Baruch: Go, and hide thee, both thou and Jeremias, and let no man know where you are. ²⁰And they went in to the king into the court: but they laid up the volume in the chamber of Elisama the scribe: and they told all the words in the hearing of the king. ²¹And the king sent Judi that he should take the volume: who bringing it out of the chamber of Elisama the scribe, read it in the hearing of the king, and of all the princes that stood about the king. ²²Now the king sat in the winter house, In the ninth month: and there was a hearth before him full of burning coals. ²³And when Judi had read three or four pages, he cut it with the penknife, and he cast it into the Are, that was upon the hearth, till all the volume was consumed with the fire that was on the hearth. ²⁴And the king and all his servants that heard all these words were not afraid, nor did they rend their garments. ²⁵But yet Elnathan, and Dalaias, and Gamarias spoke to the king, not to burn. the book: and he heard them not. ²⁶And the king commanded Jeremiel the son of Amelech, and Saraias the son of Ezriel, and Selemias the son of Abdeel, to take up Baruch the scribe, and Jeremias the prophet: but the Lord hid them. ²⁷And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, after that the king had burnt the volume, and the words that Baruch had written from the mouth of Jeremias, saying: ²⁸Take thee again another volume: and write in it all the former words that were in the first volume which Joakim the king of Juda hath burnt. ²⁹And thou shalt say to Joakim the king of Juda: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast burnt that volume, saying: Why hast thou written therein, and said: The king of Babylon shall come speedily, and shall lay waste this land: and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast? ³⁰Therefore thus saith the Lord against Joakim the king of Juda: He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day, and to the frost by night. ³¹And I will punish him, and his seed and his servants, for their iniquities, and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Juda all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they have not heard. ³²And Jeremias took another volume, and gave it to Baruch the son of Nerias the scribe: who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremias all the words of the book which Joakim the king of Juda had burnt with fire: and there were added besides many more words than had been before.

Chapter 37

¹Now king Sedecias the son of Josias reigned instead of Jechonias the son of Joakim: whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon made king in the land of Juda. ²But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land did obey the words of the Lord, that he spoke in the hand of Jeremias the prophet. ³And king Sedecias sent Juchal the son of Selemias, and Sophonias the son of Maasias the priest to Jeremias the prophet, saying: Pray to the Lord our God for us. ⁴Now Jeremias walked freely in the midst of the people r for they had not as yet cast him into prison. And the army of Pharao was come out of Egypt: and the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem, hearing these tidings, departed from Jerusalem. ⁵And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, saying: ⁶Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Juda, who sent you to inquire of me: Behold the army of Pharao, which is come forth to help you, shall return into their own land, into Egypt. ⁷And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire. ⁸Thus saith the Lord: Deceive not your souls, saying: The Chaldeans shall surely depart and go away from us: for they shall not go away; ⁹But if you should even beat al: the army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there should be left of them some wounded men: they shall rise up, every man from his tent, and burn this city with Are. ¹⁰Now when the army of the Chaldeans was gone away from Jerusalem, because of Pharao's army, ¹¹Jeremias went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin: and to divide a possession there in the presence of the citizens. ¹²And when he was come to the gate of Benjamin, the captain of the gate, who I was there in his turn, was one named Jerias, the son of Selemias, the son of Hananias: and he took hold of Jeremias the prophet, saying: Thou art fleeing to the Chaldeans. ¹³And Jeremias answered: It is not so, I am not fleeing to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Jerias took Jeremias and brought him to the princes. ¹⁴Wherefore the princes were angry with Jeremias, and they beat him, and cast him into the prison that was in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for he was chief over the prison. ¹⁵So Jeremias went into the house of the prison, and into the dungeon: and Jeremias remained there many days. ¹⁶Then Sedecias the king, sending, took him: and asked him secretly in his house, and said: Is there, thinkest thou, any word from the Lord? And Jeremias said: There is. And he said: Thou shalt be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon. ¹⁷And Jeremias said to king Sedecias: In what have I offended against thee, or thy servants, or thy people, that thou hast cast me into prison? ¹⁸Where are your prophets that prophesied to you, and said: The king of Babylon shall not come against you, and against this land? ¹⁹Now therefore hear, I beseech thee, my lord the king: let my petition be accepted in thy sight: and send me not back into the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there. ²⁰Then king Sedecias commanded that Jeremias should be committed into the entry of the prison: and that they should give him daily a piece of bread, beside broth, till all the bread in the city were spent: and Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison.

Chapter 38

¹Now Saphatias the son of Mathan, and Gedelias the son of Phassur, and Juchal the son of Selemias, and Phassur the son of Melchias heard the words that Jeremias spoke to all the people, saying: ²Thus saith the Lord: Whosoever shell remain in this city, shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence : but he that shall go forth to the Chaldeans, shall live, and his life shall be safe, and he shall live. ³Thus saith the Lord: This city shall surely be delivered into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it. ⁴And the princes said to the king: We beseech thee that this man may be put to death: for on purpose he weakeneth the hands of the men of war, that remain in this city, and the hands of the people, speaking to them according to these words: for this man seeketh not peace to this people, but evil. ⁵And king Sedecias said: Behold he is in your hands: for it is not lawful for the king to deny you any thing. ⁶Then they took Jeremias and cast him into the dungeon of Melchias the son of Amelech, which was in the entry of the prison: and they let down Jeremias by ropes into the dungeon, wherein there was no water, but mire. And Jeremias sunk into the mire. ⁷Now Abdemelech the Ethiopian, an eunuch that was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremias in the dungeon: but the king was sitting in the gate of Benjamin. ⁸And Abdemelech went 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 against Jeremias the prophet, casting him into the dungeon to die there with hunger, for there is no more bread in the city. ¹⁰Then the king commanded Abdemelech the Ethiopian, saying: Take from hence thirty men with thee, end draw up Jeremias the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die. ¹¹So Abdemelech taking the men with him, went into the king's house that was under the storehouse: and he took from thence old rags, and old rotten things, and he let them down by cords to Jeremias into the dungeon. ¹²And Abdemelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremias: Put these old rags and these rent and rotten things under thy arms, and upon the cords: and Jeremias did so. ¹³And they drew up Jeremias with the cords, and brought him forth out of the dungeon. And Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison. ¹⁴And king Sedecias sent, and took Jeremias the prophet to him to the third gate, that was in the house of the Lord: and the king said to Jeremias: I will ask thee a thing, hide nothing from me. ¹⁵Then Jeremias said to Sedecias: If I shall declare it to thee, wilt thou not put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken to me. ¹⁶Then king Sedecias swore to Jeremias, in private, saying: As the Lord liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, nor will I deliver thee into the hands of these men that seek thy life. ¹⁷And Jeremias said to Sedecias: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: If thou wilt take a resolution and go out to the princes of the king of Babylon, thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burnt with fire: and thou shalt be safe, and thy house. ¹⁸But if thou wilt not go out to the princes of the king of Babylon, this city shall be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire: and thou shalt not escape out of their hands. ¹⁹And king Sedecias said to Jeremias: I am afraid because of the Jews that are fled over to the Chaldeans: lest I should be delivered into their hands, and they should abuse me. ²⁰But Jeremias answered: They shall not deliver thee: hearken, I beseech thee, to the word of the Lord, which I speak to thee, and it shall be well with thee, and thy soul shall live. ²¹But if thou wilt not go forth, this is the word which the Lord hath shewn me: ²²Behold all the women that are left in the house of the king of Juda, shall be brought out to the princes of the king of Babylon: and they shall say: Thy men of peace have deceived thee, and have prevailed against thee, they have plunged thy feet in the mire, and in a slippery place, and they have departed from thee. ²³And all thy wives, and thy children shall be brought out to the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape their hands, but thou shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and he shall burn this city with fire. ²⁴Then Sedecias said to Jeremias: Let no man know these words, and thou shalt not die. ²⁵But if the princes shall hear that I have spoken with thee, and shall come to thee, and say to thee: Tell us what thou hast said to the king, hide it not from us, and we will not kill thee: and also what the king said to thee: ²⁶Thou shalt say to them: I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not command me to be carried back into the house of Jonathan, to die there. ²⁷So all the princes came to Jeremias, and asked him: and he spoke to them according to all the words that the king had commanded him: and they left him: for nothing had been heard. ²⁸But Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison, until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and it came to pass that Jerusalem was taken.

Chapter 39

¹In the ninth year of Sedecias king of Juda, in the tenth month, came Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and all his army to Jerusalem, and they besieged it. ²And in the I eleventh year of Sedecias, in the fourth month, the fifth day of the month, the city was opened. ³And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate: Neregel, Sereser, Semegarnabu, Sarsachim, Rabsares, Neregel, Serezer, Rebmag, and all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon. ⁴And when Sedecias the king of Juda and all the men of war saw them, they fled: and they went forth in the night out of the city by the way of the king's garden, and by the gate that was between the two walls, and they went; out to the way of the desert. ⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them: and they took Sedecias in the plain of the desert of Jericho, and when they had taken him, they brought him to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon to Reblatha, which is in the land of Emath: and he gave judgment upon him. ⁶And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Sedecias, in Reblatha, before his eyes: and the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Juda. ⁷He also put out the eyes of Sedecias: and bound him with fetters, to be carried to Babylon. ⁸And the Chaldeans burnt the king's house, and the houses of the people with fire, and they threw down the wall of Jerusalem. ⁹And Nabuzardan the general of the army carried away captive to Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and the fugitives that had gone over to him, and the rest of the people that remained. ¹⁰But Nabuzardan the general left some of the poor people that had nothing at all, in the land of Juda, and he gave them vineyards, and cisterns at that time. ¹¹Now Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had given charge to Nabuzardan the general concerning Jeremias, saying: ¹²Take him, and set thy eyes upon him, and do him no harm: but as he hath a mind, so do with him. ¹³Therefore Nabuzardan the general sent, and Nabusezban, and Rabsares, and Neregel, and Sereser, and Rebmag, and all the nobles of the king of Babylon, ¹⁴Sent, and took Jeremias out of the court of the prison, and committed him to Codolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan, that he might go home, and dwell among the people. ¹⁵But the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, when he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying: Go, and tell Abdemelech the Ethiopian, saying: ¹⁶Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will bring my words upon this city unto evil, and not unto good: and they shall be accomplished in thy sight in that day. ¹⁷And I will deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord: and thou shalt not be given into the hands of the men whom thou fearest: ¹⁸But delivering, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword : but thy life shall be saved for thee, because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord.

Chapter 40

¹The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, after that Nabuzardan the general had let him go from Rama, when he had taken him, being bound with chains, among all them that were carried away from Jerusalem and Juda, and were carried to Babylon. ²And the general of the army taking Jeremias, said to him: The Lord thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place, ³And he hath brought it : and the Lord hath done as he hath said: because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not hearkened to his voice, and this word is come upon you. ⁴Now then behold I have loosed thee this day from the chains which were upon thy hands: if it please thee to come with me to Babylon, come : and I will set my eyes upon thee: but if it do not please thee to come with me to Babylon, stay here: behold all the land is before thee, as thou shalt choose, and whither it shall please thee to go, thither go. ⁵And come not with me: but dwell with Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the cities of Juda: dwell therefore with him in the midst of the people: or whithersoever it shall please thee to go, go. And the general of the army gave him victuals and presents, and let him go. ⁶And Jeremias went to Godolias the son of Ahicam to Masphath: and dwelt with him in the midst of the people that were left in the land. ⁷And when all the captains of the army that were scattered through the countries, they and their companions, had heard that the king of Babylon had made Godolias the son of Ahicam governor of the country, and that he had committed unto him men and women, and children, and of the poor of the land, them that had not been carried away captive to Babylon: ⁸They came to Godolias to Masphath: and Ismahel the son of Nathanias, and Johanan, and Jonathan, the sons of Caree, and Sareas the son of Thanehumeth, and the children of Ophi, that were of Netophathi, and Jezonias the son of Maachati, they and their men. ⁹And Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan swore to them and to their companions, saying: Fear not to serve the Chaldeass: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. ¹⁰Behold I dwell in Masphath, that I may answer the commandment of the Chaldeans that are sent to us: but as for you, gather ye the vintage, and the harvest, and the oil, and lay it up in your vessels, and abide in your cities which you hold. ¹¹Moreover all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the children of Ammon, and in Edom, and in all the countries, when they heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judea, and that he had made Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan ruler over them: ¹²All the Jews, I say, returned out of all the places to which they had fled, and they came into the land of Juda to Godolias to Masphath: and they gathered wine, and a very great harvest. ¹³Then Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the army, that had been scattered about in the countries, came to Godolias to Masphath. ¹⁴And they said to him: Know that Baalis the king of the children of Ammon hath sent Ismahel the son of Nathanias to kill thee. And Godolias the son of Ahicam believed them not. ¹⁵But Johanan the son of Caree, spoke to Oodolias privately in Masphath, saying: I will go, and I will kill Ismahel the son of Nathanias, and no man shall know it, lest he kill thee, and all the Jews be scattered, that are gathered unto thee, and the remnant of Juda perish. ¹⁶And Codolias the son of Ahicam said to Johanan the son of Cares: Do not this thing: for what thou sayst of Ismahel is false.

Chapter 41

¹And it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ismahel the son of Nathanias, the son of Elisama of the royal blood, and the nobles of the king, and ten men with him, came to Godolias the son of Ahicam into Masphath: and they ate bread there together in Masphath. ²And Ismahel the son of Nathanias arose, and the ten men that were with him, and they struck Godolias the son of Ahicam, the son of Saphan with the sword, and slew him whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. ³Ismahel slew also all the Jews that were with Godolias in Masphath, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the soldiers. ⁴And on the second day after he had killed Godolias, no man yet knowing it, ⁵There came some from Sichem, and from Silo, and from Samaria, fourscore men, with their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and mourning: and they had offerings and incense in their hand, to offer in the house of the Lord. ⁶And Ismahel the son of Nathanias went forth from Masphath to meet them, weeping all along as he went: and when he had met them, he said to them: Come to Godolias, the son of Ahicam. ⁷And when they were come to the midst of the city, Ismahel the son of Nathanias, slew them, and cast them into the midst of the pit, he and the men that were with him. ⁸But ten men were found among them, that said to Ismahel : Kill us not: for we have stores in the field, of wheat, and barley, and oil, and honey. And he forbore, and slew them not with their brethren. ⁹And the pit into which Ismahel cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he slew because of Godolias, is the same that king Asa made, for fear of Baasa the king of Israel: the same did Ismahel the son of Nathanias fill with them that were slain. ¹⁰Then Ismahel carried away captive all the remnant of the people that were in Masphath : the king's daughters, and all the people that remained in Masphath: whom Nabuzardan the general of the army had committed to Godolias the son of Ahicam. And Ismahel the son of Nathanias took them, and he departed, to go over to the children of Ammon. ¹¹But Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the fighting men that were with him, heard of the evil that Ismahel the son of Nathanias had done. ¹²And taking all the men, they went out to fight against Ismahel the son of Nathanias, and they found him by the great waters that are in Gabaon. ¹³And when all the people that were with Ismahel, had seen Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the fighting men that were with him, they rejoiced. ¹⁴And all the people whom Ismahel had taken, went back to Masphath: and they returned and went to Johanan the son of Caree. ¹⁵But Ismahel the son of Nathanias fled with eight men, from the face of Johanan, and went to the children of Ammon. ¹⁶Then Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the soldiers that were with him, took all the remnant of the people whom they had recovered from Ismahel the son of Nathanias, from Masphath, after that he had slain Godolias the son of Ahicam: valiant men for war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gabaon: ¹⁷And they departed, and sat as sojourners in Chamaam, which is near Bethlehem: in order to go forward, and enter into Egypt, ¹⁸From the face of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ismahel the son of Nathanias had slain Godolias the son of Ahicam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor in the land of Juda.

Chapter 42

¹Then all the captains of the warriors, and Johanan the son of Caree, and Jezonias the son of Osaias, and the rest of the people from the least to the greatest came near: ²And they said to Jeremias the prophet: Let our supplication fall before thee: and pray thou for us to the Lord thy God for all this remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as thy eyes do behold us. ³And let the Lord thy God shew us the way by which we may walk, and the thing that we must do. ⁴And Jeremias the prophet said to them: I have heard you: behold I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words: and whatsoever thing he shall answer me, I will declare it to you: and I will hide nothing from you. ⁵And they said to Jeremias: The Lord be witness between us of truth and faithfulness, if we do not according to every thing for which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us. ⁶Whether it be good or evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom me send thee: that it may be well with us when we shall hearken to the voice of the Lord our God. ⁷Now after ten days, the word of the Lord came to Jeremias. ⁸And he called Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the fighting men that were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest. ⁹And he said to them: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel, to whom you sent me, to present your supplications before him: ¹⁰If you will be quiet and remain in this land, I will build you up, and not pull you down: I will plane you, and not pluck you up: for now I am appeased for the evil that I have done to you. ¹¹Fear not because of the king of Babylon, of whom you are greatly afraid: fear him not, saith the Lord: for I am with you, to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. ¹²And I will shew mercies to you, and will take pity on you, and will cause you to dwell in your own land. ¹³But if you say: We will not dwell in this land, neither will we hearken to the voice of the Lord our 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 suffer hunger: and there we will dwell. ¹⁵For this now hear the word of the Lord, ye remnant of Juda: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to go into Egypt, and enter in to dwell there: ¹⁶The sword which you fear, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt: and the famine, whereof you are afraid, shall cleave to you in Egypt, and there you shall die. ¹⁷And all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt, to dwell there, shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence: none of them shall remain, nor escape from the face of the evil that I will bring upon them. ¹⁸For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger and my indignation hath been kindled against the inhabitants of Jerusalem: so shall my indignation be kindled against you, when you shall enter into Egypt, and you shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach: and you shall see this place no more. ¹⁹This is the word of the Lord concerning you, O ye remnant of Juda: Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have adjured you this day. ²⁰For you have deceived your own souls: for you sent me to the Lord our God, saying: Pray for us to the Lord our God, and according to all that the Lord our God shall say to thee, so declare unto us, and we will do it. ²¹And now I have declared it to you this day, and ;you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, with regard to all the things for which he hath sent me to you. ²²Now therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence in the place to which you desire to go to dwell there.

Chapter 43

¹And it came to pass, that when Jeremias had made an end of speaking to the people all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God had sent him to them, all these words: ²Azarias the son of Osaias, and Johanan the son of Caree, and all the proud men, made answer, saying to Jeremias: Thou tellest a lie: the Lord our God hath not sent thee, saying: Go not into Egypt, to dwell there. ³But Baruch the son of Nerias setteth thee on against us, to deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans, to kill us, and to cause us to be carried away captives to Babylon. ⁴So Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the soldiers, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the Lord, to remain in the land of Juda. ⁵But Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the soldiers took all the remnant of Juda, that were returned out of all nations, to which they had before been scattered, to dwell in the land of Juda: ⁶Men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every soul, which Nabuzardan the general had left with Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan, and Jeremias the prophet, and Baruch the son of Nerias. ⁷And they went Into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: and they came as far as Taphnis. ⁸And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias in Taphnis, saying: ⁹Take great stones in thy hand, and thou shalt hide them in the vault that is under the brick wall at the gate of Pharao's house in Taphnis: in the sight of the men of Juda. ¹⁰And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will send, and take Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon my servant: and I will set his throne over these stones which I have hid, and he shall set his throne over them. ¹¹And he shall come and strike 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 he shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them, and he shall carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment: and he shall go forth from thence in peace. ¹³And he shall break the statues of the house of the sun, that are in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.

Chapter 44

¹The word that came to Jeremias, concerning all the Jews that dwelt in the land of Egypt, dwelling in Magdal, and in Taphnis, and in Memphis, and in the land of Phatures, saying: ²Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: You have seen all this evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Juda: and behold they are desolate this day, and there is not an inhabitant in them: ³Because of the wickedness which they have committed, to provoke me to wrath, and to go and offer sacrifice, and worship other gods, which neither they, nor you, nor your fathers knew. ⁴And I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and sending, and saying: Do not commit this abominable thing, which I hate. ⁵But they heard not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their evil ways, and not to sacrifice to strange gods. ⁶Wherefore my indignation and my fury was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem: and they are turned to desolation and waste, as at this day. ⁷And now thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against your own souls, that there should die of you man and woman, child and suckling out of the midst of Juda, and no remnant should be left you: ⁸In that you provoke me to wrath with the works of your hands, by sacrificing to other gods in the land of Egypt, into which you are come to dwell there: and that you should perish, and be a curse, and a reproach to all the nations of the earth? ⁹Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, and the evils of the kings of Juda, and the evils of their wives, and your evils, and the evils of your wives, that they have done in the land of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁰They are not cleansed even to this day: neither have they feared, nor walked in the law of the Lord, nor in my commandments, which I set before you and your fathers. ¹¹Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will set my face upon you for evil: and I will destroy all Juda. ¹²And I will take the remnant of Juda that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt, and to dwell there: and they shall be all consumed in the land of Egypt: they shall fall by the sword, and by the famine: and they shall be consumed from the least even to the greatest, by the sword, and by the famine shall they die: and they shall be for an execration, and for a wonder, and for a curse, and for a reproach. ¹³And I will visit them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have visited Jerusalem by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence. ¹⁴And there shall be none that shall escape, and remain of the remnant of the Jews that are gone to sojourn in the land of Egypt: and that shall return into the land of Juda, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there: there shall none return but they that shall flee. ¹⁵Then all the men that knew that their wives sacrificed to other gods: and all the women of whom there stood by a great multitude, and all the people of them that dwelt in the land of Egypt in Phatures, answered Jeremias, saying: ¹⁶As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken to thee: ¹⁷But we will certainly do every word that shall proceed out of our own mouth, to sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we and our fathers have done, our kings, and our princes in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem: and we were filled with bread, and it was well with us, and we saw no evil. ¹⁸But since we left off to offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword, and by famine. ¹⁹And if we offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and pour out drink offerings to her: did we make cakes to worship her, to pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands? ²⁰And Jeremias spoke to all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying: ²¹Was it not the sacrifice that you offered in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and Sour fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, which the Lord hath remembered, and hath it not entered into his heart? ²²So that the Lord could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed: therefore your land is become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. ²³Because you have sacrificed to idols, and have sinned against the Lord: and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have not walked in his law, and in his commandments, and in his testimonies: therefore are these evils come upon you, as at this day. ²⁴And Jeremias said to all the people, and to all the women : Hear ye the word of the Lord, all Juda, you that dwell in the land of Egypt: ²⁵Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, saying: You and your wives have spoken with your mouth, and fulfilled with your hands, saying: Let us perform our vows which we have made, to offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her: you have fulfilled your vows, and have performed them indeed. ²⁶Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Juda, you that dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord: that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Juda, in the land of Egypt, saying: The Lord God liveth. ²⁷Behold I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Juda that are in the land of Egypt, shall be consumed, by the sword, and by famine, till there be an end of them. ²⁸And a few men that shall flee from the sword, shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Juda: and all the remnant of Juda that are gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose word shall stand, mine, or theirs. ²⁹And this shall be a sign to you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place: that you may know that my words shall be accomplished indeed against you for evil. ³⁰Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver Pharao Ephree king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life: as I delivered Sedecias king of Juda into the hand of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon his enemy, and that sought his life.

Chapter 45

¹The word that Jeremias the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Nerias, when he had written there words in a book, out of the mouth of Jeremias, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, saying: ²Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to thee, Baruch: ³Thou hast said: Woe is me, wretch that I am, for the Lord hath added sorrow to my sorrow: I am wearied with my groans, and I find no rest. ⁴Thus saith the Lord: Thus shalt thou say to him: Behold, them whom I have built, I do destroy: and them whom I have planted, I do pluck up, and all this land. ⁵And dost thou seek great things for thyself ? Seek not : for behold I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord ! but I will give thee thy life, and save thee in all places whithersoever thou shalt go.

Chapter 46

¹The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against the Gentiles, ²Against Egypt, against the army of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Charcamis, whom Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon defeated, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda. ³Prepare ye the shield and buckler, and go forth to battle. ⁴Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen: stand forth with helmets, furbish the spears, put on coats of mail. ⁵What then? I have seen them dismayed, and turning their backs, their valiant ones slain: they fled apace, and they looked not back: terror was round about, saith the Lord. ⁶Let not the swift flee away, nor the strong think to escape: they are overthrown, and fallen down, towards the north by the river Euphrates. ⁷Who is this that cometh up as a flood: and his streams swell like those of rivers ? ⁸Egypt riseth up like a hood, and the waves thereof shall be moved as rivers, and he shall say: I will go up and will cover the earth: I will destroy the city, and its inhabitants. ⁹Get ye up on horses, and glory in chariots, and let the valiant men come forth, the Ethiopians, and the Libyans that hold the shield, and the Lydians that take, and shoot arrows. ¹⁰For this is the day of the Lord the God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may revenge himself of his enemies: the sword shall devour, and shall be filled, and shall be drunk with their blood: for there is a sacrifice of the Lord God of hosts in the north country, by the river Euphrates. ¹¹Go up into Galaad, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou multiply medicines, there shall be no cure for thee. ¹²The nations have heard of thy disgrace, and thy howling hath filled the land: for the strong hath stumbled against the strong, and both are fallen together. ¹³The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremias the prophet, how Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt: ¹⁴Declare ye to Egypt, and publish it in Magdal, and let it be known in Memphis, and in Taphnis: say ye: Stand up, and prepare thyself: for the sword shall devour all round about thee. ¹⁵Why are thy valiant men come to nothing? they stood not: because the Lord hath overthrown them. ¹⁶He hath multiplied them that fall, and one hath fallen upon another, and they shall say: Arise, and let us return to our own people, and to the land our nativity, from the sword of the dove. ¹⁷Call ye the name of Pharao king Egypt, a tumult time hath brought. ¹⁸As I live, (saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts,) as Thabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come. ¹⁹Furnish thyself to go into captivity, thou daughter inhabitant of Egypt: for Memphis shall be made desolate, and shall be forsaken and uninhabited. ²⁰Egypt is like a fair and beautiful heifer: there shall come from the north one that shall goad her. ²¹Her hirelings also that lived in the midst of her, like fatted calves are turned back, and are fled away together, and they could not stand, for the day of their slaughter is come upon them, the time of their visitation. ²²Her voice shall sound like brass, for they shall hasten with an army, and with axes they shall come against her, as hewers of wood. ²³They have cut down her forest, saith the Lord, which cannot be counted: they are multiplied above locusts, and are without number. ²⁴The daughter of Egypt is confounded, and delivered into the hand of the people of the north. ²⁵The Lord of hosts the God of Israel hath said: Behold I will visit upon the tumult of Alexandria, and upon Pharao, and upon Egypt, and upon her gods, and upon her kings, and upon Pharao, upon them that trust in him. ²⁶And I will deliver them into the hand of them that seek their lives, into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord. ²⁷And thou my servant Jacob, fear not and be not thou dismayed, O Israel: for behold I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed out of the land of thy captivity: and Jacob shall return and be at rest, and prosper: and there shall be none to terrify him. ²⁸And thou, my servant Jacob, fear not, saith the Lord: because I am with thee, for I will consume all the nations to which I have cast thee out: but thee I will not consume, but I will correct thee in judgment, neither will I spare thee as if thou wert innocent.

Chapter 47

¹The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against the people of Palestine, before Pharao took Gaza. ²Thus saith the Lord: Behold there come up waters out of the north, and they shall be as an overflowing torrent, and they shall cover the land, and all that is therein, the city and the inhabitants thereof: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl, ³At the noise of the marching of arms, and of his soldiers, at the rushing of his chariots, and the multitude of his wheels. The fathers have not looked back to the children, for feebleness of hands, ⁴Because of the coming of the day, in which all the Philistines shall be laid waste, and Tyre and Sidon shall be destroyed, with all the rest of their helpers. For the Lord hath wasted the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Cappadocia. ⁵Baldness is come upon Gaza: Ascalon hath held her peace with the remnant of their valley: how long shalt thou cut thyself? ⁶O thou sword of the Lord, how long wilt thou not be quiet? Go into thy scabbard, rest, and be still. ⁷How shall it be quiet, when the Lord hath given it a charge against Ascalon, and against the countries thereof by the sea side, and there hath made an appointment for it?

Chapter 48

¹Against Moab thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Woe to Nabo, for it is laid waste, and confounded: Cariathaim is taken: the strong city is confounded and hath trembled. ²There is no more rejoicing in Moab over Hesebon: they have devised evil. Come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Therefore shalt thou in silence hold thy peace, and the sword shall follow thee. ³A voice of crying from Oronaim: waste, and great destruction. ⁴Moab is destroyed: proclaim a cry for her little ones. ⁵For by the ascent of Luith shall the mourner go up with weeping: for in the descent of Oronaim the enemies have heard a howling of destruction. ⁶Flee, save your lives: and be as heath in the wilderness. ⁷For because thou hast trusted in thy bulwarks, and in thy treasures, thou also shalt be taken: and Chamos shall go into captivity, his priests, and his princes together. ⁸And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: and the valleys shall perish, and the plains shall be destroyed, for the Lord hath spoken: ⁹Give a flower to Moab, for in its flower it shall go out: and the cities thereof shall be desolate, and uninhabited. ¹⁰Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully: and cursed be he that withholdeth his sword from blood. ¹¹Moab hath been fruitful from his youth, and hath rested upon his lees: and hath not been poured out from vessel to vessel, nor hath gone into captivity : therefore his taste hath remained in him, and his scent is not changed. ¹²Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send him men that shall order and overturn his bottles, and they shall cast him down, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles one against another. ¹³And Moab shall be ashamed of Chamos, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, in which they trusted. ¹⁴How do you say: We are valiant, and stout men in battle? ¹⁵Moab is laid waste, and they have cast down her cities: and her choice young men are gone down to the slaughter: saith the king, whose name is the Lord of hosts. ¹⁶The destruction of Moab is near to come: the calamity thereof shall come on exceeding swiftly. ¹⁷Comfort him, all you that are round about him, and all you that know his name, say: How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod? ¹⁸Come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst, O dwelling of the daughter of Dibon: because the spoiler of Moab is come up to thee, he hath destroyed thy bulwarks. ¹⁹Stand in the way, and look out, O habitation of Aroer: inquire of him that fleeth: and say to him that hath escaped: What Is done? ²⁰Moab is confounded, because he is overthrown: howl ye, and cry, tell ye it in Amen, that Moab is wasted. ²¹And judgment is come upon the plain country: upon Helon, and upon Jasa, and upon Mephaath. ²²And upon Dibon, and upon Nabo, and upon the house of Deblathaim, ²³And upon Cariathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmaon, ²⁴And upon Carioth, and upon Bosra: 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, saith the Lord. ²⁶Make him drunk, because he lifted up himself against the Lord: and Moab shall dash his hand in his own vomit, and he also shall be in derision. ²⁷For Israel hath been a derision unto thee: as though thou hadst found him amongst thieves: for thy words therefore, which thou hast spoken against him, thou shalt be led away captive. ²⁸Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, you that dwell in Moab: and be ye Iike the dove that maketh her nest in the mouth of the hole in the highest place. ²⁹We have heard the pride of Moab, he is exceeding proud: his haughtiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the loftiness of his heart. ³⁰I know, saith the Lord, his boasting, and that the strength thereof is not according to it, neither hath it endeavoured to do according as it was able. ³¹Therefore will I lament for Moab, and I will cry out to all Moab, for the men of the brick wall that mourn. ³²O vineyard of Sabama, I will weep for thee, with the mourning of Jazer: thy branches are gone over the sea, they are come even to the sea of Jazer: the robber hath rushed in upon thy harvest and thy vintage. ³³Joy and gladness is taken away from Carmel, and from the land of Moab, and I have taken away the wine out of the presses: the treader of the grapes shall not sing the accustomed cheerful tune. ³⁴From the cry of Hesebon even to Eleale, and to Jasa, they have uttered their voice: from Segor to Oronaim, as a heifer of three years old: the waters also of Nemrim shall be very bad. ³⁵And I will take away from Moab, saith the Lord, him that offereth in the high places, and that sacrificeth to his gods. ³⁶Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like pipes: and my heart a sound like pipes for the men of the brick wall: because he hath done more than he could, therefore they have perished. ³⁷For every head shall be bald, and every beard shall be shaven: all hands shall be tied together, and upon every back there shall be haircloth. ³⁸Upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof general mourning: because I have broken Moab as an useless vessel, saith the Lord. ³⁹How is it overthrown, and they have howled! How hath Moab bowed down the neck, and is confounded ! And Moab shall be a derision, and an example to all round about him. ⁴⁰Thus saith the Lord: Behold he shall fly as an eagle, and shall stretch forth his wings to Moab. ⁴¹Carioth is taken, and the strong holds are won: and the heart of the valiant men of Moab in that day shall be as the heart of a woman in labour. ⁴²And Moab shall cease to be a people : because he hath gloried against the Lord. ⁴³Fear, and the pit, and the snare come upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the Lord. ⁴⁴He that shall flee from the fear, shall fall into the pit: and he that shall get up out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon Moab the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. ⁴⁵They that fled from the snare stood in the shadow of Hesebon: but there came a fire out of Kesebon, and a flame out of the midst of Seen, and it shall devour part of Moab. and the crown of the head of the children of tumult. ⁴⁶Woe to thee, Moab, thou hast perished, O people of Chamos: for thy sons, and thy daughters are taken captives. ⁴⁷And I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the last days, saith the Lord. Hitherto the judgments of Moab.

Chapter 49

¹Against the children of Ammon. Thus saith the Lord: Hath Israel no sons? or hath he no heir? Why then hath Melchom inherited Gad: and his people dwelt in his cities ? ²Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will cause the noise of war to be heard in Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and it shall be destroyed into a heap, and her daughters shall be burnt with fire, and Israel shall possess them that have possessed him, saith the Lord. ³Howl, O Hesebon, for Hai is wasted. Cry, ye daughters of Rabbath, gird yourselves with haircloth: mourn and go about by the hedges: for Melchom shall be carried into captivity, his priests, and his princes together. ⁴Why gloriest thou in the valleys? thy valley hath flowed away, O delicate daughter, that hast trusted in thy treasures, and hast said: Who shall come to me? ⁵Behold I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all that are round about thee: and you shall be scattered every one out of one another's sight, neither shall there be any to gather together them that flee. ⁶And afterwards I will cause the captives of the children of Ammon to return, saith the Lord. ⁷Against Edom. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Is wisdom no more in Theman? counsel is perished from her children: their wisdom is become unprofitable. ⁸Flee and turn your backs, go down into the deep hole, ye inhabitants of Dedan: for I have brought the destruction of Esau upon him, the time of his visitation. ⁹If grapegatherers had come to thee, would they not have left a bunch? if thieves in the night, they would have taken what was enough for them. ¹⁰But I have made Esau bare, I have revealed his secrets, and he cannot be hid: his seed is laid waste, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he shall not be. ¹¹Leave thy fatherless children: I will make them live: and thy widows shall hope in me. ¹²For thus saith the Lord: Behold they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup, shall certainly drink: and shalt thou come off as innocent? thou shalt not come off as innocent, but drinking thou shalt drink. ¹³For I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Bosra shall become a desolation, and a reproach, and a desert, and a curse: and all her cities shall be everlasting wastes. ¹⁴I have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent to the nations: Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and let us rise up to battle. ¹⁵For behold I have made thee a little one among the nations, despicable among men. ¹⁶Thy arrogancy hath deceived thee, and the pride of thy heart: O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, and endeavourest to lay hold on the height of the hill : but though thou shouldst make thy nest as high as an eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord. ¹⁷And Edom shall be desolate: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all its plagues. ¹⁸As Sodom was overthrown and Gomorrha, and the neighbours thereof, saith the Lord: there shall not a man dwell there, and there shall no son of man inhabit it. ¹⁹Behold one shall come up as a lion from the swelling of the Jordan, against the strong and beautiful: for I will make him run suddenly upon her: and who shall be the chosen one whom I may appoint over her? for who is like to m? and who shall abide me? and who is that shepherd that can withstand my countenance? ²⁰Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he hath taken concerning Edom: and his thoughts which he hath thought concerning the inhabitants of Theman: surely the little ones of the flock shall cast them down, of a truth they shall destroy them with their habitation. ²¹The earth is moved at the noise of their fall: the cry of their voice is heard in the Red Sea. ²²Behold he shall come up as an eagle, and fly: and he shall spread his wings over Bosra: and in that day the heart of the valiant ones of Edom shall be as the heart of a woman in labour. ²³Against Damascus. Emath is confounded and Arphad: for they have heard very bad tidings, they are troubled as in the sea: through care they could not rest. ²⁴Damascus is undone, she is put to flight, trembling hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her as a woman in labour. ²⁵How have they forsaken the city of renown, the city of joy ! ²⁶Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets: and all the men of war shall be silent in that day, saith the Lord of hosts. ²⁷And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, rind it shall devour the strong holds of Benadad. ²⁸Against Cedar and against the kingdoms of Asor, which Nabuchodonouor king of Babylon destroyed. Thus saith the Lord: Arise, and go ye up to Cedar, and waste the children of the east. ²⁹They shall take their tents, and their flocks: and shall carry off for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels: and they shall call fear upon them round about. ³⁰Flee ye, get away speedily, sit in deep holes, you that inhabit Asur, saith the Lord: for Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived designs against you. ³¹Arise, and so up to a nation that is at ease, and that dwelleth securely, saith the Lord: they have neither gates, nor bars: they dwell alone. ³²And their camels shall be for a spoil, and the multitude of their cattle for a booty, and I will scatter into every wind them that have their hair cut round, and I will bring destruction upon them from I all their confines, saith the Lord. ³³And Asor shall be a habitation for dragons, desolate for ever: no man shall abide there, nor son of man inhabit it. ³⁴The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Sedecias king of Juda, saying: ³⁵Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will break the bow of Elam, and their chief strength. ³⁶And I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the fear quarters of heaven: and I will scatter them into all these winds: and there shall be no nation, to which the fugitives of Elam shall not come. ³⁷And I will cause Elam to be afraid before their enemies, and in the sight of them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, my fierce wrath, saith the Lord : and will send the sword after them, till I consume them. ³⁸And I will set my throne in Elam, and destroy kings and princes from thence, saith the Lord. ³⁹But in the latter days I will cause the captives of Elam, to return, saith the Lord.

Chapter 50

¹The word that the Lord hath spoken against Babylon, and against the land of the Chaldeans in the hand of Jeremias the prophet. ²Declare ye among the nations, and publish it, lift up a standard: proclaim, and conceal it not: say: Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is overthrown, their graven things are confounded, their idols are overthrown. ³For a nation is come up against her out of the north, which shall make her land desolate: and there shall be none to dwell therein, from man even to beast:: yea they are removed, and gone away. ⁴In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Juda together: going and weeping they shall make haste, and shall seek the Lord their God. ⁵They shall ask the way to Sion, their faces are hitherward. They shall come, and shall be joined to the Lord by an everlasting covenant, which shall never be forgotten. ⁶My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have made them wander in the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place. ⁷All that found them, have devoured them: and their enemies said: We have not sinned in so doing: because they have sinned against the Lord the beauty of justice, and against the Lord the hope of their fathers. ⁸Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans: and be ye as kids at the head of the flock. ⁹For behold I raise up, and will bring against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the land of the north: and they shall be prepared against her, and from thence she shall be taken: their arrows, like those of a mighty man, a destroyer, shall not return in vain. ¹⁰And Chaldea shall be made a prey: all that waste her shall be filled, saith the Lord. ¹¹Because you rejoice, and speak great things, pillaging my inheritance: because you are spread abroad as calves upon the grass, and have bellowed as bulls. ¹²Your mother is confounded exceedingly, and she that bore you is made even with the dust: behold she shall be the last among the nations, a wilderness unpassable, and dry. ¹³Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but shall be wholly desolate: every one that shall pass by Babylon, shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. ¹⁴Prepare yourselves against Babylon round about, all you that bend the bow: fight against her, spare not arrows: because she hath sinned against the Lord. ¹⁵Shout against her, she hath every where given her hand, her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down, for it is the vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance upon her: as she hath done, so do to her. ¹⁶Destroy the sower out of Babylon, and him that holdeth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the sword of the dove every man shall return to his people, and every one shall flee to his own land. ¹⁷Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria devoured him: and last this Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath broken his bones. ¹⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will visit the king of Babylon and his land, as I have visited the king of Assyria. ¹⁹And I will bring Israel again to his habitation: and he shall feed on Carmel, and Bason, and his soul shall be satisfied in mount Ephraim, and Galaad. ²⁰In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none: and the sin of Juda, and there shall none be found: for I will be merciful to them, whom I shall leave. ²¹Go up against the land of the rulers, and punish the inhabitants thereof, waste, and destroy all behind them, saith the Lord: and do according to all that I have commanded thee. ²²A noise of war in the land, and a great destruction. ²³How is the hammer of the whole earth broken, and destroyed! how is Babylon turned into a desert among the nations! ²⁴I have caused thee to fall into a snare, and thou art taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware of it: thou art found and caught, because thou hast provoked the Lord. ²⁵The Lord hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his wrath : for the Lord the God of hosts hath a work to be done in the land of the Chaldeans. ²⁶Come ye against her from the uttermost borders: open that they may go forth that shall tread her down: take the stones out of the way, and make heaps, and destroy her: and let nothing of her be left. ²⁷Destroy all her valiant men, let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them, for their day is come, the time of their visitation. ²⁸The voice of them that flee, and of them that have escaped out of the land of Babylon: to declare in Sion the revenge of the Lord our God, the revenge of his temple. ²⁹Declare to many against Babylon, to all that bend the bow: stand together against her round about, and let nose escape; pay her according to her work: according to all that she hath done, do ye to her: for she hath lifted up herself against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel. ³⁰Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets: and all her men of war shall hold their peace in that day, saith the Lord. ³¹Behold I come against thee, O proud one, saith the Lord the God of hosts: for thy day is come, the time of thy visitation. ³²And the proud one shall fall, he shall fall down, and there shall be none to lift him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him. ³³Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The children of Israel, and the children of Juda are oppressed together: all that have taken them captives, hold them fast, they will not let them go. ³⁴Their redeemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is his name : he will defend their cause in judgment, to terrify the land, and to disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. ³⁵A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. ³⁶A sword upon her diviners, and they shall be foolish: a sword upon her valiant ones, and they shall be dismayed. ³⁷A sword upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the people that are in the midst of her: and they shall become as women: a sword upon her treasures, and they shall be made a spoil. ³⁸A drought upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: because it is a land of idols, and they glory in monstrous things. ³⁹Therefore shall dragons dwell there with the fig fauns: and ostriches shall dwell therein, and it shall be no more inhabited for ever, neither shall it be built up from generation to generation. ⁴⁰As the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha, and their neighbour cities, saith the Lord: no man shall dwell there, neither shall the son of man inhabit it. ⁴¹Behold a people cometh from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall rise from the ends of the earth. ⁴²They shall take the bow and the shield: they are cruel and unmerciful: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses: like a man prepared for battle against thee, O daughter of Babylon. ⁴³The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands are grown feeble: anguish hath taken hold of him, pangs as a, woman in labour. ⁴⁴Behold he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of the Jordan to the strong and beautiful: for I will make him run suddenly upon her: and who shall be the chosen one whom I may appoint over her? for who is like to me? and who shall bear up against me? and who is that shepherd that can withstand my countenance? ⁴⁵Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he hath taken against Babylon: and his thoughts which he hath thought against the land of the Chaldeans: surely the little ones of the flocks shall pull them down, of a truth their habitation shall be destroyed with them. ⁴⁶At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard amongst the nations.

Chapter 51

¹Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will raise up as it were a pestilential wind against Babylon and against the inhabitants thereof, who have lifted up their heart against me. ²And I will send to Babylon fanners, and they shall fan her, and shall destroy her land: for they are come upon her on every side in the day of her affliction. ³Let not him that bendeth, bend his bow, and let not, him go up that is armed with a coat of mail: spare not her young men, destroy all her army. ⁴And the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and the wounded in the regions thereof. ⁵For Israel and Juda have not been forsaken by their God the Lord of hosts: but their land hath been filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. ⁶Flee ye from the midst of Babylon, and let every one save his own life: be not silent upon her iniquity: for it is the time of revenge from the Lord, he will I render unto her what she hath deserved. ⁷Babylon hath been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, that made all the earth drunk: the nations have drunk of her wine, and therefore they have staggered. ⁸Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed: howl for her, take balm for her pain, if so she may be healed. ⁹We would have cured Babylon, but she is not healed: let us forsake her, and let us go every man to his own land: because her judgment hath reached even to the heavens, and is lifted up to the clouds. ¹⁰The Lord hath brought forth our justices: Come, and let us declare in Sion the work of the Lord our God. ¹¹Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers, the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: and his mind is against Babylon to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple. ¹²Upon the walls of Babylon set up the standard, strengthen the watch: set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the Lord hath both purposed, and done all that he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon. ¹³O thou that dwellest upon many waters, rich in treasures, thy end is come for thy entire destruction. ¹⁴The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying : I will fill thee with men as with locusts, and they shall lift up a joyful shout against thee. ¹⁵He that made the earth by his power, that hath prepared the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. ¹⁶When he uttereth his voice the waters are multiplied in heaven: he lifteth up the clouds from the ends of the earth, he hath turned lightning into rain: and hath brought forth the wind out of his treasures. ¹⁷Every man is become foolish by his knowledge: every founder is confounded by his idol, for what he hath cast is a lie, and there is no breath in them. ¹⁸They are vain works, and worthy to be laughed at, in the time of their visitation they shall perish. ¹⁹The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he that made all things he it is, and Israel is the sceptre of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is his name. ²⁰Thou dashest together for me the weapons of war, and with thee I will dash nations together, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms: ²¹And with thee I will break in pieces the horse, and his rider, and with thee I will break in pieces the chariot, and him that getteth up into it: ²²And with thee I will break in pieces man and woman, and with thee I will break in pieces the old man and the child, 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 dock, and with thee I will break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen, and with thee I will break in pieces captains and rulers. ²⁴And I will render to Babylon, and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil, that they have done in Sion, before your eyes, saith the Lord. ²⁵Behold I come against thee, thou destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which corruptest the whole earth: and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. ²⁶And they shall not take of thee a stone for the corner, nor a stone for foundations, but thou shalt be destroyed for ever, saith the Lord. ²⁷Set ye up a standard in the land: sound with the trumpet among the nations: prepare the nations against her: call together against her the kings of Ararat, Menni, and Ascenez: number Taphsar against her, bring the horse as the stinging locust. ²⁸Prepare the nations against her, the kings of Media, their captains, and all their rulers, and all the land of their dominion. ²⁹And the land shall be in a commotion, and shall be troubled: for the design of the Lord against Babylon shall awake, to make the land of Babylon desert and uninhabitable. ³⁰The valiant men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have dwelt in holds: their strength hath failed, and they are become as women: her dwelling places are burnt, her bars are broken. ³¹One running post shall meet another, and messenger shall meet messenger: to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken from one end to the other: ³²And that the fords are taken, and the marshes are burnt with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. ³³For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a thrashingfloor, this is the time of her thrashing: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come. ³⁴Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath eaten me up, he hath devoured me: he hath made me as an empty vessel: he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicate meats, and he hath cast me out. ³⁵The wrong done to me, and my flesh be upon Babylon, saith the habitation of Sion : and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, saith Jerusalem. ³⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will judge thy cause, and will take vengeance for thee, and I will make her sea desolate, and will dry up her spring. ³⁷And Babylon shall be reduced to heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing, because there is no inhabitant. ³⁸They shall roar together like lions, they shall shake their manes like young lions. ³⁹In their heat I will set them drink: and I will make them drunk, that they may slumber, and sleep an everlasting sleep, and awake no more, saith the Lord. ⁴⁰I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, and like rams with kids. ⁴¹How is Sesach taken, and the renowned one of all the earth surprised? How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations? ⁴²The sea is come up over Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. ⁴³Her cities are become an astonishment, a land uninhabited and desolate, a land wherein none can dwell, nor son of man pass through it. ⁴⁴And I will visit against Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he had swallowed down: and the rations shall no more flow together to him, for the wall also of Babylon shall fall. ⁴⁵Go out of the midst of her, my people: that every man may save his life from the fierce wrath of the Lord. ⁴⁶And lest your hearts faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land : and a rumour shall come in one year, and after this year another rumour: and iniquity in the land, and ruler upon ruler. ⁴⁷Therefore behold the days come, and I will visit the idols of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. ⁴⁸And the heavens and the earth, and all things that are in them shall give praise for Babylon: for spoilers shall come to her from the north, saith the Lord. ⁴⁹And as Babylon caused that there should fall slain in Israel: so of Babylon there shall fall slain in all the earth. ⁵⁰You that have escaped the sword, come away, stand not still: remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. ⁵¹We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: because strangers are come upon the sanctuaries of the house of the Lord. ⁵²Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will visit her graven things, and in all her land the wounded shall groan: ⁵³If Babylon should mount up to heaven, and establish her strength on high: from me there should come spoilers upon her, saith the Lord. ⁵⁴The noise of a cry from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans : ⁵⁵Because the Lord hath laid Babylon waste, and destroyed out of her the great voice: and their wave shall roar like many waters: their voice hath made a noise: ⁵⁶Because the spoiler is come upon her, that is, upon Babylon, and her valiant men are taken, and their bow is weakened, because the Lord, who is a strong revenger, will surely repay. ⁵⁷And I will make her princes drunk. and her wise men, and her captains, and her rulers, and her valiant men: and they shall sleep an everlasting sleep, and shall awake no more, saith the whose name is Lord of hosts. ⁵⁸Thus saith the Lord of hosts: That broad wall of Babylon shall be utterly broken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire, and the labours of the people shall come to nothing, and of the nations shall go to the fire, and shall perish. ⁵⁹The word that Jeremias the prophet commanded Saraias the son of Nerias, the son of Maasias, when he went with king Sedecias to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign: now Saraias was chief over the prophecy. ⁶⁰And Jeremias wrote in one book all the evil that was to come upon Babylon: all these words that are written against Babylon. ⁶¹And Jeremias said to Saraias: When thou shalt come into Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words, ⁶²Thou shalt say: O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place to destroy it: so that there should be neither man nor beast to dwell therein, and that it should be desolate for ever. ⁶³And when thou shalt have made an end of reading this book, thou shalt tie a stone to it, and shalt throw it into the midst of the Euphrates: ⁶⁴And thou shalt say: Thus shall Babylon sink, and she shall not rise up from the affliction that I will bring upon her, and she shall be utterly destroyed. Thus far are the words of Jeremias.

Chapter 52

¹Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jerernias of Lobna. ²And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Joakim had done. ³For the wrath of the Lord was against Jerusalem, and against Juda, till he cast t hem out from his presence: and Sedecias revolted from the king of Babylon. ⁴And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and they besieged it, and built forts against it round about. ⁵And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Sedecias. ⁶And in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a famine overpowered the city: and there was no food for the people of the land. ⁷And the city was broken up, and the men of war fled, and went out of the city in the night by the way of the gate that is between the two walls, and leadeth to the king's garden, (the Chaldeans besieging the city round about, ) sad they went by the way that leadeth to the wilderness. ⁸But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king: and they overtook Sedecias in the desert which is near Jericho: and all his companions were scattered from him. ⁹And when they had taken the king, they carried him to the king of Babylon to Reblatha, which is in the land of Emath: and he gave judgment upon him. ¹⁰And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Sedecias before his eyes: and he slew all the princes of Juda in Reblatha. ¹¹And he put out the eyes of Sedecias, and bound him with fetters, and the king of Babylon brought him into Babylon, and he put him in prison till the day of his death. ¹²And in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, the same is the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan the general of the army, who stood before the king of Babylon in Jerusalem. ¹³And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burnt with fire. ¹⁴And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the general broke down all the wall of Jerusalem round about. ¹⁵But Nabuzardan the general carried away captives some of the poor people, and of the rest of the common sort who remained in the city, and of the fugitives that were fled over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. ¹⁶But of the poor of the land, Nabuzardan the general left some for vinedressers, and for husbandmen. ¹⁷The Chaldeans also broke in pieces the brazen pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass that was in the house of the Lord: and they carried all the brass of them to Babylon. ¹⁸And they took the caldrons, and the fleshhooks, and the psalteries, and the bowls, and the little mortars, and all the brazen vessels that had been used in the ministry: and ¹⁹The general took away the pitchers, and the censers, and the pots, and the basins, and the candlesticks, and the mortars, and the cups: as many as were of gold, in gold: and as many as were of silver, in silver: ²⁰And the two pillars, and one sea, and twelve oxen of brass that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the Lord: there was no weight of the brass of all these vessels. ²¹And concerning the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high: and a cord of twelve cubits compassed it about: but the thickness thereof was four fingers, and it was hollow within. ²²And chapiters of brass were upon both: and the height of one chapiter was five cubits: and network, and pomegranates were upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The same of the second pillar, and the pomegranates. ²³And there were ninety-six pomegranates hanging down: and the pomegranates being a hundred in all, were compassed with network. ²⁴And the general took Saraias the chief priest, and Sophonias the second priest, and the three keepers of the entry. ²⁵He also took out of the city one eunuch that was chief over the men of war: and seven men of them that were near the king's person, that were found in the city: and a scribe, an officer of the army who exercised the young soldiers: and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city. ²⁶And Nabuzardan the general took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon, to Reblatha. ²⁷And the king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death in Reblatha, in the land of Emath: and Juda was carried away captive out of his land. ²⁸This is the people whom Nabuchodonosor carried away captive : in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews. ²⁹In the eighteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, eight hundred and thirty-two souls from Jerusalem. ³⁰In the three and twentieth year of Nabuchodonosor, Nabuzardan the general carried away of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five souls. So all the souls were four thousand six hundred. ³¹And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Joachin king of Juda, in the twelfth month, the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Joachin king of Juda, and brought him forth out of prison. ³²And he spoke kindly to him, and he set his throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon. ³³And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread before him always all the days of his life. ³⁴And for his diet a continual provision was allowed him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

The Lamentations of Jeremias

In these JEREMIAS laments in a most pathetical manner the miseries of his people, and the destruction of JERUSALEM and the temple, in Hebrew verses, beginning with different letters according to the order of the Hebrew alphabet.

Chapter 1

¹Aleph. How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! how is the mistress of the Gentiles become as a widow: the princes of provinces made tributary! ²Beth. Weeping she hath wept in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: there is none to comfort her among all them that were dear to her: all her friends have despised her, and are become her enemies. ³Ghimel. Juda hath removed her dwelling place because of her affliction, and the greatness of her bondage: she hath dwelt among the nations, and she hath found no rest: all her persecutors have taken her in the midst of straits. ⁴Daleth. The ways of Sion mourn, because there are none that come to the solemn feast: all her gates are broken down: her priests sigh: her virgins are in affliction, and she is oppressed with bitterness. ⁵He. Her adversaries are become her lords, her enemies are enriched: because the Lord hath spoken against her for the multitude of her iniquities: her children are led into captivity: before the face of the oppressor. ⁶Vau. And from the daughter of Sion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like rams that find no pastures: and they are gone away without strength before the face of the pursuer. ⁷Zain. Jerusalem hath remembered the days of her affliction, and prevarication of all her desirable things which she had from the days of old, when her people fell in the enemy's hand, and there was no helper: the enemies have seen her, and have mocked at her sabbaths. ⁸Heth. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore is she become unstable: all that honoured her have despised her, because they have seen her shame: but she sighed and turned backward. ⁹Teth. Her filthiness is on her feet, and she hath not remembered her end: she is wonderfully cast down, not having a comforter: behold, O Lord, my affliction, because the enemy is lifted up. ¹⁰Jod. The enemy hath put out his hand to all her desirable things: for she hath seen the Gentiles enter into her sanctuary, of whom thou gavest commandment that they should not enter into thy church. ¹¹Caph. All her people sigh, they seek bread: they have given all their precious things for food to relieve the soul: see, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile. ¹²Lamed. O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow: for he hath made a vintage of me, as the Lord spoke in the day of his fierce anger. ¹³Mem. From above he hath sent fire into my bones, and hath chastised me: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate, wasted with sorrow all the day long. ¹⁴Nun. The yoke of my iniquities hath watched: they are folded together in his hand, and put upon my neck: my strength is weakened: the Lord hath delivered me into a hand out of which I am not able to rise. ¹⁵Samech. The Lord hath taken away all my mighty men out of the midst of me: he hath called against me the time, to destroy my chosen men: the Lord hath trodden the winepress for the virgin daughter of Juda. ¹⁶Ain. Therefore do I weep, and my eyes run down with water: because the comforter, the relief of my soul, is far from me: my children are desolate because the enemy hath prevailed. ¹⁷Phe. Sion hath spread forth her hands, there is none to comfort her: the Lord hath commanded against Jacob, his enemies are round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them. ¹⁸Sade. The Lord is just, for I have provoked his mouth to wrath: hear, I pray you, all ye people, and see my sorrow: my virgins, and my young men are gone into captivity. ¹⁹Coph. I called for my friends, but they deceived me: my priests and my ancients pined away in the city: while they sought their food, to relieve their souls. ²⁰Res. Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress, my bowels are troubled: my heart is turned within me, for I am full of bitterness: abroad the sword destroyeth, and at home there is death alike. ²¹Sin. They have heard that I sigh, and there is none to comfort me: all my enemies have heard of my evil, they have rejoiced that thou hast done it: thou hast brought a day of consolation, and they shall be like unto me. ²²Thau. Let all their evil be present before thee: and make vintage of them, as thou hast made vintage of me for all my iniquities: for my sighs are many, and my heart is sorrowful.

Chapter 2

¹Aleph. How hath the Lord covered with obscurity the daughter of Sion in his wrath! how hath he cast down from heaven to the earth the glorious one of Israel, and hath not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger! ²Beth. The Lord hath cast down headlong, and hath not spared, all that was beautiful in Jacob: he hath destroyed in his wrath the strong holds of the virgin of Juda, and brought them down to the ground: he hath made the kingdom unclean, and the princes thereof. ³Ghimel. He hath broken in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy: and he hath kindled in Jacob as it were a flaming fire devouring round about. ⁴Daleth. He hath bent his bow as an enemy, he hath fixed his right hand as an adversary: and he hath killed all that was fair to behold in the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion, he hath poured out his indignation like fire. ⁵He. The Lord is become as an enemy: he hath cast down Israel headlong, he hath overthrown all the walls thereof: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath multiplied in the daughter of Juda the afflicted, both men and women. ⁶Vau. And he hath destroyed his tent as a garden, he hath thrown down his tabernacle: the Lord hath caused feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Sion: and hath delivered up king and priest to reproach, and to the indignation of his wrath. ⁷Zain. The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath cursed his sanctuary: he hath delivered the walls of the towers thereof into the hand of the enemy: they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast. ⁸Heth. The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion: he hath stretched out his line, and hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: and the bulwark hath mourned, and the wall hath been destroyed together. ⁹Teth. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he hath destroyed, and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord. ¹⁰Jod. The ancients of the daughter of Sion sit upon the ground, they have held their peace: they have sprinkled their heads with dust, they are girded with haircloth, the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground. ¹¹Caph. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are troubled: my liver is poured out upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, when the children, and the sucklings, fainted away in the streets of the city. ¹²Lamed. They said to their mothers: Where is corn and wine? when they fainted away as the wounded in the streets of the city: when they breathed out their souls in the bosoms of their mothers. ¹³Mem. To what shall I compare thee? or to what shall I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? to what shall I equal thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Sion? for great as the sea is thy destruction: who shall heal thee? ¹⁴Nun. Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee: and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments. ¹⁵Samech. All they that passed by the way have clapped their hands at thee: they have hissed, and wagged their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying: Is this the city of perfect beauty, the joy of all the earth? ¹⁶Phe. All thy enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they have hissed, and gnashed with the teeth, and have said: We will swallow her up: lo, this is the day which we looked for: we have found it, we have seen it. ¹⁷Ain. The Lord hath done that which he purposed, he hath fulfilled his word, which he commanded in the days of old: he hath destroyed, and hath not spared, and he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee, and hath set up the horn of thy adversaries. ¹⁸Sade. Their heart cried to the Lord upon the walls of the daughter of Sion: Let tears run down like a torrent day and night: give thyself no rest, and let not the apple of thy eye cease. ¹⁹Coph. Arise, give praise in the night, in the beginning of the watches: pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands to him for the life of thy little children, that have fainted for hunger at the top of all the streets. ²⁰Res. Behold, O Lord, and consider whom thou hast thus dealt with: shall women then eat their own fruit, their children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord ? ²¹Sin. The child and the old man lie without on the ground: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: thou hast slain them in the day of thy wrath: thou hast killed, and shewn them no pity. ²²Thau. Thou hast called as to a festival, those that should terrify me round about, and there was none in the day of the wrath of the Lord that escaped and was left: those that I brought up, and nourished, my enemy hath consumed them.

Chapter 3

¹Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation. ²Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light. ³Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day. ⁴Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones. ⁵Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour. ⁶Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever. ⁷Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy. ⁸Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer. ⁹Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down. ¹⁰Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in secret places. ¹¹Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate. ¹²Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows. ¹³He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver. ¹⁴He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long. ¹⁵He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood. ¹⁶Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with ashes. ¹⁷Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten good things. ¹⁸Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord. ¹⁹Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood, and the gall. ²⁰Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall languish within me. ²¹Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope. ²²Heth. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed. ²³Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. ²⁴Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait for him. ²⁵Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him. ²⁶Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God. ²⁷Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth. ²⁸Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath taken it up upon himself. ²⁹Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. ³⁰Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with reproaches. ³¹Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever. ³²Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies. ³³Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men. ³⁴Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land, ³⁵Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the most High, ³⁶Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath not approved. ³⁷Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not? ³⁸Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest? ³⁹Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins? ⁴⁰Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord. ⁴¹Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens. ⁴²Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable. ⁴³Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed and hast not spared. ⁴⁴Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may not pass through. ⁴⁵Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst of the people. ⁴⁶Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. ⁴⁷Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction. ⁴⁸Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁴⁹Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because there was no rest: ⁵⁰Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens. ⁵¹Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city. ⁵²Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause. ⁵³Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me. ⁵⁴Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off. ⁵⁵Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit. ⁵⁶Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries. ⁵⁷Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou saidst: Fear not. ⁵⁸Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life. ⁵⁹Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge thou my judgment. ⁶⁰Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me. ⁶¹Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me. ⁶²Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices against me all the day. ⁶³Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their song. ⁶⁴Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands. ⁶⁵Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour. ⁶⁶Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord.

Chapter 4

¹Aleph. How is the gold become dim, the finest colour is changed, the stones of the sanctuary are scattered in the top of every street? ²Beth. The noble sons of Sion, and they that were clothed with the best gold: how are they esteemed as earthen vessels, the work of the potter's hands? ³Ghimel. Even the sea monsters have drawn out the breast, they have given suck to their young: the daughter of my people is cruel, like the ostrich in the desert. ⁴Daleth. The tongue of the sucking child hath stuck to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the little ones have asked for bread, and there was none to break it unto them. ⁵He. They that were fed delicately have died in the streets; they that were brought up in scarlet have embraced the dung. ⁶Vau. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people is made greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and hands took nothing in her. ⁷Zain. Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, purer than milk, more ruddy than the old ivory, fairer than the sapphire. ⁸Heth. Their face is now made blacker than coals, and they are not known in the streets: their skin hath stuck to their bones, it is withered, and is become like wood. ⁹Teth. It was better with them that were slain by the sword, than with them that died with hunger: for these pined away being consumed for want of the fruits of the earth. ¹⁰Jod. The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people. ¹¹Caph. The Lord hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger: and he hath kindled a fire in Sion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof. ¹²Lamed. The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed, that the adversary and the enemy should enter in by the gates of Jerusalem. ¹³Mem. For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her. ¹⁴Nun. They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they were defiled with blood: and when they could not help walking in it, they held up their skirts. ¹⁵Samech. Depart you that are defiled, they cried out to them: Depart, get ye hence, touch not: for they quarrelled, and being removed, they said among the Gentiles: He will no more dwell among them. ¹⁶Phe. The face of the Lord hath divided them, he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, neither had they pity on the ancient. ¹⁷Ain. While we were yet standing, our eyes failed, expecting help for us in vain, when we looked attentively towards a nation that was not able to save. ¹⁸Sade. Our steps have slipped in the way of our streets, our end draweth near: our days are fulfilled, for our end is come. ¹⁹Coph. Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the air: they pursued us upon the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness. ²⁰Res. The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, is taken in our sins: to whom we said: Under thy shadow we shall live among the Gentiles. ²¹Sin. Rejoice, and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Hus: to thee also shall the cup come, thou shalt be made drunk, and naked. ²²Thau. Thy iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Sion, he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he visited thy iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he hath discovered thy sins. The Prayer of Jeremias the Prophet.

Chapter 5

¹Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider and behold our reproach. ²Our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to strangers. ³We are become orphans without a father: our mothers are as widows. ⁴We have drunk our water for money: we have bought our wood. ⁵We were dragged by the necks, we were weary and no rest was given us. ⁶We have given our hand to Egypt, and to the Assyrians, that we might be satisfied with bread. ⁷Our fathers have sinned, and are not: and we have borne their iniquities. ⁸Servants have ruled over us: there was none to redeem us out of their hand. ⁹We fetched our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the desert. ¹⁰Our skin was burnt as an oven, by reason of the violence of the famine. ¹¹They oppressed the women in Sion, and the virgins in the cities of Juda. ¹²The princes were hanged up by their hand: they did not respect the persons of the ancient. ¹³They abused the young men indecently: and the children fell under the wood. ¹⁴The ancients have ceased from the gates: the young men from the choir of the singers. ¹⁵The joy of our heart is ceased, our dancing is turned into mourning. ¹⁶The crown is fallen from our head woe to us, because we have sinned. ¹⁷Therefore is our heart sorrowful, therefore are our eyes become dim, ¹⁸For mount Sion, because it is destroyed, foxes have walked upon it. ¹⁹But thou, O Lord, shalt remain for ever, thy throne from generation to generation. ²⁰Why wilt thou forget us for ever? why wilt thou forsake us for a long time? ²¹Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted: renew our days, as from the beginning. ²²But thou hast utterly rejected us, thou art exceedingly angry against us.

The Prophecy of Ezechiel

EZECHIEL, whose name signifies the STRENGTH OF GOD, was of the priestly race; and of the number of captives that were carried away to Babylon with king JOACHIN. He was contemporary with JEREMIAS, and prophesied to the same effect in Babylon, as JEREMIAS did in Jerusalem; and is said to have ended his days in like manner, by martyrdom.

Chapter 1

¹Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was in the midst of the captives by the river Chobar, the heavens were opened, and I saw the visions of God. ²On the fifth day of the month, the same was the fifth year of the captivity of king Joachin, ³The word of the Lord came to Ezechiel the priest the son of Bud in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chobar: and the hand of the Lord was there upon him. ⁴And I saw, and behold a whirlwind came out of the north: and a great cloud, and a fire infolding it, and brightness was about it: and out of the midst thereof, that is, out of the midst of the fire, as it were the resemblance of amber: ⁵And in the midst thereof the likeness of four living creatures: and this was their appearance: there was the likeness of a man in them. ⁶Every one had four faces, and every one four wings. ⁷Their feet were straight feet, and the sole of their foot was like the sole of a calf's foot, and they sparkled like the appearance of glowing brass. ⁸And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides: and they bad faces, and wings on the four sides, ⁹And the wings of one were joined to the wings of another. They turned not when they went: but every one went straight forward. ¹⁰And as for the likeness of their faces: there was the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side of all the four: and the face of an ox, on the left side of all the four: and the face of an eagle over all the four. ¹¹And their faces, and their wings were stretched upward: two wings of every one were joined, and two covered their bodies: ¹²And every one of them went straight forward: whither the impulse of the spirit was to go, thither they went: and they turned not when they went. ¹³And as for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like that of burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps. This was the vision running to and fro in the midst of the living creatures, a bright fire, and lightning going forth from the fire. ¹⁴And the living creatures ran and returned like flashes of lightning. ¹⁵Now as I beheld the living creatures, there appeared upon the earth by the living creatures one wheel with four faces. ¹⁶And the appearance of the wheels, and the work of them was like the appearance of the sea: and the four had all one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the midst of a wheel. ¹⁷When they went, they went by their four parts: and they turned not when they went. ¹⁸The wheels had also a size, and a height, and a dreadful appearance: and the whole body was full of eyes round about all the four. ¹⁹And when the living creatures went, the wheels also went together by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels also were lifted up with them. ²⁰Whithersoever the spirit went, thither as the spirit went the wheels also were lifted up withal, and followed it: for the spirit of life 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 also were lifted up together, and followed them: for the spirit of life was in the wheels. ²²And over the heads of the living creatures was the likeness of the firmament, as the appearance of crystal terrible to behold, and stretched out over their heads above. ²³And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other, every one with two wings covered his body, and the other was covered in like manner. ²⁴And I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, as it were the voice of the most high God: when they walked, it was like the voice of a multitude, like the noise of an army, and when they stood, their wings were let down. ²⁵For when a voice came from above the firmament, that was over their heads, they stood, and let down their wings. ²⁶And above the firmament that was over their heads, was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of the sapphire stone, and upon the likeness of the throne, was a likeness as of the appearance of a man above upon it. ²⁷And I saw as it were the resemblance of amber as the appearance of fire within it round about: from his loins and upward, and from his loins downward, I saw as it were the resemblance of fire shining round about. ²⁸As the appearance of the rainbow when it is in a cloud on a rainy day: this was the appearance of the brightness round about.

Chapter 2

¹This was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And I saw, and I fell upon my face, and I heard the voice of one that spoke. And he said to me: Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak to thee. ²And the spirit entered into me after that he spoke to me, and he set me upon my feet: and I heard him speaking to me, ³And saying: Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious people, that hath revolted from me, they, and their fathers, have transgressed my covenant even unto this day. ⁴And they to whom I send thee are children of a hard face, and of an obstinate heart: and thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: ⁵If so be they at least will hear, and if so be they will forbear, for they are a provoking house: and they shall know that there hath been a prophet in the midst of them. ⁶And thou, O son of man, fear not, neither be thou afraid of their words: for thou art among unbelievers and destroyers, and thou dwellest with scorpions. Fear not their words, neither be thou dismayed at their looks: for they are a provoking house. ⁷And thou shalt speak my words to them, if perhaps they will hear, and forbear: for they provoke me to anger. ⁸But thou, O son of man, hear all that I say to thee: and do not thou provoke me, as that house provoketh me: open thy mouth, and eat what I give thee. ⁹And I looked, and behold, a hand was sent to me, wherein was a book rolled up: and he spread it before me, and it was written within and without: and there were written in it lamentations, and canticles, and woe.

Chapter 3

¹And he said to me: Son of man, eat all that thou shalt find: eat this book, and go speak to the children of Israel. ²And I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that book : ³And he said to me: Son of man, thy belly shall eat, and thy bowels shall be filled with this book, which I give thee. And I did eat it: and it was sweet as honey in my mouth. ⁴And he said to me: Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and thou shalt speak my words to them. ⁵For thou art not sent to a people of a profound speech, and of an unknown tongue, but to the house of Israel: ⁶Nor to many nations of a strange speech, and of an unknown tongue, whose words thou canst not understand: and if thou wert sent to them, they would hearken to thee. ⁷But the house of Israel will not hearken to thee: because they will not hearken to me: for all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and an obstinate heart. ⁸Behold I have made thy face stronger than their faces: and thy forehead harder than their foreheads. ⁹I have made thy face like an adamant and like flint: fear them not, neither be thou dismayed at their presence: for they are a provoking house. ¹⁰And he said to me: Son of man, receive in thy heart, and hear with thy ears, all the words that I speak to thee: ¹¹And go get thee in to them of the captivity, to the children of thy people, and thou shalt speak to them, and shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: If so be they will hear and will forbear. ¹²And the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great commotion, saying: Blessed be the glory of the Lord, from his place. ¹³And the noise of the wings of the living creatures striking one against another, and the noise of the wheels following the living creatures, and the noise of a great commotion. ¹⁴The spirit also lifted me, and took me up: and I went away in bitterness in the indignation of my spirit: for the hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me. ¹⁵And I came to them of the captivity, to the heap of new corn, to them that dwelt by the river Chobar, and I sat where they sat: and I remained there seven days mourning in the midst of them. ¹⁶And at the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁷Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: and thou shalt hear the word out of my mouth, and shalt tell it them from me. ¹⁸If, when I say to the wicked, Thou shalt surely die: thou declare it not to him, nor speak to him, that he may be converted from his wicked way, and live: the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. ¹⁹But if thou give warning to the wicked, and he be not converted from his wickedness, and from his evil way: he indeed shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. ²⁰Moreover if the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity: I will lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die, because thou hast not given him warning: he shall die in his sin, and his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: but I will require his blood at thy hand. ²¹But if thou warn the just man, that the just may not sin, and he doth not sin: living he shall live, because thou hast warned him, and thou hast delivered thy soul. ²²And the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he said to me: Rise and go forth into the plain, and there I will speak to thee. ²³And I rose up, and went forth into the plain: and behold the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chobar: and I fell upon my face. ²⁴And the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet: and he spoke to me, and said to me: Go in; and shut thyself up in the midst of thy house. ²⁵And thou, O son of man, behold they shall put bands upon thee, and they shall bind thee with them: and thou shalt not go forth from the midst of them. ²⁶And I will make thy tongue stick fast to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shalt be dumb, and not as a man that reproveth: because they are a provoking house. ²⁷But when I shall speak to thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: He that heareth, let him hear: and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a provoking house.

Chapter 4

¹And thou, O son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee: and draw upon it the plan of the city of Jerusalem. ²And lay siege against it, and build forts, and cast up a mount, and set a camp against it, and place battering rams round about it. ³And take unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face resolutely against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it: it is a sign to the house of Israel. ⁴And thou shalt sleep upon thy left side, and shalt lay the iniquities of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of the days that thou shalt sleep upon it, and thou shalt take upon thee their iniquity. ⁵And I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days three hundred and ninety days: and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ⁶And when thou hast accomplished this, thou shalt sleep again upon thy right side, and thou shalt take upon thee the iniquity of the house of Juda forty days: a day for it year, yea, a day for a year I have appointed to thee. ⁷And thou shalt turn thy face to the siege of Jerusalem, and thy arm shall be stretched out: and thou shalt prophesy against it. ⁸Behold I have encompassed thee with bands: and thou shalt not turn thyself from one side to the other, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege. ⁹And take to thee wheat and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side: three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof. ¹⁰And thy meat that thou shalt eat, shall be in weight twenty staters a day: from time to time thou shalt eat it. ¹¹And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time thou shalt drink it, ¹²And thou shalt eat it as barley bread baked under the ashes: and thou shalt cover it, in their sight, with the dung that cometh out of a man. ¹³And the Lord said: So shall the children of Israel Beat their bread all filthy among the nations whither I will cast them out. ¹⁴And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, behold my soul hath not been defiled, and from my infancy even till now, I have not eaten any thing that died of itself, or was torn by beasts, and no unclean flesh hath entered into my mouth. ¹⁵And he said to me: Behold I have given thee neat's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt make thy bread therewith. ¹⁶And he said to me: Son of man: Behold, I will break in pieces the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care: and they shall drink water by measure, and in distress. ¹⁷So that when bread and water fail, every man may fall against his brother, and they may pine away in their iniquities.

Chapter 5

¹And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife that shaveth the hair: and cause it to pass over thy head, and over thy beard: and take thee a balance to weigh in, and divide the hair. ²A third part thou shalt burn with fire in the midst of the city, according to the fulfilling of the days of the siege: and thou shalt take a third part, and cut it in pieces with the knife all round about: and the other third part thou shalt scatter in the wind, and I will draw out the sword after them. ³And thou shalt take thereof a small number: and shalt bind them in the skirt of thy cloak. ⁴And thou shalt take of them again, and shalt cast them in the midst of the fire, and shalt burn them with fire: and out of it shall come forth a fire into all the house of Israel. ⁵Thus saith the Lord God: This is Jerusalem, I have set her in the midst of the nations, and the countries round about her. ⁶And she hath despised my judgments, so as to be more wicked than the Gentiles; and my commandments, more than the countries that are round about her: for they have cast off my judgments, and have not walked in my commandments. ⁷Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have surpassed the Gentiles that are round about you, and have not walked in my commandments, and have not kept my judgments, and have not done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you: ⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, and I myself will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the Gentiles. ⁹And I will do in thee that which I have not done: and the like to which I will do no more, because of all thy 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 in thee, and I will scatter thy whole remnant into every wind. ¹¹Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God : Because thou hast violated my sanctuary with all thy offences, and with ail thy abominations: I will also break thee in pieces, and my eye shall not spare, and I will not have any pity. ¹²A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and shall be consumed with famine in the midst of thee: and a third part of thee shall fall by the sword round about thee: and a third part of thee will I scatter into every wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. ¹³And I will accomplish my fury, and will cause my indignation to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in my zeal, when I shall have accomplished my indignation in them. ¹⁴And I will make thee desolate, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of every one that passeth by. ¹⁵And thou shalt be a reproach, and a scoff, an example, and an astonishment amongst the nations that are round about thee, when I shall have executed judgments in thee in anger, and in indignation, and in wrathful rebukes. ¹⁶I the Lord have spoken it: When I shall send upon them the grievous arrows of famine, which shall bring death, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will gather together famine against you: and I will break among you the staff of bread. ¹⁷And I will send in upon you famine, and evil beasts unto utter destruction: and pestilence, and blood shall pass through thee, and I will bring in the sword upon thee. I the Lord have spoken it.

Chapter 6

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, set thy face towards the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them. ³And say: Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus Faith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, and to the rocks, and the valleys: Behold, I will bring upon you the sword, and I will destroy your high places. ⁴And I will throw down your altars, and your idols shall be broken in pieces: and I will cast down your slain before your idols. ⁵And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before your idols: and I will scatter Sour bones round about your altars, ⁶In all your dwelling places. The cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be thrown down, and destroyed, and your altars shall be abolished, and shall be broken in pieces: and your idols shall be no more, and your temples shall be destroyed, and your works shall be defaced. ⁷And the slain shall fall in the midst of you: and you shall know that I am the Lord. ⁸And I will leave in you some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when I shall have scattered you, through the countries. ⁹And they that are saved of you shall remember me amongst the nations to which they are carried captives: because I have broken their heart that was faithless, and revolted from me: and their eyes that went a fornicating after their idols: and they shall be displeased with themselves because of the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. ¹⁰And they shall know that I the Lord have not spoken in vain that I would do this evil to them. ¹¹Thus saith the Lord God: Strike with thy hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say: Alas, for all the abominations of the evils of the house of Israel: for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence. ¹²He that is far off shall die of the pestilence: and he that is near, shall fall by the sword: and he that remaineth, and is besieged, shall die by the famine: and I will accomplish my indignation upon them. ¹³And you shall know that I am the Lord, when your slain shall be amongst your idols, round about your altars, in every high hill, and on all the tops of mountains, and under every woody tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they burnt sweet smelling frankincense to all their idols. ¹⁴And I will stretch forth my hand upon them: and I will make the land desolate, and abandoned from the desert of Deblatha in all their dwelling places: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 7

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²And thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God to the land of Israel: The end is come, the end is come upon the four quarters of the land. ³Now is an end come upon thee, and I will send my wrath upon thee, and I will judge thee according to thy ways: and I will set all thy abominations against thee. ⁴And my eye shall not spare thee, and I will shew thee no pity: but I will lay thy ways upon thee, and thy abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and you shall know that I am the Lord. ⁵Thus saith the Lord God: One affliction, behold an affliction is come. ⁶An end is come, the end is come, it hath awaked against thee: behold it is come. ⁷Destruction is come upon thee that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of slaughter is near, and not of the joy of mountains. ⁸Now very shortly I will pour out my wrath upon thee, and I will accomplish my anger in thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and I will lay upon thee all thy crimes. ⁹And my eye shall not spare, neither will I shew mercy: but I will lay thy ways upon thee, and thy abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and you shall know that I am the Lord that strike. ¹⁰Behold the day, behold it is come: destruction is gone forth, the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded. ¹¹Iniquity is risen up into a rod of impiety: nothing of them shall remain, nor of their people, nor of the noise of them: and there shall be no rest among them. ¹²The time is come, the day is at hand: let not the buyer rejoice: nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the people thereof. ¹³For the seller shall not return to that which he hath sold, although their life be yet among the living. For the vision which regardeth all the multitude thereof, shall not go back: neither shall man be strengthened in the iniquity of his life. ¹⁴Blow the trumpet, let all be made ready, yet there is none to go to the battle: for my wrath shall be upon all the people thereof. ¹⁵The sword without: and the pestilence, and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die by the sword: and they that are in the city, shall be devoured by the pestilence, and the famine. ¹⁶And such of them as shall flee shall escape: and they shall be in the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them trembling, every one for his iniquity. ¹⁷All hands shall be made feeble, and all knees shall run with water. ¹⁸And they shall gird themselves with haircloth, and fear shall cover them, and shame shall be upon every face, and baldness upon all their heads. ¹⁹Their silver shall be cast forth, and their gold shall become a dunghill. Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They shall not satisfy their soul, and their bellies shall not be filled: because it hath been the stumblingblock of their iniquity. ²⁰And they have turned the ornament of their jewels into pride, and have made of it the images of their abominations, and idols: therefore I have made it an uncleanness to them. ²¹And I will give it into the hands of strangers for spoil, and to the wicked of the earth for a prey, and they shall defile it. ²²And I will turn away my face from them, and they shall violate my secret place: and robbers shall enter into it, and defile it. ²³Make a shutting up: for the land is full of the judgment of blood, and the city is full of iniquity. ²⁴And I will bring the worse of the nations, and they shall possess their houses: and I will make the pride of the mighty to cease, and they shall possess their sanctuary. ²⁵When distress cometh upon them, they will seek for peace and there shall be none. ²⁶Trouble shall come upon trouble, and rumour upon rumour, and they shall seek a vision of the prophet, and the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients. ²⁷The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with sorrow, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled. I will do to them according to their way, and will judge them according to their judgments: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

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 ancients of Juda sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me. ²And I saw, and behold 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 the appearance of amber. ³And the likeness of a hand was put forth and took me by a lock of my head: and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the vision of God into Jerusalem, near the inner gate, that looked toward the north, where was set the idol of jealousy to provoke to jealousy. ⁴And behold the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision which I had seen in the plain. ⁵And he said to me: Son of man, lift up thy eyes towards the way of the north. And I lifted up my eyes towards the way of the north: and behold on the north side of the gate of the altar the idol of jealousy in the very entry. ⁶And he said to me: Son of man, dost thou see, thinkest thou, what these are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should depart far off from my sanctuary? and turn thee yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations. ⁷And he brought me in to the door of the court: and I saw, and behold a hole in the wall. ⁸And he said to me: Son of man, dig in the wall. And when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. ⁹And he said to me: Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they commit here. ¹⁰And I went in and saw, and behold every form of creeping things, and of living creatures, the abomination, and all the idols of the house of Israel, were painted on the wall all round about. ¹¹And seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and Jezonias the son of Saaphan stood in the midst of them, that stood before the pictures: and every one had a censer in his hand: and a cloud of smoke went up from the incense. ¹²And he add to me: Surely thou seest. O son of man, what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every one in private in his chamber: for they say: The Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth. ¹³And he said to me: If thou turn thee again, thou shalt see greater abominations which these commit. ¹⁴And he brought me in by the door of the gate of the Lord's house, which looked to the north: and behold women sat there mourning for Adonis. ¹⁵And he said to me: Surely thou hast seen, O son of man: but turn thee again: and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. ¹⁶And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord: and behold at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men having their backs towards the temple of the Lord, and their faces to the east: and they adored towards the rising of the sun. ¹⁷And he said to me: Surely thou hast seen, O son of man: is this a light thing to the house of Juda, that they should commit these abominations which they have committed here: because they have filled the land with iniquity, and have turned to provoke me to anger? and behold they put a branch to their nose. ¹⁸Therefore I also will deal with them in my wrath: my eye shall not spare them, neither will I shew mercy: and when they shall cry to my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.

Chapter 9

¹And he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying: The visitations of the city are at hand, and every one hath a destroying weapon in his hand. ²And behold six men came from the way of the upper gate, which looketh to the north: and each one had his weapon of destruction in his hand: and there was one man in the midst of them clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn at his reins: and they went in, and stood by the brazen altar. ³And the glory of the Lord of Israel went up from the cherub, upon which he was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man that was clothed with linen, and had a writer's inkhorn at his loins. ⁴And the Lord said to him: Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem: and mark Thau upon the foreheads of the men that sigh, and mourn for all the abominations that are committed in the midst thereof. ⁵And to the others he said in my hearing: Go ye after him through the city, and strike: let not your eyes spare, nor be ye moved with pity. ⁶Utterly destroy old and young, maidens, children and women: but upon whomsoever you shall see Thau, kill him not, and begin ye at my sanctuary. So they began at the ancient men who mere before the house. ⁷And he said to them: Defile the house, and ill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew them that were in the city. ⁸And the slaughter being ended I was left: and I fell upon my face, and crying, I said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, wilt thou then destroy all the remnant of Israel, by pouring out thy fury upon Jerusalem? ⁹And he said to me: The iniquity of the house of Israel, and of Juda, is exceeding great, and the land is filled with blood, and the city is filled with perverseness: for they have said: The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not. ¹⁰Therefore neither shall my eye spare, nor will I have pity: I will requite their way upon their head. ¹¹And behold the man that was clothed with linen, that had the inkhorn at his back, returned the word, saying: I have done as thou hast commanded me.

Chapter 10

¹And saw and behold in the firmament that was over the heads of the cherubims, there appeared over them as it were the sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. ²And he spoke to the man, that was clothed with linen, and said: Go in between the wheels that are under the cherubims and fill thy hand with the coals of fire that are between the cherubims, and pour them out upon the city. And he went in, in my sight: ³And the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court. ⁴And the glory of the Lord was lifted up from above the cherub to the threshold of the house: and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. ⁵And the sound of the wings of the cherubims was heard even to the outward court as the voice of God Almighty speaking. ⁶And when he had commanded the man that was clothed with linen, saying: Take fire from the midst of the wheels that are between the cherubims: he went in and stood beside the wheel, ⁷And one cherub stretched out his arm from the midst of the cherubims to the fire that was between the cherubims: and he took, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it and went forth. ⁸And there appeared in the cherubims the likeness of a man's hand under their wings. ⁹And I saw, and behold there were four wheels by the cherubims: one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was to the sight like the chrysolite stone: ¹⁰And as to their appearance, all four were alike: as if a wheel were in the midst of a wheel. ¹¹And when they went, they went by four ways: and they turned not when they went: but to the place whither they first turned, the rest also followed, and did not turn back. ¹²And their whole body, and their necks, and their hands, and their wings, and the circles were full of eyes, round about the four wheels. ¹³And these wheels he called voluble, in my hearing. ¹⁴And every one had four faces: one face was the face of a cherub, and the second face, the face of a man: and in the third was the face of a lion: and in the fourth the face of an eagle. ¹⁵And the cherubims were lifted up: this is the living creature that I had seen by the river Chobar. ¹⁶And when the cherubims went, the wheels also went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings, to mount up from the earth, the wheels stayed not behind, but were by them. ¹⁷When they stood, these stood: and when they were lifted up, these were lifted up: for the spirit of life was in them. ¹⁸And the glory of the Lord went forth from the threshold of the temple: and stood over the cherubims. ¹⁹And the cherubims lifting up their wings, were raised from the earth before me: and as they went out, the wheels also followed: and it stood in the entry of the east gate of the house of the Lord: and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. ²⁰This is the living creature, which I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chobar: and I understood that they were cherubims. ²¹Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings: and the likeness of a man's hand was under their wings. ²²And as to the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces which I had seen by the river Chobar, and their looks, and the impulse of every one to go straight forward.

Chapter 11

¹And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the east gate of the house of the Lord, which looketh towards the rising of the sun: and behold in the entry of the gate five and twenty men: and I saw in the midst of them Jezonias the son of Azur, and Pheltias the son of Banaias, princes of the people. ²And he said to me: Son of man, these are the men that study iniquity, and frame a wicked counsel in this city, ³Saying: Were not houses lately built? This city is the caldron, and we the flesh. ⁴Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, thou son of man. ⁵And the spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said to me: Speak: Thus saith the Lord: Thus have you spoken, O house of Israel, for I know the thoughts of your heart. ⁶You have killed a great many in this city, and you have filled the streets thereof with the slain. ⁷Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Your slain, whom you have laid in the midst thereof, they are the flesh, and this is the caldron: and I will bring you forth out of the midst thereof. ⁸You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, saith the Lord God. ⁹And I will cast you out of the midst thereof, and I will deliver you into the hand of the enemies, and I will execute judgments upon you. ¹⁰You shall fall by the sword: I will judge you in the borders of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹¹This shall not be as a caldron to you, and you shall not be as flesh in the midst thereof: I will judge you in the borders of Israel. ¹²And you shall know that I am the Lord: because you have not walked in my commandments, and have not done my judgments, but you have done according to the judgments of the nations that; are round about you. ¹³And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pheltias the son of Banaias died: and I fell down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice: and said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God: wilt thou make an end of all the remnant of Israel? ¹⁴And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁵Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren, thy kinsmen, and all the house of Israel, all they to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said: Get ye far from the Lord, the land is given in possession to us. ¹⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because I have removed them far off among the Gentiles, and because I have scattered them among the countries: I will be to them a little sanctuary in the countries whither they are come. ¹⁷Therefore speak to them: Thus saith the Lord God: I will gather you from among the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries wherein you are scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. ¹⁸And they shall go in thither, and shall take away all the scandals, and all the abominations thereof from thence. ¹⁹And I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh: ²⁰That they may walk in my commandments, and keep my judgments, and do them: and that they may be my people, and I may be their God. ²¹But as for them whose heart walketh after their scandals and abominations, I will lay their way upon their head, saith the Lord God. ²²And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and the wheels with them: and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. ²³And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood over the mount that is on the east side of the city. ²⁴And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into Chaldea, to them of the captivity, in vision, by the spirit of God: and the vision which I had seen was taken up from me. ²⁵And I spoke to them of the captivity all the words of the Lord, which he had shewn me.

Chapter 12

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house: who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a provoking house. ³Thou, therefore, O son of man, prepare thee all necessaries for removing, and remove by day in their sight: and thou shalt remove out of thy place to another place in their sight, if so be they will regard it: for they are a provoking house. ⁴And thou shalt bring forth thy furniture as the furniture of one that is removing by day in their sight: and thou shalt go forth in the evening in their presence, as one goeth forth that removeth his dwelling. ⁵Dig thee a way through the wall before their eyes: and thou shalt go forth through it. ⁶In their sight thou shalt be carried out upon men's shoulders, thou shalt be carried out in the dark: thou shalt cover thy face, and shalt not see the ground: for I have set thee for a sign of things to come to the house of Israel. ⁷I did therefore as he had commanded me: I brought forth my goods by day, as the goods of one that removeth: and in the evening I digged through the wall with my hand: and I went forth in the dark, and was carried on men's shoulders in their sight. ⁸And the word of the Lord came to me in the morning, saying: ⁹Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the provoking house, said to thee: What art thou doing? ¹⁰Say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: This burden concerneth my prince that is in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel, that are among them. ¹¹Say: I am a sign of things to come to you: as I have done, so shall it be done to them: they shall be removed from their dwellings, and go into captivity. ¹²And the prince that is in the midst of them, shall be carried on shoulders, he shall go forth in the dark: they shall dig through the wall to bring him out: his face shall be covered, that he may not see the ground with his eyes. ¹³And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my net: and I will bring him into Babylon, into the land of the Chaldeans, and he shall not see it, and there he shall die. ¹⁴And all that are about him, his guards, and his troops I will scatter into every wind: and I will draw out the sword after them. ¹⁵And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have dispersed them among the nations, and scattered them in the countries. ¹⁶And I will leave a few men of them from the sword, and from the famine, and from the pestilence: that they may declare all their wicked deeds among the nations whither they shall go: and they shall know that I am the Lord. ¹⁷And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁸Son of man, eat thy bread in trouble: and drink thy water in hurry and sorrow. ¹⁹And say to the people of the land: Thus saith the Lord God to them that dwell in Jerusalem in the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread in care, and drink their water in desolation: that the land may become desolate from the multitude that is therein, for the iniquity of all that dwell therein. ²⁰And the cities that are now inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate: and you shall know that I am the Lord. ²¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²²Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel? saying: The days shall be prolonged, and every vision shall fail. ²³Say to them therefore: Thus saith the Lord God: I will make this proverb to cease, neither shall it be any more a common saying in Israel: and tell them that the days are at hand, and the effect of every vision. ²⁴For there shall be no more any vain visions, nor doubtful divination in the midst of the children of Israel. ²⁵For I the Lord will speak: and what word soever I shall speak, it shall come to pass, and shall not be prolonged any more: but in your days, ye provoking house, I will speak the word, and will do it, saith the Lord God. ²⁶And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²⁷Son of man, behold the house of Israel, they that say: The vision that this man seeth, is for many days to come: and this men prophesieth of times afar off. ²⁸Therefore say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Not one word of mine shall be prolonged any more: the word that I shall speak shall be accomplished, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 13

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, prophesy thou against the prophets of Israel that prophesy: and thou shalt say to them that prophesy out of their own heart: Hear ye the word of the Lord: ³Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit, and see nothing. ⁴Thy prophets, O Israel, were like foxes in the deserts. ⁵You have not gone up to face the enemy, nor have you set up a wall for the house of Israel, to stand in battle in the day of the Lord. ⁶They see vain things, and they foretell lies, saying: The Lord saith: whereas the Lord hath not sent them: and they have persisted to confirm what they have said. ⁷Have you not seen a vain vision and spoken a lying divination: and you say: The Lord saith: whereas I have not spoken. ⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have spoken vain things, and have seen lies: therefore behold I come against you, saith the Lord God. ⁹And my hand shall be upon the prophets that see vain things, and that 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 you shall know that I am the Lord God. ¹⁰Because they have deceived my people, saying: Peace, and there is no peace: and the people built up a wall, and they daubed it with dirt without straw. ¹¹Say to them that daub without tempering, that it shall fall: for there shall be an overflowing shower, and I will cause great hailstones to fall violently from above, and a stormy wind to throw it down. ¹²Behold, when the wall is fallen: shall it not be said to you: Where is the daubing wherewith you have daubed it? ¹³Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Lo, I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in my indignation, and there shall be an overflowing shower in my anger: and great hailstones in my wrath to consume. ¹⁴And I will break down the wall that you have daubed with untempered mortar: and I will make it even with the ground, and the foundation thereof shall be laid bare: and it shall fall, and shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹⁵And I will accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that daub it without tempering the mortar, and I will say to you: The wall is no more, and they that daub it are no more. ¹⁶Even the prophets of Israel that prophesy to Jerusalem, and that see visions of peace for her: and there is no peace, saith the Lord God. ¹⁷And thou, son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people that prophesy out of their own heart: and do thou prophesy against them, ¹⁸And say: Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to them that sew cushions under every elbow: and make pillows for the heads of persons of every age to catch souls: and when they caught the souls of my people, they gave life to their souls. ¹⁹And they violated me among my people, for a handful of barley, and a piece of bread, to kill souls which should not die, and to save souls alive which should not live, telling lies to my people that believe lies. ²⁰Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I declare against your cushions, wherewith you catch flying souls: and I will tear them off from your arms: and I will let go the souls that you catch, the souls that should fly. ²¹And I will tear your pillows, and will deliver my people out of your hand, neither shall they be any more in your hands to be a prey: and you shall know that I am the Lord. ²²Because with lies you have made the heart of the just to mourn, whom I have not made sorrowful: and have strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his evil way, and live. ²³Therefore you shall not see vain things, nor divine divinations any more, and I will deliver my people out of your hand: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 14

¹And some of the ancients of Israel came to me, and sat before me. ²And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ³Son of man, these men have placed their uncleannesses in their hearts, and have set up before their face the stumblingblock of their iniquity : and shall I answer when they inquire of me? ⁴Therefore speak to them, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Man, man of the house of Israel that shall place his uncleannesses in his heart, and set up the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and shall come to the prophet inquiring of me by him: I the Lord will answer him according to the multitude of his uncleannesses: ⁵That the house of Israel may be caught in their own heart, with which they have departed from me through all their idols. ⁶Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Be converted, and depart from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. ⁷For every man of the house of Israel, and every stranger among the proselytes in Israel, if he separate himself from me, and place his idols in his heart, and set the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and come to the prophet to inquire of me by him: I the Lord will answer him by myself. ⁸And I will set my face against that man, and will make him an example, and a proverb, and will cut him off from the midst of my people: and you shall know that I am the Lord. ⁹And when the prophet shall err, and speak a word: I the Lord have deceived that prophet: and I will stretch forth my hand upon him, and will cut him off from the midst of my people Israel. ¹⁰And they shall bear their iniquity: according to the iniquity of him that inquireth, so shall the iniquity of the prophet be. ¹¹That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, nor be polluted with all their transgressions: but may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord of hosts. ¹²And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹³Son of man, when a land shall sin against me, so as to transgress grievously, I will stretch forth my hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof: and I will send famine upon it, and will destroy man and beast out of it. ¹⁴And if these three men, Noe, Daniel, and Job, shall be in it: they shall deliver their own souls by their justice, saith the Lord of hosts. ¹⁵And if I shall bring mischievous beasts also upon the land to waste it, and it be desolate, so that there is none that can pass because of the beasts: ¹⁶If these three men shall be in it, as I live, saith the Lord, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters: but they only shall be delivered, and the land shall be made desolate. ¹⁷Or if I bring the sword upon that land, and say to the sword: Pass through the land: and I destroy man and beast out of it: ¹⁸And these three men be in the midst thereof: as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they themselves alone shall be delivered. ¹⁹Or if I also send the pestilence upon that land, and pour out my indignation upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: ²⁰And Noe, and Daniel, and Job be in the midst thereof: as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter: but they shall only deliver their own souls by their justice. ²¹For thus saith the Lord: Although I shall send in upon Jerusalem my four grievous judgments, the sword, and the famine, and the mischievous beasts, and the pestilence, to destroy out of it man and beast, ²²Yet there shall be left in it some that shall be saved, who shall bring away their sons and daughters: behold they shall come among you, and you shall see their way, and their doings: and you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, in all things that I have brought upon it. ²³And they shall comfort you, when you shall see their ways, and their doings : and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 15

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, what shall be made of the wood of the vine, out of all the trees of the woods that are among the trees of the forests? ³Shall wood be taken of if, to do any work, or shall a pin be made of it for any vessel to hang thereon? ⁴Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel: the fire hath consumed both ends thereof, and the midst thereof is reduced to ashes: shall it be useful for any work? ⁵Even when it was whole it was not fit for work: how much less, when the fire hath devoured and consumed it, shall any work be made of it? ⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As the vine tree among the trees of the forests which I have given to the fire to be consumed, so will I deliver up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ⁷And I will set my face against them: they shall go out from fire, and fire shall consume them : and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have set my face against them. ⁸And I shall have made their land a wilderness, and desolate, because they have been transgressors, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 16

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations. ³And thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God to Jerusalem: Thy root, and thy nativity is of the land of Chanaan, thy father was an Amorrhite, and thy mother a Cethite. ⁴And when thou wast born, in the day of thy nativity thy navel wits not cut, neither wast thou washed with water for thy health, nor salted with salt, nor swaddled with clouts. ⁵No eye had pity on thee to do any of these things for thee, out of compassion to thee: but thou wast cast out upon the face of the earth in the abjection of thy soul, in the day that thou wast born. ⁶And passing by thee, I saw that thou wast trodden under foot in thy own blood. and I said to thee when thou wast in thy blood: Live: I have said to thee: Live in thy blood. ⁷I caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field: and thou didst increase and grow great, and advancedst, and camest to woman's ornament: thy breasts were fashioned, and thy hair grew: and thou wast naked, and full of confusion. ⁸And I passed by thee, and saw thee: and behold thy time was the time of lovers : and I spread my garment over thee, and covered thy ignominy. And I swore to thee, and I entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God: and thou becamest mine. ⁹And I washed thee with water, and cleansed away thy blood from thee: and I anointed thee with oil. ¹⁰And I clothed thee with embroidery, and shed thee with violet coloured shoes : and I girded thee about with fine linen, and clothed thee with fine garments. ¹¹I decked thee also with ornaments, and put bracelets on thy hands, and a chain about thy neck. ¹²And I put a jewel upon thy forehead and earrings in thy ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head. ¹³And thou wast adorned with gold, and silver, and wast clothed with fine linen, and embroidered work, and many colours: thou didst eat fine hour, and honey, and oil, and wast made exceeding beautiful: and wast advanced to be a queen. ¹⁴And thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty: for thou wast perfect through my beauty, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. ¹⁵But trusting in thy beauty, thou playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and thou hast prostituted thyself to every passenger, to be his. ¹⁶And taking of thy garments thou hast made thee high places sewed together on each side: and hast played the harlot upon them, as hath not been done before, nor shall be hereafter. ¹⁷And thou tookest thy beautiful vessels, of my gold, and my silver, which I gave thee, and thou madest thee images of men, and hast committed fornication with them. ¹⁸And thou tookest thy garments of divers colours, and coveredst them : and settest my oil and my sweet incense before them. ¹⁹And my bread which I gave thee, the fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast set before them for a sweet odour; and it was done, saith the Lord God. ²⁰And thou hast taken thy sons, and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne to me: and best sacrificed the same to them to be devoured. Is thy fornication small? ²¹Thou hast sacrificed and given my children to them, consecrating them by fire. ²²And after all thy abominations, and fornications, thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked, and full of confusion, trodden under foot in thy own blood. ²³And it came to pass after all thy wickedness (woe, woe to thee, saith the Lord God) ²⁴That thou didst also build thee a common stew, and madest thee a brothel house in every street. ²⁵At every head of the way thou hast set up a sign of thy prostitution: and hast made thy beauty to be abominable: and hast prostituted thyself to every one that passed by, and hast multiplied thy fornications. ²⁶And thou hast committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, men of large bodies, and hast multiplied thy fornications to provoke me. ²⁷Behold, I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and will take away thy justification: and I will deliver thee up to the will of the daughters of the Philistines that hate thee, that are ashamed of thy wicked way. ²⁸Thou hast also committed fornication with the Assyrians, because thou wast not yet satisfied: and after thou hadst played the harlot with them, even so thou wast not contented. ²⁹Thou hast also multiplied thy fornications in the land of Chanaan with the Chaldeans: and neither so wast then satisfied. ³⁰Wherein shall I cleanse thy heart, saith the Lord God: seeing thou dost all these the works of a shameless prostitute? ³¹Because thou hast built thy brothel house at the head of every way, and thou hast made thy high place in every street: and wast not as a harlot that by disdain enhanceth her price, ³²But as an adulteress, that bringeth in strangers over her husband. ³³Gifts are given to all harlots: but thou hast given hire to all thy lovers, and thou hast given them gifts to come to thee from every side, to commit fornication with thee. ³⁴And it hath happened in thee contrary to the custom of women in thy fornications, and after thee there shall be no such fornication: for in that thou gavest rewards, and didst not take rewards, the contrary hath been done in thee. ³⁵Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord. ³⁶Thus saith the Lord God: Because thy money hath been poured out, and thy shame discovered through thy fornications with thy lovers, and with the idols of thy abominations, by the blood of thy children whom thou gavest them: ³⁷Behold, I will gather together all thy lovers with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all whom thou hast loved, with all whom thou hast hated: and I will gather them together against thee on every side, and will discover thy shame in their sight, and they shall see all thy nakedness. ³⁸And I will judge thee as adulteresses, and they that shed blood are judged: and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. ³⁹And I will deliver thee into their hands, and they shall destroy thy brothel house, and throw down thy stews: and they shall strip thee of thy garments, and shall take away the vessels of thy beauty: and leave thee naked, and full of disgrace. ⁴⁰And they shall bring upon thee a multitude, and they shall stone thee with stones, and shall slay thee with their swords. ⁴¹41And they shall burn thy houses with fire, and shall execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and thou shalt cease from fornication, and shalt give no hire any more. ⁴²And my indignation shall rest in thee: and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will cease and be angry no more. ⁴³Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast provoked me in all these things: wherefore I also have turned thy ways upon thy head, saith the Lord God, and I have not done according to thy wicked deeds in all thy abominations. ⁴⁴Behold every one that useth a common proverb, shall use this against thee, saying: As the mother was, so also is her daughter. ⁴⁵Thou art thy mother's daughter, that cast off her husband, and her children: and thou art the sister of thy sisters, who cast off their husbands, and their children: your mother was a Cethite, and your father an Amorrhite. ⁴⁶And thy elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister that dwelleth at thy right hand is Sodom, and her daughters. ⁴⁷But neither hast thou walked in their ways, nor hast thou done a little less than they according to their wickednesses: thou hast done almost more wicked things than they in all thy ways ⁴⁸as I live, saith the Lord God, thy sister Sodom herself, and her daughters, have not done as thou hast done, and thy daughters. ⁴⁹Behold this was the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance, and the idleness of her, and of her daughters: and they did not put forth their hand to the needy, and to the poor. ⁵⁰And they were lifted up, and committed abominations before me: and I took them away as thou hast seen. ⁵¹And Samaria committed not half thy sins: but thou hast surpassed them with thy crimes, and hast justified thy sisters by all thy abominations which thou hast done. ⁵²Therefore do thou also bear thy confusion, thou that hast surpassed thy sisters with thy sine, doing more wickedly than they: for they are justified above thee, therefore be thou also confounded, and bear thy shame, thou that hast justified thy sisters. ⁵³And I will bring back and restore them by bringing back Sodom, with her daughters, and by bringing back Samaria, and her daughters: and I will bring those that return of thee in the midst of them. ⁵⁴That thou mayest bear thy shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, comforting them. ⁵⁵And thy sister Sodom and her daughters shall return to their ancient state: and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their ancient state: and thou and thy daughters shall return to your ancient state. ⁵⁶And Sodom thy sister was not heard of in thy mouth, in the day of thy pride, ⁵⁷Before thy malice was laid open: as it is at this time, making thee a reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all the daughters of Palestine round about thee, that encompass thee on all sides. ⁵⁸Thou hast borne thy wickedness, and thy disgrace, saith the Lord God. ⁵⁹For thus saith the Lord God: I will deal with thee, as thou hast despised the oath, in breaking the covenant: ⁶⁰And I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth: and I will establish with thee an everlasting covenant. ⁶¹And thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed: when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thy elder 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 shalt know that I am the Lord, ⁶³That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and mayest no more open thy mouth because of thy confusion, when I shall be pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 17

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel, ³And say: Thus saith the Lord God: A large eagle with great wings, long-limbed, full of feathers, and of variety, came to Libanus, and took away the marrow of the cedar. ⁴He cropped off the top of the twigs thereof: and carried it away into the land of Chanaan, and he set it in a city of merchants. ⁵And he took of the seed of the land, and put it in the ground for seed, that it might take a firm root over many waters: he planted it on the surface of the earth. ⁶And it sprung up and grew into a spreading vine of low stature, and the branches thereof looked towards him: and the roots thereof were under him. So it became a vine, and grew into branches, and shot forth sprigs. ⁷And there was another large eagle, with great wings, and many feathers: and behold this vine, bending as it were her roots towards him, stretched forth her branches to him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation. ⁸It was planted in a good ground upon many waters, that it might bring forth branches, and bear fruit, that it might become a large vine. ⁹Say thou: Thus saith the Lord God: Shall it prosper then? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and strip off its fruit, and dry up all the branches it hath shot forth, and make it wither: and this without a strong arm, or many people, to pluck it up by the root? ¹⁰Behold, it is planted: shall it prosper then? shall it not be dried up when the burning wind shall touch it, and shall it not wither in the furrows where it grew? ¹¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹²Say to the provoking house: Know you not what these things mean? Tell them: Behold the king of Babylon cometh to Jerusalem: and he shall take away the king and the princes thereof, and carry them with him to Babylon. ¹³And he shall take one of the king's seed, and make a covenant with him, and take an oath of him. Yea, and he shall take away the mighty men of the land, ¹⁴That it may be a low kingdom and not lift itself up, but keep his covenant, and observe it. ¹⁵But he hath revolted from him and sent ambassadors to Egypt, that it might give him horses, and much people. And shall he that hath done thus prosper, or be saved? and shall he escape that hath broken the covenant? ¹⁶As I live, saith the Lord God: In the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he hath made void, and whose covenant he broke, even in the midst of Babylon shall he die. ¹⁷And not with a great army, nor with much people shall Pharao fight against him: when he shall cast up mounts, and build forts, to cut off many souls. ¹⁸For he had despised the oath, breaking his covenant, and behold he hath given his hand: and having done all these things, he shall not escape. ¹⁹Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As I live, I will lay upon his head the oath he hath despised, and the covenant he hath broken. ²⁰And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my net: and I will bring him into Babylon, and will judge him there for the transgression by which he hath despised me. ²¹And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword: and the residue shall be scattered into every wind: and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken. ²²Thus saith the Lord God: I myself will take of the marrow of the high cedar, and will set it: I will crop off a tender twig from the top of the branches thereof, and I will plant it on a mountain high and eminent. ²³On the high mountains of Israel will I plant it, and it shall shoot forth into branches, and shall bear fruit, and it shall become a great cedar: and all birds shall dwell under it, and every fowl shall make its nest under the shadow of the branches thereof. ²⁴And all the trees of the country shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, and exalted the low tree: and have dried up the green tree, and have caused the dry tree to flourish. I the Lord have spoken and have done it.

Chapter 18

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What is the meaning? ²That you use among you this parable as a proverb in the land of Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge. ³As I live, saith the Lord God, this parable shall be no more to you a 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 sinneth, the same shall die. ⁵And if a man be just, and do judgment and justice, ⁶And hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel: and hath not defiled his neighbour's wife, nor come near to a menstruous woman: ⁷And hath not wronged any man: but hath restored the pledge to the debtor, hath taken nothing away by violence: hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment: ⁸Hath not lent upon usury, nor taken any increase: hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, and hath executed true judgment between man and man: ⁹Hath walked in my commandments, and kept my judgments, to do truth: he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God. ¹⁰And if he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that hath done some one of these things: ¹¹Though he doth not all these things, but that eateth upon the mountains, and that defileth his neighbour's wife: ¹²That grieveth the needy and the poor, that taketh away by violence, that restoreth not the pledge, and that lifteth up his eyes to idols, that committeth abomination: ¹³That giveth upon usury, and that taketh an increase: shall such a one live? he shall not live. Seeing he hath done all these detestable things, he shall surely die, his blood shall be upon him. ¹⁴But if he beget a son, who, seeing all his father's sine, which he hath done, is afraid, and shall not do the like to them : ¹⁵That hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and hath not defiled his neighbour's wife: ¹⁶And hath not grieved any man, nor withholden the pledge, nor taken away with violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and covered the naked with a garment: ¹⁷That hath turned away his hand from injuring the poor, hath not taken usury and increase, but hath executed my judgments, and hath walked in my commandments: this man shall not die for the iniquity of his father, but living he shall live. ¹⁸As for his father, because he oppressed and offered violence to his brother, and wrought evil in the midst of his people, behold he is dead in his own iniquity. ¹⁹And you say: Why hath not the son borne the iniquity of his father? Verily, because the son hath wrought judgment and justice, hath kept all my commandments, and done them, living, he shall live. ²⁰The soul that sinneth, the same shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son: the justice of the just shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. ²¹But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. ²²I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live. ²³Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? ²⁴But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? all his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: in the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die. ²⁵And you have said: The way of the Lord is not right. Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel: Is it my way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? ²⁶For when the just turneth himself away from his justice, and committeth iniquity, he shall die therein: in the injustice that he hath wrought he shall die. ²⁷And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment, and justice: he shall save his soul alive. ²⁸Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die. ²⁹And the children of Israel say: The way of the Lord is not right. Are not my ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse? ³⁰Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God. Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin. ³¹Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die, O house of Israel? ³²For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live.

Chapter 19

¹Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, ²And say: Why did thy mother the lioness lie down among the lions, and bring up her whelps in the midst of young lions? ³And she brought out one of her whelps, and he became a lion: and he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men. ⁴And the nations heard of him, and took him, but not without receiving wounds: and they brought him in chains into the land of Egypt. ⁵But she seeing herself weakened, and that her hope was lost, took one of her young lions, and set him up for a lion. ⁶And he went up and down among the lions, and became a lion: and he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men. ⁷He learned to make widows, and to lay waste their cities: and the land became desolate, and the fulness thereof by the noise of his roaring. ⁸And the nations Game together against him on every side out of the provinces, and they spread their net over him, in their wounds he was taken. ⁹And they put him into a cage, they brought him in chains to the king of Babylon: and they cast him into prison, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel. ¹⁰Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood planted by the water: her fruit and her branches have grown out of many waters. ¹¹And she hath strong rods to make sceptres for them that bear rule, and her stature was exalted among the branches: and she saw her height in the multitude of her branches. ¹²But she was plucked up in wrath, and cast on the ground, and the burning wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods are withered, and dried up: the fire hath devoured her. ¹³And now she is transplanted into the desert, in a land not passable, and dry. ¹⁴And a fire is gone out from a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit: so that she now hath no strong rod, to be a sceptre of rulers. This is a lamentation, and it 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: there came men of the ancients of Israel to inquire of the Lord, and they sat before me. ²And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ³Son of man, speak to the ancients of Israel, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Are you come to inquire of me? As I live, I will not answer you, saith the Lord God. ⁴If thou judgest them, if thou judgest, son of man, declare to them the abominations of their fathers. ⁵And say to them: Thus saith the Lord God : In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand for the race of the house of Jacob: and appeared to them in the land of Egypt, and lifted up my hand for them, saying: I am the Lord your God: ⁶In that day I lifted up my hand for them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt, into a land which I had provided for them, flowing with milk and honey, which excelleth amongst all lands. ⁷And I said to them: Let every man cast away the scandals of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. ⁸But they provoked me, and would not hearken to me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of his eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: and I said I would pour out my indignation upon them, and accomplish my wrath against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. ⁹But I did otherwise for my name's sake, that it might not be violated before the nations, in the midst of whom they were, and among whom I made myself known to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰Therefore I brought them out from the land of Egypt, and brought them into the desert. ¹¹And I gave them my statutes, and I shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them. ¹²Moreover I gave them also my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them: and that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. ¹³But the house of Israel provoked me in the desert: they walked not in my statutes, and they cast away my judgments, which if a man do he shall live in them: and they grievously violated my sabbaths. I said therefore that I would pour out my indignation upon them in the desert, and would consume them. ¹⁴But I spared them for the sake of my name, lest it should be profaned before the nations, from which I brought them out, in their sight. ¹⁵So I lifted up my hand over them in the desert, not to bring them into the land which I had given them flowing with milk and honey, the best of all lands. ¹⁶Because they cast off my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, and violated my sabbaths: for their heart went after idols. ¹⁷Yet my eye spared them, so that I destroyed them not: neither did I consume them in the desert. ¹⁸And I said to their children in the wilderness: Walk not in the statutes of your fathers, and observe not their judgments, nor be ye defiled with their idols: ¹⁹I am the Lord your God: walk ye in my statutes, and observe my judgments, and do them. ²⁰And sanctify my sabbaths, that they may be a sign between me and you: and that you may know that I am the Lord your God. ²¹But their children provoked me, they walked not in my commandments, nor observed my judgments to do them: which if a man do, he shell live in them: and they violated my sabbaths: and I threatened to pour out my indignation upon them, and to accomplish my wrath in them in the desert. ²²But I turned away my hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it might not be violated before the nations, out of which I brought them forth in their sight. ²³Again I lifted up my hand upon them in the wilderness, to disperse them among the nations, and scatter them through the countries : ²⁴Because they had not done my judgments, and had cast off my statutes, and had violated my sabbaths, and their eyes had been after the idols of their fathers. ²⁵Therefore I also gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments, in which they shall not live. ²⁶And I polluted them in their own gifts, when they offered all that opened the womb, for their offences: and they shall know that I am the Lord. ²⁷Wherefore speak to the house of Israel, O son of man, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Moreover in this also your fathers blasphemed me, when they had despised and contemned me; ²⁸And I had brought them into the land, for which I lifted up my hand to give it them: they saw every high hill, and every shady tree, and there they sacrificed their victims: and there they presented the provocation of their offerings, and there they set their sweet odours, and poured forth their libations. ²⁹And I said to them: What meaneth the high place to which you go? and the name thereof was called High-place even to this day. ³⁰Wherefore say to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Verily, you are defiled in the way of your fathers, and you commit fornication with their abominations. ³¹And you defile yourselves with all your: idols unto this day, in the offering of your gifts, when you make your children pass through the fire: and shall I answer you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not answer you. ³²Neither shall the thought of your mind come to pass, by which you say: We will be as the Gentiles, and as the families of the earth, to worship stocks and stones. ³³As I live, saith the Lord God, I will reign over you with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. ³⁴And I will bring you out from the people, and I will gather you out of the countries, in which you are scattered, I will reign over you with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. ³⁵And I will bring you into the wilderness of people, and there will I plead with you face to face. ³⁶As I pleaded against your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt; even so will I judge you, saith the Lord God. ³⁷And I will make you subject to my sceptre, and will bring you into the bands of the covenant. ³⁸And I will pick out from among you the transgressors, and the wicked, and will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and you shall know that I am the Lord. ³⁹And as for you, O house of Israel: thus saith the Lord God: Walk ye every one after your idols, and serve them. But if in this also you hear me not, but defile my holy name any more with your gifts, and with your idols; ⁴⁰In my holy mountain, in the high mountain of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel serve me; all of them I say, in the land in which they shall please me, and there will I require your firstfruits, and the chief of your tithes with all your sanctifications. ⁴¹I will accept of you for an odour of sweetness, when I shall have brought you out from the people, and shall have gathered you out of the lands into which you are scattered, and I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations. ⁴²And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have brought you into the land of Israel, into the land for which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers. ⁴³And there you shall remember your ways, and all your wicked doings with which you have been defiled; and you shall be displeased with yourselves in your own sight, for all your wicked deeds which you committed. ⁴⁴And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have done well by you for my own name's sake, and not according to your evil ways, nor according to your wicked deeds, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God. ⁴⁵And the word of the Lord came to me, saying : ⁴⁶Son of man, set thy face against the way of the south, and drop towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field. ⁴⁷And any to the south forest: Hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will kindle a fire in thee, and will burn in thee every green tree, and every dry tree: the dame of the fire shall not be quenched: and every face shall be burned in it, from the south even to the north. ⁴⁸And all flesh shall see, that I the Lord have kindled it, and it shall not be quenched. ⁴⁹And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God: they say of me: Doth not this man speak by parables?

Chapter 21

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and let thy speech flow towards the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel: ³And say to the land of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off in thee the just, and the wicked. ⁴And forasmuch as I have cut off in thee the just, and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh, from the south even to the north. ⁵That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn my sword out of its sheath not to be turned back. ⁶And thou, son of man, mourn with the breaking of thy loins, and with bitterness sigh before them. ⁷And when they shall say to thee: Why mournest thou? thou shalt say: For that which I hear: because it cometh, and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be made feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and water shall run down every knee: behold it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord God. ⁸And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ⁹Son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Say: The sword, the sword is sharpened, and furbished. ¹⁰It is sharpened to kill victims: it is furbished that it may glitter: thou removest the sceptre of my son, thou hast cut down every tree. ¹¹And I have given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, that it may be in the hand of the slayer. ¹²Cry, and howl, son of man, for this sword is upon my people, it is upon all the princes of Israel, that are fled: they are delivered up to the sword with my people, strike therefore upon thy thigh, ¹³Because it is tried: and that when it shall overthrow the sceptre, and it shall not be, saith the Lord God. ¹⁴Thou therefore, O son of man, prophesy, and strike thy hands together, and let the sword be doubled, and let the sword of the slain be tripled: this is the sword of a great slaughter, that maketh them stand amazed, ¹⁵And languish in heart, and that multiplieth ruins. In all their gates I have set the dread of the sharp sword, the sword that is furbished to glitter, that is made ready for slaughter. ¹⁶Be thou sharpened, go to the right hand, or to the left, which way soever thou hast a mind to set thy face. ¹⁷And I will clap my hands together, and will satisfy my indignation: I the Lord have spoken. ¹⁸And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁹And thou son of man, set thee two ways, for the sword of the king of Babylon to come: both shall come forth out of one land: and with his hand he shall draw lots, he shall consult at the head of the way of the city. ²⁰Thou shalt make a way that the sword may come to Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and to Juda unto Jerusalem the strong city. ²¹For the king of Babylon stood in the highway, at the head of two ways, seeking divination, shuffling arrows: he inquired of the idols, and consulted entrails. ²²On his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in slaughter, to lift up the voice in howling, to set engines against the gates, to cast up a mount, to build forts. ²³And he shall be in their eyes as one consulting the oracle in vain, and imitating the leisure of sabbaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity that they may be taken. ²⁴Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have remembered your iniquity, and have discovered your prevarications, and your sins have appeared in all your devices: because, I say, you have remembered, you shall be taken with the hand. ²⁵But thou profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come that hath been appointed in the time of iniquity: ²⁶Thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, take off the crown: is it not this that hath exalted the low one, and brought down him that was high? ²⁷I will shew it to be iniquity, iniquity, iniquity: but this was not done till he came to whom judgment belongeth, and I will give it him. ²⁸And thou son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach, and thou shalt say: sword, O sword, come out of the scabbard to kill, be furbished to destroy, and to glitter, ²⁹Whilst they see vain things in thy regard, and they divine lies: to bring thee upon the necks of the wicked that are wounded, whose appointed day is come in the time of iniquity. ³⁰Return into thy sheath. I will judge thee in the place wherein thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity. ³¹And I will pour out upon thee my indignation: in the fire of my rage will I blow upon thee, and will give thee into the hands of men that are brutish and contrive thy destruction. ³²Thou shalt be fuel for the fire, thy blood shall be in the midst of the land, thou shalt be forgotten: for I the Lord have spoken it.

Chapter 22

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²And thou son of man, dost thou not judge, dost thou not judge the city of blood? ³And thou shalt shew her all her abominations, and shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God: This is the city that sheddeth blood in the midst of her, that her time may come: and that hath made idols against herself, to defile herself. ⁴Thou art become guilty in thy blood which thou hast shed: and thou art defiled in thy idols which thou hast made: and thou hast made thy days to draw near, and hast brought on the time of thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach to the Gentiles, and a mockery to all countries. ⁵Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall triumph over thee: thou filthy one, infamous, great in destruction. ⁶Behold the princes of Israel, every one hath employed his arm in thee to shed blood. ⁷They have abused father and mother in thee, they have oppressed the stranger in the midst of thee, they have grieved the fatherless and widow in thee. ⁸Thou hast despised my sanctuaries, and profaned my sabbaths. ⁹Slanderers have been in thee to shed blood, and they have eaten upon the mountains in thee, they have committed wickedness in the midst of thee. ¹⁰They have discovered the nakedness of their father in thee, they have humbled the uncleanness of the menstruous woman in thee. ¹¹And every one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife, and the father in law hath wickedly defiled his daughter in law, the brother hath oppressed his sister the daughter of his father in thee. ¹²They have taken gifts in thee to shed blood: thou hast taken usury and increase, and hast covetously oppressed thy neighbours: and then hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God. ¹³Behold, I have clapped my hands at thy covetousness, which thou hast exercised and at the blood that hath been shed: In the midst of thee. ¹⁴Shall thy heart endure, or shall thy hands prevail ill the days which I will bring upon thee: I the Lord have spoken, and will do it. ¹⁵And I will disperse thee in the nations, and will scatter thee among the countries, and I will put an end to thy uncleanness in thee. ¹⁶And I will possess thee in the sight of the Gentiles, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. ¹⁷And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁸Son of man, the house of Israel is become dress to me: all these are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace: they are become the dress of silver. ¹⁹Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you are all turned into dress, therefore behold I will gather you together in the midst of Jerusalem. ²⁰As they gather silver, and brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the furnace: that I may kindle a fire in it to melt it: so will I gather you together in my fury and in my wrath, and will take my rest, and I will melt you down. ²¹And I will gather you together, and will burn you in the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst thereof. ²²As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be in the midst thereof: and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have poured out my indignation upon you. ²³And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²⁴Son of man, say to her: Thou art a land that is unclean, and not rained upon in the day of wrath. ²⁵There is a conspiracy of prophets in the midst thereof: like a lion that roareth and catcheth the prey, they have devoured souls, they have taken riches and hire, they have made many widows in the midst thereof. ²⁶Her priests have despised my law, and have defiled my sanctuaries: they have put no difference between holy and profane: nor have distinguished between the polluted and the clean: and they have turned away their eyes from my sabbaths, and I was profaned in the midst of them. ²⁷Her princes in the midst of her, are like wolves ravening the prey to shed blood, and to destroy souls, and to run after gains through covetousness. ²⁸And her prophets have daubed them without tempering the mortar, seeing vain things, and divining lies unto them, saying: Thus saith the Lord God: when the Lord hath not spoken. ²⁹The people of the land have used oppression, and committed robbery: they afflicted the needy and poor, and they oppressed the stranger by calumny without judgment. ³⁰And I sought among them for a man that might set up a hedge, and stand in the gap before me in favour of the land, that I might not destroy it: and I found none. ³¹And I poured out my indignation upon them, in the fire of my wrath I consumed them: I have rendered their way upon their own head, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 23

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother. ³And they committed fornication in Egypt, in their youth they committed fornication: there were their breasts pressed down, and the teats of their virginity were bruised. ⁴And their names were Oolla the elder, and Ooliba her younger sister: and I took them, and they bore sons and daughters. Now for their names, Samaria is Oolla, and Jerusalem is Ooliba. ⁵And Oolla committed fornication against me, and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians that came to her, ⁶Who were clothed with blue, princes, and rulers, beautiful youths, all horsemen, mounted upon horses. ⁷And she committed her fornications with those chosen men, all sons of the Assyrians: and she defiled herself with the uncleanness of all them on whom she doted. ⁸Moreover also she did not forsake her fornications which she had committed in Egypt: for they also lay with her in her youth, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured out their fornication upon her. ⁹Therefore have I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the sons of the Assyrians, upon whose lust she doted. ¹⁰They discovered her disgrace, took away her sons and daughters, and slew her with the sword: and they became infamous women, and they executed judgments in her. ¹¹And when her sister Ooliba saw this, she was mad with lust more than she: and she carried her fornication beyond the fornication of her sister. ¹²Impudently prostituting herself to the children of the Assyrians, the princes, and rulers that came to her, clothed with divers colours, to the horsemen that rode upon horses, and to young men all of great beauty. ¹³And I saw that she was defiled, and that they both took one way. ¹⁴And she increased her fornications: and when she had seen men painted on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans set forth in colours, ¹⁵And girded with girdles about their reins, and with dyed turbans on their heads, the resemblance of all the captains, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, and of the land of the Chaldeans wherein they were born, ¹⁶She doted upon them with the lust of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them into Chaldea. ¹⁷And when the sons of Babylon were come to her to the bed of love, they defiled her with their fornications, and she was polluted by them, and her soul was glutted with them. ¹⁸And she discovered her fornications, and discovered her disgrace: and my soul was alienated from her, as my soul was alienated from her sister. ¹⁹For she multiplied her fornications, remembering the days of her youth, in which she played the harlot in the land of Egypt. ²⁰And she was mad with lust after lying with them whose flesh is as the flesh of asses: and whose issue as the issue of horses. ²¹And thou hast renewed the wickedness of thy youth, when thy breasts were pressed in Egypt, and the papa of thy virginity broken. ²²Therefore, Ooliba, thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will raise up against thee all thy lovers with whom thy soul hath been glutted: and I will gather them together against thee round about. ²³The children of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, the nobles, and the kings, and princes, all the sons of the Assyrians, beautiful young men, all the captains, and rulers, the princes of princes, and the renowned horsemen. ²⁴And they shall come upon thee well appointed with chariot and wheel, a multitude of people: they shall be armed against thee on every side with breastplate, and buckler, and helmet: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee by their judgments. ²⁵And I will set my jealousy against thee, which they shall execute upon thee with fury: they shall cut off thy nose and thy ears: and what remains shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons, and thy daughters, and thy residue shall be devoured by fire. ²⁶And they shall strip thee of thy garments, and take away the instruments of thy glory. ²⁷And I will put an end to thy wickedness in thee, and thy fornication brought out of the land of Egypt: neither shalt thou lift up thy eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more. ²⁸For thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver thee into the hands of them whom thou hatest, into their hands with whom thy soul hath been glutted. ²⁹And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and they shall take away all thy labours, and shall let thee go naked, and full of disgrace, and the disgrace of thy fornication shall be discovered, thy wickedness, and thy fornications. ³⁰They have done these things to thee, because thou hast played the harlot with the nations among which thou wast defiled with their idols. ³¹Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister, and I will give her cup into thy hand. ³²Thus saith the Lord God: Thou shalt drink thy sister's cup, deep, and wide: thou shalt be had in derision and scorn, which containeth very much. ³³Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness, and sorrow: with the cup of grief, and sadness, with the cup of thy sister Samaria. ³⁴And thou shalt drink it, and shalt drink it up even to the dregs, and thou shalt devour the fragments thereof, thou shalt rend thy breasts: because I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. ³⁵Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast forgotten me, and hast cast me off behind thy back, bear thou also thy wickedness, and thy fornications. ³⁶And the Lord spoke to me, saying: Son of man, dost thou judge Oolla, and Ooliba, and dost thou declare to them their wicked deeds? ³⁷Because they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and they have committed fornication with their idols: moreover also their children, whom they bore to me, they have offered to them to be devoured. ³⁸Yea, and they have done this to me. They polluted my sanctuary on the same day, and profaned my sabbaths. ³⁹And when they sacrificed their children to their idols, and went into my sanctuary the same day to profane it: they did these things even in the midst of my house. ⁴⁰They sent for men coming from afar, to whom they had sent a messenger: and behold they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, and didst paint thy eyes, and wast adorned with women's ornaments. ⁴¹Thou sattest on a very fine bed, and a table was decked before thee: whereupon thou didst set my incense, and my ointment. ⁴²And there was in her the voice of a multitude rejoicing: and to some that were brought of the multitude of men, and that came from the desert, they put bracelets on their hands, and beautiful crowns on their heads. ⁴³And I said to her that was worn out in her adulteries: Now will this woman still continue in her fornication. ⁴⁴And they went in to her, as to a harlot: so went they in unto Oolla, and Ooliba, wicked women. ⁴⁵They therefore are k just men: these shall judge them as adulteresses are judged, and as shedders of blood are judged: because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. ⁴⁶For thus saith the Lord God: Bring a multitude upon them, and deliver them over to tumult and rapine: ⁴⁷And lee the people stone them with stones, and let them be stabbed with their swords: they shall kill their sons and daughters, and their houses they shall burn with fire. ⁴⁸And I will take away wickedness out of the land: and all women shall learn, not to do according to the wickedness of them. ⁴⁹And they shall render your wickedness upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols: and you shall know that I am the Lord God.

Chapter 24

¹And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, saying: ²Son of man, write thee the name of this day, on which the king of Babylon hath set himself against Jerusalem to day. ³And thou shalt speak by a figure a parable to the provoking house, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Set on a pot, set it on, I say, and put water into it. ⁴Heap together into if the pieces thereof, every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder, choice pieces and full of bones. ⁵Take the fattest of the flock, and lay together piles of bones under it: the seething thereof is boiling hot, and the bones thereof are thoroughly sodden in the midst of it. ⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose rust is in it, and its rust is not gone out of it: cast it out piece by piece, there hath no lot fallen upon it. ⁷For her blood is in the midst of her, she hath shed it upon the smooth rock: she hath not shed it upon the ground, that it might be covered with dust. ⁸And that I might bring my indignation upon her, and take my vengeance: I have shed her blood upon the smooth rock, that it should not be covered. ⁹Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, of which I will make a great bonfire. ¹⁰Heap together the bones, which I will burn with Are: the flesh shall be consumed, and the whole composition shall be sodden, and the bones shall be consumed. ¹¹Then set it empty upon burning coals, that it may be hot, and the brass thereof may be melted: and let the filth of it be melted in the midst thereof, and let the rust of it be consumed. ¹²Great pains have been taken, and the great rust thereof is not gone out, not even by fire. ¹³Thy uncleanness is execrable: because I desired to cleanse thee, and thou art not cleansed from thy filthiness: neither shalt thou be cleansed, before I cause my indignation to rest in thee. ¹⁴I the Lord have spoken: it shall come to pass, and I will do it: I will not pass by, nor spare, nor be pacified: I will judge thee according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, saith the Lord. ¹⁵And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁶Son of man, behold I take from thee the desire of thy eyes with a stroke: and thou shalt not lament, nor weep : neither shall thy tears run down. ¹⁷Sigh in silence, make no mourning for the dead: let the tire of thy head be upon thee, and thy shoes on thy feet, and cover not thy face, nor eat the meat of mourners. ¹⁸So I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening: and I did in the morning as he had commanded me. ¹⁹And the people said to me: Why dost thou not tell us what these things mean that thou doest? ²⁰And I said to them: The word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²¹Speak to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will profane my sanctuary, the glory of your realm, and the thing that your eyes de sire, and for which your soul feareth: your sons, and your daughters, whom you have left, shall fall by the sword. ²²And you shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your faces, nor shall you eat the meat of mourners. ²³You shall have crowns on your heads, and shoes on your feet: you shall not lament nor weep, but you shall pine away for your iniquities, and every one shall sigh with his brother. ²⁴And Ezechiel shall be unto you for a sign of things to come: according to all that he hath done, so shall you do, when this shall come to pass: and you shall know that I am the Lord God. ²⁵And thou, O son of man, behold in the day wherein I will take away from them their strength, and the joy of their glory, and the desire of their eyes, upon which their souls rest, their sons and their daughters. ²⁶In that day when he that escapeth shall come to thee, to tell thee: ²⁷In that day, I say, shall thy mouth be opened to him that hath escaped, and thou shalt speak, and shalt be silent no more: and thou shalt be unto them for a sign of things to come, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 25

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, set thy face against the children of Ammon, and thou shalt prophesy of them. ³And thou shalt say to the children of Ammon: Hear ye the word of the Lord God: Thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast said: Ha, ha, upon my sanctuary, because it was profaned: and upon the land of Israel, because it was laid waste: and upon the house of Juda, because they are led into captivity: ⁴Therefore will I deliver thee to the men of the east for an inheritance, and they shall place their sheepcotes in thee, and shall set up their tents in thee: they shall eat thy fruits: and they shall drink thy milk. ⁵And I will make Rabbath a stable for camels, and the children of Ammon a couching place for flocks: and you shall know that I am the Lord. ⁶For thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast clapped thy hands and stamped with thy foot, and hast rejoiced with all thy heart against the land of Israel: ⁷Therefore behold I: will stretch forth my hand upon thee, and will deliver thee to be the spoil of nations, and will cut thee off from among the people, and destroy thee out of the lands, and break thee in pieces: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. ⁸Thus saith the Lord God: Because Moab and Seir have said: Behold the house of Juda is like all other nations: ⁹Therefore behold I will open the shoulder of Moab from the cities, from his cities, I say, and his borders, the noble cities of the land of Bethiesimoth, and Beelmeon, and Cariathaim, ¹⁰To the people of the east with the children of Ammon, and I will give it them for an inheritance: that there may be no more any remembrance of the children of Ammon among the nations. ¹¹And I will execute judgments in Moab: and they shall know that I am the Lord. ¹²Thus saith the Lord God: Because Edom hath taken vengeance to revenge herself of the children of Juda, and hath greatly offended, and hath sought revenge of them: ¹³Therefore thus saith the Lord God: I will stretch forth my hand upon Edom, and will take away out of it man and beast, and will make it desolate from the south: and they that are in Dedan 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 wrath, and my fury: and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God. ¹⁵Thus saith the Lord God: Because the Philistines have taken vengeance, and have revenged themselves with all their mind, destroying and satisfying old enmities : ¹⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will stretch forth my hand upon the Philistines, and will kill the killers, and will destroy the remnant of the sea coast. ¹⁷And I will execute great vengeance upon them, rebuking them in fury: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.

Chapter 26

¹And it came to pass in the eleventh year, the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, because Tyre hath said of Jerusalem: Aha, the gates of the people are broken, she is turned to me: I shall be filled, now she is laid waste. ³Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, O Tyre, and I will cause many nations to come up to thee, as the waves of the sea rise up. ⁴And they shall break down the walls of Tyre, and destroy the towers thereof: and I will scrape her dust from her, and make her like a smooth rock. ⁵She shall be a drying place for nets in the midst of the sea, because I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and she shall be a spoil to the nations. ⁶Her daughters also that are in the field, shall be slain by the sword: and they shall know that I am the Lord. ⁷For thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will bring against Tyre Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, the king of kings, from the north, with horses, and chariots, and horsemen, and companies, and much people. ⁸Thy daughters that are in the field, he shall kill with the sword: and he shall compass thee with forts, and shall cast up a mount round about: and he shall lift up the buckler against thee. ⁹And he shall set engines of mar and battering rams against thy walls, and shall destroy thy towers with his arms. ¹⁰By reason of the multitude of his horses, their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and wheels, and chariots, when they shall go in at thy gates, as by the entrance of a city that is destroyed. ¹¹With the hoofs of his horses he shall tread down all thy streets: thy people he shall kill with the sword, and thy famous statues shall fall to the ground. ¹²They shall waste thy riches, they shall make a spoil of thy merchandise: and they shall destroy thy walls, and pull down thy fine houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber, and thy dust in the midst of the waters. ¹³And I will make the multitude of thy songs to cease, and the sound of thy harps shall be heard no more. ¹⁴And I will make thee like a naked rock, then shalt be a drying place for nets, neither shalt thou be built any more: for I have spoken it, saith. the Lord God. ¹⁵Thus saith the Lord God to Tyre: Shall not the islands shake at the sound of thy fall, and the groans of thy slain when they shall be killed in the midst of thee? ¹⁶Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones: and take off their robes, and cast away their broidered garments, and be clothed with astonishment: they shall sit on the ground, and with amazement shall wonder at thy sudden fall. ¹⁷And taking up a lamentation over thee, they shall sag to thee: How art thou fallen, that dwellest in the sea, renowned city that wast strong in the sea, with thy inhabitants whom all did dread? ¹⁸Now shall the ships be astonished in the day of thy terror: and the islands in the sea shall be troubled because no one cometh out of thee. ¹⁹For thus saith the Lord God: When I shall make thee a desolate city like the cities that are not inhabited: and shall bring the deep upon thee, and many waters shall cover thee: ²⁰And when I shall bring thee down with those that descend into the pit to the everlasting people, and shall set thee in the lowest parts of the earth, as places desolate of old, with them that are brought down into the pit, that thou be not inhabited: and when I shall give glory in the land of the living, ²¹I will bring thee to nothing, and thou shalt not be, and if thou be sought for, thou shalt not be found any more for ever, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 27

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Thou therefore, O son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre: ³And say to Tyre that dwelleth at the entry of the sea, being the mart of the people for many islands: Thus saith the Lord God: O Tyre, thou hast said: I am of perfect beauty, ⁴And situate in the heart of the sea. Thy neighbours, that built thee, have perfected thy beauty: ⁵With fir trees of Sanir they have built thee with all sea planks: they have taken cedars from Libanus to make thee masts. ⁶They have cut thy oars out of the oaks of Basan: and they have made thee benches of Indian ivory and cabins with things brought from the islands of Italy. ⁷Fine broidered linen from Egypt was woven for thy sail, to be spread on thy mast: blue and purple from the islands of Elisa, were made thy covering. ⁸The inhabitants of Sidon, and the Arabians were thy rowers : thy wise men, O Tyre, were thy pilots. ⁹The ancients of Gebal, and the wise men thereof furnished mariners for the service of thy various furniture: all the ships of the sea, and their mariners were thy factors. ¹⁰The Persians, and Lydians, and the Libyans were thy soldiers in thy army: they hung up the buckler and the helmet in thee for thy ornament. ¹¹The men of Arad were with thy army upon thy walls round about: the Pygmeans also that were in thy towers, hung up their quivers on thy walls round about: they perfected thy beauty. ¹²The Carthaginians thy merchants supplied thy fairs with a multitude of all kinds of riches, with silver, iron, tin, and lead. ¹³Greece, Thubal, and Mosoch, they were thy merchants: they brought to thy people slaves and vessels of brass. ¹⁴From the house of Thogorma they brought horses, and horsemen, and mules to thy market. ¹⁵The men of Dedan were thy merchants: many islands were the traffic of thy hand, they exchanged for thy price teeth of ivory and ebony. ¹⁶The Syrian was thy merchant: by reason of the multitude of thy works, they set forth precious stones, and purple, and broidered works, and fine linen, and silk, and chodchod in thy market. ¹⁷Juda and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants with the best corn: they set forth balm, and honey, and oil, and rosin in thy fairs. ¹⁸The men of Damascus were thy merchants in the multitude of thy works, in the multitude of divers riches, in rich wine, in wool of the best colour. ¹⁹Dan, and Greece, and Mosel have set forth in thy marts wrought iron: stacte, and calamus were in thy market. ²⁰The men of Dedan were thy merchants in tapestry for seats. ²¹Arabia, and all the princes of Cedar, they were the merchants of thy hand: thy merchants came to thee with lambs, and rants, and kids. ²²The sellers of Saba, and Reema, they were thy merchants: with all the best spices, and precious stones, and gold, which they set forth in thy market. ²³Haran, and Chene, and Eden were thy merchants; Saba, Assur, and Chelmad sold to thee. ²⁴They were thy merchants in divers manners, with bales of blue cloth, and of embroidered work, and of precious riches, which were wrapped up and bound with cords: they had cedars also in thy merchandise. ²⁵The ships of the sea, were thy chief in thy merchandise : and thou wast replenished, and glorified exceedingly in the heart of the sea. ²⁶Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the south wind hath broken thee in the heart of the sea. ²⁷Thy riches, and thy treasures, and thy manifold furniture, thy mariners, and thy pilots, who kept thy goods, and were chief over thy people: thy men of war also, that were in thee, with all thy multitude that is in the midst of thee: shall fall in the heart of the sea in the day of thy ruin. ²⁸Thy fleets shall be troubled at the sound of the cry of thy pilots. ²⁹And all that handled the oar shall come down from their ships: the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea shall stand upon the land: ³⁰And they shall mourn over thee with a loud voice, and shall cry bitterly: and they shall cast up dust upon their heads, and shall be sprinkled with ashes. ³¹And they shall shave themselves bald for thee, and shall be girded with haircloth: and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of soul, with most bitter weeping. ³²And they shall take up a mournful song for thee, and snail lament thee: What city is like Tyre, which is become silent in the midst of the sea? ³³Which by thy merchandise that went from thee by sea didst fill many people: which by the multitude of thy riches, and of thy people didst enrich the kings of the earth. ³⁴Now thou art destroyed by the sea, thy riches are in the bottom of the waters, and all the multitude that was in the midst of thee is fallen. ³⁵All the inhabitants of the islands are astonished at thee: and all their kings being struck with the storm have changed their countenance. ³⁶The merchants of people have hissed at thee: thou art brought to nothing, and thou shalt never be any more.

Chapter 28

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus saith the Lord God: Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said: I am God, and T sit in the chair of God in the heart of the sea: whereas thou art a man, and not God: and hast set thy heart as if it were the heart of God. ³Behold thou art wiser than Daniel: no secret is hid from thee. ⁴In thy wisdom and thy understanding thou hast made thyself strong: and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures. ⁵By the greatness of thy wisdom, and by thy traffic thou hast increased thy strength: and thy heart is lifted up with thy strength. ⁶Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: Because thy heart is lifted up as the heart of God: ⁷Therefore behold, I will bring upon thee strangers the strongest of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy beauty. ⁸They shall kill thee, and bring thee down: and thou shalt die the death of them that are slain in the heart of the sea. ⁹Wilt thou yet say before them that slay thee: I am God; whereas thou art a man, and not God, in the hand of them that slay thee? ¹⁰Thou shalt die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. ¹¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre: ¹²And say to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Thou wast the seal of resemblance, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. ¹³Thou wast in the pleasures of the paradise of God: every precious stone teas thy covering: the sardius, the topaz, and the jasper, the chrysolite, and the onyx, and the beryl, the sapphire, and the carbuncle, and the emerald: gold the work of thy beauty: and thy pipes were prepared in the day that thou wast created. ¹⁴Thou a cherub stretched out, and protecting, and I set thee in the holy mountain of God, thou hast walked in the midst of the stones of fire. ¹⁵Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day of thy creation, until iniquity was found in thee. ¹⁶By the multitude of thy merchandise, thy inner parts were filled with iniquity, and thou hast sinned: and I cast thee out from the mountain of God, and destroyed thee, O covering cherub, out of the midst of the stones of fire. ¹⁷And thy heart was lifted up with thy beauty: thou best lost thy wisdom in thy beauty, I have cast thee to the ground: I have set thee before the face of kings, that they might behold thee. ¹⁸Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thy iniquities, and by the iniquity of thy traffic: therefore I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, to devour thee, and I will make thee as ashes upon the earth in the sight of all that see thee. ¹⁹All that shall see thee among the nations, shall be astonished at thee: thou art brought to nothing, and thou shalt never be any more. ²⁰And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²¹Son of man, set thy face against Sidon: and thou shalt prophesy of it, ²²And shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, Sidon, and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall execute judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. ²³And I will send into her pestilence, and blood in her streets: and they shall fall being slain by the sword on all sides in the midst thereof: and they shall know that I am the Lord. ²⁴And the house of Israel shall have no more a stumblingblock of bitterness, nor a thorn causing pain on every side round about them, of them that are against them: and they shall know that I am the Lord God. ²⁵Thus saith the Lord God: When I shall have gathered together the house of Israel out of the people among whom they are scattered: I will be sanctified in them before the Gentiles: and they shall dwell in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob. ²⁶And they shall dwell therein secure, and they shall build houses, and shall plant vineyards, and shall dwell with confidence, when I shall have executed judgments upon all that are their enemies round about: and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.

Chapter 29

¹In the tenth year, the tenth month, the eleventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, set thy face against Pharao king of Egypt: and thou shalt prophesy of him, and of all Egypt: ³Speak, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against thee, Pharao king of Egypt, thou great dragon that liest in the midst of thy rivers, and sayest: The river is mine, and I made myself. ⁴But I will put a bridle in thy jaws: and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick to thy scales: and I will draw thee out of the midst of thy rivers, and all thy fish shall stick to thy scales. ⁵And I will cast thee forth into the desert, and all the fish of thy river: thou shalt fall upon the face of the earth, thou shalt not be taken up, nor gathered together: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the earth, and to the fowls of the air. ⁶And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord: because thou hast been a staff of a reed to the house of Israel. ⁷When they took hold of thee with the hand thou didst break, and rent all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brokest, and weakenest all their loins. ⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will bring the sword upon thee: and cut off man and beast out of thee. ⁹And the land of Egypt shall become a desert, and a wilderness: and they shall know that I am the Lord: because thou hast said: The river is mine, and I made ¹⁰Therefore, behold I come against thee, and thy rivers: and I will make the land of Egypt utterly desolate, and wasted by the sword, from the tower of Syene, even to the borders of Ethiopia. ¹¹The foot of man shall not pass through it, neither shall the foot of beasts go through it: nor shall it be inhabited during forty years. ¹²And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the lands that are desolate, and the cities thereof in the midst of the cities that are destroyed, and they shall be desolate for forty gears: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. ¹³For thus saith the Lord God: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the people among whom they had been scattered. ¹⁴And I will bring hack the captivity of Egypt, and will place them in the land of Phatures, in the land of their nativity, and they shall be there a low kingdom: ¹⁵It shall be the lowest among other kingdoms, and it shall no more be exalted over the nations, and I will diminish them that they shall rule no more over the nations. ¹⁶And they shall be no more a confidence to the house of Israel, teaching iniquity, that they may flee, and follow them: and they shall know that I am the Lord God. ¹⁷And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first of the month: that the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁸Son of man, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath made his army to undergo hard service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: and there hath been no reward given him, nor his army for Tyre, for the service that he rendered me against ¹⁹Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will set Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon in the land of Egypt: and he shall take her multitude, and take the booty thereof for a prey, and rifle the spoils thereof: and it shall be wages for his army. ²⁰And for the service that he hath done me against it: I have given him the land of Egypt, because he hath laboured for me, saith the Lord God. ²¹In that day a horn shall bud forth to the house of Israel, and I will give thee an open mouth in the midst of them: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 30

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Howl ye, Woe, woe to the day: ³For the day is near, yea the day of the Lord is near: a cloudy day, it shall be the time of the nations. ⁴And the sword shall come upon Egypt: and there shall be dread in Ethiopia, when the wounded shall fall in Egypt, and the multitude thereof shall be taken away, and the foundations thereof shall be destroyed. ⁵Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the rest of the crowd, and Chub, and the children of the land of the covenant, shall fall with them by the sword. ⁶Thus saith the Lord God: They also that uphold Egypt shall fall, and the pride of her empire shall be brought down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord the God of hosts. ⁷And they shall be desolate in the midst of the lands that are desolate, and the cities thereof shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted. ⁸And they shall know that I am the Lord: when I shall have set a fire in Egypt, and all the helpers thereof shall be destroyed. ⁹In that day shall messengers go forth from my face in ships to destroy the confidence of Ethiopia, and there shall be dread among them in the day of Egypt: because it shall certainly come. ¹⁰Thus saith the Lord God : I will make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon. ¹¹He and his people with him, the strongest of nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords upon Egypt: and shall fill the land with the slain. ¹²And I will make the channels of the rivers dry, and will deliver the land into the hand of the wicked: and will lay waste the land and all that is therein by the hands of strangers, I the Lord have spoken it. ¹³Thus saith the Lord God: I will also destroy the idols, and I will make an end of the idols of Memphis: and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will cause a terror in the land of Egypt. ¹⁴And I will destroy the land of Phatures, and will make a fire in Taphnis, and will execute judgments in Alexandria. ¹⁵And I will pour out my indignation upon Pelusium the strength of Egypt, and will cut off the multitude of Alexandria. ¹⁶And I will make a fire in Egypt: Pelusium shall be in pain like a woman in labour, and Alexandria shall be laid waste, and in Memphis there shall be daily distresses. ¹⁷The young men of Heliopolis, and of Bubastus shall fall by the sword, and they themselves shall go into captivity. ¹⁸And in Taphnis the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the sceptres of Egypt, and the pride of her power shall cease in her: a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall be led into captivity. ¹⁹And I will execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the Lord. ²⁰And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²¹Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharao king of Egypt: and behold it is not bound up, to be healed, to be tied up with clothes, and swathed with linen, that it might recover strength, and hold the sword. ²²Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against Pharao king of Egypt, and I will break into pieces his strong arm, which is already broken: and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand: ²³And I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and scatter them through the countries. ²⁴And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and will put my sword in his hand: and I will break the arms of Pharao, and they shall groan bitterly being slain before his face. ²⁵And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharao shall fall: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have given my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall have stretched it forth upon the land of Egypt. ²⁶And I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and will scatter them through the countries, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 31

¹And it came to pass in the eleventh year, the third month, the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, speak to Pharao king of Egypt, and to his people: To whom art thou like in thy greatness? ³Behold, the Assyrian was like a cedar in Libanus, with fair branches, and full of leaves, of a high stature, and his top was elevated among the thick boughs. ⁴The waters nourished him, the deep set him up on high, the streams thereof ran round about his roots, and it sent forth its rivulets to all the trees of the country. ⁵Therefore was his height exalted above all the trees of the country: and his branches were multiplied, and his boughs were elevated because of many waters. ⁶And when he had spread forth his shadow, all the fowls of the air made their nests in his boughs, and all the beasts of the forest brought forth their young under his branches, and the assembly of many nations dwelt under his shadow. ⁷And he was most beautiful for his greatness, and for the spreading of his branches: for his root was near great waters. ⁸The cedars in the paradise of God wars not higher than he, the fir trees did not equal his top, neither were the plane trees to be compared with him for branches: no tree in the paradise of God was like him in his beauty. ⁹For I made him beautiful and thick set with many branches: and all the trees of pleasure, that were in the paradise of God, envied him. ¹⁰Therefore thus saith the Lord God Because he was exalted in height, and shot up his top green and thick, and his heart was lifted up in his height: ¹¹I have delivered him into the hands of the mighty one of the nations, he shall deal with him: I have cast him out according to his wickedness. ¹²And strangers, and the most cruel of the nations shall cut him down, and cast him away upon the mountains, and his boughs shall fall in every valley, and his branches shall be broken on every rock of the country: and all the people of the earth shall depart from his shadow, and leave him. ¹³All the fowls of the air dwelt upon his ruins, and all the beasts of the field were among his branches. ¹⁴For which cause none of the trees by the waters shall exalt themselves for their height: nor shoot up their tops among the thick branches and leaves, neither shall any of them that are watered stand up in their height: for they are all delivered unto death to the lowest parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down into the pit. ¹⁵Thus saith the Lord God: In the day when he went down to hell, I brought in mourning, I covered him with the deep: and I withheld its rivers, and restrained the many waters: Libanus grieved for him, and all the trees of the field trembled. ¹⁶I shook the nations with the sound of his fall, when I brought him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of pleasure, the choice and best in Libanus, all that were moistened with waters, were comforted in the lowest parts of the earth. ¹⁷For they also shall go down with him to hell to them that are slain by the sword: and the arm of every one shall sit down under his shadow in the midst of the nations. ¹⁸To whom art thou like, O thou that art famous and lofty among the trees of pleasure? Behold, thou art brought down with the trees of pleasure to the lowest parts of the earth: thou shalt sleep in the midst of the uncircumcised, with them that are slain by the sword: this is Pharao, and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.

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 the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharao the king of Egypt, and say to him: Thou art like the lion of the nations, and the dragon that is in the sea: and thou didst push with the horn in thy rivers, and didst trouble the waters with thy feet, and didst trample upon their streams. ³Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: I will spread out my net over thee with the multitude of many people, and I will draw thee up in my net. ⁴And I will throw thee out on the land, I will cast thee away into the open field: and I will cause all the fowls of the air to dwell upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of all the earth with thee. ⁵And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and will fill thy hills with thy corruption, ⁶And I will water the earth with thy stinking blood upon the mountains, and the valleys shall be filled with thee. ⁷And I will cover the heavens, when thou shalt be put out, and I will make the stars thereof dark: I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. ⁸I will make all the lights of heaven to mourn over thee: and I will cause darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God, when thy wounded shall fall in the midst of the land, saith the Lord God. ⁹And I shall provoke to anger the heart of many people, when I shall have brought in thy destruction among the nations upon the lands, which thou knowest not. ¹⁰And I will make many people to be amazed at thee, and their kings shell be horribly afraid for thee, when my sword shall begin to fly upon their faces: and they shall be astonished on a sudden, every one for his own life, in the day of their ruin. ¹¹For thus saith the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee, ¹²By the swords of the mighty I will overthrow thy multitude: all these nations are invincible: and they shall waste the pride of Egypt, and the multitude thereof shall be destroyed. ¹³I will destroy also all the beasts thereof that were beside the great waters: and the foot of man shall trouble them no more, neither shall the hoof of beasts trouble them. ¹⁴Then will I make their waters clear, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord God: ¹⁵When I shall have made the land of Egypt desolate: and the land shall be destitute of her fulness, when I shall have struck all the inhabitants thereof: and they shall know that I am the Lord. ¹⁶This is the lamentation, and they shall lament therewith: the daughters of the nations shall lament therewith: for Egypt, and for the multitude thereof they shall lament therewith, saith the Lord God. ¹⁷And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month that the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁸Son of man, sing a mournful song for the multitude of Egypt: and cast her down, both her, and the daughters of the mighty nations to the lowest part of the earth, with them that go down into the pit. ¹⁹Whom dost thou excel in beauty? go down and sleep with the uncircumcised. ²⁰They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain with the sword : the sword is given, they have drawn her down, and all her people. ²¹The most mighty among the strong ones shall speak to him from the midst of hell, they that went down with his helpers, and slept uncircumcised, slain by the sword. ²²Assur is there, and all his multitude: their graves are round about him, all of them slain, and that fell by the sword. ²³Whose graves are set in the lowest parts of the pit: and his multitude lay round about his grave: all of them slain, and fallen by the sword, they that heretofore spread terror in the land of the living. ²⁴There is Elam and all his multitude round about his grave, all of them slain, and fallen by the sword; that went down uncircumcised to the lowest parts of the earth: that caused their terror in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with them that go down into the pit. ²⁵In the midst of the slain they have set him a bed among all his people: their graves are round about him: all these are uncircumcised, and slain by the sword: for they spread their terror in the land of the living, and have borne their shame with them that descend into the pit: they are laid in the midst of the slain. ²⁶There is Mosoch, and Thubal, and all their multitude: their graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised and slain, and fallen by the sword: though they spread their terror in the land of the living. ²⁷And they shall not sleep with the brave, and with them that fell uncircumcised, that went down to hell with their weapons, and laid their swords under their heads, and their iniquities were in their bones, because they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. ²⁸So thou also shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt sleep with them that are slain by the sword. ²⁹There is Edom, and her kings, and all her princes, who with their army are joined with them that are slain by the sword: and have slept with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down into the pit. ³⁰There are all the princes of the north, and all the hunters: who were brought down with the slain, fearing, and confounded in their strength: who slept uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword, and have borne their shame with them that go down into the pit. ³¹Pharao saw them, and he was comforted concerning all his multitude, which was slain by the sword: Pharao, and all his army, saith the Lord God: ³²Because I have spread my terror in the land of the living, and he hath slept in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword: Pharao and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 33

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them: ³And he see the sword coming upon the land, and sound the trumpet, and tell the people: ⁴Then he that heareth the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and doth not look to himself, if the sword come, and cut him off: his blood shall be upon his own head. ⁵He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself, his blood shall be upon him: but if he look to himself, he shall save his life. ⁶And if the watchman see the sword coming, and sound not the trumpet: and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come, and cut off a soul from among them: he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman. ⁷So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and shalt tell it them from me. ⁸When I say to the wicked: O wicked man, thou shalt surely die: if thou dost 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. ⁹But if thou tell the wicked man, that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way: he shall die in his iniquity: but thou hast delivered thy soul. ¹⁰Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you have spoken, saying: Our iniquities, and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them: how then can we live? ¹¹Say to them: As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel? ¹²Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the children of thy people: The justice of the just shall not deliver him, in what day soever he shall sin: and the wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day soever he shall turn from his wickedness: and the just shall not be able to live in his justice, in what day soever he shall sin. ¹³Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and he, trusting in his justice, commit iniquity: all his justices shall be forgotten, and in his iniquity, which he hath committed, in the same shall he die. ¹⁴And if I shall say to the wicked: Thou shalt surely die: and he do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice, ¹⁵And if that wicked man restore the pledge, and render what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing: he shall surely live, and shall not die. ¹⁶None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him: he hath done judgment and justice, he shall surely live. ¹⁷And the children of thy people have said: The way of the Lord is not equitable: whereas their own way is unjust. ¹⁸For when the just shall depart from his justice, and commit iniquities, he shall die in them. ¹⁹And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness, and shall do judgments, and justice: be shall live in them. ²⁰And you say: The way of the Lord is not right, I will judge every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel. ²¹And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that there came to me one that was fled from Jerusalem, saying: The city is laid waste. ²²And the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, before he that was fled came: and he opened my mouth till he came to me in the morning, and my mouth being opened, I was silent no more. ²³And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²⁴Son of man, they that dwell in these ruinous 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 in possession. ²⁵Therefore say to them: Thus saith the Lord God, You that eat with the blood and lift up your eyes to your uncleannesses, and that shed blood: shall you possess the land by inheritance? ²⁶You stood on your swords, you have committed abominations, and every one hath defiled his neighbour's wife; and shall you possess the land by inheritance? ²⁷Say thou thus to them: Thus saith the Lord God: As I live, they that dwell in the ruinous places, shall fall by the sword: and he that is in the field, shall be given to the beasts to be devoured: and they that are in holds, and caves, shall die of the pestilence. ²⁸And I will make the land a wilderness, and a desert, and the proud strength thereof shall fail, and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, because there is none to pass by them. ²⁹And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have made their land waste and desolate, for all their abominations which they have committed. ³⁰And thou son of man: the children of thy people, that talk of thee by the walls, and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another each men to his neighbour, saying: Come, and let us hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. ³¹And they come to thee, as if a people were coming in, and my people sit before thee: and hear thy words, and do them not: for they turn them into a song of their mouth, and their heart goeth after their covetousness. ³²And thou art to them as a musical song which is sung with a sweet and agreeable voice: and they hear thy words, and do them not. ³³And when that which was foretold shall come to pass, (for behold it is coming,) then shall they know that a prophet bath been among them.

Chapter 34

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, prophesy concerning the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to the shepherds: Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves: should not the hocks be fed by the shepherds? ³You ate the milk, end you clothed yourselves with the wool, and you killed that which was fat: but my flock you did not feed. ⁴The weak you have not strengthened, and that which was sick you have not healed, that which was broken you have not bound up, and that which was driven away you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost: but you ruled over them with rigour, and with a high hand. ⁵And my sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd: and they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. ⁶My sheep have wandered in every mountain, and in every high hill: and my flocks mere scattered upon the face of the earth, and there was none that sought them, there was none, I say, that sought them. ⁷Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸As I live, saith the Lord God, forasmuch as my flocks have been made a spoil, and my sheep are become a prey to all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd: for my shepherds did not seek after my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flocks: ⁹Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁰Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself come upon the shepherds, I will require my hock at their hand, and I will cause them to cease from feeding the flock any more, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more: and I will deliver my flock from their mouth, and it shall no more be meat for them. ¹¹For thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself will seek my sheep, and will visit them. ¹²As the shepherd visiteth his hock in the day when he shall be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered, so will I visit my sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. ¹³And I will bring them out from the peoples, and will gather them out of the countries, and will bring them to their own land: and I will feed them in the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the habitations of the land. ¹⁴I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures, and their pastures shall be in the high mountains of Israel: there shall they rest on the green grass, and be fed in fat pastures upon the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵I will feed my sheep : and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. ¹⁶I will seek that which was lost: and that which was driven away, I will bring again: and I will bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong I will preserve: and I will feed them in judgment. ¹⁷And as for you, O my flocks, thus saith the Lord God: Behold I judge between cattle and cattle, of rams and of he goats. ¹⁸Was it not enough for you to feed upon good pastures? but you must also tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures: and when you drank the dearest water, you troubled the rest with your feet. ¹⁹And my sheep were fed with that which you had trodden with your feet: and they drank what your feet had troubled. ²⁰Therefore thus saith the Lord God to you: Behold, I myself will judge between the fat cattle and the lean. ²¹Because you thrusted with sides and shoulders, and struck all the weak cattle with your horns, till they were scattered abroad: ²²I will save my dock, and it shall be no more a spoil, and I will judge between cattle and cattle. 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 the Lord will be their God: and my servant David the prince in the midst of them: I the Lord have spoken it. ²⁵And I will make a covenant of peace with them, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they that dwell in the wilderness shall sleep secure in the forests. ²⁶And I will make them a blessing round about my hill: and I will send down the rain in its season, there shall be showers of blessing. ²⁷And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be in their land without fear: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have broken the bonds of their yoke, and shall have delivered them out of the hand of those that rule over them. ²⁸And they shall be no more for a spoil to the nations, neither shall the beasts of the earth devour them: but they shall dwell securely without any terror. ²⁹And I will raise up for them a bud of renown: and they shall be no more consumed with famine in the land, neither shall they bear any more the reproach of the Gentiles. ³⁰And they shall know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they are my people the house of Israel: saith the Lord God. ³¹And you my flocks, the flocks of my pasture are men: and I am the Lord your God, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 35

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy concerning it, and say to it: ³Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, mount Seir, and I will stretch forth my hand upon thee, and I will make thee desolate and waste. ⁴I will destroy thy cities, and thou shalt be desolate: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. ⁵Because thou hast been an everlasting enemy, and hast shut up the children of Israel in the hands of the sword in the time of their affliction, in the time of their last iniquity. ⁶Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God, I will deliver thee up to blood, and blood shall pursue thee: and whereas thou hast hated blood, blood shall pursue thee. ⁷And I will make mount Seir waste and desolate: and I will take away from it him that goeth and him that returneth. ⁸And I will fill his mountains with his men that are slain: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in thy torrents they shall fall that are slain with the sword. ⁹I will make thee everlasting desolations, and thy cities shall not be inhabited: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord God. ¹⁰Because thou hast said: The two nations, and the two lands shall be mine, and I will possess them by inheritance: whereas the Lord was there. ¹¹Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God, I will do according to thy wrath, and according to thy envy, which thou hast exercised in hatred to them: and I will be made known by them, when I shall have judged thee. ¹²And thou shalt know that I the Lord have heard all thy reproaches, that thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying: They are desolate, they are given to us to consume. ¹³And you rose up against me with your mouth, and have derogated from me by your words: I have heard them. ¹⁴Thus saith the Lord God: When the whole earth shall rejoice, I will make thee a wilderness. ¹⁵As thou best rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was laid waste, so will I do to thee: thou shalt be laid waste, O mount Seir, and all Idumea: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 36

¹And thou son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say: Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord: ²Thus saith the Lord God: Because the enemy hath said of you: Aha, the everlasting heights are given to us for an inheritance. ³Therefore prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Because you have been desolate, and trodden under foot on every side, and made an inheritance to the rest of the nations, and are become the subject of the talk, and the reproach of the people: ⁴Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the brooks, and to the valleys, and to desolate places, and ruinous walls, and to the cities that are forsaken, that are spoiled, and derided by the rest of the nations round about. ⁵Therefore thus saith the Lord God: In the fire of my zeal I have spoken of the rest of the nations, and of all Edom, who have taken my land to themselves, for an inheritance with joy, and with all the heart, and with the mind: and have cast it out to lay it waste. ⁶Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, and to the hills, to the ridges, and to the valleys: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I have spoken in my zeal, and in my indignation, because you have borne the shame of the Gentiles. ⁷Therefore thus saith the Lord God: I have lifted up my hand, that the Gentiles who are round about you, shall themselves bear their shame. ⁸But as for you, O mountains of Israel, shoot ye forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel: for they are at hand to come. ⁹For lo I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be ploughed and sown. ¹⁰And I will multiply men upon you, and all the house of Israel: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the ruinous places shall be repaired. ¹¹And I will make you abound with men and with beasts: and they shall be multiplied, and increased: and I will settle you as from the beginning, and will give you greater gifts, than you had from the beginning: and you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹²And I will bring men upon you, my people Israel, and they shall possess thee for their inheritance: and thou shalt be their inheritance, and shalt no more henceforth be without them. ¹³Thus saith the Lord God: Because they say of you: Thou art a devourer of men, and one that suffocatest thy nation: ¹⁴Therefore thou shalt devour men no more, nor destroy thy nation any more, saith the Lord God: ¹⁵Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the nations any more, nor shalt thou bear the reproach of the people, nor lose thy nation any more, saith the Lord God. ¹⁶And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁷Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it with their ways, and with their doings: their way was before me like the uncleanness of a menstruous woman. ¹⁸And I poured out my indignation upon them for the blood which they had shed upon the land, and with their idols they defiled it. ¹⁹And I scattered them among the nations, and they are dispersed through the countries: I have judged them according to their ways, and their devices. ²⁰And when they entered among the nations whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when it was said of them: This is the people of the Lord, and they are come forth out of his land. ²¹And I have regarded my own holy name, which the house of Israel hath profaned among the nations to which they went in. ²²Therefore thou shalt say to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: It is not for your sake that I will do this, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations whither you went. ²³And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the Gentiles, which you have profaned in the midst of them: that the Gentiles may know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord of hosts, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. ²⁴For I will take you from among the Gentiles, and will gather you together out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. ²⁵And I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols. ²⁶And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷And I will put my spirit in the midst of you: and I will cause you to walk in my commandments, and to keep my judgments, and do them. ²⁸And you shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹And I will save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for corn, and will multiply it, and will lay no famine upon you. ³⁰And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the held, that you bear no more the reproach of famine among the nations. ³¹And you shall remember your wicked ways, and your doings that were not good: and your iniquities, and your wicked deeds shall displease you. ³²It is not for your sakes that I will do this, saith the Lord God, be it known to you: be confounded, and ashamed at your own ways, O house of Israel. ³³Thus saith the Lord God: In the day that I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities, and shall cause the cities to be inhabited, and shall repair the ruinous places, ³⁴And the desolate land shall be tilled, which before was waste in the sight of all that passed by, ³⁵They shall say: This land that was untilled is become as a garden of pleasure: and the cities that were abandoned, and desolate, and destroyed, are peopled and fenced. ³⁶And the nations, that shall be left round about you, shall know that I the Lord have built up what was destroyed, and planted what was desolate, that I the Lord have spoken and done it. ³⁷Thus saith the Lord God: Moreover in this shall the house of Israel find me, that I will do it for them: I will multiply them as a flock of men, ³⁸As a holy dock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts: so shall the waste cities be full of flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 37

¹The hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me forth in the spirit of the Lord: and set me down in the midst of a plain that was full of bones. ²And he led me about through them on every side: now they were very many upon the face of the plain, and they were exceeding dry. ³And he said to me: Son of man, dost thou think these bones shall live? And I answered: O Lord God, thou knowest. ⁴And he said to me: Prophesy concerning these bones; and say to them: Ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵Thus saith the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will send spirit into you, and you shall live. ⁶And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to grow over you, and will cover you with skin: and I will give you spirit and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. ⁷And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold a commotion: and the bones came together, each one to its joint. ⁸And I saw, and behold the sinews, and the flesh came up upon them: and the skin was stretched out over them, but there was no spirit in them. ⁹And he said to me: Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, O son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus saith the Lord God: Come, spirit, from the four winds, and blow upon these slain, and let them live again. ¹⁰And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and the spirit came into them, and they lived: and they stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. ¹¹And he said to me: Son of man: All these bones are the house of Israel : they say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we are cut off. ¹²Therefore prophesy, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sepulchres, O my people: and will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have opened your sepulchres, and shall have brought you out of your graves, O my people: ¹⁴And shall have put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall make you rest upon your own land: and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken, and done it, saith the Lord God: ¹⁵And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁶And thou son of man, take thee a stick: and write upon it: Of Juda, and of the children of Israel his associates: and take another stick and write upon it: For Joseph the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, and of his associates. ¹⁷And join them one to the other into one stick, and they shall become one in thy hand. ¹⁸And when the children of thy people shall speak to thee, saying: Wilt thou not tell us what thou meanest by this? ¹⁹Say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel that are associated with him, and I will put them together with the stick of Juda, and will make them one stick: and they shall be one in his hand. ²⁰And the sticks whereon thou hast written, shall be in thy hand, before their eyes. ²¹And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from the midst of the nations whither they are gone: and I will gather them on every side, and will bring them to their own land. ²²And I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king over them all: and they shall no more be two nations, neither shall they be divided any more into two kingdoms. ²³Nor shall they be defiled any more with their idols, nor with their abominations, nor with all their iniquities: and I will save them out of all the places in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ²⁴And my servant David shall be king over them, and they shall have one shepherd: they shall walk in my judgments, and shall keep my commandments, and shall do them. ²⁵And they shall dwell in the land which I gave to my servant Jacob, wherein your fathers dwelt, and they shall dwell in it, they and their children, and their children's children, for ever: and David my servant shall be their prince for ever. ²⁶And I will make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant with them : and I will establish them, and will multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for ever. ²⁷And my tabernacle shall be with them: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ²⁸And the nations shall know that I am the Lord the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for ever.

Chapter 38

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Mosoch and Thubal: and prophesy of him, ³And say to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Mosoch and Thubal. ⁴And I will turn thee about, and I will put a bit in thy jaws: and I will bring thee forth, and ail thy army, horses and horsemen all clothed with coats of mail, a great multitude, armed with spears and shields and swords. ⁵The Persians, Ethiopians, and Libyans with them, all with shields and helmets. ⁶Gomer, and all his bands, the house of Thogorma, the northern parts and all his strength, and many peoples with thee. ⁷Prepare and make thyself ready, and all thy multitude that is assembled about thee, and be thou commander over them. ⁸After many days thou shalt be visited: at the end of years thou shalt come to the land that is returned from the sword, and is gathered out of many nations, to the mountains of Israel which have been continually waste: but it hath been brought forth out of the nations, and they shall all of them dwell securely in ⁹And thou shalt go up and come like a storm, and like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands and many people with thee. ¹⁰Thus saith the Lord God: In that day projects shall enter into thy heart, and thou shalt conceive a mischievous design. ¹¹And thou shalt say: I will go up to the land which is without a wall, I will come to them that are at rest, and dwell securely: all these dwell without a wall, they have no bars nor gates : ¹²To take spoils, and lay hold on the prey, to lay thy hand upon them that had been wasted, and afterwards restored, and upon the people that is gathered together out of the nations, which hath begun to possess and to dwell in the midst of the earth. ¹³Saba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tharsis, and all the lions thereof shall say to thee: Art thou come to take spoils? behold, thou hast gathered thy multitude to take a prey, to take silver, and gold, and to carry away goods and substance, and to take rich spoils. ¹⁴Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy and say to Cog: Thus saith the Lord God: Shalt thou not know, in that day, when my people of Israel shall dwell securely? ¹⁵And then shalt come out of thy place from the northern parts, thou and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army. ¹⁶And thou shalt come upon my people of Israel like a cloud, to cover the earth. Thou shalt be in the latter days, and I will bring thee upon my land: that the nations may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. ¹⁷Thus saith the Lord God: Thou then art he, of whom I have spoken in the days of old, by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in the days of those times that I would bring thee upon them. ¹⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, in the day of the coming of Gog upon the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my indignation shall come up in my wrath. ¹⁹And I have spoken in my zeal, and in the fire of my anger, that in that day there shall be a great commotion upon the land of Israel: ²⁰So that the fishes of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the ground, and all men that are upon the face of the earth, shall be moved at my presence: and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the hedges shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. ²¹And I will call in the sword against him in all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be pointed against his brother. ²²And I will judge him with pestilence, and with blood, and with violent rain, and vast hailstones: I will rain fire and brimstone upon him, and upon his army, and upon the many nations that are with him. ²³And I will be magnified, and I will be sanctified: and I will be known in the eyes of many nations: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 39

¹And thou, son of man, prophesy against Cog, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against thee, O Cog, the chief prince of Mosoch and Thubal. ²And I will turn thee round, and I will lead thee out, and will make thee go up from the northern parts: and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel. ³And I will break thy bow in thy left hand, and I will cause thy arrows to fall out of thy right hand. ⁴Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou and all thy bands, and thy nations that are with thee: I have given thee to the wild beasts, to the birds, and to every fowl, and to the beasts of the earth to be devoured. ⁵Thou shalt fall upon the face of the field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. ⁶And I will send a fire on Magog, and on them that dwell confidently in the islands: and they shall know that I am the Lord. ⁷And I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel, and my holy name shall be profaned no more: and the Gentiles shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. ⁸Behold it cometh, and it is done, saith the Lord God: this is the day whereof I have spoken. ⁹And the inhabitants shall go forth of the cities of Israel, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, the shields, and the spears, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves and the pikes: and they shall burn them with fire seven years. ¹⁰And they shall not bring wood out of the countries, nor cut down out of the forests: for they shall burn the weapons with fire, and shall make a prey of them to whom they had been a prey, and they shall rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God. ¹¹And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give Gog a noted place for a sepulchre in Israel: the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea, which shall cause astonishment in them that pass by: and there shall they bury Cog, and all his multitude, and it shall be called the valley of the multitude of Cog. ¹²And the house of Israel shall bury them for seven months to cleanse the land. ¹³And all the people of the land shall bury him, and it shall be unto them a noted day, wherein I was glorified, saith the Lord God. ¹⁴And they shall appoint men to go continually about the land, to bury and to seek out them that were remaining upon the face of the earth, that they may cleanse it: and after seven months they shall begin to seek. ¹⁵And they shall go about passing through the land: and when they shall see the bone of a man, they shall set up a sign by it, till the buriers bury it in the valley of the multitude of Cog. ¹⁶And the name of the city shall be Amona, and they shall cleanse the land. ¹⁷And thou, O son of man, saith the Lord God, say to every fowl, and to all the birds, and to all the beasts of the field: Assemble yourselves, make haste, come together from every side to my victim, which I slay for you, a great victim upon the mountains of Israel: to eat flesh, and drink blood. ¹⁸You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and you shall drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, and of lambs, and of he goats, and bullocks, and of all that are well fed and fat. ¹⁹And you shall eat the fat till you be full, and shall drink blood till you be drunk of the victim which I shall slay for you. ²⁰And you shall be filled at my table with horses, and mighty horsemen, and all the men of war, saith the Lord God. ²¹And I will set my glory among the nations: and all nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. ²²And the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. ²³And the nations shall know that the house of Israel were made captives for their iniquity, because they forsook me, and I hid my face from them: and I delivered them into the hands of their enemies, and they fell all by the sword. ²⁴I have dealt with them according to their uncleanness, and wickedness, and hid my face from them. ²⁵Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: Now will I bring back the captivity of Jacob, and will have mercy on all the house of Israel: and I will be jealous for my holy name. ²⁶And they shall bear their confusion, and all the transgressions wherewith they have transgressed against me, when they shall dwell in their land securely fearing no man: ²⁷And I shall have brought them back from among the nations, and shall have gathered them together out of the lands of their enemies, and shall be sanctified in them, in the sight of many nations. ²⁸And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I caused them to be carried away among the nations; and I have gathered them together unto their own land, and have not left any of them there. ²⁹And I will hide my face no more from them, for I have poured out my spirit upon all the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 40

¹In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, the tenth day of the month, the fourteenth year after the city was destroyed: in the selfsame day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me thither. ²In the visions of God he brought me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain: upon which there was as the building of a city, bending towards the south. ³And he brought me in thither, and behold a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed in his hand, and he stood in the gate. ⁴And this man said to me: Son of man, see with thy eyes, and hear with thy ears, and set thy heart upon all that I shall shew thee: for thou art brought hither that they may be shewn to thee: declare all that thou seest, to the house of Israel. ⁵And behold there was a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits and a handbreadth: and he measured the breadth of the building one reed, and the height one reed. ⁶And he came to the gate that looked toward the east, and he went up the steps thereof: and he measured the breadth of the threshold of the gate one reed, that is, one threshold was one reed broad: ⁷And every little chamber was one reed long, and one reed broad: and between the little chambers were five cubits: ⁸And the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate within, was one reed. ⁹And he measured the porch of the gate eight cubits, and the front thereof two cubits: and the porch of the gate was inward. ¹⁰And the little chambers of the gate that looked eastward were three on this side, and three on that side: all three were of one measure, and the fronts of one measure, on both parts. ¹¹And he measured the breadth of the threshold of the gate ten cubits: and the length of the gate thirteen cubits: ¹²And the border before the little chambers one cubit: and one cubit was the border on both sides: and the little chambers were six cubits on this side and that side. ¹³And he measured the gate from the roof of one little chamber to the roof of another, in breadth five and twenty cubits: door against door. ¹⁴He made also fronts of sixty cubits: and to the front the court of the gate on every side round about. ¹⁵And before the face of the gate which reached even to the face of the porch of the inner gate, fifty cubits. ¹⁶And slanting windows in the little chambers, and in their fronts, which were within the gate on every side round about: and in like, manner there wore also in the porches windows round about within, and before the fronts the representation of palm trees. ¹⁷And he brought me into the outward court, and behold there were chambers, and a pavement of stone in the court round about: thirty chambers encompassed the pavement. ¹⁸And the pavement in the front of the gates according to the length of the gates was lower. ¹⁹And he measured the breadth from the face of the lower gate to the front of the inner court without, a hundred cubits to the east, and to the north. ²⁰He measured also both the length and the breadth of the gate of the outward court, which looked northward. ²¹And the little chambers thereof three on this side, and three on that side: and the front thereof, and the porch thereof according to the measure of the former gate, fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad. ²²And the windows thereof, and the porch, and the gravings according to the measure of the gate that looked to the east, and they went up to it by seven steps, and a porch was before it. ²³And the gate of the inner court was over against the gate of the north, and that of the ease: and he measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits. ²⁴And he brought me out to the way of the south, and behold the gate that looked to the south : and he measured the front thereof, and the porch thereof according to the former measures. ²⁵And the windows thereof, and the porches round about, as the other windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits. ²⁶And there were seven steps to go up to it: and a porch before the doors thereof: and there were graven palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side in the front thereof. ²⁷And there was a gate of the inner court towards the south: and he measured from gate to gate towards the south, a hundred cubits. ²⁸And he brought me into the inner court at the south gate : and he measured the gate according to the former measures. ²⁹The little chamber thereof, and the front thereof, and the porch thereof with the same measures: and the windows thereof, and the porch thereof round about it was fifty cubits in length, and five and twenty cubits in breadth. ³⁰And the porch round about was five and twenty cubits long, and five cubits broad. ³¹And the porch thereof to the outward court, and the palm trees thereof in the front: and there were eight steps to go up to It. ³²And he brought me into the inner court by the way of the east: and he measured the gate according to the former measures. ³³The little chamber thereof, and the front thereof, and the porch thereof as before: and the windows thereof, and the porches thereof round about it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad. ³⁴And the porch thereof, that is, of the outward court: and the graven palm trees in the front thereof on this side and on that side: and the going up thereof was by eight steps. ³⁵And he brought me into the gate that looked to the north: and he measured according to the former measures. ³⁶The little chamber thereof, and the front thereof, and the porch thereof, and the windows thereof round about it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad. ³⁷And the porch thereof looked to the outward court: and the graving of palm trees in the front thereof was on this side and on that side: and the going up to it was by eight steps. ³⁸And at every chamber was a door in the forefronts of the gates: there they washed the holocaust. ³⁹And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side: that the holocaust, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering might be slain thereon. ⁴⁰And on the outward side, which goeth up to the entry of the gate that looketh toward the north, were two tables. and at the other side before the porch of the gate were two tables. ⁴¹Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side: at the sides of the gate were eight tables, upon which they slew the victims. ⁴²And the four tables for the holocausts were made of square stones: one cubit and a half long, and one cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high: to lay the vessels upon, in which the holocaust and the victim is slain. ⁴³And the borders of them were of one handbreadth, turned inwards round about: and upon the tables was the flesh of the offering. ⁴⁴And without the inner gate were the chambers of the singing men in the inner court, which was on the side of the gate that looketh to the north: and their prospect was towards the south, one at the side of the east gate, which looketh toward the north. ⁴⁵And he said to me: This chamber, which looketh toward the south shall be for the priests that watch in the wards of the temple. ⁴⁶But the chamber that looketh towards the north shall be for the priests that watch over the ministry of the altar. These are the sons of Sadoc, who among the sons of Levi, come near to the Lord, to minister to him. ⁴⁷And he measured the court a hundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits broad foursquare: and the altar that was before the face of the temple. ⁴⁸And he brought me into the porch of the temple: and he measured the porch five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side. ⁴⁹And the length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits, and there were eight, steps to go up to it. And there were pillars in the fronts: one on this side, and another on that side.

Chapter 41

¹And he brought me into the temple, and he measured the fronts six cubits broad on this side, and six cubits on that side, the breadth of the tabernacle. ²And the breadth of the gate was ten cubits: and the sides of the gate five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and he measured the length thereof forty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. ³Then going inward he measured the front of the gate two cubits: and the gate six cubits, and the breadth of the gate seven cubits. ⁴And he measured the length thereof twenty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits, before the face of the temple: and he said to me: This is the holy of holies. ⁵And 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 one by another, were twice thirty-three: and they bore outwards, that they might enter in through the wall of the house in the sides round about, to hold in, and not to touch the wall of the temple. ⁷And there was a broad passage round about, going up by winding stairs, and it led into the upper loft of the temple all round: therefore was the temple broader in the higher parts: and so from the lower parts they went to the higher by the midst. ⁸And I saw in the house the height round about, the foundations of the side chambers which were the measure of a reed the space of six cubits: ⁹And the thickness of the wall for the side chamber without, which was five cubits: and the inner house was within the side chambers of the house. ¹⁰And between the chambers was the breadth of twenty cubits round about the house on every side. ¹¹And the door of the side chambers was turned towards the place of prayer: one door was toward the north, and another door was toward the south: and the breadth of the place for prayer, was five cubits round about. ¹²And the building that was separate, and turned to the way that looked toward the sea, was seventy cubits broad: and the wall of the building, five cubits thick round about: and ninety cubits long. ¹³And he measured the length of the house, a hundred cubits: and the separate building, and the walls thereof, a hundred cubits in length. ¹⁴And the breadth before the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, a hundred cubits. ¹⁵And he measured the length of the building over against it, which was separated at the back of it: and the galleries on both sides a hundred cubits: and the inner temple, and the porches of the court. ¹⁶The thresholds, and the oblique windows, and the galleries round about on three sides, over against the threshold of every one, and floored with wood all round about: and the ground was up to the windows, and the windows were shut over the doors. ¹⁷And even to the inner house, and without all the wall round about within and without, by measure. ¹⁸And there were cherubims and palm trees wrought, so that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub, and every cherub had two faces. ¹⁹The face of a man was toward the palm tree on one side, and the face of a lion was toward the palm tree on the other side: set forth through all the house round about. ²⁰From the ground even to the upper parts of the gate, were cherubims and palm trees wrought in the wall of the temple. ²¹The threshold was foursquare, and the face of the sanctuary, sight to sight. ²²The altar of wood was three cubits high: and the length thereof was two cubits: and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof were of wood. And he said to me: This is the table before the Lord. ²³And there were two doors in the temple, and in the sanctuary. ²⁴And in the two doors on both sides were two little doors, which were folded within each other: for there were two wickets on both sides of the doors. ²⁵And there were cherubims also wrought in the doors of the temple, and the figures of palm trees, like as were made on the walls: for which cause also the planks were thicker in the front of the porch without. ²⁶Upon which were the oblique windows, and the representation of palm trees on this side, and on that side in the sides of the porch, according to the sides of the house, and the breadth of the walls.

Chapter 42

¹And he brought me forth into the outward court by the way that leadeth to the north, and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate building, and over against the house toward the north. ²In the face of the north door was the length of a hundred cubits, and the breadth of fifty cubits. ³Over against the twenty cubits of the inner court, and over against the pavement of the outward court that was paved with stone, where there was a gallery joined to a triple gallery. ⁴And before the chambers was a walk ten cubits broad, looking to the inner parts of a way of one cubit. And their doors were toward the north. ⁵Where were the store chambers lower above: because they bore up the galleries, which appeared above out of them from the lower parts, and from the midst of the building. ⁶For they were of three stories, and had not pillars, as the pillars of the courts: therefore did they appear above out of the lower places, and out of the middle places, fifty cubits from the ground. ⁷And the outward wall that went about by the chambers, which were towards the outward court on the forepart of the chambers, was fifty cubits long. ⁸For the length of the chambers of the outward court was fifty cubits: and the length before the face of the temple, a hundred cubits. ⁹And there was under these chambers, an entrance from the east, for them that went into them out of the outward court. ¹⁰In the breadth of the outward wall of the court that was toward the east, over against the separate building, and there were chambers before the building. ¹¹And the way before them was like the chambers which were toward the north: they wore as long as they, and as broad as they: and all the going is to them, and their fashions, and their doors were alike. ¹²According to the doors of the chambers that were towards the south : there was a door in the head of the way, which way was before the porch, separated towards the east as one entereth in. ¹³And he said to me: The chambers of the north, and the chambers of the south, which are before the separate building: they are holy chambers, in which the priests shall eat, that approach to the Lord into the holy of holies: there they shall lay the most holy things, and the offering for sin, and for trespass: for it is a holy place. ¹⁴And when the priests shall have entered in, they shall not go out of the holy places into the outward court: but there they shall lay their vestments, wherein they minister, for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and so they shall go forth to the people. ¹⁵Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me out by the way of the gate that looked toward the east: and he measured it on every side round about. ¹⁶And he measured toward the east with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about. ¹⁷And he measured toward the north five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about. ¹⁸And towards the south he measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about. ¹⁹And toward the west he measured five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed. ²⁰By the four winds he measured the wall thereof on every side round about, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits broad, making a separation between the sanctuary and the place of the people.

Chapter 43

¹And he brought me to the gate that looked towards the east. ²And behold the glory of the God of Israel came in by the way of the east: and his voice was like the noise of many waters, and the earth shone with his majesty. ³And I saw the vision according to the appearance which I had seen when he came to destroy the city: and the appearance was according to the vision which I had seen by the river Chobar: and I fell upon my face. ⁴And the majesty of the Lord went into the temple by the way of the gate that looked to the east. ⁵And the spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court: and behold the house was filled with the glory of the Lord. ⁶And I heard one speaking to me out of the house, and the man that stood by me, ⁷Said to me: Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever: and the house of Israel shall no more profane my holy name, they and their kings by their fornications, and by the carcasses of their kings, and by the high places. ⁸They who have set their threshold by my threshold, and their posts by my posts: and there was but a wall between me and them: and they profaned my holy name by the abominations which they committed: for which reason I consumed them in my wrath. ⁹Now therefore let them put away their fornications, and the carcasses of their kings far from me: and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. ¹⁰But thou, son of man, shew to the house of Israel the temple, and let them be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the building: ¹¹And be ashamed of all that they have done. Shew them the form of the house, and of the fashion thereof, the goings out and the comings in, and the whole plan thereof, and all its ordinances, and all its order, and all its laws, and thou shalt write it in their sight: that they may keep the whole form thereof, and its ordinances, and do them. ¹²This is the law of the house upon the top of the mountain: All its border round about is most holy: this then is the law of the house. ¹³And these are the measures of the altar by the truest cubit, which is a cubit and a handbreadth: the bottom thereof was a cubit, and the breadth a cubit: and the border thereof unto its edge, and round about, one handbreadth: and this was the trench of the altar. ¹⁴And from the bottom of the ground to the lowest brim two cubits, and the breadth of one cubit: and from the lesser brim to the greater brim four cubits, and the breadth of one cubit. ¹⁵And the Ariel itself was four cubits: and from the Ariel upward were four horns. ¹⁶And the Ariel was twelve cubits long, and twelve cubits broad, foursquare, with equal sides. ¹⁷And the brim was fourteen cubits long, and fourteen cubits broad in the four corners thereof: and the crown round about it was half a cubit, and the bottom of it one cubit round about: and its steps turned toward the east. ¹⁸And he said to me: Son of man, thus saith the Lord God: These are the ceremonies of the altar, in what day soever it shall be made: that holocausts may be offered upon it, and blood poured out. ¹⁹And thou shalt give to the priests, and the Levites, that are of the race of Sadoc, who approach to me, saith the Lord God, to offer to me a calf of the herd for sin. ²⁰And thou shalt take of his blood, and shalt put it upon the four horns thereof, and upon the four corners of the brim, and upon the crown round about: and thou shalt cleanse, and expiate it. ²¹And thou shalt take the calf, that is offered for sin: and thou shalt burn him in a separate place of the house without the sanctuary. ²²And in the second day thou shalt offer a he goat without blemish for sin: and they shall expiate the altar, as they expiated it with the calf. ²³And when thou shalt have made an end of the expiation thereof, thou shalt offer a calf of the herd without blemish, and a ram of the flock without blemish. ²⁴And thou shalt offer them in the sight of the Lord: and the priests shall put salt upon them, and shall offer them a holocaust to the Lord. ²⁵Seven days shalt thou offer a he goat for sill daily: they shall offer also a calf of the herd, and a ram of the flock without blemish. ²⁶Seven days shall they expiate the altar, and shall cleanse it: and they shall consecrate it. ²⁷And the days being, expired, on the eighth day and thenceforward, the priests shall offer your holocausts upon the altar, and the peace offerings: and I will be pacified towards you, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 44

¹And he brought me back to the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary, which looked towards the east: and it was shut. ²And the Lord said to me: This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it: because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it, and it shall be shut ³For the prince. The prince himself shall sit in it, to eat bread before the Lord: he shall enter in by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the same way. ⁴And he brought me by the way of the north gate, in the sight of the house: and I saw, and behold the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord: and I fell on my face. ⁵And the Lord said to me: Son of man, attend with thy heart, and behold with thy eyes, and hear with thy ears, all that I say to thee concerning all the ceremonies of the house of the Lord, and concerning all the laws thereof: and mark well the ways of the temple, with all the goings out of the sanctuary. ⁶And thou shalt say to the house of Israel that provoketh me: Thus saith the Lord God: Let all your wicked doings suffice you, house of Israel: ⁷In that you have brought in strangers uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, and to defile my house: and you offer my bread, the fat, and the blood: and you have broken my covenant by all your wicked doings. ⁸And you have not kept the ordinances of my sanctuary: but you have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. ⁹Thus saith the Lord God: No stranger uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, no stranger that is in the midst of the children of Israel. ¹⁰Moreover the Levites that went away far from me, when the children of Israel went astray, and have wandered from me after their idols, and have borne their iniquity: ¹¹They shall be officers in my sanctuary, and doorkeepers of the gates of the house, and ministers to the house: they shall slay the holocausts, and the victims of the people: and they shall stand in their sight, to minister to them. ¹²Because they ministered to them before their idols, and were a stumblingblock of iniquity to the house of Israel: therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord God, and they shall bear their iniquity: ¹³And they shall not come near to me to do the office of priest to me, neither shall they come near to any of my holy things that are by the holy of holies: but they shall bear their shame, and their wickednesses which they have committed. ¹⁴And I will make them doorkeepers of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein. ¹⁵But the priests, and Levites, the sons of Sadoc, who kept the ceremonies or my sanctuary, when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me, to minister to me: and they shall stand before me, to offer me the fat, and the blood, saith the Lord God. ¹⁶They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and to keep my ceremonies. ¹⁷And when they shall enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments: neither shall any woollen come upon them, when they minister in the gates of the inner court and within. ¹⁸They shall have linen mitres on their heads, and linen breeches on their loins, and they shall not be girded with any thing that causeth sweat. ¹⁹And when they shall go forth to the outward court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them up in the store chamber of the sanctuary, and they shall clothe themselves with other garments: and they shall not sanctify the people with their vestments. ²⁰Neither shall they shave their heads, nor wear long heir: but they shall only poll their heads. ²¹And no priest shall drink wine when he is to go into the inner court. ²²Neither shall they take to wife a widow, nor one that is divorced, but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel: but they may take a widow also, that is, the widow of a priest. ²³And they shall teach my people the difference between holy and profane, and shew them how to discern between clean and unclean. ²⁴And when there shall be a controversy, they shall stand in my judgments, and shall judge: they shall keep my laws, and my ordinances in all my solemnities, and sanctify my sabbaths. ²⁵And they shall come near no dead person, lest they be defiled, only their father and mother, and son and daughter, and brother and sister, that hath not had another husband: for whom they may become unclean. ²⁶And after one is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. ²⁷And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, to the inner court, to minister unto me in the sanctuary, he shall offer for his sin, saith the Lord God. ²⁸And they shall have no inheritance, I am their inheritance: neither shall you give them any possession in Israel, for I am their possession. ²⁹They shall eat the victim both for sin and for trespass: and every vowed thing in Israel shall be theirs. ³⁰And the firstfruits of all the firstborn, and all the libations of all things that are offered, shall be the priest's: and you shall give the firstfruits of your meats to the priest, that he may return a blessing upon thy house. ³¹The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself or caught by a beast, whether it be fowl or cattle.

Chapter 45

¹And when you shall begin to divide the land by lot, separate ye firstfruits to the Lord, a portion of the land to be holy, in length twenty-five thousand and in breadth ten thousand: it shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about. ²And there shall be for the sanctuary on every side five hundred by five hundred, foursquare round about: and fifty cubits for the suburbs thereof round about. ³And with this measure thou shalt measure the length of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand, and in it shall be the temple and the holy of holies. ⁴The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to the ministry of the Lord: and it shall be a place for their houses, and for the holy place of the sanctuary. ⁵And five and twenty thousand of length, and ten thousand of breadth shall be for the Levites, that minister in the house: they shall possess twenty store chambers. ⁶And you shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, according to the separation of the sanctuary, for the whole house of Israel. ⁷For the prince also on the one side and on the other side, according to the separation of the sanctuary, and according to the possession of the city, over against the separation of the sanctuary, and over against the possession of the city: from the side of the sea even to the sea, and from the side of the east; even to the east. And the length according to every part from the west border to the east border. ⁸He shall have a portion of the lead in Israel: and the princes shall no more rob my people: but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes: ⁹Thus saith the Lord God: Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: cease from iniquity and robberies, and execute judgment and justice, separate your confines from my people, saith the Lord God. ¹⁰You shall have just balances, and a just ephi, and a just bate. ¹¹The ephi and the bate shall be equal, and of one measure: that the bate may contain the tenth part of a core, and the ephi the tenth part of a core: their weight shall be equal according to the measure of a core. ¹²And the sicle hath twenty obols. Now twenty sides, and five and twenty sides, and fifteen sides make a mna. ¹³And these are the firstfruits, which you shall take: the sixth part of an ephi of a core of wheat, and the sixth part of an ephi of a core of barley. ¹⁴The measure of oil also, a bate of oil is the tenth part of a core: and ten bates make a core: for ten bates fill a core. ¹⁵And one ram out of a flock of two hundred, of those that Israel feedeth for sacrifice, and for holocausts, and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them, saith the Lord God. ¹⁶All the people of the land shall be bound to these firstfruits for the prince in Israel. ¹⁷And the prince shall give the holocaust, and the sacrifice, and the libations on the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the sabbaths, and on all the solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall offer the sacrifice for sin, and the holocaust, and the peace offerings to make expiation for the house of Israel. ¹⁸Thus saith the Lord God: In the first month, the first of the month, thou shalt take a calf of the herd without blemish, and thou shalt expiate the sanctuary. ¹⁹And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering : and he shall put it on the posts of the house, and on the four corners of the brim of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court. ²⁰And so shalt thou do in the seventh day of the month, for every one that hath been ignorant, and hath been deceived by error, and thou shalt make expiation for the house. ²¹In the first month, the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the solemnity of the pasch: seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. ²²And the prince on that day shall offer for himself, and for all the people of the land, a calf for sin. ²³And in the solemnity of the seven days he shall offer for a holocaust to the Lord, seven calves, and seven rams without blemish daily for seven days: and for sin a he goat daily. ²⁴And he shall offer the sacrifice of an ephi for every calf, and an ephi for every ram: and a hin of oil for every ephi. ²⁵In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, in the solemn feast, he shall do the like for the seven days: as well in regard to the sin offering, as to the holocaust, and. the sacrifice, and the

Chapter 46

¹Thus saith the Lord God: The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east, shall be shut the six days, on which work is done; but on the sabbath day it shall be opened, yea and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. ²And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate from without, and he shall stand at the threshold of the gate: and the priests shall offer his holocaust, and his peace offerings: and he shall adore upon the threshold of the gate, and shall go out: but the gate shall not be shut till the evening. ³And the people of the land shall adore at the door of that gate before the Lord on the sabbaths, and on the new moons. ⁴And the holocaust that the prince shall offer to the Lord on the sabbath day, shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish. ⁵And the sacrifice of an ephi for a ram: but for the lambs what sacrifice his hand shall allow: and a hin of oil for every ephi. ⁶And on the day of the new moon a calf of the herd without blemish: and the six lambs, and the rams shall be without blemish. ⁷And he shall offer in sacrifice an ephi for a calf, an ephi also for a ram: but for the lambs, as his hand shall find : and a hin of oil for every ephi. ⁸And when the prince is to go in, let him go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and let him go out the same way. ⁹But when the people of the land shall go in before the Lord in the solemn feasts, he that goeth in by the north gate to adore, shall go out by the way of the south gate : and he that; goeth in by the way of the south gate, shall go out by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go out at that over against it. ¹⁰And the prince in the midst of them, shall go in when they go in, and go out when they go out. ¹¹And in the fairs, and in the solemnities there shall be the sacrifice of an ephi to a calf, and an ephi to a ram: and to the lambs, the sacrifice shall be as his hand shall find: and a hin of oil to every ephi. ¹²But when the prince shall offer a voluntary holocaust, or voluntary peace offerings to the Lord : the gate that looketh towards the east shall be opened to him, and he shall offer his holocaust, and his peace offerings, as it is wont to be done on the sabbath day: and he shall go out, and the gate shall be shut after he is gone forth. ¹³And he shall offer every day for a holocaust to the Lord, a lamb of the same year without blemish: he shall offer it always in the morning. ¹⁴And he shall offer the sacrifice for it morning by morning, the sixth part of ephi: and the third part of a bin of oil be mingled with the fine hour: a to the Lord by ordinance continual and everlasting. ¹⁵He shall offer the lamb, and the sacrifice, and the oil morning by morning: an everlasting holocaust. ¹⁶Thus saith the Lord God: If the prince give a gift to any of his sons: the inheritance of it shall go to his children, they shall possess it by inheritance. ¹⁷But if he give a legacy out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of release, and it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall go to his sons. ¹⁸And the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by violence, nor of their possession : but out of his own possession he shall give an inheritance to his sons: that my people be not dispersed every man from his possession. ¹⁹And he brought me in by the entry that was at the side of the gate, into the chambers of the sanctuary that were for the priests, which looked toward the north. And there was a place bending to the west. ²⁰And he said to me: This is the place where the priests shall boil the sin offering, and the trespass offering: where they shall dress the sacrifice, that they may not bring it out into the outward court, and the people be sanctified. ²¹And he brought me into the outward court, and he led me about by the four corners of the court: and behold there was a little court in the corner of the court, to every corner of the court there was a little court. ²²In the four corners of the court were little courts disposed, forty cubits long, and thirty broad, all the four were of one measure. ²³And there was a wall round about compassing the four little courts, and there were kitchens built under the rows round about. ²⁴And he said to me: This is the house of the kitchens wherein the ministers of the house of the Lord shall boil the victims of the people.

Chapter 47

¹And he brought me again to the gate of the house, and behold waters issued out from under the threshold of the house toward the east: for the forefront, of the house looked toward the east: but the waters came down to the right side of the temple to the south part of the altar. ²And he led me out by the way of the north gate, and he caused me to turn to the way without the outward gate to the way that looked toward the east: and behold there ran out waters on the right side. ³And when the man that had the line in his hand went out towards the east, he measured a thousand cubits: and he brought me through the water up to the ankles. ⁴And again he measured a thousand, and he brought me through the water up to the knees. ⁵And he measured a thousand. and he brought me through the water up to the loins. And he measured a thousand, and it was a torrent, which I could not pass over: for the waters were risen so as to make a deep torrent, which could not be passed over. ⁶And he said to me: Surely thou hast seen, O son of man. And he brought me out, and he caused me to turn to the bank of the torrent. ⁷And when I had turned myself, behold on the bank of the torrent were very many trees on both sides. ⁸And he said to me: These waters that issue forth toward the hillocks of sand to the east, and go down to the plains of the desert, shall go into the sea, and shall go out, and the waters shall be healed. ⁹And every living creature that creepeth whithersoever the torrent shall come, shall live: and there shall be fishes in abundance after these waters shall come thither, and they shall be healed, and all things shall live to which the torrent shall come. ¹⁰And the fishers shall stand over these waters, from Engaddi even to Engallim there shall be drying of nets: there shall be many sorts of the fishes thereof, as the fishes of the great sea, a very great multitude : ¹¹But on the shore thereof, and in the fenny places they shall not be healed, because they shall be turned into saltpits. ¹²And by the torrent on the banks thereof on both sides shall grow all trees that bear fruit: their leaf shall not fall off, and their fruit shall not fail: every month shall they bring forth firstfruits, because the waters thereof shall issue out of the sanctuary: and the fruits thereof shall be for food, and the leaves thereof for medicine. ¹³Thus saith the Lord God: This is the border, by which you shall possess the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: for Joseph hath a double portion. ¹⁴And you shall possess it, every man in like manner as his brother: concerning which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for a possession. ¹⁵And this is the border of the land: toward the north side, from the great sea by the way of Hethalon, as men go to Sedada, ¹⁶Emath, Berotha, Sabarim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Emath, the house of Tichon, which is by the border of Auran. ¹⁷And the border from the sea even to the court of Enan, shall be the border of Damascus, and from the north to the north: the border of Emath, this is the north side. ¹⁸And the east side is from the midst of Auran, and from the midst of Damascus, and from the midst of Galaad, and from the midst of the land of Israel, Jordan making the bound to the east sea, and thus you shall measure the east side. ¹⁹And the south side southward is from Thamar even to the waters of contradiction of Cades: and the torrent even to the great sea: and this is the south side southward. ²⁰And the side toward the sea, is the great sea from the borders straight on, till thou come to Emath: this is the side of the sea. ²¹And you shall divide this land unto you by the tribes of Israel: ²²And you shall divide it by lot for an inheritance to you, and to the strangers that shall come over to you, that shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as men of the same country born among the children of Israel: they shall divide the possession with you in the midst of the tribes of Israel. ²³And in what tribe soever the stranger shall be, there shall you give him possession, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 48

¹And these are the names of the tribes from the borders of the north, by the way of Hethalon, as they go to Emath, the court of Enan the border of Damascus northward, by the way of Emath. And from the east side thereof to the sea, shall be one portion for Dan. ²And by the border of Dan, from the east side even to the side of the sea, one portion for Aser: ³And by the border of Aser, from the east side even to the side of the sea, one portion for Nephthali. ⁴And by the border of Nephthali, from the east side even to the side of the sea, one portion for Manasses. ⁵And by the border of Manasses, from the east side even to the side of the sea, one portion for Ephraim. ⁶And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even to the side of the sea, one portion for Ruben. ⁷And by the border of Ruben, from the east side even to the side of the sea, one portion for Juda. ⁸And by the border of Juda, from the east side even to the side of the sea, shall be the firstfruits which you shall set apart, five and twenty thousand in breadth, and in length, as every one of the portions from the east side to the side of the sea: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst thereof. ⁹The firstfruits which you shall set apart for the Lord : shall be the length of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand. ¹⁰And these shall be the firstfruits of the sanctuary for the priests: toward the north five and twenty thousand in length, and toward the sea ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east also ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south five and twenty thousand in length: and the sanctuary of the Lord shall be in the midst thereof. ¹¹The sanctuary shall be for the priests of the sons of Sadoc, who kept my ceremonies, and went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites also went astray. ¹²And for them shall be the firstfruits of the firstfruits of the land holy of holies, by the border of the Levites. ¹³And the Levites in like manner shall have by the borders of the priests five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth. All the length shall be five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand. ¹⁴And they shall not sell thereof, nor exchange, neither shall the firstfruits of the land be alienated, because they are sanctified to the Lord. ¹⁵But the five thousand that remain in the breadth over against the five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane place for the city for dwelling, and for suburbs: and the city shall be in the midst thereof. ¹⁶And these are the measures thereof: on the north side four thousand and five hundred: and on the south side four thousand and five hundred: and on the east side four thousand and five hundred: and on the west side four thousand and five hundred. ¹⁷And the suburbs of the city shall be to the north two hundred and fifty, and to the south two hundred and fifty, and to the east two hundred and fifty, and to the sea two hundred and fifty. ¹⁸And the residue in length by the firstfruits of the sanctuary, ten thousand toward the east, and ten thousand toward the west, shall be as the firstfruits of the sanctuary: and the fruits thereof shall be for bread to them that serve the city. ¹⁹And they that serve the city, shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel. ²⁰All the firstfruits, of five and twenty thousand, by five and twenty thousand foursquare, shall be set apart for the firstfruits of the sanctuary, and for the possession of the city. ²¹And the residue shall be for the prince on every side of the firstfruits of the sanctuary, and of the possession of the city over against the five and twenty thousand of the firstfruits unto the east border: toward the sea also over against the five and twenty thousand, unto the border of the sea, shall likewise be the portion of the prince: and the firstfruits of the sanctuary, and the sanctuary of the temple shall be in the midst thereof. ²²And from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city which ale in the midst of the prince's portions: what shall be to the border of Juda, and to the border of Benjamin, shall also belong to the prince. ²³And for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the west side, one portion for Benjamin. ²⁴And over against the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, one portion for Simeon. ²⁵And by the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, one portion for Issachar. ²⁶And by the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, one portion for Zabulon. ²⁷And by the border of Zabulon, from the east side to the side of the sea, one portion for Gad. ²⁸And by the border of Gad, the south side southward: and the border shall be from Thamar, even to the waters of contradiction of Cades, the inheritance over against the great sea. ²⁹This is the land which you shall divide by lot to the tribes of Israel: and these are the portions of them, saith the Lord God. ³⁰And these are the goings out of the city: on the north side thou shalt measure four thousand and five hundred. ³¹And the gates of the city according to the names of the tribes of Israel, three gates on the north side, the gate of Ruben one, the gate of Juda one, the gate of Levi one. ³²And at the east side, four thousand and five hundred: and three gates, the gate of Joseph one, the gate of Benjamin one, the gate of Dan one. ³³And at the south side, thou shalt measure four thousand and five hundred: and three gates, the gate of Simeon one, the gate of Issachar one, the gate of Zabulon one. ³⁴And at the west side, four thousand and five hundred, and their three gates, the gate of Gad one, the gate of Aser one, the gate of Nephthali one. ³⁵Its circumference was eighteen thousand: and the name of the city from that day, The Lord is there.

The Prophecy of Daniel

DANIEL, whose name signifies THE JUDGMENT OF GOD, was of the royal blood of the kings of Juda: and one of those that were first of all carried away in captivity. He was so renowned for wisdom and knowledge, that it became a proverb among the Babylonians, AS WISE AS DANIEL Ezech. 28.3). And his holiness was so great from his very childhood, that at the time when he was as yet but a young man, his is joined by the SPIRIT of GOD with NOE and JOB, as three persons most eminent for virtue and sanctity, Ezech. 14. He is not commonly numbered by the Hebrews among THE PROPHETS: because he lived at court, and in high station in the world: but if we consider his many clear predictions of things to come, we shall find that no one better deserves the name and title of A PROPHET: which also has been given him by the SON of GOD himself, Matt. 24, Mark 13, Luke 21.

Chapter 1

¹In the third year of the reign of Joakim king of Juda, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and besieged it. ²And the Lord delivered into his hands Joakim the king of Juda, and part of the vessels of the house of God: and he carried them away into the land of Sennaar, to the house of his god, and the vessels he brought into the treasure house of his god. ³And the king spoke to Asphenez the master of the eunuchs, that he should bring in some of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed and of the princes, ⁴Children in whom there was no blemish, well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, acute in knowledge, and instructed in science, and such as might stand in the king's palace, that he might teach them the learning, and the tongue of the Chaldeans. ⁵And the king appointed them a daily provision, of his own meat, and of the wine of which he drank himself, that being nourished three years, afterwards they might stand before the king. ⁶Now there were among them of the children of Juda, Daniel, Ananias, Misael, and Azarias. ⁷And the master of the eunuchs gave them names: to Daniel, Baltassar: to Ananias, Sidrach: to Misael, Misach: and to Azarias, Abdenago. ⁸But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not be defiled with the king's table, nor with the wine which he drank: and he requested the master of the eunuchs that he might not be defiled. ⁹And God gave to Daniel grace and mercy in the sight of the prince of the eunuchs. ¹⁰And the prince of the eunuchs said to Daniel: I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed you meat and drink: who if he should see your faces leaner than those of the other youths your equals, you shall endanger my head to the king. ¹¹And Daniel said to Malasar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had appointed over Daniel, Ananias, Misael, and Azarias: ¹²Try, I beseech thee, thy servants for ten days, and let pulse be given us to eat, and water to drink: ¹³And look upon our faces, and the faces of the children that eat of the king's meat: and as thou shalt see, deal with thy servants. ¹⁴And when he had heard these words, he tried them for ten days. ¹⁵And after ten days their faces appeared fairer and fatter than all the children that ate of the king's meat. ¹⁶So Malasar took their portions, and the wine that they should drink: and he gave them pulse. ¹⁷And to these children God gave knowledge, and understanding in every book, and wisdom: but to Daniel the understanding also of all visions and dreams. ¹⁸And when the days were ended, after which the king had ordered they should be brought in: the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nabuchodonosor. ¹⁹And when the king had spoken to them, there were not found among them all such as Daniel, Ananias, Misael, and Azarias: and they stood in the king's presence. ²⁰And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the diviners, and wise men, that were in all his kingdom. ²¹And Daniel continued even to the first year of king Cyrus.

Chapter 2

¹In the second year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, Nabuchodonosor had a dream, and his spirit was terrified, and his dream went out of his mind. ²Then the king commanded to call together the diviners and the wise men, and the magicians, and the Chaldeans: to declare to the king his dreams: so they came and stood before the king. ³And the king said to them: I saw a dream: and being troubled in mind I know not what I saw. ⁴And the Chaldeans answered the king in Syriac: O king, live for ever: tell to thy servants thy dream, and we will declare the interpretation thereof. ⁵And the king answering said to the Chaldeans: The thing is gone out of my mind: unless you tell me the dream, and the meaning thereof, you shall be put to death, and your houses shall be confiscated. ⁶But if you tell the dream, and the meaning of it, you shall receive of me rewards, and gifts, and great honour: therefore tell me the dream, and the interpretation thereof. ⁷They answered again and said: Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will declare the interpretation of it. ⁸The king answered, and said: I know for certain that you seek to gain time, since you know that the thing is gone from me. ⁹If therefore you tell me not the dream, there is one sentence concerning you, that you have also framed a lying interpretation, and full of deceit, to speak before me till the time pass away. Tell me therefore the dream, that I may know that you also give a true interpretation thereof. ¹⁰Then the Chaldeains answered before the king, and said: There is no man upon earth, that can accomplish thy word, O king, neither doth any king, though great and mighty, ask such a thing of any diviner, or wise man, or Chaldean. ¹¹For the thing that thou askest, O king, is difficult; nor can any one be found that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose conversation is not with men. ¹²Upon hearing this, the king in fury, and in great wrath, commanded that all the wise men of Babylon should be put to death. ¹³And the decree being gone forth, the wise men were slain: and Daniel and his companions were sought for, to be put to death. ¹⁴Then Daniel inquired concerning the law and the sentence, of Arioch the general of the king's army, who was gone forth to kill the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁵And he asked him that had received the orders of the king, why so cruel a sentence was gone forth from the face of the king. And when Arioch had told the matter to Daniel, ¹⁶Daniel went in and desired of the king, that he would give him time to resolve the question and declare it to the king. ¹⁷And he went into his house, and told the matter to Ananias, and Misael, and Azarias his companions: ¹⁸To the end that they should ask mercy at the face of the God of heaven concerning this secret, and that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁹Then was the mystery revealed to Daniel by a vision in the night: and Daniel blessed the God of heaven, ²⁰And speaking he said: Blessed be the name of the Lord from eternity and for evermore: for wisdom and fortitude are his. ²¹And he changeth times and ages: taketh away kingdoms and establisheth them, giveth wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that have understanding. ²²He revealeth deep and hidden things, and knoweth what is in darkness: and light is with him. ²³To thee, O God of our fathers, I give thanks, and I praise thee: because thou hast given me wisdom and strength: and now thou hast shewn me what we desired of thee, for thou hast made known to us, the king's discourse. ²⁴After this Daniel went in to Arioch, to whom the king had given orders to destroy the wise men of Babylon, and he spoke thus to him: Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will tell the solution to the king. ²⁵Then Arioch in haste brought in Daniel to the king, and said to him: I have found a man of the children of the captivity of Juda, that will resolve the question to the king. ²⁶The king answered, and said to Daniel, whose name was Baltassar: Thinkest thou indeed that thou canst tell me the dream that I saw, and the interpretation thereof? ²⁷And Daniel made answer before the king, and said: The secret that the king desireth to know, none of the wise men, or the philosophers, or the diviners, or the soothsayers can declare to the king. ²⁸But there is a God in heaven that revealeth mysteries, who hath shewn to thee, O king Nabuchodonosor, what is to come to pass in the latter times. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these: ²⁹Thou, O king, didst begin to think in thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth mysteries shewed thee what shall come to pass. ³⁰To me also this secret is revealed, not by any wisdom that I have more than all men alive: but that the interpretation might be made manifest to the king, and thou mightest know the thoughts of thy mind. ³¹Thou, O king, sawest, and behold there was as it were a great statue: this statue, which was great and high, tall of stature, stood before thee, and the look thereof was terrible. ³²The head of this statue was of fine gold, but the breast and the arms of silver, and the belly and the thighs of brass: ³³And the legs of iron, the feet part of iron and part of clay. ³⁴Thus thou sawest, till a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands: and it struck the statue upon the feet thereof that were of iron and of clay, and broke them in pieces. ³⁵Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of a summer's thrashingfloor, and they were carried away by the wind: and there was no place found for them: but the stone that struck the statue, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. ³⁶This is the dream: we will also tell the interpretation thereof before thee, O king. ³⁷Thou art a king of kings: and the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, and strength, and power, and glory: ³⁸And all places wherein the children of men, and the beasts of the field do dwell: he hath also given the birds of the air into thy hand, and hath put all things under thy power: thou therefore art the head of gold. ³⁹And after thee shall rise up another kingdom, inferior to thee, of silver: and another third kingdom of brass, which shall rule over all the world. ⁴⁰And the fourth kingdom shall be as iron. As iron breaketh into pieces, and subdueth all things, so shall that break and destroy all these. ⁴¹Arid whereas thou sawest the feet, and the toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron: the kingdom shall be divided, but yet it shall take its origin from the iron, according as thou sawest the iron mixed with the miry clay. ⁴²And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. ⁴³And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall be mingled indeed together with the seed of man, but they shall not stick fast one to another, as iron cannot be mixed with clay. ⁴⁴But in the days of those kingdoms the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, and his kingdom shall not be delivered up to another people, and it shall break in pieces, and shall consume all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand for ever. ⁴⁵According as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and broke in pieces, the clay, and the iron, and the brass, and the silver, and the gold, the great God hath shewn the king what shall come to pass hereafter, and the dream is true, and the interpretation thereof is faithful. ⁴⁶Then king Nabuchodonosor fell on his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer in sacrifice to him victims and incense. ⁴⁷And the king spoke to Daniel, and said: Verily your God is the God of gods, and Lord of kings, and a revealer of hidden things: seeing thou couldst discover this secret. ⁴⁸Then the king advanced Daniel to a high station, and gave him many and great gifts: and he made him governor over all the provinces of Babylon, and chief of the magistrates over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹And Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago over the works of the province of Babylon: but Daniel himself was in the king's palace.

Chapter 3

¹King Nabuchodonosor made a statue of gold, of sixty cubits high, and six cubits broad, and he set it up in the plain of Dura of the province of Babylon. ²Then Nabuchodonosor the king sent to call together the nobles, the magistrates, and the judges, the captains, the rulers, and governors, and all the chief men of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the statue which king Nabuchodonosor had set up. ³Then the nobles, the magistrates, and the judges, the captains, and rulers, and the great men that were placed in authority, and all the princes of the provinces, were gathered together to come to the dedication of the statue, which king Nabuchodonosor had set up. And they stood before the statue which king Nabuchodonosor had set up. ⁴Then a herald cried with a strong voice: To you it is commanded, O nations, tribes, and languages: ⁵That in the hour that you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, and of the flute, and of the harp, of the sackbut, and of the psaltery, and of the symphony, and of all kind of music; ye fall down and adore the golden statue which king Nabuchodonosor hath set up. ⁶But if any man shall not fall down and adore, he shall the same hour be cast into a furnace of burning fire. ⁷Upon this therefore, at the time when all the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the flute, and the harp, of the sackbut, and the psaltery, of the symphony, and of all kind of music: all the nations, tribes, and languages fell down and adored the golden statue which king Nabuchodonosor had set up. ⁸And presently at that very time some Chaldeans came and accused the Jews, ⁹And said to king Nabuchodonosor: O king, live for ever: ¹⁰Thou, O king, hast made a decree that every man that shall bear the sound of the trumpet, the flute, and the harp, of the sackbut, and the psaltery, of the symphony, and of all kind of music, shall prostrate himself, and adore the golden statue: ¹¹And that if any man shall not fall down and adore, he should be cast into a furnace of burning fire. ¹²Now there are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the works of the province of Babylon, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago: these men, O king, have slighted thy decree: they worship not thy gods, nor do they adore the golden statue which thou hast set up. ¹³Then Nabuchodonosor in fury, and in wrath, commanded that Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago should be brought: who immediately were brought before the king. ¹⁴And Nabuchodonosor the king spoke to them, and said: Is it true, O Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, that you do not worship my gods, nor adore the golden statue that I have set up? ¹⁵Now therefore if you be ready at what hour soever you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, flute, harp, sackbut, and psaltery, and symphony, and of all kind of music, prostrate yourselves, and adore the statue which I have made: but if you do not adore, you shall be cast the same hour into the furnace of burning fire: and who is the God that shall deliver you out of my hand? ¹⁶Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago answered and said to king Nabuchodonosor: We have no occasion to answer thee concerning this matter. ¹⁷For behold our God, whom we worship, is able to save us from the furnace of burning fire, and to deliver us out of thy hands, O king. ¹⁸But if he will not, be it known to thee, O king, that we will not worship thy gods, nor adore the golden statue which thou hast set up. ¹⁹Then was Nabuchodonosor filled with fury: and the countenance of his face was changed against Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it had been accustomed to be heated. ²⁰And he commanded the strongest men that were in his army, to bind the feet of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and to cast them into the furnace of burning fire. ²¹And immediately these men were bound and were cast into the furnace of burning fire, with their coats, and their caps, and their shoes, and their garments. ²²For the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace was heated exceedingly. And the flame of the fire slew those men that had cast in Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago. ²³But these three men, that is, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, fell down bound in the midst of the furnace of burning fire. ²⁴Then Nabuchodonosor the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and said to his nobles: Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered the king, and said: True, O king. ²⁵He answered, and said: Behold I see four men loose, and walking in the midst of the fire, and there is no hurt in them, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. ²⁶Then Nabuchodonosor came to the door of the burning fiery furnace, and said: Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, ye servants of the most high God, go ye forth, and come. And immediately Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago went out from the midst of the fire. ²⁷And the nobles, and the magistrates, and the judges, and the great men of the king being gathered together, considered these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies, and that not a hair of their head had been singed, nor their garments altered, nor the smell of the fire had passed on them. ²⁸Then Nabuchodonosor breaking forth, said: Blessed be the God of them, to wit, of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that believed in him: and they changed the king's word, and delivered up their bodies that they might not serve, nor adore any god, except their own God. ²⁹By me therefore this decree is made, that every people, tribe, and tongue, which shall speak blasphemy against the God of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, shall be destroyed, and their houses laid waste: for there is no other God that can save in this manner. ³⁰Then the king promoted Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, in the province of Babylon.

Chapter 4

¹Nabuchodonosor the king, to all peoples, nations, and tongues, that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied unto you. ²The most high God hath wrought signs and wonders toward me. It hath seemed good to me therefore to publish ³His signs, because they are great: and his wonders, because they are mighty: and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, I and his power to all generations. ⁴I Nabuchodonosor was at rest in my house, and flourishing in my palace: ⁵I saw a dream that affrighted me: and my thoughts in my bed, and the visions of my head troubled me. ⁶Then I set forth a decree, that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought in before me, and that they should shew me the interpretation of the dream. ⁷Then came in the diviners, the wise men, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and I told the dream before them: but they did not shew me the interpretation thereof: ⁸Till their colleague Daniel came in before me, whose name is Baltassar, according to the name of my god, who hath in him the spirit of the holy gods: and I told the dream before him. ⁹Baltassar, prince of the diviners, because I know that thou hast in thee the spirit of the holy gods, and that no secret is impossible to thee: tell me the visions of my dreams that I have seen, and the interpretation of them. ¹⁰This was the vision of my head in my bed: I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was exceeding great. ¹¹The tree was great, and strong: and the height thereof reached unto heaven: the sight thereof was even to the ends of all the earth. ¹²Its leaves were most beautiful, and its fruit exceeding much: and in it was food for all: under it dwelt cattle, and beasts, and in the branches thereof the fowls of the air had their abode: and all flesh did eat of it. ¹³I saw in the vision of my head upon my bed, and behold a watcher, and a holy one came down from heaven. ¹⁴He cried aloud, and said thus: Cut down the tree, and chop off the branches thereof: shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruits: let the beasts fly away that are under it, and the birds from its branches. ¹⁵Nevertheless leave the stump of its roots in the earth, and let it be tied with a band of iron, and of brass, among the grass, that is without, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let its portion be with the wild beasts in the grass of the earth. ¹⁶Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given him; and let seven times pass over him. ¹⁷This is the decree by the sentence of the watchers, and the word And demand of the holy ones; till the living know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men; and he will give it to whomsoever it shall please him, and he will appoint the basest man over it. ¹⁸I king Nabuchodonosor saw this dream: thou, therefore, O Baltassar, tell me quickly the interpretation: for all the wise men of my kingdom axe not able to declare the meaning of it to me: but thou art able, because the spirit of the holy gods is in thee. ¹⁹Then Daniel, whose name was Baltassar, began silently to think within himself for about one hour: and his thoughts troubled him. But the king answering, said: Baltassar, let not the dream and the interpretation thereof trouble thee. Baltassar answered, and said: My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thy enemies. ²⁰The tree which thou sawest which was high and strong, whose height reached to the skies, and the sight thereof into all tire earth: ²¹And the branches thereof were most beautiful, and its fruit exceeding much, and in it was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and the birds of the air had their abode in its branches. ²²It is thou, O king, who art grown great and become mighty: for thy greatness hath grown, and hath reached to heaven, and thy power unto the ends of the earth. ²³And whereas the king saw a watcher, and a holy one come down from heaven, and say: Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, and let it be bound with iron and brass among the grass without, and let it be sprinkled with the dew of heaven, and let his feeding be with the wild beasts, till seven times pass over him. ²⁴This is the interpretation of the sentence of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king. ²⁵They shall cast thee out from among men, and thy dwelling shall be with cattle and with wild beasts, and thou shalt eat grass as an ox, and shalt be wet with the dew of heaven: and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth over the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. ²⁶But whereas he commanded, that the stump of the roots thereof, that is, of the tree, should be left: thy kingdom shall remain to thee after thou shalt have known that power is from heaven. ²⁷Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to thee, and redeem thou thy sins with alms, and thy iniquities with works of mercy to the poor: perhaps he will forgive thy offences. ²⁸All these things came upon king Nabuchodonosor. ²⁹At the end of twelve months he was walking in the palace of Babylon. ³⁰And the king answered, and said: Is not this the great Babylon, which I have built to be the seat of the kingdom, by the strength of my power, and in the glory of my excellence? ³¹And while the word was yet in the king's mouth, a voice came down from heaven: To thee, O king Nabuchodonosor, it is said: Thy kingdom shall pass from thee, ³²And they shall cast thee out from among men, and thy dwelling shall be with cattle and wild beasts: thou shalt eat grass like an ox, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. ³³The same hour the word was fulfilled upon Nabuchodonosor, and he was driven away from among men, and did eat grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven: till his hairs grew like the feathers of eagles, and his nails like birds' claws. ³⁴Now at the end of the days, I Nabuchodonosor lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my sense was restored to me: and I blessed the most High, and I praised and glorified him that liveth for ever: for his power is an everlasting power, and his kingdom is to all generations. ³⁵And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing before him: for he doth according to his will, I as well with the powers of heaven, as among the inhabitants of the earth: and there is none that can resist his hand, and say to him: Why hast thou done it? ³⁶At the same time my sense returned to me, and I came to the honour and glory of my kingdom: and my shape returned to me: and my nobles, and my magistrates sought for me, and I was restored to my kingdom: and greater majesty was added to me. ³⁷Therefore I Nabuchodonosor do now praise, and magnify, and glorify the King of heaven: because all his works are true, and his ways judgments, and them that walk in pride he is able to abase.

Chapter 5

¹Baltasar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his nobles: and every one drank according to his age. ²And being now drunk he commanded that they should bring the vessels of gold and silver which Nabuchodonosor his father had brought away out of the temple, that was in Jerusalem, that the king and his nobles, and his wives and his concubines, might drink in them. ³Then were the golden and silver vessels brought, which he had brought away out of the temple that was in Jerusalem: and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, drank in them. ⁴They drank wine, and praised their gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, and of wood, and of stone. ⁵In the same hour there appeared fingers, as it were of the hand of a man, writing over against the candlestick upon the surface of the wall of the king's palace: and the king beheld the joints of the hand that wrote. ⁶Then was the king's countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him: and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees struck one against the other. ⁷And the king cried out aloud to bring in the wise men, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spoke, and said to the wise men of Babylon: Whosoever shall read this writing, and shall make known to me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with purple, and shall have a golden chain on his neck, and shall be the third man in my kingdom. ⁸Then came in all the king's wise men, but they could neither read the writing, nor declare the interpretation to the king. ⁹Wherewith king Baltasar was much troubled, and his countenance was changed: and his nobles also were troubled. ¹⁰Then the queen, on occasion of what had happened to the king, and his nobles, came into the banquet house: and she spoke and said: O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, neither let thy countenance be changed. ¹¹There is a man in thy kingdom that hath the spirit of the holy gods in him: and in the days of thy father knowledge and wisdom were found in him: for king Nabuchodonosor thy father appointed him prince of the wise men, enchanters, Chaldeans, and soothsayers, thy father, I say, O king: ¹²Because a greater spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, and interpretation of dreams, and shewing of secrets, and resolving of difficult things, were found in him, that is, in Daniel: whom the king named Baltarsar. Now therefore let Daniel be called for, and he will tell the interpretation. ¹³Then Daniel was brought in before the king. And the king spoke, and said to him: Art thou Daniel of the children of the captivity of Juda, whom my father the king brought out of Judea? ¹⁴I have heard of thee, that thou hast the spirit of the gods, and excellent knowledge, and understanding, and wisdom are found in thee. ¹⁵And now the wise men the magicians have come in before me, to read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof: and they could not declare to me the meaning of this writing. ¹⁶But I have heard of thee, that thou canst interpret obscure things, and resolve difficult things: now if thou art able to read the writing, and to shew me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with purple, and shalt have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third prince in my kingdom. ¹⁷To which Daniel made answer, and said before the king: Thy rewards be to thyself, and the gifts of thy house give to another: but the writing I will read to thee, O king, and shew thee the interpretation thereof. ¹⁸O king, the most high God gave to Nabuchodonosor thy father a kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and honour. ¹⁹And for the greatness that he gave to him, all people, tribes, and languages trembled, and were afraid of him: whom he would, he slew: and whom he would, he destroyed: and whom he would, he set up: and whom he would, he brought down. ²⁰But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit hardened unto pride, he was put down from the throne of his kingdom, and his glory was taken away. ²¹And he was driven out from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses, and he did eat grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven: till he knew that the most High ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he will set over it whomsoever it shall please him. ²²Thou also his son, O Baltasar, hast not humbled thy heart, whereas thou knewest all these things: ²³But hast lifted thyself up against the Lord of heaven: and the vessels of his house have been brought before thee: and thou, and thy nobles, and thy wives, and thy concubines have drunk wine in them: and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and of gold, and of brass, of iron, and of wood, and of stone, that neither see, nor hear, nor feel: but the God who hath thy breath in his hand, and all thy ways, thou hast not glorified. ²⁴Wherefore he hath sent the part of the hand which hath written this that is set down. ²⁵And this is the writing that is written: MANE, THECEL, PHARES. ²⁶And this is the interpretation of the word. MANE: God hath numbered thy kingdom, and hath finished it. ²⁷THECEL: thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting. ²⁸PHARES: thy kingdom is divided, and is given to the Medes and Persians. ²⁹Then by the king's command Daniel was clothed with purple, and a chain of gold was put about his neck: and it was proclaimed of him that he had power as the third man in the kingdom. ³⁰The same night Baltasar the Chaldean king was slain. ³¹And Darius the Mede succeeded to the kingdom, being threescore and two years old.

Chapter 6

¹It seemed good to Darius, and he appointed over the kingdom a hundred and twenty governors to be over his whole kingdom. ²And three princes over them, of whom Daniel was one: that the governors might give an account to them, and the king might have no trouble. ³And Daniel excelled all the princes, and governors: because a greater spirit of God was in him. ⁴And the king thought to set him over all the kingdom: whereupon the princes, and the governors sought to find occasion against Daniel with regard to the king: and they could find no cause, nor suspicion, because he was faithful, and no fault, nor suspicion was found in him ⁵Then these men said: We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, unless perhaps concerning the law of his God. ⁶Then the princes, and the governors craftily suggested to the king, and spoke thus unto him: King Darius, live for ever: ⁷All the princes of the kingdom, the magistrates, and governors, the senators, and judges have consulted together, that an imperial decree, and an edict be published: That whosoever shall ask any petition of any god, or man, for thirty days, but of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. ⁸Now, therefore, O king, confirm the sentence, and sign the decree: that what is decreed by the Medes and Persians may not be altered, nor any man be allowed to transgress it. ⁹So king Darius set forth the decree, and established it. ¹⁰Now when Daniel knew this, that is to say, that the law was made, he went into his house: and opening the windows in his upper chamber towards Jerusalem, he knelt down three times a day, and adored, and gave thanks before his God, as he had been accustomed to do before. ¹¹Wherefore those men carefully watching him, found Daniel praying and making supplication to his God. ¹²And they came and spoke to the king concerning the edict: O king, hast thou not decreed, that every man that should make a request to any of the gods, or men, for thirty days, but to thyself, O king, should be cast into the den of the lions? And the king answered them, saying: The word is true according to the decree of the Medes and Persians, which it is not lawful to violate. ¹³Then they answered, and said before the king: Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Juda, hath not regarded thy law, nor the decree that thou hast made: but three times a day he maketh his prayer. ¹⁴Now when the king had heard these words, he was very much grieved, and in behalf of Daniel he set his heart to deliver him and even till sunset he laboured to save him. ¹⁵But those mer. perceiving the king's design, said to him: Know thou, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, that no decree which the king hath made, may be altered. ¹⁶Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of the lions. And the king said to Daniel: Thy God, whom thou always servest, he will deliver thee. ¹⁷And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den: which the king sealed with his own ring, and with the ring of his nobles, that nothing should be done against Daniel. ¹⁸And the king went away to his house and laid himself down without taking supper, and meat was not set before him, and even sleep departed from him. ¹⁹Then the king rising very early in the morning, went in haste to the lions' den: ²⁰And coming near to the den, cried with a lamentable voice to Daniel, and said to him: Daniel, servant of the living God, hath thy God, whom thou servest always, been able, thinkest thou, to deliver thee from the lions? ²¹And Daniel answering the king, said: O king, live for ever: ²²My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut up the mouths of the lions, and they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him justice hath been found in me: yea and before thee, O king, I have done no offence. ²³Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and he commanded that Daniel should be taken out of the den: and Daniel was taken out of the den, and no hurt was found in him, because he believed in his God. ²⁴And by the king's commandment, those men were brought that bad accused Daniel: and they were cast into the lions' den, they and their children, and their wives: and they did not reach the bottom of the den, before the lions caught them, and broke all their bones in pieces. ²⁵Then king Darius wrote to all people, tribes, and languages, dwelling in the whole earth: PEACE be multiplied unto you. ²⁶It is decreed by me, that in all my empire and my kingdom all men dread and fear the God of Daniel. For he is the living and eternal God for ever: and his kingdom shall not be destroyed, and his power shall be for ever. ²⁷He is the deliverer, and saviour, doing signs and wonders in heaven, and in earth: who hath delivered Daniel out of the lions' den. ²⁸Now Daniel continued unto the reign of Darius, and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

Chapter 7

¹In the first year of Baltasar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream: and the vision of his head was upon his bed: and writing the dream, he comprehended it in few words: and relating the sum of it in short, he said: ²I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. ³And four great beasts, different one from another, came up out of the sea. ⁴The first was like a lioness, and had the wings of an eagle: I beheld till her wings were plucked off, and she was lifted up from the earth, and stood upon her feet as a man, and the heart of a man was given to her. ⁵And behold another beast like a bear stood up on one side: and there were three rows in the mouth thereof, and in the teeth thereof, and thus they said to it: Arise, devour much flesh. ⁶After this I beheld, and lo, another like a leopard, and it had upon it four wings as of a fowl, and the beast had four heads, and power was given to it. ⁷After this I beheld in the vision of the night, and lo, a fourth beast, terrible and wonderful, and exceeding strong, it had great iron teeth, eating and breaking in pieces, and treading down the rest with its feet: and it was unlike to the other beasts which I had seen before it, and had ten horns. ⁸I considered the horns, and behold another little horn sprung out of the midst of them: and three of the first horns were plucked up at the presence thereof: and behold eyes like the eyes of a man were in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things. ⁹I beheld till thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days sat: his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like clean wool: his throne like flames of fire: the wheels of it like a burning fire. ¹⁰A swift stream of fire issued forth from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him: the judgment sat, and the books were opened. ¹¹I beheld because of the voice of the great words which that horn spoke: and I saw that the beast was slain, and the body thereof was destroyed, and given to the fire to be burnt: ¹²And that the power of the other beasts was taken away: and that times of life were appointed them for a time, and time. ¹³I beheld therefore in the vision of the night, and lo, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and he came even to the Ancient of days: and they presented him before him. ¹⁴And he gave him power, and glory, and a kingdom: and all peoples, tribes and tongues shall serve him: his power is an everlasting power that shall not be taken away: and his kingdom that shall not be destroyed. ¹⁵My spirit trembled, I Daniel was affrighted at these things, and the visions of my head troubled me. ¹⁶I went near to one of them that stood by, and asked the truth of him concerning all these things, and he told me the interpretation of the words, and instructed me: ¹⁷These four great beasts are four kingdoms, which shall arise out of the earth. ¹⁸But the saints of the most high God shall take the kingdom: and they shall possess the kingdom for ever and ever. ¹⁹After this I would diligently learn concerning the fourth beast. which was very different from all, and exceeding terrible: his teeth and claws were of iron: he devoured and broke in pieces, and the rest he stamped upon with his feet: ²⁰And concerning the ten horns that he had on his head: and concerning the other that came up, before which three horns fell: and of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth speaking great things, and was greater than the rest. ²¹I beheld, and lo, that horn made war against the saints, and prevailed over them, ²²Till the Ancient of days came and gave judgment to the saints of the most High, and the time came, and the saints obtained the kingdom. ²³And thus he said: The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be greater than all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. ²⁴And the ten horns of the same kingdom, shall be ten kings: and another shall rise up after them, and he shall be mightier than the former, and he shall bring down three kings. ²⁵And he shall speak words against the High One, and shall crush the saints of the most High: and he shall think himself able to change times and laws, and they shall be delivered into his hand until a time, and times, and half a time. ²⁶And judgment shall sit, that his power may be taken away, and be broken in pieces, and perish even to the end. ²⁷And that the kingdom, and power, and the greatness of the kingdom, under the whole heaven, may be given to the people of the saints of the most High: whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all kings shall serve him, and shall obey him. ²⁸Hitherto is the end of the word. I Daniel was much troubled with my thoughts, and my countenance was changed in me: but I kept the word in my heart.

Chapter 8

¹In the third year of the reign of king Baltasar, a vision appeared to me. I Daniel, after what I had seen in the beginning, ²Saw in my vision when I was in the castle of Susa, which is in the province of Elam: and I saw in the vision that I was over the gate of Ulai. ³And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold a ram stood before the water, having two high horns, and one higher than the other, and growing up. Afterward ⁴I saw the ram pushing with his horns against the west, and against the north, and against the south: and no beasts could withstand him, nor be delivered out of his hand: and he did according to his own will, and became great. ⁵And I understood: and behold a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and he touched not the ground, and the he goat had a notable horn between his eyes. ⁶And he went up to the ram that had the horns, which I had seen standing before the gate, and he ran towards him in the force of his strength. ⁷And when he was come near the ram, he was enraged against him, and struck the ram: and broke his two horns, and the ram could not withstand him: and when he had cast him down on the ground, he stamped upon him, and none could deliver the ram out of his hand. ⁸And the he goat became exceeding great: and when he was grown, the great horn was broken, and there came up four horns under it towards the four winds of heaven. ⁹And out of one of them came forth a little horn: and it became great against the south, and against the east, and against the strength. ¹⁰And it was magnified even unto the strength of heaven: and it threw down of the strength, and of the stars, and trod upon them. ¹¹And it was magnified even to the prince of the strength: and it took away from him the continual sacrifice, and cast down the place of his sanctuary. ¹²And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice, because of sins: and truth shall be cast down on the ground, and he shall do and shall prosper. ¹³And I heard one of the saints speaking, and one saint said to another, I know not to whom that was speaking: How long shall be the vision, concerning the continual sacrifice, and the sin of the desolation that is made: and the sanctuary, and the strength be trodden under foot? ¹⁴And he said to him: Unto evening and morning two thousand three hundred days: and the sanctuary shall be cleansed. ¹⁵And it came to pass when I Daniel saw the vision, and sought the meaning, that behold there stood before me as it were the appearance of a man. ¹⁶And I heard the voice of a man between Ulai: and he called, and said: Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. ¹⁷And he came and stood near where I stood: and when he was come, I fell on my face trembling, and he said to me: Understand, O son of man, for in the time of the end the vision shall be fulfilled. ¹⁸And when he spoke to me I fell flat on the ground: and he touched me, and set me upright, ¹⁹And he said to me: I will shew thee what things are to come to pass in the end of the malediction: for the time hath its end. ²⁰The ram, which thou sawest with horns, is the king of the Medes and Persians. ²¹And the he goat, is the king of the Greeks, and the great horn that was between his eyes, the same is the first king. ²²But whereas when that was broken, there arose up four for it: four kings shall rise up of his nation, but not with his strength. ²³And after their reign, when iniquities shall be grown up, there shall arise a king of a shameless face, and understanding dark sentences. ²⁴And his power shall be strengthened, but not by his own force: and he shall lay all things waste, and shall prosper, and do more than can be believed. And he shall destroy the mighty, and the people of the saints, ²⁵According to his will, and craft shall be successful in his hand: and his heart shall be puffed up, and in the abundance of all things he shall kill many: and he shall rise up against the prince of princes, and shall be broken without hand. ²⁶And the vision of the evening and the morning, which was told, is true: thou therefore seal up the vision, because it shall come to pass after many days. ²⁷And I Daniel languished, and was sick for some days: and when I was risen up, I did the king's business, and I was astonished at the vision, and there was none that could interpret it.

Chapter 9

¹In the first year of Darius the son of Assuerus of the seed of the Medes, who reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans: ²The first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, that seventy years should be accomplished of the desolation of Jerusalem. ³And I set my face to the Lord my God, to pray and make supplication with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes. ⁴And I prayed to the Lord my God, and I made my confession, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord God, great and terrible, who keepest the covenant, and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy commandments. ⁵We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly, and have revolted: and we have gone aside from thv commandments, and thy judgments. ⁶We have not hearkened to thy servants the prophets, that have spoken in thy name to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, and to all the people of the land. ⁷To thee, O Lord, justice: but to us confusion of face, as at this day to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel to them that are near, and to them that are far off in all the countries whither thou hast driven them, for their iniquities by which they have sinned against thee. ⁸O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our princes, and to our fathers that have sinned. ⁹But to thee, the Lord our God, mercy and forgiveness, for we have departed from thee: ¹⁰And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his law, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. ¹¹And all Israel have transgressed thy law, and have turned away from hearing thy voice, and the malediction, and the curse, which is written in the book of Moses the servant of God, is fallen upon us, because we have sinned against him. ¹²And he hath confirmed his words which he spoke against us, and against our princes that judged us, that he would bring in upon us a great evil, such as never was under all the heaven, according to that which hath been done in Jerusalem. ¹³As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: and we entreated not thy face, O Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and think on thy truth. ¹⁴And the Lord hath watched upon the evil, and hath brought it upon us: the Lord our God is just in all his works which he hath done: for we have not hearkened to his voice. ¹⁵And now, O Lord our God, who hast brought forth thy people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and hast made thee a name as at this day: we have sinned, we have committed iniquity, ¹⁶O Lord, against all thy justice: let thy wrath and thy indignation be turned away, I beseech thee, from thy city Jerusalem, and from thy holy mountain. For by reason of our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem, and thy people are a reproach to all that are round about us. ¹⁷Now therefore, O our God, hear the supplication of thy servant, and his prayers: and shew thy face upon thy sanctuary which is desolate, for thy own sake. ¹⁸Incline, O my God, thy ear, and hear: open thy eyes, and see our desolation, and the city upon which thy name is called: for it is not for our justifications that we present our prayers before thy face, but for the multitude of thy tender mercies. ¹⁹O Lord, hear: O Lord, be appeased: hearken and do: delay not for thy own sake, O my God: because thy name is invocated upon thy city, and upon thy people. ²⁰Now while I was yet speaking, and praying, and confessing my sins, and the sins of my people of Israel, and presenting my supplications in the sight of my God, for the holy mountain of my God: ²¹As I was yet speaking in prayer, behold the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice. ²²And he instructed me, and spoke to me, and said: O Daniel, I am now come forth to teach thee, and that thou mightest understand. ²³From the beginning of thy prayers the word came forth: and I am come to shew it to thee, because thou art a man of desires: therefore do thou mark the word, and understand the vision. ²⁴Seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be abolished; and everlasting justice may be brought; and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled; and the saint of saints may be anointed. ²⁵Know thou therefore, and take notice: that from the going forth of the word, to build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ the prince, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and the street shall be built again, and the walls in straitness of times. ²⁶And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain: and the people that shall deny him shall not be his. And a people with their leader that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be waste, and after the end of the war the appointed desolation. ²⁷And he shall confirm the covenant with many, in one week: and in the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fall: and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation: and ihe desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end.

Chapter 10

¹In the third year of Cyrus king of the Persians, a word was revealed to Daniel surnamed Baltassar, and a true word, and great strength: and he understood the word: for there is need of understanding in a vision. ²In those days I Daniel mourned the days of three weeks. ³I ate no desirable bread, and neither flesh, nor wine entered into my mouth, neither was I anointed with ointment: till the days of three weeks were accomplished. ⁴And in the four and twentieth day of the first month I was by the great river which is the Tigris. ⁵And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw: and behold a man clothed in linen, and his loins were girded with the finest gold: ⁶And his body was like the chrysolite, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as a burning lamp: and his arms, and all downward even to the feet, like in appearance to glittering brass: and the voice of his word like the voice of a multitude. ⁷And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw it not: but an exceeding great terror fell upon them, and they fled away, and hid themselves. ⁸And I being left alone saw this great vision: and there remained no strength in me, and the appearance of my countenance was changed in me, and I fainted away, and retained no strength. ⁹And I heard the voice of his words: and when I heard, I lay in a consternation, upon my face, and my face was close to the ground. ¹⁰And behold a hand touched me, and lifted me up upon my knees, and upon the joints of my hands. ¹¹And he said to me: Daniel, thou man of desires, understand the words that I speak to thee, and stand upright: for I am sent now to thee. And when he had said this word to me, I stood trembling. ¹²And he said to me: Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand, to afflict thyself in the sight of thy God, thy words have been heard: and I am come for thy words. ¹³But the prince of the kingdom of the Persians resisted me one and twenty days: and behold Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there by the king of the Persians. ¹⁴But I am come to teach thee what things shall befall thy people in the latter days, for as yet the vision is for days. ¹⁵And when he was speaking such words to me, I cast down my countenance to the ground, and held my peace. ¹⁶And behold, as it were the likeness of a son of man touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spoke, and said to him that stood before me: O my Lord, at the sight of thee my joints are loosed, and no strength hath remained in me. ¹⁷And how can the servant of my lord speak with my lord? for no strength remaineth in me, moreover my breath is stopped. ¹⁸Therefore he that looked like a man touched me again, and strengthened me. ¹⁹And he said: Fear not, O man of desires, peace be to thee: take courage and be strong. And when he spoke to me, I grew strong: and I said: Speak, O my lord, for thou hast strengthened me. ²⁰And he said: Dost thou know wherefore I am come to thee? and now I will return, to fight against the prince of the Persians. When I went forth, there appeared the prince of the Greeks coming. ²¹But I will tell thee what is set down in the scripture of truth: and none is my helper in all these things, but Michael your prince.

Chapter 11

¹And from the first year of Darius the Mede I stood up that he might be strengthened and confirmed. ²And now I will shew thee the truth. Behold there shall stand yet three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be enriched exceedingly above them all: and when he shall be grown mighty by his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. ³But there shall rise up a strong king, and shall rule with great power: and he shall do what he pleaseth. ⁴And when he shall come to his height, his kingdom shall be broken, and it shall be divided towards the four winds of the heaven: but not to his posterity, nor according to his power with which he ruled. For his kingdom shall be rent in pieces, even for strangers, beside these. ⁵And the king of the south shall be strengthened, and one of his princes shall prevail over him, and he shall rule with great power: for his dominion shall be great. ⁶And after the end of years they shall be in league together: and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make friendship, but she shall not obtain the strength of the arm, neither shall her seed stand: and she shall be given up, and her young men that brought her, and they that strengthened her in these times. ⁷And a plant of the bud of her roots, shall stand up: and he shall come with an army, and shall enter into the province of the king of the north: and he shall abuse them, and shall prevail. ⁸And he shall also carry away captive into Egypt their gods, and their graven things, and their precious vessels of gold and silver: he shall prevail against the king of the north. ⁹And the king of the south shall enter into the kingdom, and shall return to his own land. ¹⁰And his sons shall be provoked, and they shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and he shall come with haste like a flood: and he shall return and be stirred up, and he shall join battle with his forces. ¹¹And the king of the south being provoked shall go forth, and shall fight against the king of the north, and shall prepare an exceeding great multitude, and a multitude shall be given into his hand. ¹²And he shall take a multitude, and his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast down many thousands: but he shall not prevail. ¹³For the king of the north shall return and shall prepare a multitude much greater than before: and in the end of times and years, be shall come in haste with a great army, and much riches. ¹⁴And in those times many shall rise up against the king of the south, and the children of prevaricators of thy people shall lift up themselves to fulfil the vision, and they shall fall. ¹⁵And the king of the north shall come, and shall cast up a mount, and shall take the best fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, and his chosen ones shall rise up to resist, and they shall not have strength. ¹⁶And he shall come upon him and do according to his pleasure, and there shall be none to stand against his face: and he shall stand in the glorious land, and it shall be consumed by his hand. ¹⁷And he shall set his face to come to possess all his kingdom, and he shall make upright conditions with him: and he shall give him a daughter of women, to overthrow it: and she shall not stand, neither shall she be for him. ¹⁸And he shall turn his face to the islands, and shall take many: and he shall cause the prince of his reproach to cease, and his reproach shall be turned upon him. ¹⁹And he shall turn his face to the empire of his own land, and he shall stumble, and fall, and shall not be found. ²⁰And there shall stand up in his place, one most vile, and unworthy of kingly honour: and in a few days he shall be destroyed, not in rage nor in battle. ²¹And there shall stand up in his place one despised, and the kingly honour shall not be given him: and he shall come privately, and shall obtain the kingdom by fraud. ²²And the arms of the fighter shall be overcome before his face, and shall be broken; yea also the prince of the covenant. ²³And after friendships, he will deal deceitfully with him: and he shall go up, and shall overcome with a small people. ²⁴And he shall enter into rich and plentiful cities: and he shall do that which his fathers never did, nor his fathers' fathers: he shall scatter their spoils, and their prey, and their riches, and shall forecast devices against the best fenced places: and this until a time. ²⁵And his strength and his heart shall be stirred up against the king of the south with a great army: and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with many and very strong succours: and they shall not stand, for they shall form designs against him. ²⁶And they that eat bread with him, shall destroy him, and his army shall be overthrown: and many shall fall down slain. ²⁷And the heart of the two kings shall be to do evil, and they shall speak lies at one table, and they shall not prosper: because as yet the end is unto another time. ²⁸And he shall return into his land with much riches: and his heart shall be against the holy covenant, and he shall succeed and shall return into his own land. ²⁹At the time appointed he shall return, and he shall come to the south, but the latter time shall not be like the former. ³⁰And the galleys and the Romans shall come upon him, and he shall be struck, and shall return, and shall have indignation against the covenant of the sanctuary, and he shall succeed: and he shall return and shall devise against them that have forsaken the covenant of the sanctuary. ³¹And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall defile the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the continual sacrifice, and they shall place there the abomination unto desolation. ³²And such as deal wickedly against the covenant shall deceitfully dissemble: but the people that know their God shall prevail and succeed. ³³And they that are learned among the people shall teach many: and they shall fall by the sword, and by fire, and by captivity, and by spoil for many days. ³⁴And when they shall have fallen they shall be relieved with a small help: and many shall be joined to them deceitfully. ³⁵And some of the learned shall fall, that they may be tried, and may be chosen, and made white even to the appointed time, because yet there shall be another time. ³⁶And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall be lifted up, and shall magnify himself against every god: and he shall speak great things against the God of gods, and shall prosper, till the wrath be accomplished. For the determination is made. ³⁷And he shall make no account of the God of his fathers: and he shall follow the lust of women, and he shall not regard any gods: for he shall rise up against all things. ³⁸But he shall worship the god Maozim in his place: and a god whom his fathers knew not, he shall worship with gold, and silver, and precious stones, and things of great price. ³⁹And he shall do this to fortify Maozim with a strange god, whom he hath acknowledged, and he shall increase glory and shall give them power over many, and shall divide the land gratis. ⁴⁰And at the time prefixed the king of the south shall fight against him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a tempest, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with a great navy, and he shall enter into the countries, and shall destroy, and pass through. ⁴¹And he shall enter into the glorious land, and many shall fall: and these only shall be saved out of his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the principality of the children of Ammon. ⁴²And he shall lay his hand upon the lands: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. ⁴³And he shall have power over the treasures of gold, and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt: and he shall pass through Libya, and Ethiopia. ⁴⁴And tidings out of the east, and out of the north shall trouble him: and he shall come with a great multitude to destroy and slay many. ⁴⁵And he shall fix his tabernacle Apadno between the seas, upon a glorious and holy mountain: and he shall come even to the top thereof, and none shall help him.

Chapter 12

¹But at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people: and a time shall come such as never was from the time that nations began even until that time. And at that time shall thy people be saved, every one that shall be found written in the book. ²And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake: some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it always. ³But they that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: and they that instruct many to justice, as stars for all eternity. ⁴But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time appointed: many shall pass over, and knowledge shall be manifold. ⁵And I Daniel looked, and behold as it were two others stood: one on this side upon the bank of the river, and another on that side, on the other bank of the river. ⁶And I said to the man that was clothed In linen, that stood upon the waters of the river: How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? ⁷And I heard the man that was clothed in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river: when he had lifted up his right hand, and his left hand to heaven, and had sworn, by him that liveth for ever, that it should be unto a time, and times, and half a time. And when the scattering of the band of the holy people shall be accomplished, all these things shall be finished. ⁸And I heard, and understood not. And I said: O my lord, what shall be after these things? ⁹And he said: Go, Daniel, because the words are shut up, and sealed until the appointed time. ¹⁰Many shall be chosen, and made white, and shall be tried as fire: and the wicked shall deal wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the learned shall understand. ¹¹And from the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination unto desolation shall be set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred ninety days, ¹²Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh unto a thousand three hundred thirty-five days. ¹³But go thou thy ways until the time appointed: and thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot unto the end of the days.

Chapter 13

¹Now there was a man that dwelt in Babylon, and his name was Joakim: ²And he took a wife whose name was Susanna, the daughter of Helcias, a very beautiful woman, and one that feared God. ³For her parents being just, had instructed their daughter according to the law of Moses. ⁴Now Joakim was very rich, and had an orchard near his house: and the Jews resorted to him, because he was the most honourable of them all. ⁵And there were two of the ancients of the people appointed judges that year, of whom the Lord said: Iniquity came out from Babylon from the ancient judges, that seemed to govern the people. ⁶These men frequented the house of Joakim, and all that had any matters of judgment came to them. ⁷And when the people departed away at noon, Susanna went in, and walked in her husband's orchard. ⁸And the old men saw her going in every day, and walking: and they were inflamed with lust towards her: ⁹And they perverted their own mind and turned away their eyes that they might not look unto heaven, nor remember just judgments. ¹⁰So they were both wounded with the love of her, yet they did not make known their grief one to the other: ¹¹For they were ashamed to declare to one another their lust, being desirous to have to do with her. ¹²And they watched carefully every day to see her. And one said to the other: ¹³Let us now go home, for it is dinner time. So going out they departed one from another. ¹⁴And turning back again, they came both to the same place: and asking one another the cause, they acknowledged their lust; and then they agreed upon a time, when they might find her alone. ¹⁵And it fell out, as they watched a fit day, she went in on a time, as yesterday and the day before, with two maids only, and was desirous to wash herself in the orchard: for it was hot weather. ¹⁶And there was nobody there, but the two old men that had hid themselves and were beholding her. ¹⁷So she said to the maids: Bring me oil, and washing balls, and shut the doors of the orchard, that I may wash me. ¹⁸And they did as she bade them: and they shut the doors of the orchard, and went out by a back door to fetch what she had commanded them, and they knew not that the elders were hid within. ¹⁹Now when the maids were gone forth, the two elders arose, and ran to her, and said: ²⁰Behold the doors of the orchard are shut, and nobody seeth us, and we are in love with thee: wherefore consent to us, and lie with us. ²¹But if thou wilt not, we will bear witness against thee, that a young man was with thee, and therefore thou didst send away thy maids from thee. ²²Susanna sighed, and said: I am straitened on every side: for if I do this thing, it is death to me: and if I do it not, I shall not escape your hands. ²³But it is better for me to fall into your hands without doing it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord. ²⁴With that Susanna cried out with a loud voice: and the elders also cried out against her. ²⁵And one of them ran to the door of the orchard, and opened it. ²⁶So when the servants of the house heard the cry in the orchard, they rushed in by the back door to see what was the matter. ²⁷But after the old men had spoken, the servants were greatly ashamed: for never had there been any such word said of Susanna. And on the next day, ²⁸When the people were come to Joakim her husband, the two elders also came full of wicked device against Susanna, to put her to death. ²⁹And they said before the people: Send to Susanna daughter of Helcias the wife of Joakim. And presently they sent. ³⁰And she came with her parents, and children, and all her kindred. ³¹Now Susanna was exceeding delicate, and beautiful to behold. ³²But those wicked men commanded that her face should be uncovered, (for she was covered,) that so at least they might be satisfied with her beauty. ³³Therefore her friends and all her acquaintance wept. ³⁴But the two elders rising up in the midst of the people, laid their hands upon her head. ³⁵And she weeping looked up to heaven, for her heart had confidence in the Lord. ³⁶And the elders said: As we walked in the orchard alone, this woman came in with two maids, and shut the doors of the orchard, and sent away the maids from her. ³⁷Then a young man that was there hid came to her, and lay with her. ³⁸But we that were in a corner of the orchard, seeing this wickedness, ran up to them, and we saw them lie together. ³⁹And him indeed we could not take, because he was stronger than us, and opening the doors be leaped out: ⁴⁰But having taken this woman, we asked who the young man was, but she would not tell us: of this thing we are witnesses. ⁴¹The multitude believed them as being the elders and the judges of the people, and they condemned her to death. ⁴²Then Susanna cried out with a loud voice, and said: O eternal God, who knowest hidden things, who knowest all things before they come to pass, ⁴³Thou knowest that they have borne false witness against me: and behold I must die, whereas I have done none of these things, which these men have maliciously forged against me. ⁴⁴And the Lord heard her voice. ⁴⁵And when she was led to be put to death, the Lord raised up the holy spirit of a young boy, whose name was Daniel. ⁴⁶And he cried out with a loud voice I am clear from the blood of this woman. ⁴⁷Then all the people turning themselves towards him, said: What meaneth this word that thou hast spoken? ⁴⁸But he standing in the midst of them, said: Are ye so foolish, ye children of Israel, that without examination or knowledge of the truth, you have condemned a daughter of Israel? ⁴⁹Return to judgment, for they have borne false witness against her. ⁵⁰So all the people turned again in haste, and the old men said to him: Come, and sit thou down among us, and shew it as: seeing God hath given thee the honour of old age. ⁵¹And Daniel said to the people: Separate these two far from one another, and I will examine them. ⁵²So when they were put asunder one from the other, he called one of them, and said to him: O thou that art grown old in evil days, now are thy sins come out, which thou hast committed before: ⁵³In judging unjust judgments, oppressing the innocent, and letting the guilty to go free, whereas the Lord saith: I The innocent and the just thou shalt not kill. ⁵⁴Now then, if thou sawest her, tell me under what tree thou sawest them conversing together. He said: Under a mastic tree. ⁵⁵And Daniel said: Well hast thou lied against thy own head: for behold the angel of God having received the sentence of him, shall cut thee in two. ⁵⁶And having put him aside, he commanded that the other should come, and he said to him: O thou seed of Chanaan, and not of Juda, beauty hath deceived thee, and lust hath perverted thy heart: ⁵⁷Thus did you do to the daughters of Israel, and they for fear conversed with you: but a daughter of Juda would not abide your wickedness. ⁵⁸Now therefore tell me, under what tree didst thou take them conversing together., And he answered: Under a holm tree. ⁵⁹And Daniel said to him: Well hast thou also lied against thy own head: for the angel of the Lord waiteth with a sword to cut thee in two, and to destroy you. ⁶⁰With that all the assembly cried out with a loud voice, and they blessed God, who saveth them that trust in him. ⁶¹And they rose up against the two elders, (for Daniel had convicted them of false witness by their own mouth,) and they did to them as they had maliciously dealt against their neighbour, ⁶²To fulfil the law of Moses: and they put them to death, and innocent blood was saved in that day. ⁶³But Helcias and his wife praised God, for their daughter Susanna, with Joakim her husband, and all her kindred, because there was no dishonesty found in her. ⁶⁴And Daniel became great in the sight of the people from that day, and thenceforward. ⁶⁵And king Astyages was gathered to his fathers, and Cyrus the Persian received his kingdom.

Chapter 14

¹And Daniel was the king's guest, and was honoured above all his friends. ²Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel: and there were spent upon him every day twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and sixty vessels of wine. ³The king also worshipped him, and went every day to adore him: but Daniel adored his God. And the king said to him: Why dost thou not adore Bel? ⁴And he answered, and said to him: Because I do not worship idols made with hands, but the living God, that created heaven and earth, and hath power over all flesh. ⁵And the king said to him: Doth not Bel seem to thee to be a living god? Seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day? ⁶Then Daniel smiled and said: O king, be not deceived: for this is but clay within, and brass without, neither hath he eaten at any time. ⁷And the king being angry called for his priests, and said to them: If you tell me not, who it is that eateth up these expenses, you shall die. ⁸But if you can shew that Bel eateth these things, Daniel shall die, because he hath blasphemed against Bel. And Daniel said to the king: Be it done according to thy word. ⁹Now the priests of Bel were seventy, besides their wives, and little ones, and children. And the king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel. ¹⁰And the priests of Bel said: Behold we go out: and do thou, O king, set on the meats, and make ready the wine, and shut the door fast, and seal it with thy own ring: ¹¹And when thou comest in the morning, if thou findest not that Bel hath eaten up all, we will suffer death, or else Daniel that hath lied against us. ¹²And they little regarded it, because they had made under the table a secret entrance, and they always came in by it, and consumed those things. ¹³So it came to pass after they were gone out, the king set the meats before Bel: and Daniel commanded his servants, and they brought ashes, and he sifted them all over the temple before the king: and going forth they shut the door, and having sealed it with the king's ring, they departed. ¹⁴But the priests went in by night, according to their custom, with their wives and their children: and they ate and drank up all. ¹⁵And the king arose early in the morning, and Daniel with him. ¹⁶And the king said: Are the seals whole, Daniel? And he answered: They are whole, O king. ¹⁷And as soon as he had opened the door, the king looked upon the table, and cried out with a loud voice: Great art thou, O Bel, and there is not any deceit with thee. ¹⁸And Daniel laughed: and he held the king that he should not go in: and he said: Behold the pavement, mark whose footsteps these are. ¹⁹And the king said: I see the footsteps of men, and women, and children. And the king was angry. ²⁰Then he took the priests, and their wives, and their children: and they shewed him the private doors by which they came in, and consumed the things that were on the table. ²¹The king therefore put them to death, and delivered Bel into the power of Daniel: who destroyed him, and his temple. ²²And there was a great dragon in that place, and the Babylonians worshipped him. ²³And the king said to Daniel: Behold thou canst not say now, that this is not a living god: adore him therefore. ²⁴And Daniel said: I adore the Lord my God: for he is the living God: but that is no living god. ²⁵But give me leave, O king, and I will kill this dragon without sword or club. And the king said: I give thee leave. ²⁶Then Daniel took pitch, and fat, and hair, and boiled them together: and he made lumps, and put them into the dragon's mouth, and the dragon burst asunder. And he said: Behold him whom you worshipped. ²⁷And when the Babylonians had heard this, they took great indignation: and being gathered together against the king, they said: The king is become a Jew. He hath destroyed Bel, he hath killed the dragon, and he hath put the priests to death. ²⁸And they came to the king, and said: Deliver us Daniel, or else we will destroy thee and thy house. ²⁹And the king saw that they pressed upon him violently: and being constrained by necessity he delivered Daniel to them. ³⁰And they cast him into the den of lions, and he was there six days. ³¹And in the den there were seven lions, and they had given to them two carcasses every day, and two sheep: but then they were not given unto them, that they might devour Daniel. ³²Now there was in Judea a prophet called Habacuc, and he had boiled pottage, and had broken bread in a bowl: and was going into the field, to carry it to the reapers. ³³And the angel of the Lord said to Habacuc: Carry the dinner which thou hast into Babylon to Daniel, who is in the lions' den. ³⁴And Habacuc said: Lord, I never saw Babylon, nor do I know the den. ³⁵And the angel of the Lord took him by the top of his head, and carried him by the hair of his head, and set him in Babylon over the den in the force of his spirit. ³⁶And Habacuc cried, saying: O Daniel, thou servant of God, take the dinner that God hath sent thee. ³⁷And Daniel said: Thou hast remembered me, O God, and thou hast not forsaken them that love thee. ³⁸And Daniel arose and ate. And the angel of the Lord presently set Habacuc again in his own place. ³⁹And upon the seventh day the king came to bewail Daniel: and he came to the den, and looked in, and behold Daniel was sitting in the midst of the lions. ⁴⁰And the king cried out with a loud voice, saying: Great art thou, O Lord the God of Daniel. And he drew him out of the lions' den. ⁴¹But those that bad been the cause of his destruction, he cast into the den, and they were devoured in a moment before him. ⁴²Then the king said: Let all the inhabitants of the whole earth fear the God of Daniel: for he is the Saviour, working signs, and wonders in the earth: who hath delivered Daniel out of the lions' den.

The Prophecy of Osee

OSEE, or Hosea, whose name signifies A SAVIOUR, was the first in the order of time among those who are commonly called LESSER PROPHETS, because their prophecies are short. He prophesied in the Kingdom of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes, about the same time that Isaias prophesied in the kingdom of Juda

Chapter 1

¹The word of the Lord, that came to Osee the son of Beeri, in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias kings of Juda, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joas king of Israel. ²The beginning of the Lord's speaking by Osse: and the Lord said to Osee: Go, take thee a wife of fornications, and have of her children of fornications: for the land by fornication shall depart from the Lord. ³So he went, and took Gomer the daughter of Debelaim: and she conceived and bore him a son. ⁴And the Lord said to him: Call his name Jezrahel: for yet a little while, and I will visit the blood of Jezrahel upon the house of Jehu, and I will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. ⁵And in that day I will break in pieces the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezrahel. ⁶And she conceived again, and bore a daughter, and he said to him: Call her name, Without mercy: for I will not add any more to have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly forget them. ⁷And I will have mercy on the house of Juda, and I will save them by the Lord their God: and Iwill not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen. ⁸And she weaned her that was called Without mercy. And she conceived, and bore a son. ⁹And he said: Call his name, Not my people: for you are not my people, and I will not be yours. ¹⁰And the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, that is without measure, and shall not be numbered. And it shall be in the place where it shall be said to them: You are not my people: it shall be said to them: Ye are the sons of the living God. ¹¹And the children of Juda, and the children of Israel shall be gathered together: and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall come up out of the land: for great is the day of Jezrahel.

Chapter 2

¹Say ye to your brethren: You are my people, and to your sister: Thou hast obtained mercy. ²Judge your mother, judge her: because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her put away her fornications 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 I will make her as a wilderness, and will set her as a land that none can pass through, and will kill her with drought. ⁴And I will not have mercy on her children: for they are the children of fornications. ⁵For their mother hath committed fornication, she that conceived them is covered with shame: for she said: I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread, and my water, my wool, and my flax, my oil, and my drink. ⁶Wherefore behold I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will stop it up with a wall, and she shall not find her paths. ⁷And she shall follow after her lovers, and shall not overtake them: and she shall seek them, and shall not find, and she shall say: I will go, and return to my first husband, because it was better with me then, than now. ⁸And she did not know that I gave her corn and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver, and gold, which they have used in the service of Baal. ⁹Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in its season, and my wine in its season, and I will set at liberty my wool, and my flax, which covered her disgrace. ¹⁰And now I will lay open her folly in the eyes of her lovers: and no man shall deliver her out of my hand: ¹¹And I will cause all her mirth to cease, her solemnities, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her festival times. ¹²And I will destroy her vines, and her fig trees, of which she said: These are my rewards, which my lovers have given me: and I will make her as a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour her. ¹³And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, to whom she burnt incense, and decked herself out with her earrings, and with her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the Lord. ¹⁴Therefore, behold I will allure her, and will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart. ¹⁵And I will give her vinedressers out of the same place, and the valley of Achor for an opening of hope: and she shall sing there according to the days of her youth, and according to the days of her coming up out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁶And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord, That she shall call me : My husband, and she shall call me no more Baali. ¹⁷And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and she shall no more remember their name. ¹⁸And in that day I will make a covenant with them, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the air, and with the creeping things of the earth: and I will destroy the bow, and the sword, and war out of the land: and I will make them sleep secure. ¹⁹And I will espouse thee to me for ever: and I will espouse thee to me in justice, and judgment, and in mercy, and in commiserations. ²⁰And I will espouse thee to me in faith: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. ²¹And it shall come to pass in that day: I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth. ²²And the earth shall hear the core, and the wine, and the oil, and these shall hear Jezrahel. ²³And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy on her that was without mercy. ²⁴And I will say to that which was not my people: Thou art my people: and they shall say: Thou art my God.

Chapter 3

¹And the Lord said to me: Go yet again, and love a woman beloved of her friend, and an adulteress : as the Lord loveth the children of Israel, and they look to strange gods, and love the husks of the grapes. ²And I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for a core of barley, and for half a core of barley. ³And I said to her: Thou shalt wait for me many days: thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt be no man's, and I also will wait for thee. ⁴For the children of Israel shall sit many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without ephod, and without theraphim. ⁵And after this the children of Israel shall return, and shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king: and they shall fear the Lord, and his goodness in the last days.

Chapter 4

¹Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel, for the Lord shall enter into judgment with the inhabitants of the land: for there is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land. ²Cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery have overflowed, and blood hath touched blood. ³Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth in it shall languish with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the air: yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be gathered together. ⁴But yet let not any man judge: and let not a man be rebuked: for thy people are as they that contradict the priest. ⁵And thou shalt fall to day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee: in the night I have made thy mother to be silent. ⁶My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee, that thou shalt not do the office of priesthood to me: and thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children. ⁷According to the multitude of them so have they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame. ⁸They shall eat the sins of my people, and shall lift up their souls to their iniquity. ⁹And there shall be like people like priest: and I will visit their ways upon them, and I will repay them their devices. ¹⁰And they shall eat and shall not be filled: they have committed fornication, and have not ceased: because they have forsaken the Lord in not observing his law. ¹¹Fornication, and wine, and drunkenness take away the understanding. ¹²My people have consulted their stocks, and their staff hath declared unto them: for the spirit of fornication hath deceived them, and they have committed fornication against their God. ¹³They offered sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burnt incense upon the hills: under the oak, and the poplar, and the turpentine tree, because the shadow thereof was good: therefore shall your daughters commit fornication, and your spouses shall be adulteresses. ¹⁴I will not visit upon your daughters when they shell commit fornication, and upon your spouses when they shall commit adultery: because themselves conversed with harlots, and offered sacrifice with the effeminate, and the people that doth not understand shall be beaten. ¹⁵If thou play the harlot, O Israel, at least let not Juda offend: and go ye not into Galgal, and come not up into Bethaven, and do not swear: The Lord liveth. ¹⁶For Israel hath gone astray like a wanton heifer: now will the Lord feed them, as a lamb in a spacious place. ¹⁷Ephraim is a partaker with idols, let him alone. ¹⁸Their banquet is separated, they have gone astray by fornication: they that should have protected them have loved to bring shame upon them. ¹⁹The wind hath bound them up in its wings, and they shall be confounded because of their sacrifices.

Chapter 5

¹Hear ye this, O priests, and hearken, O ye house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king: for there is a judgment against you, because you have been a snare to them whom you should have watched over, and a net spread upon Thabor. ²And you have turned aside victims into the depth: and I am, the teacher of them all. ³I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now Ephraim hath committed fornication, Israel is defiled. ⁴They will not set their thoughts to return to their God: for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord. ⁵And the pride of Israel shall answer in his face: and Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity, Juda also shall fall with them. ⁶With their flocks, and with their herds, they shall go to seek the Lord, and shall not find him: he is withdrawn from them. ⁷They have transgressed against the Lord, for they have begotten children that are strangers: now shall a month devour them with their portions. ⁸Blow ye the cornet in Gabaa, the trumpet in Rama: howl ye in Bethaven, behind thy back, O Benjamin. ⁹Ephraim shall be in desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel I have shewn that which shall surely be. ¹⁰The princes of Juda are become as they that take up the bound: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. ¹¹Ephraim is under oppression, and broken in judgment: because he began to go after filthiness. ¹²And I will be like a moth to Ephraim: and like rottenness to the house of Juda. ¹³And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Juda his band: and Ephraim went to the Assyrian, and sent to the avenging king: and he shall not be able to heal you, neither shall he be able to take off the band from you. ¹⁴For I will be like a lioness to Ephraim, and like a lion's whelp to the house of Juda: I, I will catch, and go: I will take away, and there is none that can rescue. ¹⁵I will go and return to my place: until you are consumed, and seek my face.

Chapter 6

¹In their affliction they will rise early to me: Come, and let us return to the Lord: ²For he hath taken us, and he will heal us: he will strike, and he will cure us. ³He will revive us after two days: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. We shall know, and we shall follow on, that we may know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning light, and he will come to us as the early and the latter rain to the earth. ⁴What shall I do to thee, O Ephraim? what shall I do to thee, O Juda? your mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth away in the morning. ⁵For this reason have I hewed them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments shall go forth as the light. ⁶For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God more than holocausts. ⁷But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant, there have they dealt treacherously against me. ⁸Galaad is a city of workers of idols, supplanted with blood. ⁹And like the jaws of highway robbers, they conspire with the priests who murder in the way those that pass out Sichem: for they have wrought wickedness. ¹⁰I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: the fornications of Ephraim there: Israel is defiled. ¹¹And thou also, O Juda, set thee a harvest, when I shall bring back captivity of my people.

Chapter 7

¹When I would have healed Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria, for they have committed falsehood, and the thief is come in to steal, the robber is without. ²And lest they may say in their hearts, that I remember all their wickedness: their own devices now have beset them about, they have been done before my face. ³They have made the king glad with their wickedness: and the princes with their lies. ⁴They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker: the city rested a little from the mingling of the leaven, till the whole was leavened. ⁵The day of our king, the princes began to be mad with wine: he stretched out his hand with scorners. ⁶Because they have applied their heart like an oven, when he laid snares for them: he slept all the night baking them, in the morning he himself was heated as a flaming fire. ⁷They were all heated like an oven, and have devoured their judges : all their kings have fallen: there is none amongst them that calleth unto me. ⁸Ephraim himself is mixed among the nations: Ephraim is become as bread baked under the ashes, that is not turned. ⁹Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not: yea, grey hairs also are spread about upon him, and he is ignorant of it. ¹⁰And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his face: and they have not returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought him in all these. ¹¹And Ephraim is become as a dove that is decoyed, not having a heart: they called upon Egypt, they went to the Assyrians. ¹²And when they shall go, I will spread my net upon them: I will bring them down as the fowl of the air, I will strike them as their congregation hath heard. ¹³Woe to them, for they have departed from me: they shall be wasted because they have transgressed against me: and I redeemed them : and they have spoken lies against me. ¹⁴And they have not cried to me with their heart, but they howled in their beds: they have thought upon wheat and wine, they are departed from me. ¹⁵And I have chastised them, and strengthened their arms: and they have imagined evil against me. ¹⁶They returned, that they might be without yoke: they became like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword, for the rage of their tongue. This is their derision in the land of Egypt.

Chapter 8

¹Let there be a trumpet in thy throat like an eagle upon the house of the Lord: because they have transgressed my covenant, and have violated my law. ²They shall call upon me: O my God, we, Israel, know thee. ³Israel hath cast off the thing that is good, the enemy shall pursue him. ⁴They have reigned, but not by me: they have been princes, and I knew not: of their silver, and their gold they have made idols to themselves, that they might perish. ⁵Thy calf, O Samaria, is cast off, my wrath is kindled against them. How long will they be incapable of being cleansed ? ⁶For itself also is the invention of Israel: a workman made it, and it is no god: for the calf of Samaria shall be turned to spiders' webs. ⁷For they shall sow wind, and reap a whirlwind, there is no standing stalk in it, the bud shall yield no meal; end if it should yield, strangers shall eat it. ⁸Israel is swallowed up: now is he become among the nations like an unclean vessel. ⁹For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath given gifts to his lovers. ¹⁰But even though they shall have hired the nations, now will I gather them together: and they shall rest a while from the burden of the king, and the princes. ¹¹Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin: altars are become to him unto sin. ¹²I shall write to him my manifold laws, which have been accounted as foreign. ¹³They shall offer victims, they shall sacrifice flesh, and shall eat it, and the Lord will not receive them: now will he remember their iniquity, and will visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt. ¹⁴And Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and hath built temples: and Juda hath built many fenced cities: and I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the houses thereof.

Chapter 9

¹Rejoice not, O Israel: rejoice not as the nations do: for thou hast committed fornication against thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor. ²The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the wine shall deceive them. ³They shall not dwell in the Lord's land: Ephraim is returned to Egypt, and hath eaten unclean things among the Assyrians. ⁴They shall not offer wine to the Lord, neither shall they please him: their sacrifices shall be like the bread of mourners: all that shall eat it shall be defiled: for their bread is life for their soul, it shall not enter into the house of the Lord. ⁵What will you do in the solemn day, in the day of the feast of the Lord? ⁶For behold they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them together, Memphis shall bury them: nettles shall inherit their beloved silver, the bur shall be in their tabernacles. ⁷The days of visitation are come, the days of repaying are come: know ye, O Israel, that the prophet was foolish, the spiritual man was mad, for the multitude of thy iniquity, and the multitude of thy madness. ⁸The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: the prophet is become a snare of ruin upon all his ways, madness is in the house of his God. ⁹They have sinned deeply, as in the days of Gabaa: he will remember their iniquity, and will visit their sin. ¹⁰I found Israel like grapes in the desert, I saw their fathers like the firstfruits of the fig tree in the top thereof: but they went in to Beelphegor, and alienated themselves to that confusion, and became abominable, as those things were, which they loved. ¹¹As for Ephraim, their glory hath flown away like a bird from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception. ¹²And though they should bring up their children, I will make them without children among men: yea, and woe to them, when I shall depart from them. ¹³Ephraim, as I saw, was a Tyre founded in beauty: and Ephraim shall bring out his children to the murderer. ¹⁴Give them, O Lord. What wilt thou give them? Give them a womb without children, and dry breasts. ¹⁵All their wickedness is in Galgal, for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their devices I will cast them forth out of my house: I will love them no more, all their princes are revolters. ¹⁶Ephraim is struck, their root is dried up, they shall yield no fruit. And if they should have issue, I will slay the best beloved fruit of their womb. ¹⁷My God will cast them away, because they hearkened not to him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Chapter 10

¹Israel a vine full of branches, the fruit is agreeable to it: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath multiplied altars, according to the plenty of his land he hath abounded with idols. ²Their heart is divided: now they shall perish: he shall break down their idols, he shall destroy their altars. ³For now they shall say: We have no king: because we fear not the Lord: and what shall a king do to us? ⁴You speak words of an unprofitable vision, and you shall make a covenant: and judgment shall spring up as bitterness in the furrows of the field. ⁵The inhabitants of Samaria have worshipped the king of Bethaven: for the people thereof have mourned over it, and the wardens of its temple that rejoiced over it in its glory because it is departed from it. ⁶For itself also is carried into Assyria, a present to the avenging king: shame shall fall upon Ephraim, and Israel shall be confounded in his own will. ⁷Samaria hath made her king to pass as froth upon the face of the water. ⁸And the high places of the idol, the sin of Israel shall be destroyed: the bur and the thistle shall grow up over their altars: and they shall say to the mountains: Cover us; and to the hills: Fall upon us. ⁹From the days of Gabaa, Israel hath sinned, there they stood: the battle in Gabaa against the children of iniquity shall not overtake them. ¹⁰According to my desire I will chastise them: and the nations shall be gathered together against them, when they shall be chastised for their two iniquities. ¹¹Ephraim is a heifer taught to love to tread out corn, but I passed over upon the beauty of her neck: I will ride upon Ephraim, Juda shall plough, Jacob shall break the furrows for himself. ¹²Sow for yourselves in justice, and reap in the mouth of mercy, break up your fallow ground: but the time to seek the Lord is, when he shall come that shall teach you justice. ¹³You have ploughed wickedness, you have reaped iniquity, you have eaten the fruit of lying: because thou hast trusted in thy ways, in the multitude of thy strong ones. ¹⁴A tumult shall arise among thy people: and all thy fortresses shall be destroyed as Salmana was destroyed, by the house of him that judged Baal in the day of battle, the mother being dashed in pieces upon her children. ¹⁵So hath Bethel done to you, because of the evil of your iniquities.

Chapter 11

¹As the morning passeth, so hath the king of Israel Israel was a child, and I loved him: and I called my son out of Egypt. ²As they called them, they went away from before their face: they offered victims to Baalim, and sacrificed to idols. ³And I was like a foster father to Ephraim, I carried them in my arms: and they knew not that I healed them. ⁴I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love : and I will be to them as one that taketh off the yoke on their jaws: and I put his meat to him that he might eat. ⁵He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king: because they would not be converted. ⁶The sword hath begun in his cities, and it shall consume his chosen men, and sha.ll devour their heads. ⁷And my people shall long for my return: but a yoke shall be put upon them together, which shall not be taken off. ⁸How shall I deal with thee, O Ephraim, shall I protect thee, O Israel? how shall I make thee as Adama, shall I set thee as Seboim? my heart is turned within me, my repentance is stirred up. ⁹I will not execute the fierceness of my wrath: I will not return to destroy Ephraim: because I am God, and not man: the holy one in the midst of thee, and I will not enter into the city. ¹⁰They shall walk after the Lord, he shall roar as a lion: because he shall roar, and the children of the sea shall fear. ¹¹And they shall fly away like a bird out of Egypt, and like a dove out of the land of the Assyrians: and I will place them in their own houses, saith the Lord. ¹²Ephraim hath compassed me about with denials, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Juda went down as a witness with God, and is faithful with the saints.

Chapter 12

¹Ephraim feedeth on the wind, and followeth the burning heat: all the day long he multiplied lies and desolation: and he hath made a covenant with the Assyrians, and carried oil into Egypt. ²Therefore there is a judgment of the Lord with Juda, and a visitation for Jacob: he will render to him according to his ways, and according to his devices. ³In the womb he supplanted his brother: and by his strength he had success with an angel. ⁴And he prevailed over the angel, and was strengthened: he wept, and made supplication to him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us. ⁵Even the Lord the God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial. ⁶Therefore turn thou to thy God : keep mercy and judgment, and hope in thy God always. ⁷He is like Chanaan, there is a deceitful balance in his hand, he hath loved oppression. ⁸And Ephraim said: But yet I am become rich, I have found me an idol: all my labours shall not find me the iniquity that I have committed. ⁹And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, will yet cause thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the feast. ¹⁰And I have spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and I have used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets. ¹¹If Galaad be an idol, then in vain were they in Galgal offering sacrifices with bullocks: for their altars also are as heaps in the furrows of the field. ¹²Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and was a keeper for a wife. ¹³But the Lord by a prophet brought Israel out of Egypt: and he was preserved by a prophet. ¹⁴Ephraim hath provoked me to wrath with his bitterness, and his blood shall come upon him, and his Lord will render his reproach unto him.

Chapter 13

¹When Ephraim spoke, a horror seized Israel: and he sinned in Baal and died. ²And now they have sinned more and more : and they have made to themselves a molten thing of their silver as the likeness of idols: the whole is the work of craftsmen: to these that say: Sacrifice men, ye that adore calves. ³Therefore they shall be as a morning aloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the dust that is driven with a whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney. ⁴But I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt: and thou shalt know no God but me, and there is no saviour beside me. ⁵I knew thee in the desert, in the land of the wilderness. ⁶According to their pastures they were filled, and were made full: and they lifted up their heart, and have forgotten me. ⁷And I will be to them as a lioness, as a leopard in the way of the Assyrians. ⁸I will meet them as a bear that is robbed of her whelps, and I will rend the inner parts of their liver: and I will devour them there as a lion, the beast of the field shall tear them. ⁹Destruction is thy own, Israel: thy help is only in me. ¹⁰Where is thy king? now especially let him save thee in all thy cities: and thy judges, of whom thou saidst: Q Give me kings and princes. ¹¹I will give thee a king in my wrath, and will take him away in my indignation. ¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is hidden. ¹³The sorrows of a woman in labour snail come upon him, he is an unwise son: for now he shall not stand in the breach of the children. ¹⁴I will deliver them out of the hand of death. I will redeem them from death : O death, I will be thy death; O hell, I will be thy bite: comfort is hidden from my eyes. ¹⁵Because he shall make a separation between brothers: s the Lord will bring a burning wind that shall rise from the desert, and it shall dry up his springs, and shall make his fountain desolate, and he shall carry off the treasure of every desirable vessel.

Chapter 14

¹Let Samaria perish, because she hath stirred up her God to bitterness: let them perish by the sword, let their little ones be dashed, and let the women with child be ripped up. ²Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen down by thy iniquity. ³Take with you words, and return to the Lord, and say to him: Take away all iniquity, and receive the good: and we will render the calves of our lips. ⁴Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more: The works of our hands are our gods, for thou wilt have mercy on the fatherless that is in thee. ⁵I will heal their breaches, I will love them freely: for my wrath is turned away from them. ⁶I will be as the dew, Israel shall spring as the lily, and his root shall shoot forth as that of Libanus. ⁷His branches shall spread, and his glory shall be as the olive tree: and his smell as that of Libanus. ⁸They shall be converted that sit under his shadow: they shall live upon wheat, and they shall blossom as a vine: his memorial shall be as the wine of Libanus. ⁹Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I will hear him, and I will make him flourish like a green fir tree: from me is thy fruit found. ¹⁰Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know these things? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall in them.

The Prophecy of Joel

JOEL, whose name, according to ST. JEROME, signifies THE LORD GOD: or, as other say, THE COMING DOWN OF GOD: prophesied about the same time in the kingdom of Judea, as OSEE did in the kingdom of Israel. He foretells under figure the great evils that were coming upon the people for their sins: earnestly exhorts them to repentance: and comforts them with the promise of a TEACHER OF JUSTICE, viz., CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD, and of the coming down of his holy SPIRIT

Chapter 1

¹The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Phatuel. ²Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land: did this ever happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers? ³Tell ye of this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation. ⁴That which the palmerworm hath left, the locust hath eaten: and that which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten: and that which the bruchus hath left, the mildew hath destroyed. ⁵Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn all ye that take delight in drinking sweet wine: for it is cut off from your mouth. ⁶For a nation is come up upon my land, strong and without number: his teeth are like the teeth of a lion: and his cheek teeth as of a lion's whelp. ⁷He hath laid my vineyard waste, and hath pilled off the bark of my fig tree: he hath stripped it bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white. ⁸Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. ⁹Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of the Lord: the priests, the Lord's ministers, have mourned: ¹⁰The country is destroyed, the ground hath mourned: for the corn is wasted, the wine is confounded, the oil hath languished. ¹¹The husbandmen are ashamed, the vinedressers have howled for the wheat, and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished. ¹²The vineyard is confounded, and the fig tree hath languished: the pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the apple tree, and all the trees of the field are withered: because joy is withdrawn from the children of men. ¹³Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests, howl, ye ministers of the altars: go in, lie in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: because sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God. ¹⁴Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly; gather together the ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God: and cry ye to the Lord: ¹⁵Ah, ah, ah, for the day: because the day of the Lord is at hand, and it shall come like destruction from the mighty. ¹⁶Is not your food cut off before your eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? ¹⁷The beasts have rotted in their dung, the barns are destroyed, the storehouses are broken down: because the corn is confounded. ¹⁸Why did the beast groan, why did the herds of cattle low? because there is no pasture for them: yea, and the flocks of sheep are perished. ¹⁹To thee, Lord, will I cry: because fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness, and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the country. ²⁰Yea and the beasts of the field have looked up to thee, as a garden bed that thirsteth after rain, for the springs of waters are dried up, and fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness.

Chapter 2

¹Blow ye the trumpet in Sion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: because the day of the Lord cometh, because it is nigh at hand, ²A day of darkness, and of gloominess, a day of clouds and whirlwinds: a numerous and strong people as the morning spread upon the mountains: the like to it hath not been from the beginning, nor shall be after it even to the years of generation and generation. ³Before the face thereof a devouring fire, and behind it a burning flame: the land is like a garden of pleasure before it, and behind it a desolate wilderness, neither is there any one that can escape it. ⁴The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and they shall run like horsemen. ⁵They shall leap like the noise of chariots upon the tops of mountains, like the noise of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, as a strong people prepared to battle. ⁶At their presence the people shall be in grievous pains: all faces shall be made like a kettle. ⁷They shall run like valiant men: like men of war they shall scale the wall: the men shall march every one on his way, and they shall not turn aside from their ranks. ⁸No one shall press upon his brother: they shall walk every one in his path: yea, and they shall fall through the windows, and shall take no harm. ⁹They shall enter into the city: they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up the houses, they shall come in at the windows as a thief. ¹⁰At their presence the earth hath trembled, the heavens are moved: the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining. ¹¹And the Lord hath uttered his voice before the face of his army: for his armies are exceeding great, for they are strong and execute his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible: and who can stand it? ¹²Now therefore saith the Lord: Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. ¹³And rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil. ¹⁴Who knoweth but he will return, and forgive, and leave a blessing behind him, sacrifice and libation to the Lord your God? ¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, ¹⁶Gather together the people, sanctify the church, assemble the ancients, gather together the little ones, and them that suck at the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth from his bed, and the bride out of her bride chamber. ¹⁷Between the porch and the altar the priests the Lord's ministers shall weep, and shall say: Spare, O Lord, spare thy people: and give not thy inheritance to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them. Why should they say among the nations: Where is their God? ¹⁸The Lord hath been zealous for his land, and hath spared his people. ¹⁹And the Lord answered and said to his people: Behold I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and you shall be filled with them: and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. ²⁰And I will remove far off from you the northern enemy: and I will drive him into a land unpassable, and desert, with his face towards the east sea, and his hinder part towards the utmost sea: and his stench shall ascend, and his rottenness shall go up, because he hath done proudly. ²¹Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice: for the Lord hath done great things. ²²Fear not, ye beasts of the fields: for the beautiful places of the wilderness are sprung, for the tree hath brought forth its fruit, the fig tree, and the vine have yielded their strength. ²³And you, O children of Sion, rejoice, and be joyful in the Lord your God: because he hath given you a teacher of justice, and he will make the early and the latter rain to come down to you as in the beginning. ²⁴And the floors shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall overflow with wine and oil. ²⁵And I will restore to you the ears which the locust, and the bruchus, and the mildew, and the palmerworm have eaten; my great host which I sent upon you. ²⁶And you shall eat in plenty, and shall be filled: and you shall praise the name of the Lord your God, who hath done wonders with you, and my people shall not be confounded for ever. ²⁷And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: and I am the Lord your God, and there is none besides: and my people shall not be confounded for ever. ²⁸And it shall come to pass after this, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. ²⁹Moreover upon my servants and handmaids in those days I will pour forth my spirit. ³⁰And I will shew wonders in heaven; and in earth, blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke. ³¹The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood: before the great and dreadful day of the Lord doth come. ³²And it shall come to pass, that every one that shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved: for in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem shall be salvation, as the Lord hath said, and in the residue whom the Lord shall call.

Chapter 3

¹For behold in those days, and in that time when I shall bring back the captivity of Juda and Jerusalem: ²I will gather together all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Josaphat: and I will plead with them there for my people, and for my inheritance Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and have parted my land. ³And they have cast lots upon my people: and the boy they have put in the stews, and the girl they have sold for wine, that they might drink. ⁴But what have you to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the coast of the Philistines? will you revenge yourselves on me? and if you revenge yourselves on me, I will very soon return you a recompense upon your own head. ⁵For you have taken away my silver and my gold: and my desirable and most beautiful things you have carried into your temples. ⁶And the children of Juda, and the children of Jerusalem you have sold to the children of the Greeks, that you might remove them far off from their own country. ⁷Behold, I will raise them up out of the place wherein you have sold them: and I will return your recompense upon your own heads. ⁸And I will sell your sons, and your daughters by the hands of the children of Juda, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far off, for the Lord hath spoken it. ⁹Proclaim ye this among the nations: prepare war, rouse up the strong: let them come, let all the men of war come up. ¹⁰Cut your ploughshares into swords, and your spades into spears. Let the weak say: I am strong. ¹¹Break forth, and come, all ye nations, from round about, and gather yourselves together: there will the Lord cause all thy strong ones to fall down. ¹²Let them arise, and let the nations come up into the valley of Josaphat: for there I will sit to judge all nations round about. ¹³Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe: come and go down, for the press is full, the fats run over: for their wickedness is multiplied. ¹⁴Nations, nations in the valley of destruction: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of destruction. ¹⁵The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining. ¹⁶And the Lord shall roar out of Sion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth shall be moved, and the Lord shall be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. ¹⁷And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Sion my holy mountain: and Jerusalem shall be holy and strangers shall pass through it no more. ¹⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk: and waters shall flow through all the rivers of Juda: and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the torrent of thorns. ¹⁹Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a wilderness destroyed: because they have done unjustly against the children of Juda, and have shed innocent blood in their land. ²⁰And Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to generation and generation. ²¹And I will cleanse their blood which I had not cleansed: and the Lord will dwell in Sion.

The Prophecy of Amos

AMOS prophesied in Israel about the same time as Osee: and was called from following the cattle to denounce GOD'S judgments to the people of Israel, and the neighbouring nations, for their repeated crimes, in which they continued without repentance.

Chapter 1

¹The words of Amos, who was among herdsmen of Thecua: which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Ozias king of Juda, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joas king of Israel two years before the earthquake. ²And he said: The Lord will roar from Sion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the beautiful places of the shepherds have mourned, and the top of Carmel is withered. ³Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Damascus, and for four I will not convert it: because they have thrashed Galaad with iron wains. ⁴And I will send a fire into the house of Azael, and it shall devour the houses of Benadad. ⁵And I will break the bar of Damascus: and I will cut off the inhabitants from the plain of the idol, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of pleasure: and the people of Syria shall be carried away to Cyrene, saith the Lord. ⁶Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Gaza, and for four I will not convert it: because they have carried away a perfect captivity to shut them up in Edom. ⁷And I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour the houses thereof. ⁸And I will cut off the inhabitant from Azotus, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ascalon: and I will turn my hand against Accaron, and the rest of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God. ⁹Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Tyre, and for four I will not convert it: because they have shut up an entire captivity in Edom, and have not remembered the covenant of brethren. ¹⁰And I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour the houses thereof. ¹¹Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Edom, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath pursued his brother with the sword, and hath cast off all pity, and hath carried on his fury, and hath kept his wrath to the end. ¹²I will send a fire into Theman: and it shall devour the houses of Bosra. ¹³Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of the children of Ammon, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath ripped up the women with child of Galaad to enlarge his border. ¹⁴And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabba: and it shall devour the houses thereof with shouting in the day of battle, and with a whirlwind in the day of trouble. ¹⁵And Melchom shall go into captivity, both he, and his princes together, saith the Lord.

Chapter 2

¹Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Moab, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath burnt the bones of the king of Edom even to ashes. ²And I will seed a fire into Moab, and it shall devour the houses of Carioth: and Moab shall die with a noise, with the sound of the trumpet: ³And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all his princes with him, saith the Lord. ⁴Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Juda, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath cast away the law of the Lord, and hath not kept his commandments: for their idols have caused them to err, after which their fathers have walked. ⁵And I will send a fire into Juda, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem. ⁶Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Israel, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath sold the just man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of shoes. ⁷They bruise the heads of the poor upon the dust of the earth, and turn aside the way of the humble: and the son and his father have gone to the same young woman, to profane my holy name. ⁸And they sat down upon garments laid to pledge by every altar: and drank the wine of the condemned in the house of their God. ⁹Yet I cast out the Amorrhite before their face: whose height was like the height of cedars, and who was strong as an oak: and I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots beneath. ¹⁰It is I that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and I led you forty years through the wilderness, that you might possess the land of the Amorrhite. ¹¹And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not so, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord? ¹²And you will present wine to the Nazarites: and command the prophets, saying: Prophesy not. ¹³Behold, I will screak under you as a wain screaketh that is laden with hay. ¹⁴And flight shall perish from the swift, and the valiant shall not possess his strength, neither shall the strong save his life. ¹⁵And he that holdeth the bow shall not stand, and the swift of foot shall not escape, neither shall the rider of the horse save his life. ¹⁶And the stout of heart among the valiant shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord.

Chapter 3

¹Hear the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O ye children of Israel: concerning the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying: ²You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities. ³Shall two walk together except they be agreed? ⁴Will a lion roar in the forest, if he have no prey? will the lion's whelp cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing ? ⁵Will the bird fall into the snare upon the earth, if there be no fowler? Shall the snare be taken up from the earth, before it hath taken somewhat ? ⁶Shall the trumpet sound in a city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done? ⁷For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. ⁸The lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who shall not prophesy? ⁹Publish it in the houses of Azotus, and in the houses of the land of Egypt, and say: Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the many follies in the midst thereof, and them that suffer oppression in the inner rooms thereof. ¹⁰And they have not known to do the right thing, saith the Lord, storing up iniquity, and robberies in their houses. ¹¹Therefore thus saith the Lord God: The land shall be in tribulation, and shall be compassed about: and thy strength shall be taken away from thee, and thy houses shall be spoiled. ¹²Thus saith the Lord: As if a shepherd should get out of the lion's mouth two legs, or the tip of the ear: so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in a piece of a bed, and in the couch of Damascus. ¹³Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord the God of hosts: ¹⁴That in the day when I shall begin to visit the transgressions of Israel, I will visit upon him, and upon the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altars shall be cut off, and shall fall to the ground. ¹⁵And I will strike the winter house with the summer house: and the houses of ivory shall perish, and many houses shall be destroyed, saith the Lord.

Chapter 4

¹Hear this word, ye fat kine that are in the mountains of Samaria: you that oppress the needy, and crush the poor: that say to your masters: Bring, and we will drink. ²The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that lo, the days shall come upon you, when they shall lift you up on pikes, and what shall remain of you in boiling pots. ³And you shall go out at the breaches one over against the other, and you shall be cast forth into Armon, saith the Lord. ⁴Come ye to Bethel, and do wickedly: to Galgal, and multiply transgressions: and bring in the morning your victims, your tithes in three days. ⁵And offer a sacrifice of praise with leaven: and call free offerings, and proclaim it: for so you would do, O children of Israel, saith the Lord God. ⁶Whereupon I also have given you dulness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet you have not returned to me, saith the Lord. ⁷I also have withholden 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 whereupon I rained not, withered. ⁸And two and three cities went to one city to drink water, and were not filled: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord. ⁹I struck you with a burning wind, and with mildew, the palmerworm hath eaten up your many gardens, and your vineyards: your olive groves, and fig groves: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord. ¹⁰I sent death upon you in the way of Egypt, I slew your young men with the sword, even to the captivity of your horses: and I made the stench of your camp to come up into your nostrils: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord. ¹¹I destroyed some of you, as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, and you were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord. ¹²Therefore I will do these things to thee, O Israel: and after I shall have done these things to thee, be prepared to meet thy God, O Israel. ¹³For behold he that formeth the mountains and createth the wind, and declareth his word to man, he that maketh the morning mist, and walketh upon the high places of the earth: the Lord the God of hosts is his name.

Chapter 5

¹Hear ye this word, which I take up concerning you for a lamentation. The house of Israel is fallen, and it shall rise no more. ²The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up. ³For thus saith the Lord God: The city, out of which came forth a thousand, there shall be left in it a hundred: and out of which there came a hundred, there shall be left in it ten, in the house of Israel. ⁴For thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and you shall live. ⁵But seek not Bethel, and go not into Galgal, neither shall you pass over to Bersabee: for Galgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel shall be unprofitable. ⁶Seek ye the Lord, and live: lest the house of Joseph be burnt with fire, and it shall devour, and there shall be none to quench Bethel. ⁷You that turn judgment into wormwood, and forsake justice in the land, ⁸Seek him that maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and that turneth darkness into morning, and that changeth day into night: that calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name. ⁹He that with a smile bringeth destruction upon the strong, and waste upon the mighty. ¹⁰They have hated him that rebuketh in the gate: and have abhorred him that speaketh perfectly. ¹¹Therefore because you robbed the poor, and took the choice prey from him: you shall build houses with square stone, and shall not dwell in them: you shall plant most delightful vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them. ¹²Because I know your manifold crimes, and your grievous sine: enemies of the just, taking bribes, and oppressing the poor in the gate. ¹³Therefore the prudent shall keep silence at that time, for it is an evil time. ¹⁴Seek ye good, and not evil, that you may live: and the Lord the God of hosts will be with you, as you have said. ¹⁵Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be the Lord the God of hosts may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph. ¹⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of hosts the sovereign Lord: In every street there shall be wailing: and in all places that are without, they shall say: Alas, alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to lament. ¹⁷And in all vineyards there shall be wailing: because I will pass through in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. ¹⁸Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. ¹⁹As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him: or enter into the house, and lean with his hand upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him. ²⁰Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and obscurity, and no brightness in it? ²¹I hate, and have rejected your festivities: and I will not receive the odour of your assemblies. ²²And if you offer me holocausts, and your gifts, I will not receive them: neither will I regard the vows of your fat beasts. ²³Take away from me the tumult of thy songs: and I will not hear the canticles of thy harp. ²⁴But judgment shall be revealed as water, and justice as a mighty torrent. ²⁵Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for forty years, O house of Israel? ²⁶But you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch, and the image of your idols, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves. ²⁷And I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, the God of hosts is his name.

Chapter 6

¹Woe to you that are wealthy in Sion, and to you that have confidence in the mountain of Samaria: ye great men, heads of the people, that go in with state into the house of Israel. ²Pass ye over to Chalane, and see, and go from thence into Emath the great: and go down into Geth of the Philistines, and to all the best kingdoms of these: if their border be larger than your border. ³You that are separated unto the evil day: and that approach to the throne of iniquity; ⁴You that sleep upon beds of ivory, and are wanton on your couches: that eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the herd; ⁵You that sing to the sound of the psaltery: they have thought themselves to have instruments of music like David; ⁶That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best ointments: and they are not concerned for the affliction of Joseph. ⁷Wherefore now they shall go captive at the head of them that go into captivity: and the faction of the luxurious ones shall be taken away. ⁸The Lord God hath sworn by his own soul, saith the Lord the God of hosts: I detest the pride of Jacob, and I hate his houses, and I will deliver up the city with the inhabitants thereof. ⁹And if there remain ten men in one house, they also shall die. ¹⁰And a man's kinsman shall take him up, and shall burn him, that he may carry the bones out of the house; and he shall say to him that is in the inner rooms of the house: Is there yet any with thee? ¹¹And he shall answer: There is an end. And he shall any to him: Hold thy peace, and mention not the name of the Lord. ¹²For behold the Lord hath commanded, and he will strike the greater house with breaches, and the lesser house with clefts. ¹³Can horses run upon the rocks, or can any one plough with buffles? for you have turned judgment into bitterness, and the fruit of justice into wormwood. ¹⁴You that rejoice in a thing of nought: you that say: Have we not taken unto us horns by our own strength? ¹⁵But behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel, saith the Lord the God of hosts; and they shall destroy you from the entrance of Emath, even to the torrent of the desert.

Chapter 7

¹These things the Lord God shewed to me: and behold the locust was formed in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter rain, and lo, it was the latter rain after the king's mowing. ²And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, I said: O Lord God, be merciful, I beseech thee: who shall raise up Jacob, for he is very little? ³The Lord had pity upon this: It shall not be, said the Lord. ⁴These things the Lord God shewed to me: and behold the Lord called for judgment unto fire, and it devoured the great deep, and ate up a part at the same time. ⁵And I said: O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee, who shall raise up Jacob, for he is a little one? ⁶The Lord had pity upon this. Yea this also shall not be, said the Lord God. ⁷These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold the Lord was standing upon a plastered wall, and in his hand a mason's trowel. ⁸And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A mason's trowel. And the Lord said: Behold, I will lay down the trowel in the midst of my people Israel. I will plaster them over no more. ⁹And the high places of the idol shall be thrown down, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste: and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. ¹⁰And Amasias the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying: Amos hath rebelled against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. ¹¹For thus saith Amos: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be carried away captive out of their own land. ¹²And Amasias said to Amos: Thou seer, go, flee away into the land of Juda: and eat bread there, and prophesy there. ¹³But prophesy not again any more in Bethel: because it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the house of the kingdom. ¹⁴And Amos answered and said to Amasias: I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet: but I am a herdsman plucking wild figs. ¹⁵And the Lord took me when I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel. ¹⁶And now hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, thou shalt not prophesy against Israel, and thou shalt not drop thy word upon the house of the idol. ¹⁷Therefore thus saith the Lord: Thy wife shall play the harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be measured by a line: and thou shalt die in a polluted land, and Israel shall go into captivity out of their land.

Chapter 8

¹These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold a hook to draw down the fruit. ²And he said: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A hook to draw down fruit. And the Lord said to me: The end is come upon my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more. ³And the hinges of the temple shall screak in that day, saith the Lord God: many shall die: silence shall be cast in every place. ⁴Hear this, you that crush the poor, and make the needy of the land to fail, ⁵Saying: When will the month be over, and we shall sell our wares: and the sabbath, and we shall open the corn: that we may lessen the measure, and increase the sicle, and may convey in deceitful balances, ⁶That we may possess the needy for money, and the poor for a pair of shoes, and may sell the refuse of the corn? ⁷The Lord hath sworn against the pride of Jacob: surely I will never forget all their works. ⁸Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein: and rise up altogether as a river, and be cast out, and run down as the river of Egypt? ⁹And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that the sun shall go down at midday, and I will make the earth dark in the day of light: ¹⁰And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation: and I will bring up sackcloth upon every back of yours, and baldness upon every head: and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the latter end thereof as a bitter day. ¹¹Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. ¹²And they shall move from sea to sea, and from the north to the east: they shall go about seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. ¹³In that day the fair virgins, and the young men shall faint for thirst. ¹⁴They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say: Thy God, O Dan, liveth: and the way of Bersabee liveth: and they shall fall, and shall rise no more.

Chapter 9

¹I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the hinges, and let the lintels be shook: for there is covetousness in the head of them all, and I will slay the last of them with the sword: there shall be no flight for them: they shall flee, and he that shall flee of them shall not be delivered. ²Though they go down even to hell, thence shall my hand bring them out: and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down. ³And though they be hid in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them away from thence : and though they hide themselves from my eyes in the depth of the sea, there will I command the serpent and he shall bite them. ⁴And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall kill them. And I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. ⁵And the Lord the God of hosts is he who toucheth the earth, and it shall melt: and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up as a river, and shall run down as the river of Egypt. ⁶He that buildeth his ascension in heaven, and hath founded his bundle upon the earth: who calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord is his name. ⁷Are not you as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel, saith the Lord? did not I bring up Israel, out of the land of Egypt: and the Philistines out of Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of Cyrene? ⁸Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth: but yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. ⁹For behold I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve: and there shall not a little stone fall to the ground. ¹⁰All the sinners of my people shall fall by the sword: who say: The evils shall not approach, and shall not come upon us. ¹¹In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen: and I will close up the breaches of the walls thereof, and repair what was fallen: and I will rebuild it as in the days of old. ¹²That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all nations, because my name is invoked upon them: saith the Lord that doth these things. ¹³Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed: and the mountains shall drop sweetness, and every hill shall be tilled. ¹⁴And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel: and they shall build the abandoned cities, and inhabit them: and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them: and shall make gardens, and eat the fruits of them. And I will plant them upon their own land: and I will no more pluck them out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.

The Prophecy of Abdias

ABDIAS, whose name is interpreted THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, is believed to have prophesied about the same time as OSEE, JOEL, and AMOS: though some of the Hebrews, who believe him to be the same with ACHAB'S steward, make him much more ancient. His prophecy is the shortest of any in number of words, but yields to none, says ST. JEROME, in the sublimity of mysteries. It contains but one chapter.

Chapter 1

¹The vision of Abdias. Thus saith the Lord God to Edom: We have heard a rumour from the Lord, and he hath sent an ambassador to the nations: Arise, and let us rise up to battle against him. ²Behold I have made thee small among the nations: thou art exceeding contemptible. ³The pride of thy heart hath lifted thee up, who dwellest in the clefts of the rocks, and settest up thy throne on high: who sayest in thy heart: Who shall bring me down to the ground ? ⁴Though thou be exalted as an eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars: thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. ⁵If thieves had gone in to thee, if robbers by night, how wouldst thou have held thy peace? would they not have stolen till they had enough ? if the grapegatherers had come in to thee, would they not have left thee at the least a cluster? ⁶How have they searched Esau, how have they sought out his hidden things? ⁷They have sent thee out even to the border: all the men of thy confederacy have deceived thee: the men of thy peace have prevailed against thee: they that eat with thee shall lay snares under thee: there is no wisdom in him. ⁸Shall not I in that day, saith the Lord, destroy the wise out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau ? ⁹And thy valiant men of the south shall be afraid, that man may be cut off from the mount of Esau. ¹⁰For the slaughter, and for the iniquity against thy brother Jacob, confusion shall cover thee, and thou shalt perish for ever. ¹¹In the day when thou stoodest against him, when strangers carried away his army captive, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem: thou also wast as one of them. ¹²But thou shalt not look on in the day of thy brother, in the day of his leaving his country: and thou shalt not rejoice over the children of Juda, in the day of their destruction: and thou shalt not magnify thy mouth in the day of distress. ¹³Neither shalt thou enter into the gate of my people in the day of their ruin: neither shalt thou also look on in his evils in the day of his calamity: and thou shalt not be sent out against his army in the day of his desolation. ¹⁴Neither shalt thou stand in the crossways to kill them that flee: and thou shalt not shut up them that remain of him in the day of tribulation. ¹⁵For the day of the Lord is at hand upon all nations: as thou hast done, so shall it be done to thee: he will turn thy reward upon thy own head. ¹⁶For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain, so all nations shall drink continually: and they shall drink, and sup up, and they shall be as though they were not. ¹⁷And in mount Sion shall be salvation, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess those that possessed them. ¹⁸And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble: and they shall be kindled in them, and shall devour them: and there shall be no remains of the house of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken it. ¹⁹And they that are toward the south, shall inherit the mount of Esau, and they that are in the plains, the Philistines: and they shall possess the country of Ephraim, and the country of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Galaad. ²⁰And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel, all the places of the Chanaanites even to Sarepta: and the captivity of Jerusalem that is in Bosphorus, shall possess the cities of the south. ²¹And saviours shall come up into mount Sion to judge the mount of Esau: and the kingdom shall be for the Lord.

The Prophecy of Jonas

JONAS prophesied in the reign of JEREBOAM the second: as we learn from 4 Kings 14.25. To whom also he foretold his success in restoring all the borders of Israel. He was of GETH OPHER in the tribe of ZABULON, and consequently of GALILEE: which confutes that assertion of the Pharisees, John 7.52, that no prophet ever rose out of GALILEE. He prophesied and prefigured in his own person the death and resurrection of CHRIST: and was the only one among the prophets that was sent to preach to the Gentiles.

Chapter 1

¹Now the word of the Lord came to Jonas the son of Amathi, saying: ²Arise, and go to Ninive the great city, and preach in it: for the wickedness thereof is come up before me. ³And Jonas rose up to flee into Tharsis from the face of the Lord, and he went down to Joppe, and found a ship going to Tharsis: and he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them to Tharsis from the face of the Lord. ⁴But the Lord sent a great wind into the sea: and a great tempest was raised in the sea, and the ship was in danger to be broken. ⁵And the mariners were afraid, and the men cried to their god: and they cast forth the wares that were in the ship, into the sea, to lighten it of them: and Jones went down into the inner part of the ship, and fell into a deep sleep. ⁶And the shipmaster came to him, and said to him: Why art thou fast asleep? rise up, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think of us, that we may not perish. ⁷And they said every one to his fellow: Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know why this evil is upon us. And they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonas. ⁸And they said to him: Tell us for what cause this evil is upon us, what is thy business? of what country art thou? and whither goest thou? or of what people art thou? ⁹And he said to them: I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord the God of heaven, who made both the sea and the dry land. ¹⁰And the men were greatly afraid, and they said to him: Why hast thou done this? (for the men knew that he fled from the face of the Lord: because he had told them.) ¹¹And they said to him: What shall we do to thee, that the sea may be calm to us? for the sea flowed and swelled. ¹²And he said to them: Take me up, and cast me into the sea, and the sea shall be calm to you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. ¹³And the men rowed hard to return to land, but they were not able: because the sea tossed and swelled upon them. ¹⁴And they cried to the Lord, and said: We beseech thee, O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. ¹⁵And they took Jonas, and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased from raging. ¹⁶And the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and sacrificed victims to the Lord, and made vows.

Chapter 2

¹Now the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonas: and Jonas was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. ²And Jonas prayed to the Lord his God out of the belly of the fish. ³And he said: I cried out of my affliction to the Lord, and he heard me: I cried out of the belly of hell, and thou hast heard my voice. ⁴And thou hast cast me forth into the deep in the heart of the sea, and a flood hath compassed me: all thy billows, and thy waves have passed over me. ⁵And I said: I am cast away out of the sight of thy eyes: but yet I shall see thy holy temple again. ⁶The waters compassed me about even to the soul: the deep hath closed me round about, the sea hath covered my head. ⁷I went down to the lowest parts of the mountains: the bars of the earth have shut me up for ever: and thou wilt bring up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. ⁸When my soul was in distress within me, I remembered the Lord: that my prayer may come to thee, unto thy holy temple. ⁹They that are vain observe vanities, forsake their own mercy. ¹⁰But I with the voice of praise will sacrifice to thee: I will pay whatsoever I have vowed for my salvation to the Lord. ¹¹And the Lord spoke to the fish: and it vomited out Jonas upon the dry land.

Chapter 3

¹And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time, saying: ²Arise, and go to Ninive the great city: and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee. ³And Jonas arose, and went to Ninive, according to the word of the Lord: now Ninive was a great city of three days' journey. ⁴And Jonas began to enter into the city one day's journey: and he cried, and said: Yet forty days, and Ninive shall be destroyed. ⁵And the men of Ninive believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. ⁶And the word came to the king of Ninive; and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Ninive from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying: Let neither men nor beasts, oxen nor sheep, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water. ⁸And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands. ⁹Who can tell if God will turn, and forgive: and will turn away from his fierce anger, and we shall not perish? ¹⁰And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way: and God had mercy with regard to the evil which he had said that he would do to them, and he did it not.

Chapter 4

¹And Jonas was exceedingly troubled, and was angry: ²And he prayed to the Lord, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord, is not this what I said, when I was yet in my own country? therefore I went before to flee into Tharsis: for I know that thou art a gracious and merciful God, patient, and of much compassion, and easy to forgive evil. ³And now, O Lord, I beseech thee take my life from me: for it is better for me to die than to live. ⁴And the Lord said: Dost thou think thou hast reason to be angry? ⁵Then Jonas went out of the city, and sat toward the east side of the city: and he made himself a booth there, and he sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would befall the city. ⁶And the Lord God prepared an ivy, and it came up over the head of Jonas, to be a shadow over his head, and to cover him (for he was fatigued): and Jonas was exceeding glad of the ivy. ⁷But God prepared a worm, when the morning arose on the following day: and it struck the ivy and it withered. ⁸And when the sun was risen, the Lord commanded a hot and burning wind: and the sun beat upon the head of Jonas, and he broiled with the heat: and he desired for his soul that he might die, and said: It is better for me to die than to live. ⁹And the Lord said to Jonas: Dost thou think thou hast reason to be angry, for the ivy? And he said: I am angry with reason even unto death. ¹⁰And the Lord said: Thou art grieved for the ivy, for which thou hast not laboured, nor made it to grow, which in one night came up, and in one night perished. ¹¹And shall not I spare Ninive, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons that know not how to distinguish between their right hand and their left, and many beasts?

The Prophecy of Micheas

MICHEAS, of Morasti, a little town in the tribe of JUDA, was contemporary with the prophet ISAIAS: whom he resembles both in his spirit and his style. He is different from the prophet MICHEAS mentioned in the third book of Kings, chap. 22. For that MICHEAS lived in the days of king ACHAB, one hundred and fifty years before the time of EZECHIAS, under whom this MICHEAS prophesied.

Chapter 1

¹The word of the Lord that came to Micheas the Morasthite, in the days of Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda: which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. ²Hear, all ye people: and let the earth give ear, and all that is therein: and let the Lord God be a witness to you, the Lord from his holy temple. ³For behold the Lord will come forth out of his place: and he will come down, and will tread upon the high places of the earth. ⁴And the mountains shall be melted under him: and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as waters that run down a steep place. ⁵For the wickedness of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the wickedness of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Juda? are they not Jerusalem ? ⁶And I will make Samaria as a heap of stones in the field when a vineyard is planted: and I will bring down the stones thereof into the valley, and will lay her foundations bare. ⁷And all her graven things shall be cut in pieces, and all her wages shall be burnt with fire, and I will bring to destruction all her idols: for they were gathered together of the hire of a harlot, and unto the hire of a harlot they shall return. ⁸Therefore will I lament and howl: I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and a mourning like the ostriches. ⁹Because her wound is desperate, because it is come even to Juda, it hath touched the gate of my people even to Jerusalem. ¹⁰Declare ye it not in Geth, weep ya not with tears: in the house of Dust sprinkle yourselves with dust. ¹¹And pass away, O thou that dwellest in the Beautiful place, covered with thy shame: she went not forth that dwelleth in the confines: the House adjoining shall receive mourning from you, which stood by herself. ¹²For she is become weak unto good that dwelleth in bitterness: for evil is come down from the Lord into the gate of Jerusalem. ¹³A tumult of chariots hath astonished the inhabitants of Lachis: it is the beginning of sin to the daughter of Sion, for in thee were found the crimes of Israel. ¹⁴Therefore shall she send messengers to the inheritance of Geth : the houses of lying to deceive the kings of Israel. ¹⁵Yet will I bring an heir to thee that dwellest in Maresa: even to Odollam shall the glory of Israel come. ¹⁶Make thee bald, and be polled for thy delicate children: enlarge thy baldness as the eagle: for they are carried into captivity from thee.

Chapter 2

¹Woe to you that devise that which is unprofitable, and work evil in your beds: in the morning light they execute it, because their hand is against God. ²And they have coveted fields, and taken them by violence, and houses they have forcibly taken away: and oppressed a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. ³Therefore thus saith the Lord : Behold, I devise an evil against this family: from which you shall not withdraw your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for this is a very evil time. ⁴In that day a parable shall be taken up upon you, and a song shall be sung with melody by them that say: We are laid waste and spoiled: the portion of my people is changed: how shall he depart from me, whereas he is returning that will divide our land? ⁵Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the cord of a lot in the assembly of the Lord. ⁶Speak ye not, saying: It shall not drop upon these, confusion shall not take them. ⁷The house of Jacob saith: Is the spirit of the Lord straitened, or are these his thoughts? Are not my words good to him that walketh uprightly? ⁸But my people, on the contrary, are risen up as an enemy: you have taken away the cloak off from the coat: and them that passed harmless you have turned to war. ⁹You have cast out the women of my people from their houses, in which they took delight: you have taken my praise for ever from their children. ¹⁰Arise ye, and depart, for there is no rest here for you. For that uncleanness of the land, it shall be corrupted with a grievous corruption. ¹¹Would God I were not a man that hath the spirit, and that I rather spoke a lie: I will let drop to thee of wine, and of drunkenness: and it shall be this people upon whom it shall drop. ¹²I will assemble and gather together all of thee, O Jacob: I will bring together the remnant of Israel, I will put them together as a flock in the fold, as the sheep in the midst of the sheepcotes, they shall make a tumult by reason of the multitude of men. ¹³For he shall go up that shall open the way before them: they shall divide, and pass through the gate, and shall come in by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them.

Chapter 3

¹And I said: Hear, O ye princes of Jacob, and ye chiefs of the house of Israel: Is it not your part to know judgment, ²You that hate good, and love evil: that violently pluck off their skins from them, and their flesh from their bones? ³Who have eaten the flesh of my people, and have flayed their skin from off them: and have broken, and chopped their bones as for the kettle, and as flesh in the midst of the pot. ⁴Then shall they cry to the Lord, and he will not hear them: and he will hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved wickedly in their devices. ⁵Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err: that bite with their teeth, and preach peace: and if a man give not something into their mouth, they prepare war against him. ⁶Therefore night shall be to you instead of vision, and darkness to you instead of divination; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be darkened over them. ⁷And they shall be confounded that see visions, and the diviners shall be confounded: and they shall all cover their faces, because there is no answer of God. ⁸But yet I am filled with the strength of the spirit of the Lord, with judgment, and power: to declare unto Jacob his wickedness, and to Israel his sin. ⁹Hear this, ye princes of the house of Jacob, and ye judges of the house of Israel: you that abhor judgment, and pervert all that is right. ¹⁰You that build up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. ¹¹Her princes have judged for bribes, and her priests have taught for hire, and her prophets divined for money: and they leaned upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us. ¹²Therefore, because of you, Sion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a heap of stones, and the mountain of the temple as the high places of the forests.

Chapter 4

¹And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of mountains, and high above the hills: and people shall flow to it. ²And many nations shall come in haste, and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, 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 the law shall go forth out of Sion, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. ³And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into spades: nation shall not take sword against nation: neither shall they learn war any more. ⁴And every man shall sit under his vine, and under his fig tree, and there shall be none to make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken. ⁵For all people will walk every one in the name of his god: but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. ⁶In that day, saith the Lord, I will gather up her that halteth: and her that I had cast out, I will gather up: and her whom I had afflicted. ⁷And I will make her that halted, a remnant: and her that hath been afflicted, a mighty nation: and the Lord will reign over them in mount Sion, from this time now and for ever. ⁸And thou, O cloudy tower of the flock, of the daughter of Sion, unto thee shall it come: yea the first power shall come, the kingdom to the daughter of Jerusalem. ⁹Now, why art thou drawn together with grief? Hast thou no king in thee, or is thy counsellor perished, because sorrow hath taken thee as a woman in labour? ¹⁰Be in pain and labour, O daughter of Sion, as a woman that bringeth forth: for now shalt thou go out of the city, and shalt dwell in the country, and shalt come even to Babylon, there thou shalt be delivered: there the Lord will redeem thee out of the hand of thy enemies. ¹¹And now many nations are gathered together against thee, and they say: Let her be stoned: and let our eye look upon Sion. ¹²But they have not known the thoughts of the Lord, and have not understood his counsel: because he hath gathered them together as the hay of the floor. ¹³Arise, and tread, O daughter of Sion: for I will make thy horn iron, and thy hoofs I will make brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many peoples, and shalt immolate the spoils of them to the Lord, and their strength to the Lord of the whole earth.

Chapter 5

¹Now shalt thou be laid waste, O daughter of the robber: they have laid siege against us, with a rod shall they strike the cheek of the judge of Israel. ²AND THOU, BETHLEHEM Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda: out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. ³Therefore will he give them up even till the time wherein she that travaileth shall bring forth: and the remnant of his brethren shall be converted to the children of Israel. ⁴And he shall stand, and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the height of the name of the Lord his God: and they shall be converted, for now shall he be magnified even 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 set his foot in our houses: and we shall raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. ⁶And they shall feed the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nemrod with the spears thereof: and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when he shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our borders. ⁷And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples as a dew from the Lord, and as drops upon the grass, which waiteth not for man, nor tarrieth for the children of men. ⁸And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many peoples as a lion among the beasts of the forests, and as a young lion among the docks of sheep: who when he shall go through and tread down, and take, there is none to deliver. ⁹Thy hand shall be lifted up over thy enemies, and all thy enemies shall be cut off. ¹⁰And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will take away thy horses out of the midst of thee, and will destroy thy chariots. ¹¹And I will destroy the cities of thy land, and will throw down all thy strong holds, and I will take away sorceries out of thy hand, and there shall be no divinations in thee. ¹²And I will destroy thy graven things, and thy statues out of the midst of thee: and thou shalt no more adore the works of thy hands. ¹³And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: and will crush thy cities. ¹⁴And I will execute vengeance in wrath and in indignation among all the nations that have not given ear.

Chapter 6

¹Hear ye what the Lord saith: Arise, contend thou in judgment against the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. ²Let the mountains hear the judgment of the Lord, and the strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord will enter into judgment with his people, and he will plead against Israel. ³O my people, what have I done to thee, or in what have I molested thee? answer thou me. ⁴For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and delivered thee out of the house of slaves: and I sent before thy face Moses, and Aaron, and Mary. ⁵O my people, remember, I pray thee, what Balach the king of Moab purposed: and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Setim to Galgal, that thou mightest know the justices of the Lord. ⁶What shall I offer to the Lord that is worthy? wherewith shall I kneel before the high God? shall I offer holocausts unto him, and calves of a year old? ⁷May the Lord be appeased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat he goats? shall I give my firstborn for my wickedness, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? ⁸I will shew thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee: Verily, to do judgment, and to love mercy, and to walk solicitous with thy God. ⁹The voice of the Lord crieth to the city, and salvation shall be to them that fear thy name: hear, O ye tribes, and who shall approve it? ¹⁰As yet there is a fire in the house of the wicked, the treasures of iniquity, and a scant measure full of wrath. ¹¹Shall I justify wicked balances, and the deceitful weights of the bag? ¹²By which her rich men were filled with iniquity, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue was deceitful in their mouth. ¹³And I therefore began to strike thee with desolation for thy sins. ¹⁴Thou shalt eat, but shalt not be filled: and thy humiliation shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not save: and those whom thou shalt save, I will give up to the sword. ¹⁵Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap: thou shalt tread the olives, but shalt not be anointed with the oil: and the new wine, but shalt not drink the wine. ¹⁶For thou hast kept the statutes of Amri, and all the works of the house of Achab: and thou hast walked according to their wills, that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing, and you shall bear the reproach of my people.

Chapter 7

¹Woe is me, for I am become as one that gleaneth in autumn the grapes of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat, my soul desired the firstripe figs. ²The holy man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood, every one hunteth his brother to death. ³The evil of their hands they call good: the prince requireth, and the judge is for giving: and the great man hath uttered the desire of his soul, and they have troubled it. ⁴He that is best among them, is as a brier: and he that is righteous, as the thorn of the hedge. The day of thy inspection, thy visitation cometh: now shall be their destruction. ⁵Believe not a friend, and trust not in a prince: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that sleepeth in thy bosom. ⁶For the son dishonoureth the father, and the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law: and a man's enemies are they of his own household. ⁷But I will look towards the Lord, I will wait for God my Saviour: my God will hear me. ⁸Rejoice not, thou, my enemy, over me, because I am fallen: I shall arise, when I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light. ⁹I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him; until he judge my cause and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth into the light, I shall behold his justice. ¹⁰And my enemy shall behold, and she shall be covered with shame, who saith to me: Where is the Lord thy God? My eyes shall look down upon her: now shall she be trodden under foot as the mire of the streets. ¹¹The day shall come, that thy walls may be built up: in that day shall the law be far removed. ¹²In that day they shall come even from Assyria to thee, and to the fortified cities: and from the fortified cities even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. ¹³And the land shall be made desolate, because of the inhabitants thereof, and for the fruit of their devices. ¹⁴Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy inheritance, them that dwell alone in the forest, in the midst of Carmel: they shall feed in Basan and Galaad according to the days of old. ¹⁵According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt I will shew him wonders. ¹⁶The nations shall see, and shall be confounded at all their strength: they shall put the hand upon the mouth, their ears shall be deaf. ¹⁷They shall lick the dust like serpents, as the creeping things of the earth, they shall be disturbed in their houses: they shall dread the Lord our God, and shall fear thee. ¹⁸Who is a God like to thee, who takest away iniquity, and passest by the sin of the remnant of thy inheritance? he will send his fury in no more, because he delighteth in mercy. ¹⁹He will turn again, and have mercy on us: he will put away our iniquities: and he will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea. ²⁰Thou wilt perform the truth of Jacob, the mercy to Abraham: which thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

The Prophecy of Nahum

NAHUM, whose name signifies A COMFORTER, was a native of Elcese, or Elcesai, supposed to be a little town in Galilee. He prophesied, after the ten tribes were carried into captivity, and foretold the utter destruction of Ninive, by the Babylonians and Medes: which happened in the reign of JOSIAS.

Chapter 1

¹The burden of Ninive. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elcesite. ²The Lord is a jealous God, and a revenger: the Lord is a revenger, and hath wrath: the Lord taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he is angry with his enemies. ³The Lord is patient, and great in power, and will not cleanse and acquit the guilty. The Lord's ways are in a tempest, and a whirlwind, and clouds are the dust of his feet. ⁴He rebuketh the sea, and drieth it up: and bringeth all the rivers to be a desert. Basan languisheth and Carmel: and the dower of Libanus fadeth away. ⁵The mountains tremble at him, and the hills are made desolate: and the earth hath quaked at his presence, and the world, and all that dwell therein. ⁶Who can stand before the face of his indignation? and who shall resist in the fierceness of his anger? his indignation is poured out like fire: and the rocks are melted by him. ⁷The Lord is good and giveth strength in the day of trouble: and knoweth them that hope in him. ⁸But with a flood that passeth by, he will make an utter end of the place thereof: and darkness shall pursue his enemies. ⁹What do ye devise against the Lord? he will make an utter end: there shall not rise a double affliction. ¹⁰For as thorns embrace one another: so while they are feasting and drinking together, they shall be consumed as stubble that is fully dry. ¹¹Out of thee shall come forth one that imagineth evil against the Lord, contriving treachery in his mind. ¹²Thus saith the Lord: Though they were perfect: and many of them so, yet thus shall they be cut off, and he shall pass: I have afflicted thee, and I will afflict thee no more. ¹³And now I will break in pieces his rod with which he struck thy back, and I will burst thy bonds asunder. ¹⁴And the Lord will give a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name shall be sown: I will destroy the graven and molten thing out of the house of thy God, I will make it thy grave, for thou art disgraced. ¹⁵Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, and that preacheth peace: O Juda, keep thy festivals, and pay thy vows: for Belial shall no more pass through thee again, he is utterly cut off.

Chapter 2

¹He is come up that shall destroy before thy face, that shall keep the siege: watch the way, fortify thy loins, strengthen thy power exceedingly. ²For the Lord hath rendered the pride of Jacob, as the pride of Israel: because the spoilers have laid them waste, and have marred their vine branches. ³The shield of his mighty men is like fire, the men of the army are clad in scarlet, the reins of the chariot are flaming in the day of his preparation, and the drivers are stupefied. ⁴They are in confusion in the ways, the chariots jostle one against another in the streets: their looks are like torches, like lightning running to and fro. ⁵He will muster up his valiant men, they shall stumble in their march: they shall quickly get upon the walls thereof: and a covering shall be prepared. ⁶The gates of the rivers are opened, and the temple is thrown down to the ground. ⁷And the soldier is led away captive: and her bondwomen were led away mourning as doves, murmuring in their hearts. ⁸And as for Ninive, her waters are like a great pool, but the men flee away. They cry: Stand, stand, but there is none that will return back. ⁹Take ye the spoil of the silver, take the spoil of the gold: for there is no end of the riches of all the precious furniture. ¹⁰She is destroyed, and rent, and torn: the heart melteth, and the knees fail, and all the loins lose their strength: and the faces of them all are as the blackness of a kettle. ¹¹Where is now the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, to which the lion went, to enter in thither, the young lion, and there was none to make them afraid? ¹²The lion caught enough for his whelps, and killed for his lionesses: and he filled his holes with prey, and his den with rapine. ¹³Behold I come against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will burn thy chariots even to smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey out of the land, and the voice of thy messengers shall be heard no more.

Chapter 3

¹Woe to thee, O city of blood, all full of lies and violence: rapine shall not depart from thee. ²The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the neighing horse, and of the running chariot, and of the horsemen coming up, ³And of the shining sword, and of the glittering spear, and of a multitude slain, and of a grievous destruction: and there is no end of carcasses, and they shall fall down on their dead bodies. ⁴Because of the multitude of the fornications of the harlot that was beautiful and agreeable, and that made use of witchcraft, that sold nations through her fornications, and families through her witchcrafts. ⁵Behold I come against thee, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will discover thy shame to thy face, and will shew thy nakedness to the nations, and thy shame to kingdoms. ⁶And I will cast abominations upon thee, and will disgrace thee, and will make an example of thee. ⁷And it shall come to pass that every one that shall see thee, shall flee from thee, and shall say: Ninive is laid waste: who shall bemoan thee? whence shall I seek a comforter for thee? ⁸Art thou better than the populous Alexandria, that dwelleth among the rivers? waters are round about it: the sea is its riches, the waters are its walls. ⁹Ethiopia and Egypt were the strength thereof, and there is no end: Africa and the Libyans were thy helpers. ¹⁰Yet she also was removed and carried into captivity: her young children were dashed in pieces at the top of every street, and they cast lots upon her nobles, and all her great men were bound in fetters. ¹¹Therefore thou also shalt be made drunk, and shalt be despised: and thou shalt seek help from the enemy. ¹²All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with their green figs: if they be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater. ¹³Behold thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open to thy enemies, the fire shall devour thy bars. ¹⁴Draw thee water for the siege, build up thy bulwarks: go into the clay, and tread, work it and make brick. ¹⁵There shall the fire devour thee: thou shalt perish by the sword, it shall devour thee like the bruchus: assemble together like the bruchus, make thyself many like the locust. ¹⁶Thou hast multiplied thy merchandises above the stars of heaven: the bruchus hath spread himself and flown away. ¹⁷Thy guards are like the locusts: and thy little ones like the locusts of locusts which swarm on the hedges in the day of cold: the sun arose, and they flew away, and their place was not known where they were. ¹⁸Thy shepherds have slumbered, O king of Assyria, thy princes shall be buried: thy people are hid in the mountains, and there is none to gather them together. ¹⁹Thy destruction is not hidden, thy wound is grievous: all that have heard the fame of thee, have clapped their hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

The Prophecy of Habacuc

HABACUC was a native of Bezocher, and prophesied in JUDA, some time before the invasion of the CHALDEANS, which he foretold. He lived to see this prophecy fulfilled, and for many years after, according to the general opinion, which supposes him to be the same that was brought by the ANGEL to DANIEL in BABYLON, Dan. 14.

Chapter 1

¹The burden that Habacuc the prophet saw. ²How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? shall I cry out to thee suffering violence, and thou wilt not save? ³Why hast thou shewn me iniquity and grievance, to see rapine and injustice before me? and there is a judgment, but opposition is more powerful. ⁴Therefore the law is torn in pieces, and judgment cometh not to the end: because the wicked prevaileth against the just, therefore wrong judgment goeth forth. ⁵Behold ye among the nations, and see: wonder, and be astonished: for a work is done in your days, which no man will believe when it shall be told. ⁶For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation, marching upon the breadth of the earth, to possess the dwelling places that are not their own. ⁷They are dreadful, and terrible: from themselves shall their judgment, and their burden proceed. ⁸Their horses are lighter than leopards, and swifter than evening wolves; and their horsemen shall be spread abroad: for their horsemen shall come from afar, they shall fly as an eagle that maketh haste to eat. ⁹They shall all come to the prey, their face is like a burning wind: and they shall gather together captives as the sand. ¹⁰And their prince shall triumph over kings, and princes shall be his laughingstock: and he shall laugh at every strong hold, and shall cast up a mount, and shall take it. ¹¹Then shall his spirit be changed, and he shall pass, and fall: this is his strength of his god. ¹²Wast thou not from the beginning, O Lord my God, my holy one, and we shall not die? Lord, thou hast appointed him for judgment: and made him strong for correction. ¹³Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and thou canst not look on iniquity. Why lookest thou upon them that do unjust things, and holdest thy peace when the wicked devoureth the man that is more just than himself? ¹⁴And thou wilt make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the creeping things that have no ruler. ¹⁵He lifted up all them with his hook, he drew them in his drag, and gathered them into his net: for this he will be glad and rejoice. ¹⁶Therefore will he offer victims to his drag, and he will sacrifice to his net: because through them his portion is made fat, and his meat dainty. ¹⁷For this cause therefore he spreadeth his net, and will not spare continually to slay the nations.

Chapter 2

¹I will stand upon my watch, and fix my foot upon the tower: and I will watch, to see what will be said to me, and what I may answer to him that reproveth me. ²And the Lord answered me, and said: Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables: that he that readeth it may run over it. ³For as yet the vision is far off, and it shall appear at the end, and shall not lie: if it make any delay, wait for it: for it shall surely come, and it shall not be slack. ⁴Behold, he that is unbelieving, his soul shall not be right in himself: but the just shall live in his faith. ⁵And as wine deceiveth him that drinketh it: so shall the proud man be, and he shall not be honoured: who hath enlarged his desire like hell: and is himself like death, and he is never satisfied: but will gather together unto him all nations, and heap together unto him all people. ⁶Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a dark speech concerning him: and it shall be said: Woe to him that heapeth together that which is not his own? how long also doth he load himself with thick clay? ⁷Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee: and they be stirred up that shall tear thee, and thou shalt be a spoil to them? ⁸Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all that shall be left of the people shall spoil thee: because of men's blood, and for the iniquity of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. ⁹Woe to him that gathereth together an evil covetousness to his house, that his nest may be on high, and thinketh he may be delivered out of the hand of evil. ¹⁰Thou hast devised confusion to thy house, thou hast cut off many people, and thy soul hath sinned. ¹¹For the stone shall cry out of the wall: and the timber that is between the joints of the building, shall answer. ¹²Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and prepareth a city by iniquity. ¹³Are not these things from the Lord of hosts? for the people shall labour in a great fire: and the nations in vain, and they shall faint. ¹⁴For the earth shall be filled, that men may know the glory of the Lord, as waters covering the sea. ¹⁵Woe to him that giveth drink to his friend, and presenteth his gall, and maketh him drunk, that he may behold his nakedness. ¹⁶Thou art filled with shame instead of glory: drink thou also, and fall fast asleep: the cup of the right hand of the Lord shall compass thee, and shameful vomiting shall be on thy glory. ¹⁷For the iniquity of Libanus shall cover thee, and the ravaging of beasts shall terrify them because of the blood of men, and the iniquity of the land, and of the city, and of all that dwell therein. ¹⁸What doth the graven thing avail, because the maker thereof hath graven it, a molten, and a false image? because the forger thereof hath trusted in a thing of his own forging, to make dumb idols. ¹⁹Woe to him that saith to wood: Awake: to the dumb stone: Arise: can it teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold, and silver, and there is no spirit in the bowels thereof. ²⁰But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

Chapter 3

¹A PRAYER OF HABACUC THE PROPHET FOR IGNORANCES. ²O Lord, I have heard thy hearing, and was afraid. O Lord, thy work, in the midst of the years bring it to life: In the midst of the years thou shalt make it known: when thou art angry, thou wilt remember mercy. ³God will come from the south, and the holy one from mount Pharan: His glory covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise. ⁴His brightness shall be as the light; horns are in his hands: There is his strength hid: ⁵Death shall go before his face. And the devil shall go forth before his feet. ⁶He stood and measured the earth. He beheld, and melted the nations: and the ancient mountains were crushed to pieces. The hills of the world were bowed down by the journeys of his eternity. ⁷I saw the tents of Ethiopia for their iniquity, the curtains of the land of Madian shall be troubled. ⁸Wast thou angry, O Lord, with the rivers? or was thy wrath upon the rivers? or thy indignation in the sea? Who will ride upon thy horses: and thy chariots are salvation. ⁹Thou wilt surely take up thy bow: according to the oaths which thou hast spoken to the tribes. Thou wilt divide the rivers of the earth. ¹⁰The mountains saw thee, and were grieved: the great body of waters passed away. The deep put forth its voice: the deep lifted up its hands. ¹¹The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation, in the light of thy arrows, they shall go in the brightness of thy glittering spear. ¹²In thy anger thou wilt tread the earth under foot: in thy wrath thou wilt astonish the nations. ¹³Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people: for salvation with thy Christ. Thou struckest the head of the house of the wicked: thou hast laid bare his foundation even to the neck. ¹⁴Thou hast cursed his sceptres, the head of his warriors, them that came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Their joy was like that of him that devoureth the poor man in secret. ¹⁵Thou madest a way in the sea for thy horses, in the mud of many waters. ¹⁶I have heard and my bowels were troubled: my lips trembled at the voice. Let rottenness enter into my bones, and swarm under me. That I may rest in the day of tribulation: that I may go up to our people that are girded. ¹⁷For the fig tree shall not blossom: and there shall be no spring in the vines. The labour of the olive tree shall fail: and the fields shall yield no food: the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. ¹⁸But I will rejoice in the Lord: and I will joy in God my Jesus. ¹⁹The Lord God is my strength: and he will make my feet like the feet of harts: and he the conqueror will lead me upon my high places singing psalms.

The Prophecy of Sophonias

SOPHONIAS, whose name, saith ST. JEROME, signifies THE WATCHMAN OF THE LORD, or THE HIDDEN OF THE LORD, prophesied in the beginning of the reign of Josias. He was a native of Sarabatha, and of the tribe of Simeon, according to the more general opinion. He prophesied the punishments of the Jews, for their idolatry and other crimes; also the punishments that were to come on divers nations; the coming of Christ, the conversion of the Gentiles, the blindness of the Jews, and their conversion towards the end of the world.

Chapter 1

¹The word of the Lord that came to Sophonias the son of Chusi, the son of Godolias, the son of Amarias, the son of Ezechias, in the days of Josias the son of Amon king of Juda. ²Gathering, I will gather together all things from off the face of the land, saith the Lord: ³I will gather man, and beast, I will gather the birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea: and the ungodly shall meet with ruin: and I will destroy men from off the face of the land, saith the Lord. ⁴And I will stretch out my hand upon Juda, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and I will destroy out of this place the remnant of Baal, and the names of the wardens of the temples with the priests: ⁵And them that worship the host of heaven upon the tops of houses, and them that adore, and swear by the Lord, and swear by Melchom. ⁶And them that turn away from following after the Lord, and that have not sought the Lord, nor searched after him. ⁷Be silent before the face of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is near, for the Lord hath prepared a victim, he hath sanctified his guests. ⁸And it shall come to pass in the day of the victim of the Lord, that I will visit upon the princes, and upon the king's sons, and upon all such as are clothed with strange apparel. ⁹And I will visit in that day upon every one that entereth arrogantly over the threshold: them that fill the house of the Lord their God with iniquity and deceit. ¹⁰And there shall be in that day, saith the Lord, the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and a howling from the Second, and a great destruction from the hills. ¹¹Howl, ye inhabitants of the Morter. All the people of Chanaan is hush, all are cut off that were wrapped up in silver. ¹²And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and will visit upon the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their hearts: The Lord will not do good, nor will he do evil. ¹³And their strength shall become a booty, and their houses as a desert: and they shall build houses, and shall not dwell in them: and they shall plant vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them. ¹⁴The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and exceeding swift: the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter, the mighty man shall there meet with tribulation. ¹⁵That day is a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness and obscurity, a day of clouds and whirlwinds, ¹⁶A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high bulwarks. ¹⁷And I will distress men, and they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as earth, and their bodies as dung. ¹⁸Neither shall their silver and their gold be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: all the land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy, for he shall make even a speedy destruction of all them that dwell in the land.

Chapter 2

¹Assemble yourselves together, be gathered together, O nation not worthy to be loved: ²Before the decree bring forth the day as dust passing away, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's indignation come upon you. ³Seek the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, you that have wrought his judgment: seek the just, seek the meek: if by any means you may be hid in the day of the Lord's indignation. ⁴For Gaza shall be destroyed, and Ascalon shall be a desert, they shall cast out Azotus at noonday, and Accaron shall be rooted up. ⁵Woe to you that inhabit the sea coast, O nation of reprobates: the word of the Lord upon you, O Chanaan, the land of the Philistines, and I will destroy thee, so that there shall not be an inhabitant. ⁶And the sea coast shall be the resting place of shepherds, and folds for cattle: ⁷And it shall be the portion of him that shall remain of the house of Juda, there they shall feed: in the houses of Ascalon they shall rest in the evening: because the Lord their God will visit them, and bring back their captivity. ⁸I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the blasphemies of the children of Ammon, with which they reproached my people, and have magnified themselves upon their borders. ⁹Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrha, the dryness of thorns, and heaps of salt, and a desert even for ever: the remnant of my people shall make a spoil of them, and the residue of my nation shall possess them. ¹⁰This shall befall them for their pride: because they have blasphemed, and have been magnified against the people of the Lord of hosts. ¹¹The Lord shall be terrible upon them, and shall consume all the gods of the earth: and they shall adore him every man from his own place, all the islands of the Gentiles. ¹²You Ethiopians, also shall be slain with my sword. ¹³And he will stretch out his hand upon the north, and will destroy Assyria: and he will make the beautiful city a wilderness, and as a place not passable, and as a desert. ¹⁴And flocks shall lie down in the midst thereof, all the beasts of the nations: and the bittern and the urchin shall lodge in the threshold thereof: the voice of the singing bird in the window, the raven on the upper post, for I will consume her strength. ¹⁵This is the glorious city that dwelt in security: that said in her heart: I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desert, a place for beasts to lie down in? every one that passeth by her, shall hiss, and wag his hand.

Chapter 3

¹Woe to the provoking, and redeemed city, the dove. ²She hath not hearkened to the voice, neither hath she received discipline: she hath not trusted in the Lord, she drew not near to her God. ³Her princes are in the midst of her as roaring lions: her judges are evening wolves, they left nothing for the morning. ⁴Her prophets are senseless men without faith: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have acted unjustly against the law. ⁵The just Lord is in the midst thereof, he will not do iniquity: in the morning, in the morning he will bring his judgment to light, and it shall not be hid: but the wicked man hath not known shame. ⁶I have destroyed the nations, and their towers are beaten down: I have made their ways desert, so that there is none that passeth by: their cities are desolate, there is not a man remaining, nor any inhabitant. ⁷I said: Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive correction: and her dwelling shall not perish, for all things wherein I have visited her: but they rose early and corrupted all their thoughts. ⁸Wherefore expect me, saith the Lord, in the day of my resurrection that is to come, for my judgment is to assemble the Gentiles, and to gather the kingdoms: and to pour upon them my indignation, all my fierce anger: for with the fire of my jealousy shall all the earth be devoured. ⁹Because then I will restore to the people a chosen lip, that all may call upon the name of the Lord, and may serve him with one shoulder. ¹⁰From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, shall my suppliants the children of my dispersed people bring me an offering. ¹¹In that day thou shalt not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee thy proud boasters, and thou shalt no more be lifted up because of my holy mountain. ¹²And I will leave in the midst of thee a poor and needy people: and they shall hope in the name of the Lord. ¹³The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies, nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed, and shall lie down, and there shall be none to make them afraid. ¹⁴Give praise, O daughter of Sion: shout, O Israel: be glad, and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. ¹⁵The Lord hath taken away thy judgment, he hath turned away thy enemies: the king of Israel the Lord is in the midst of thee, thou shalt fear evil no more. ¹⁶In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not: to Sion: Let not thy hands be weakened. ¹⁷The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, he will save: he will rejoice over thee with gladness, he will be silent in his love, he will be joyful over thee in praise. ¹⁸The triflers that were departed from the law, I will gather together, because they were of thee: that thou mayest no more suffer reproach for them. ¹⁹Behold I will cut off all that have afflicted thee at that time: and I will save her that halteth, and will gather her that was cast out: and I will get them praise, and a name, in all the land where they had been put to confusion. ²⁰At that time, when I will bring you: and at the time that I will gather you: for I will give you a name, and praise among all the people of the earth, when I shall have brought back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.

The Prophecy of Aggeus

AGGEUS was one of those that returned from the captivity of Babylon, in the first year of the reign of king Cyrus. He was sent by the Lord, in the second year of the reign of king Darius, the son of Hystaspes, to exhort Zorobabel the prince of Juda, and Jesus the high priest, to the building of the temple; which they had begun, but left off again through the opposition of the Samaritans. In consequence of this exhortation they proceeded in the building and finished the temple. And the prophet was commissioned by the Lord to assure them that this second temple should be more glorious than the former, because the Messiah should honour it with his presence: signifying withal how much the church of the New Testament should excel that of the Old Testament.

Chapter 1

¹In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Aggeus the prophet, to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, governor of Juda, and to Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, saying: ²Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: This people saith: The time is not yet come for building the house of the Lord. ³And the word of the Lord came by the hand of Aggeus the prophet, saying: ⁴Is it time for you to dwell in ceiled houses, and this house lie desolate? ⁵And now thus saith the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts to consider your ways. ⁶You have sowed much, and brought in little: you have eaten, but have not had enough: you have drunk, but have not been filled with drink: you have clothed yourselves, but have not been warmed: and he that hath earned wages, put them into a bag with holes. ⁷Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Set Your hearts upon your ways: ⁸Go up to the mountain, bring timber, and build the house: and it shall be acceptable to me, and I shall be glorified, saith the Lord. ⁹You have looked for more, and behold it became less, and you brought it home, and I blowed it away: why, saith the Lord of hosts? because my house is desolate, and you make haste every man to his own house. ¹⁰Therefore the heavens over you were stayed from giving dew, and the earth was hindered from yielding her fruits: ¹¹And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and upon all that the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon beasts, and upon all the labour of the hands. ¹²Then Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and all the remnant of the people hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, and to the words of Aggeus the prophet, as the Lord their God sent him to them: and the people feared before the Lord. ¹³And Aggeus the messenger of the Lord, as one of the messengers of the Lord, spoke, saying to the people: I am with you, saith the Lord. ¹⁴And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zorobabel the son of Salathiel governor of Juda, and the spirit of Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and the spirit of all the rest of the people: and they went in, and did the work in the house of the Lord of hosts their God.

Chapter 2

¹In the four and twentieth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king, they began. ²And in the seventh month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Aggeus the prophet, saying: ³Speak to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel the governor of Juda, and to Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and to the rest of the people, saying: ⁴Who is left among you, that saw this house in its first glory? and how do you see it now? is it not in comparison to that as nothing in your eyes? ⁵Yet now take courage, O Zorobabel, saith the Lord, and take courage, O Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and take courage, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord of hosts: and perform (for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts) ⁶The word that I covenanted with you when you came out of the land of Egypt: and my spirit shall be in the midst of you: fear not. ⁷For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Yet one little while, and I will move the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. ⁸And I will move all nations: AND THE DESIRED OF ALL NATIONS SHALL COME: and I will fill this house with glory: saith the Lord of hosts. ⁹The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. ¹⁰Great shall be the glory of this last house more than of the first, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place I will give peace, saith the Lord of hosts. ¹¹In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius the king, the word of the Lord came to Aggeus the prophet, saying: ¹²Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests the law, saying: ¹³If a man carry sanctified flesh in the skirt of his garment, and touch with his skirt, bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat: shall it be sanctified? And the priests answered, and said: No. ¹⁴And Aggeus said: If one that is unclean by occasion of a soul touch any of all these things, shall it be defiled? And the priests answered, and said: It shall be defiled. ¹⁵And Aggeus answered, and said: So is this people, and so is this nation before my face, saith the Lord, and so is all the work of their hands: and all that they have offered there, shall be defiled. ¹⁶And now consider in your hearts, from this day and upward, before there was a stone laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord. ¹⁷When you went to a heap of twenty bushels, and they became ten: and you went into the press, to press out fifty vessels, and they became twenty. ¹⁸I struck you with a blasting wind, and all the works of your hand with the mildew and with hail, yet there was none among you that returned to me, saith the Lord. ¹⁹Set your hearts from this day, and henceforward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month: from the day that the foundations of the temple of the Lord were laid, and lay it up in your hearts. ²⁰Is the seed as yet sprung up? or hath the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree as yet flourished? from this day I will bless you. ²¹And the word of the Lord came a second time to Aggeus in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying: ²²Speak to Zorobabel the governor of Juda, saying: I will move both heaven and earth. ²³And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and will destroy the strength of the kingdom of the Gentiles: and I will overthrow the chariot, and him that rideth therein: and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. ²⁴In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, I will take thee, O Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, my servant, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet, for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts.

The Prophecy of Zacharias

ZACHARIAS began to prophesy in the same year as Aggeus, and upon the same occasion. His prophecy is full of mysterious figures and promises of blessings, partly relating to the synagogue, and partly to the church of Christ.

Chapter 1

¹In the eighth month, in the second year of king Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying: ²The Lord hath been exceeding angry with your fathers. ³And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye to me, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will turn to you, saith the Lord of hosts. ⁴Be not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets have cried, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye from your evil ways, and from your wicked thoughts: but they did not give ear, neither did they hearken to me, saith the Lord. ⁵Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, shall they live always? ⁶But yet my words, and my ordinances, which I gave in charge to my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers, and they returned, and said: As the Lord of hosts thought to do to us according to our ways, and according to our devices, so he hath done to us. ⁷In the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month which is called Sabath, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying: ⁸I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees, that were in the bottom: and behind him were horses, red, speckled, and white. ⁹And I said: What are these, my Lord ? and the angel that spoke in me, said to me: I will shew thee what these are: ¹⁰And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered, and said: These are they, whom the Lord hath sent to walk through the earth. ¹¹And they answered the angel of the Lord, that stood among the myrtle trees, and said: We have walked through the earth, and behold all the earth is inhabited, and is at rest. ¹²And the angel of the Lord answered, and said: O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Juda, with which thou hast been angry? this is now the seventieth year. ¹³And the Lord answered the angel, that spoke in me, good words, comfortable words. ¹⁴And the angel that spoke in me, said to me: Cry thou, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am zealous for Jerusalem, and Sion with a great zeal. ¹⁵And I am angry with a great anger with the wealthy nations: for I was angry a little, but they helped forward the evil. ¹⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord: I will return to Jerusalem in mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts: and the building line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. ¹⁷Cry yet, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: My cities shall yet flow with good things : and the Lord will yet comfort Sion, and he will yet choose Jerusalem. ¹⁸And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold four horns. ¹⁹And I said to the angel that spoke to me: What are these? And he said to me: These are the horns that have scattered Juda, and Israel, and Jerusalem. ²⁰And the Lord shewed me four smiths. ²¹And I said: What come these to do? and he spoke, saying: These are the horns which have scattered Juda every man apart, and none of them lifted up his head: and these are come to fray them, to cast down the horns of the nations, that have lifted up the horn upon the land of Juda to scatter it.

Chapter 2

¹And I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold a man, with a measuring line in his hand. ²And I said: Whither goest thou? and he said to me: To measure Jerusalem, and to see how great is the breadth thereof, and how great the length thereof. ³And behold the angel that spoke in me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him. ⁴And he said to him: Run, speak to this young man, saying: Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls, by reason of the multitude of men, and of the beasts in the midst thereof. ⁵And I will be to it, saith the Lord, a wall of fire round about: and I will be in glory in the midst thereof. ⁶O, O flee ye out of the land of the north, saith the Lord, for I have scattered you into the four winds of heaven, saith the Lord. ⁷O Sion, flee, thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon: ⁸For thus saith the Lord of hosts: After the glory he hath sent me to the nations that have robbed you: for he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of my eye: ⁹For behold I lift up my hand upon them, and they shall be a prey to those that served them: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts sent me. ¹⁰Sing praise, and rejoice, O daughter of Sion: for behold I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee: saith the Lord. ¹¹And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee: and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me to thee. ¹²And the Lord shall possess Juda his portion in the sanctified land: and he shall yet choose Jerusalem. ¹³Let all flesh be silent at the presence of the Lord: for he is risen up out of his .holy habitation.

Chapter 3

¹And the Lord shewed me Jesus the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord: and Satan stood on his right hand to be his adversary. ²And the Lord said to Satan: The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan: and the Lord that chose Jerusalem rebuke thee: Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? ³And Jesus was clothed with filthy garments: and he stood before the face of the angel. ⁴Who answered, and said to them that stood before him, saying: Take away the filthy garments from him. And he said to him: Behold I have taken away thy iniquity, and have clothed thee with change of garments. ⁵And he said: Put a clean mitre upon his head: and they put a clean mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments, and the angel of the Lord stood. ⁶And the angel of the Lord protested to Jesus, saying: ⁷Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If thou wilt walk in my ways, and Beep my charge, thou also shalt judge my house, and shalt keep my courts, and I will give thee some of them that are now present here to walk with thee. ⁸Hear, O Jesus thou high priest, then and thy friends that dwell before thee, for they are portending men: for behold I WILL BRING MY SERVANT THE ORIENT. ⁹For behold the stone that I have laid before Jesus: upon one stone there are seven eyes: behold I will grave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will take away the iniquity of that land in one day. ¹⁰In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, every man shell call his friend under the vine and under the fig tree.

Chapter 4

¹And the angel that spoke in me came again: and he waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. ²And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, and its lamp upon the top of it: and the seven lights thereof upon it: and seven funnels for the lights that were upon the top thereof. ³And two olive trees over it: one upon the right side of the lamp, and the other upon the left side thereof. ⁴And I answered, and said to the angel that spoke in me, saying: What are these things, my lord? ⁵And the angel that spoke in me answered, and said to me: Knowest thou not what these things are? And I said: No, my lord. ⁶And he answered, and spoke to me, saying: This is the word of the Lord to Zorobabel, saying: Not with an army, nor by might, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. ⁷Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zorobabel? thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring out the chief stone, and shall give equal grace to the grace thereof. ⁸And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ⁹The hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundations of this house, and his hands shall finish it: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me to you. ¹⁰For who hath despised little days? and they shall rejoice, and shall see the tin plummet in the hand of Zorobabel. These are the seven eyes of the Lord, that run to and fro through the whole earth. ¹¹And I answered, and said to him: What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick, and upon the left side thereof? ¹²And I answered again, and said to him: What are the two olive branches, that are by the two golden beaks, in which are the funnels of gold? ¹³And he spoke to me, saying: Knowest thou not what these are? And I said: No, my lord. ¹⁴And he said: These are two sons of oil who stand before the Lord of the whole earth.

Chapter 5

¹And I turned and lifted up my eyes: and I saw, and behold a volume flying. ²And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I see a volume flying: the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. ³And he said to me: This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the earth: for every thief shall be judged as is there written: and every one that sweareth in like manner shall be judged by it. ⁴I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts: and it shall come to the house of the thief, and to the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof. ⁵And the angel went forth that spoke in me, and he said to me: Lift up thy eyes, and see what this is, that goeth forth. ⁶And I said: What is it? And he said: This is a vessel going forth. And he said: This is their eye in all the earth. ⁷And behold a talent of lead was carried, and behold a woman sitting in the midst of the vessel. ⁸And he said: This is wickedness. And he cast her into the midst of the vessel, and cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. ⁹And I lifted up my eyes and looked: and behold there came out two women, and wind was in their wings, and they had wings like the wings of a kite: and they lifted up the vessel between the earth and the heaven. ¹⁰And I said to the angel that spoke in me: Whither do these carry the vessel? ¹¹And he said to me: That a house may be built for it in the land of Sennaar, and that it may be established, and set there upon its own basis.

Chapter 6

¹And I turned, and lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold four chariots came out from the midst of 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 grisled horses, and strong ones. ⁴And I answered, and said to the angel that spoke in me: What are these, my lord? ⁵And the angel answered, and said to me: These are the four winds of the heaven, which go forth to stand before the Lord of all the earth. ⁶That in which were the black horses went forth into the land of the north, and the white went forth after them: and the grisled went forth to the land of the south. ⁷And they that were most strong, went out, and sought to go, and to run to and fro through all the earth. And he said: Go, walk throughout the earth : and they walked throughout the earth. ⁸And he called me, and spoke to me, saying: Behold they that go forth into the land of the north, have quieted my spirit in the land of the north. ⁹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying : ¹⁰Take of them of the captivity, of Holdai, and of Tobias, and of Idaias; thou shalt come in that day, and shalt go into the house of Josias, the son of Sophonias, who came out of Babylon. ¹¹And thou shalt take gold and silver: and shalt make crowns, and thou shalt set them on the head of Jesus the son of Josedec, the high priest. ¹²And thou shalt speak to him, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: BEHOLD A MAN, THE ORIENT IS HIS NAME: and under him shall he spring up, and shall build a temple to the Lord. ¹³Yea, he shall build a temple to the Lord: 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 Tobias, and Idaias, and to Hem, the son of Sophonias, a memorial in the temple of the Lord. ¹⁵And they that are far off, shall come and shall build in the temple of the Lord: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts sent me to you. But this shall come to pass, if hearing you will hear the voice of the Lord your God.

Chapter 7

¹And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, in the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Casleu. ²When Sarasar, and Rogommelech, and the men that were with him, sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of the Lord: ³To speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Must I weep in the fifth month, or must I sanctify myself as I have now done for many years? ⁴And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying: ⁵Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying: When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for these seventy years: did you keep a fast unto me? ⁶And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? ⁷Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was inhabited, and was wealthy, both itself and the cities round about it, and there were inhabitants towards the south, and in the plain? ⁸And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying: ⁹Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge ye true judgment, and shew ye mercy and compassion every man to his brother. ¹⁰And oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and the stranger, and the poor: and let not a man devise evil in his heart against his brother. ¹¹But they would not hearken, and they turned away the shoulder to depart: and they stopped their ears, not to hear. ¹²And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the hand of the former prophets: so a great indignation came from the Lord of hosts. ¹³And it came to pass that as he spoke, and they heard not: so shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord of hosts. ¹⁴And I dispersed them throughout all kingdoms, which they know not: and the land was left desolate behind them, so that no man passed through or returned: and they changed the delightful land into a wilderness.

Chapter 8

¹And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying: ²Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have been jealous for Sion with a great jealousy, and with a great indignation have I been jealous for her. ³Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am returned to Sion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called The city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, The sanctified mountain. ⁴Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem: and every man with his staff in his hand through multitude of days. ⁵And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls, playing in the streets thereof. ⁶Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If it seem hard in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days: shall it be hard in my eyes, saith the Lord of hosts? ⁷Thus saith the Lord of hosts : Behold I will save my people from the land of the east, and from the land of the going down of the sun. 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 justice. ⁹Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Let your hands be strengthened, you that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, in the day that the house of the Lord of hosts was founded, that the temple might be built. ¹⁰For before those days there was no hire for men, neither was there hire for beasts, neither was there peace to him that came in, nor to him that went out, because of the tribulation: and I let all men go every one against his neighbour. ¹¹But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people according to the former days, saith the Lord of hosts. ¹²But there shall be the seed of peace: the vine shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew: and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. ¹³And it shall come to pass, that as you were a curse among the Gentiles, O house of Juda, and house of Israel: so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing: fear not, let your hands be strengthened. ¹⁴For thus saith the Lord of hosts: As I purposed to afflict you, when your fathers had provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord, ¹⁵And I had no mercy: so turning again I have thought in these days to do good to the house of Juda, and Jerusalem: fear not. ¹⁶These then are the things, which you shall do: Speak ye truth every one to his neighbour: judge ye truth and judgment of peace in your gates. ¹⁷And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his friend: and love not a false oath: for all these are the things that I hate, saith the Lord. ¹⁸And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying: ¹⁹Thus saith the Lord 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 Juda, joy, and gladness, and great solemnities: only love ye truth and peace. ²⁰Thus saith the Lord of hosts, until people come, and dwell in many cities, ²¹And the inhabitants go one to another, saying: Let us go, and entreat the face of the Lord, and let us seek the Lord of hosts: I also will go. ²²And many peoples, and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the face of the Lord. ²³Thus saith the Lord of hosts : In those days, wherein ten men of all languages of the Gentiles shall take hold, and shall hold fast the shirt of one that 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 the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and of Damascus the rest thereof: for the eye of man, and of all the tribes of Israel is the Lord's. ²Emath also in the borders thereof, and Tyre, and Sidon: for they have taken to themselves to be exceeding wise. ³And Tyre hath built herself a strong hold, and heaped together silver as earth, and gold as the mire of the streets. ⁴Behold the Lord shall possess her, and shall strike her strength in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire. ⁵Ascalon shall see, and shall fear, and Gaza, and shall be very sorrowful: and Accaron, because her hope is confounded : and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ascalon shall not be inhabited. ⁶And the divider shall sit in Azotus, and I will destroy the pride of the Philistines. ⁷And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: and even he shall be left to our God, and he shall be as a governor in Juda, and Accaron as a Jebusite. ⁸And I will encompass my house with them that serve me in war, going and returning, and the oppressor shall no more pass through them: for now I have seen with my eyes. ⁹Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: BEHOLD THY KING will come to thee, the just and saviour: he is poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. ¹⁰And I will destroy the chariot out of Ephraim, and the horse out of Jerusalem, and the bow for war shall be broken: and he shall speak peace to the Gentiles, and his power shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers even to the end of the earth. ¹¹Thou also by the blood of thy testament hast sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water. ¹²Return to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope, I will render thee double at, I declare to day. ¹³Because I have bent Juda for me as a bow, I have filled Ephraim: and I will raise up thy sons, O Sion, above thy sons, O Greece, and I will make thee as the sword of the mighty. ¹⁴And the Lord God shall be seen over them, and his dart shall go forth as lightning: and the Lord God will sound the trumpet, and go in the whirlwind of the south. ¹⁵The Lord of hosts will protect them: and they shall devour, and subdue with the stones of the sling: and drinking they shall be inebriated as it were with wine, and they shall be filled as bowls, and as the horns of the altar. ¹⁶And the Lord their God will save them in that day, as the dock of his people: for holy stones shall be lifted up over his land. ¹⁷For what is the good thing of him, and what is his beautiful thing, but the corn of the elect, and wine springing forth virgins?

Chapter 10

¹Ask ye of the Lord rain in the latter season, and the Lord will make snows, and will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. ²For the idols have spoken what was unprofitable, and the diviners have seen a lie, and the dreamers have spoken vanity: they comforted in vain: therefore they were led away as a dock: they shall be afflicted, because they have no shepherd. ³My wrath is kindled against the shepherds, and I will visit upon the buck goats: for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Juda, and hath made them as the horse of his glory in the battle. ⁴Out of him shall come forth the corner, out of him the pin, out of him the bow of battle, out of him every exacter together. ⁵And they shall be as mighty men, treading under foot the mire of the ways in battle: and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them, and the riders of horses shall be confounded. ⁶And I will strengthen the house of Juda, and save the house of Joseph: and I will bring them back again, because I will have mercy on them: and they shall be as they were when I had cast them off, for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them. ⁷And they shall be as the valiant men of Ephraim, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: and their children shall see, and shall rejoice, and their heart shall be joyful in the Lord. ⁸I will whistle for them, and I will gather them together, because I have redeemed them: and I will multiply them as they were multiplied before. ⁹And I will sow them among peoples: and from afar they shall remember me: and they shall live with their children, and shall return. ¹⁰And I will bring them back out of the land of Egypt, and will gather them from among the Assyrians: and will bring them to the land of Galaad, and Libanus, and place shall not be found for them. ¹¹And he shall pass over the strait of the sea, and shall strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the river shall be confounded, and the pride of Assyria shall be humbled, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart. ¹²I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk in his name, saith the Lord.

Chapter 11

¹Open thy gates, Libanus, and let fire devour thy cedars. ²Howl, thou fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, for the mighty are laid waste: howl, ye oaks of Basan, because the fenced forest is cut down. ³The voice of the howling of the shepherds, because their glory is laid waste: the voice of the roaring of the lions, because the pride of the Jordan is spoiled. ⁴Thus saith the Lord my God: Feed the flock of the slaughter, ⁵Which they that possessed, slew, and repented not, and they sold them, saying: Blessed be the Lord, we are become rich: and their shepherds spared them not. ⁶And I will no more spare the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: behold I will deliver the men, every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall destroy the land, and I will not deliver it out of their hand. ⁷And I will feed the hock of slaughter for this, O ye poor of the dock. And I took unto me two rods, one I called Beauty, and the other I called a Cord, and I fed the flock. ⁸And I cut off three shepherds in one month, and my soul was straitened in their regard: for their soul also varied in my regard. ⁹And I said: I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die: and that which is cut off, let it be cut off: and let the rest devour every one the flesh of his neighbour. ¹⁰And I took my rod that was called Beauty, and I cut it asunder to make void my covenant, which I had made with all people. ¹¹And it was made void in that day: and so the poor of the flock that keep for me, understood that it is the word of the Lord. ¹²And I said to them: If it be good in your eyes, bring hither my wages: and if not, be quiet. And they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver. ¹³And the Lord said to me: Cast it to the statuary, a handsome price, that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and I cast them into the house of the Lord to the statuary. ¹⁴And I cut off my second rod that was called a Cord, that I might break the brotherhood between Juda and Israel. ¹⁵And the Lord said to me: Take to thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶For behold I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who shall not visit what is forsaken, nor seek what is scattered, nor heal what is broken, nor nourish that which standeth, and he shall eat the flesh of the fat ones, and break their hoofs. ¹⁷O shepherd, and idol, that forsaketh the flock: the sword upon his arm and upon his right eye: his arm shall quite wither away, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

Chapter 12

¹The burden of the word of the Lord upon Israel. Thus saith the Lord, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundations of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man in him : ²Behold I will make Jerusalem a lintel of surfeiting to all the people round about: and Juda also shall be in the siege against Jerusalem. ³And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all people: all that shall lift it up shall be rent and torn, and all the kingdoms of the earth shall be gathered together against her. ⁴In that day, saith the Lord, I will strike every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open my eyes upon the house of Juda, and will strike every horse of the nations with blindness. ⁵And the governors of Juda shall say in their heart: Let the inhabitants of Jerusalem be strengthened for me in the Lord of hosts, their God. ⁶In that day I will make the governors of Juda like a furnace of fire amongst wood, and as a firebrand amongst hay: and they shall devour all the people round about, to the right hand, and to the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place in Jerusalem. ⁷And the Lord shall save the tabernacles of Juda, as in the beginning: that the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, may not boast and magnify themselves against Juda. ⁸In that day shall the Lord protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that hath offended among them in that day shall be as David: and the house of David, as that of God, as an angel of the Lord in their sight. 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 out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and of prayers: and they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for an only son, and they shall grieve over him, as the manner is to grieve for the death of the firstborn. ¹¹In that day there shall be a great lamentation in Jerusalem like the lamentation of Adadremmon in the plain of Mageddon. ¹²And the land shall mourn: families and families apart: the families of the house of David apart, and their women apart: ¹³The families of the house of Nathan apart, and their women apart: the families of the house of Levi apart, and their women apart: the families of Semei apart, and their women apart. ¹⁴All the rest of the families, families and families apart, and their women apart.

Chapter 13

¹In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for the washing of the sinner, and of the unclean woman. ²And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will destroy the names of idols out of the earth, and they shall be remembered no more: and I will take away the false prophets, and the unclean spirit out of the earth. ³And it shall come to pass, that when any man shall prophesy any more, his father and his mother that brought him into the world, shall say to him: Thou shalt not live: because thou best spoken a lie in the name of the Lord. And his father, and his mother, his parents, shall thrust him through, when he shall prophesy. ⁴And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be confounded, every one by his own vision, when he shall prophesy, neither shall they be clad with a garment of sackcloth, to deceive : ⁵But he shall say: I am no prophet, I am a husbandman: for Adam is my example from my youth. ⁶And they shall say to him: What are these wounds in the midst of thy hands? And he shall say: With these I was wounded in the house of them that loved me. ⁷Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that cleaveth to me, saith the Lord of hosts: strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn my hand to the little ones. ⁸And there shall be in all the earth, saith the Lord, two parts in it shall be scattered, and shall perish: but the third part shall be left therein. ⁹And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined: and I will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say: Thou art my people: and they shall say: The Lord is my God.

Chapter 14

¹Behold the days of the Lord shall come, and thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee. ²And I will gather all nations to Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses shall be rifled, and the women shall be defiled: and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the rest of the people shall not be taken away out of the city. ³Then the Lord shall go forth, and shall 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 over against Jerusalem toward the east: and the mount of Olives shall be divided in the midst thereof to the east, and to the west with a very great opening, and half of the mountain shall be separated to the north, and half thereof to the south. ⁵And you shall flee to the valley of those mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall be joined even to the next, and you shall flee r as you fled from the face of the earthquake in the days of Ozias king of Juda: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with him. ⁶And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall be no light, but cold and frost. ⁷And there shall be one day, which is known to the Lord, not day nor night : and in the time of the evening there shall be light. ⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem: half of them to the east sea, and half of them to the last sea: they shall be in summer and in winter. ⁹And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name shall be one. ¹⁰And all the land shall return even to the desert, from the hill to Remmon to the south of Jerusalem: and she shall be exalted, and shall dwell in her own place, from the gate of Benjamin even to the place of the former gate, and even to the gate of the corners: and from the tower of Hananeel even to the king's winepresses. ¹¹And people shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more an anathema: but Jerusalem shall sit secure. ¹²And this shall be the plague where with the Lord shall strike all nations that have fought against Jerusalem: the flesh of every one shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. ¹³In that day there shall be a great tumult from the Lord among them: and a man shall take the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall be clasped upon his neighbour's hand. ¹⁴And even Juda shall fight against Jerusalem: and the riches of all nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and garments in great abundance. ¹⁵And the destruction of the horse, and of the mule, and of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts, that shall be in those tents, shall be like this destruction. ¹⁶And all they that shall be left of all nations that came against Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year, to adore the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. ¹⁷And it shall come to pass, that he that shall not go up of the families of the land to Jerusalem, to adore the King, the Lord of hosts, there shall be no rain upon them. ¹⁸And if the family of Egypt go not up nor come: neither shall it be upon them, but there shall be destruction wherewith the Lord will strike all nations that will not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles. ¹⁹This shall be the sin of Egypt, and this the sin of all nations, that will not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles. ²⁰In that day that which is upon the bridle of the horse shall be holy to the Lord: and the caldrons in the house of the Lord shall be as the phials before the altar. ²¹And every caldron in Jerusalem and Juda shall be sanctified to the Lord of hosts: and all that sacrifice shall come, and take of them, and shall seethe in them: and the merchant shall be no more in the house of the Lord of hosts in that day.

Malachias

MALACHIAS, whose name signifies THE ANGEL OF THE LORD, was contemporary with NEHEMIAS, and by some is believed to have been the same person as ESDRAS. He was the last of the prophets, in the order of time, and flourished about four hundred years before Christ. He foretells the coming of Christ; the reprobation of the Jews and their sacrifices; and the calling of the Gentiles, who shall offer up to God in every place an acceptable sacrifice.

Chapter 1

¹The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of Malachias. ²I have loved you, saith the Lord: and you have said: Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau brother to Jacob, saith the Lord, and I have loved Jacob, ³But have hated Esau? and I have made his mountains a wilderness, and given his inheritance to the dragons of the desert. ⁴But if Edom shall say: We are destroyed, but we will return and build up what hath been destroyed: thus saith the Lord of hosts: They shall build up, and I will throw down: and they shall be called the borders of wickedness, and the people with whom the Lord is angry for ever. ⁵And your eyes shall see, and you shall say: The Lord be magnified upon the border of Israel. ⁶The son honoureth the father, and the servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts. ⁷To you, O priests, that despise my name, and have said: Wherein have we despised thy name? You offer polluted bread upon my altar, and you say: Wherein have we polluted thee? In that you say: The table of the Lord is contemptible. ⁸If you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? offer it to thy prince, if he will be pleased with it, or if he will regard thy face, saith the Lord of hosts. ⁹And now beseech ye the face of God, that he may have mercy on you, (for by your hand hath this been done,) if by any means he will receive your faces, saith the Lord of hosts. ¹⁰Who is there among you, that will shut the doors, and will kindle the fire on my altar gratis? I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will not receive a gift of your hand. ¹¹For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts. ¹²And you have profaned it in that you say: The table of the Lord is defiled: and that which is laid thereupon is contemptible with the fire that devoureth it. ¹³And you have said: Behold of our labour, and you puffed it away, saith the Lord of hosts, and you brought in of rapine the lame, and the sick, and brought in an offering: shall I accept it at your hands, saith the Lord? ¹⁴Cursed is the deceitful man that hath in his flock a male, and making a vow offereth in sacrifice that which is feeble to the Lord: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the Gentiles.

Chapter 2

¹And now, O ye priests, this commandment is to you. ²If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, saith the Lord of hosts: I will send poverty upon you, and will curse your blessings, yea I will curse them, because you have not laid it to heart. ³Behold, I will cast the shoulder to you, and I will scatter upon your face the dung of your solemnities, and it shall take you away with it. ⁴And you shall know that I sent you this commandment, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. ⁵My covenant was with him of life and peace: and I gave him fear: and he feared me, and he was afraid before my name. ⁶The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace, and in equity, and turned many away from iniquity. ⁷For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts. ⁸But you have departed out of the way, and have caused many to stumble at the law: you have made void the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. ⁹Therefore have I also made you contemptible, and base before all people, as you have not kept my ways, and have accepted persons in the law. ¹⁰Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why then doth every one of us despise his brother, violating the covenant of our fathers? ¹¹Juda hath transgressed, and abomination hath been committed in Israel, and in Jerusalem: for Juda hath profaned the holiness of the Lord, which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange God. ¹²The Lord will cut off the man that hath done this, both the master, and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering to the Lord of hosts. ¹³And this again have you done, you have covered the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and bellowing, so that I have no more a regard to sacrifice, neither do I accept any atonement at your hands. ¹⁴And you have said: For what cause? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee, and the wife of thy youth, whom thou hast despised: yet she was thy partner, and the wife of thy covenant. ¹⁵Did not one make her, and she is the residue of his spirit? And what doth one seek, but the seed of God? Keep then your spirit, and despise not the wife of thy youth. ¹⁶When thou shalt hate her put her away, saith the Lord the God of Israel: but iniquity shall cover his garment, saith the Lord of hosts, keep your spirit, and despise not. ¹⁷You have wearied the Lord with your words, and you said: Wherein have we wearied him? In that you say: Every one that doth evil, is good in the sight of the Lord, and such please him: or surely where is the God of judgment?

Chapter 3

¹Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold he cometh, saith the Lord of hosts. ²And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who shall stand to see him? for he is like a refining fire, and like the fuller's herb: ³And he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold, and as silver, and they shall offer sacrifices to the Lord in justice. ⁴And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as in the days of old, and in the ancient years. ⁵And I will come to you in judgment, and will be a speedy witness against sorcerers, and adulterers, and false swearers, and them that oppress the hireling in his wages; the widows, and the fatherless: and oppress the stranger, and have not feared me, saith the Lord of hosts. ⁶For I am the Lord, and I change not: and you the sons of Jacob are not consumed. ⁷For from the days of your fathers you have departed from my ordinances, and have not kept them: Return to me, and I will return to you, saith the Lord of hosts. And you have said: Wherein shall we return? ⁸Shall a man afflict God? for you afflict me. And you have said: Wherein do we afflict thee? in tithes and in firstfruits. ⁹And you are cursed with want, and you afflict me, even the whole nation of you. ¹⁰Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and try me in this, saith the Lord: if I open not unto you the flood-gates of heaven, and pour you out a blessing even to abundance. ¹¹And I will rebuke for your sakes the devourer, and he shall not spoil the fruit of your land: neither shall the vine in the field be barren, saith the Lord of hosts. ¹²And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightful land, saith the Lord of hosts. ¹³Your words have been unsufferable to me, saith the Lord. ¹⁴And you have said: What have we spoken against thee? You have said: He laboureth in vain that serveth God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked sorrowful before the Lord of hosts? ¹⁵Wherefore now we call the proud people happy, for they that work wickedness are built up, and they have tempted God and are preserved. ¹⁶Then they that feared the Lord spoke every one with his neighbour: and the Lord gave ear, and heard it: and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that fear the Lord, and think on his name. ¹⁷And they shall be my special possession, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day that I do judgment: and I will spare them, as a man spareth his son that serveth him. ¹⁸And you shall return, and shall see the difference between the just and the wicked: and between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.

Chapter 4

¹For behold the day shall come kindled as a furnace: and all the proud, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall set them on fire, saith the Lord of hosts, it shall not leave them root, nor branch. ²But unto you that fear my name, the Sun of justice shall arise, and health in his wings: and you shall go forth, and shall leap like calves of the herd. ³And you shall tread down the wicked when they shall be ashes under the sole of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts. ⁴Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, the precepts, and judgments. ⁵Behold I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. ⁶And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers: lest I come, and strike the earth with anathema.

The Prophecy of Baruch

BARUCH was a man of noble extraction, and learned in the law, secretary and disciple to the prophet JEREMIAS, and a sharer in his labours and persecutions: which is the reason why the ancient fathers have considered this book as a part of the prophecy of JEREMIAS, and have usually quoted it under his name.

Chapter 1

¹And these are the words of the book, which Baruch the son of Nerias, the son of Maasias, the son of Sedecias, the son of Sedei, the son of Helcias, wrote in Babylonia. ²In the fifth year, in the seventh day of the month, at the time that the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, and burnt it with fire. ³And Baruch read the words of this book in the hearing of Jechonias the son of Joakim king of Juda, and in the hearing of all the people that came to hear the book. ⁴And in the hearing of the nobles, the sons of the kings, and in the hearing of the ancients, and in the hearing of the people, from the least even to the greatest of them that dwelt in Babylonia, by the river Sedi. ⁵And when they heard it they wept, and fasted, and prayed before the Lord. ⁶And they made a collection of money, according to every man's power. ⁷And they sent it to Jerusulem to Joakim the priest, the son of Helcias, the son of Salom, and to the priests, and to all the people, that were found with him in Jerusalem: ⁸At the time when he received the vessels of the temple of the Lord, which had been taken away out of the temple, to return them into the land of Juda the tenth day of the month Sivan, the silver vessels, which Sedecias the son of Josias king of Juda had made, ⁹After that Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon had carried away Jechonias, and the princes, and all the powerful men, and the people of the land from Jerusalem, and brought them bound to Babylon. ¹⁰And they said: Behold we have sent you money, buy with it holocausts, and frankincense, and make meat offerings, and offerings for sin at the altar of the Lord our God: ¹¹And pray ye for the life of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and for the life of Balthasar his son, that their days may be upon earth as the days of heaven: ¹²And that the Lord may give us strength, and enlighten our eyes, that we may live under the shadow of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and under the shadow of Balthasar his son, and may serve them many days, and may find favour in their sight. ¹³And pray ye for us to the Lord our God: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, and his wrath is not turned away from us even to this day. ¹⁴And read ye this book, which we have sent to you to be read in the temple of the Lord, on feasts, and proper days. ¹⁵And you shall say: To the Lord our God belongeth justice, but to us confusion of our face: as it is come to pass at this day to all Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ¹⁶To our kings, and to our princes, and to our priests, and to our prophets, and to our fathers. ¹⁷We have sinned before the Lord our God, and have not believed him, nor put our trust in him: ¹⁸And we were not obedient to him, and we have not harkened to the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his commandments, which he hath given us. ¹⁹From the day that he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, we were disobedient to the Lord our God: and going astray we turned away from hearing his voice. ²⁰And many evils have cleaved to us, and the curses which the Lord foretold by Moses his servant: who brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give us a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. ²¹And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God according to all the words of the prophets whom he sent to us: ²²And we have gone away every man after the inclinations of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and to do evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

Chapter 1

¹Wherefore the Lord our God hath made good his word, that he spoke to us, and to our judges that have judged Israel, and to our kings, and to our princes, and to all Israel and Juda: ²That the Lord would bring upon us great evils, such as never happened under heaven, as they have come to pass in Jerusalem, according to the things that are written in the law of Moses: ³That a man should eat the flesh of his own son, and the flesh of his own daughter. ⁴And he hath delivered them up to be under the hand of all the kings that are round about us, to be a reproach, and desolation among all the people, among whom the Lord hath scattered us. ⁵And we are brought under, and are not uppermost: because we have sinned against the Lord our God, by not obeying his voice. ⁶To the Lord our God belongeth justice: but to us, and to our fathers confusion of face, as at this day. ⁷For the Lord hath pronounced against us all these evils that are come upon us: ⁸And we have not entreated the face of the Lord our God, that we might return every one of us from our most wicked ways. ⁹And the Lord hath watched over us for evil, and hath brought it upon us: for the Lord is just in all his works which he hath commanded us: ¹⁰And we have not hearkened to his voice to walk in the commandments of the Lord which he hath set before us. ¹¹And now, O Lord God of Israel, who hast brought thy people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and with signs, and with wonders, and with thy great power, and with a mighty arm, and hast made thee a name as at this day, ¹²We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have acted unjustly, O Lord our God, against all thy justices. ¹³Let thy wrath be turned away from us: for we are left a few among the nations where thou hast scattered us. ¹⁴Hear, O Lord, our prayers, and our petitions, and deliver us for thy own sake: and grant that we may find favour in the sight of them that have led us away: ¹⁵That all the earth may know that thou art the Lord our God, and that thy name is called upon Israel, and upon his posterity. ¹⁶Look down upon us, O Lord, from thy holy house, and incline thy ear, and hear us. ¹⁷Open thy eyes, and behold: for the dead that are in hell, whose spirit is taken away from their bowels, shall not give glory and justice to the Lord: ¹⁸But the soul that is sorrowful for the greatness of evil she hath done, and goeth bowed down, and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul giveth glory and justice to thee the Lord. ¹⁹For it is not for the justices of our fathers that we pour out our prayers, and beg mercy in thy sight, O Lord our God: ²⁰But because thou hast sent out thy wrath, and thy indignation upon us, as thou hast spoken by the hand of thy servants the prophets, saying: ²¹Thus saith the Lord: Bow down your shoulder, and your neck, and serve the king of Babylon: and you shall remain in the land which I have given to your fathers. ²²But if you will not hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, to serve the king of Babylon: I will cause you to depart out of the cities of Juda, and from without Jerusalem. ²³And I will take away from you the voice of mirth, and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, and all the land shall be without any footstep of inhabitants. ²⁴And they hearkened not to thy voice, to serve the king of Babylon: and thou hast made good thy words, which thou spokest by the hands of thy servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings, and the bones of our fathers should be removed out of their place: ²⁵And behold they are cast out to the heat of the sun, and to the frost of the night: and they have died in grievous pains, by famine, and by the sword, and in banishment. ²⁶And thou hast made the temple, in which thy name was called upon, as it is at this day, for the iniquity of the house of Israel, and the house of Juda. ²⁷And thou hast dealt with us, O Lord our God, according to all thy goodness, and according to all that great mercy of thine: ²⁸As thou spokest by the hand of thy servant Moses, in the day when thou didst command him to write thy law before the children of Israel, ²⁹Saying: If you will not hear my voice, this great multitude shall be turned into a very small number among the nations, where I will scatter them: ³⁰For I know that the people will not hear me, for they are a people of a stiff neck: but they shall turn to their heart in the land of their captivity: ³¹And they shall know that I am the Lord their God: and I will give them a heart, and they shall understand: and ears, and they shall hear. ³²And they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and shall be mindful of my name. ³³And they shall turn away themselves from their stiff neck, and from their wicked deeds: for they shall remember the way of their fathers, that sinned against me. ³⁴And I will bring them back again into the land which I promised with an oath to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they shall be masters thereof: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be diminished. ³⁵And I will make with them another covenant that shall be everlasting, to be their God, and they shall be my people: and I will no more remove my people, the children of Israel, out of the land that I have given them.

Chapter 3

¹And now, O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, the soul in anguish, and the troubled spirit crieth to thee: ²Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for thou art a merciful God, and have pity on us: for we have sinned before thee. ³For thou remainest for ever, and shall we perish everlastingly? ⁴O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, hear now the prayer of the dead of Israel, and of their children, that have sinned before thee, and have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, wherefore evils have cleaved fast to us. ⁵Remember not the iniquities of our fathers, but think upon thy hand, and upon thy name at this time: ⁶For thou art the Lord our God, and we will praise thee, O Lord: ⁷Because for this end thou hast put thy fear in our hearts, to the intent that we should call upon thy name, and praise thee in our captivity, for we are converted from the iniquity of our fathers, who sinned before thee. ⁸And behold we are at this day in our captivity, whereby thou hast scattered us to be a reproach, and a curse, and an offence, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, who departed from thee, O Lord our God. ⁹Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: give ear, that thou mayst learn wisdom. ¹⁰How happeneth it, O Israel, that thou art in thy enemies' land? ¹¹Thou art grown old in a strange country, thou art defiled with the dead: thou art counted with them that go down into hell. ¹²Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom : ¹³For if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou hadst surely dwelt in peace for ever. ¹⁴Learn where is wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding: that thou mayst know also where is length of days and life, where is the light of the eyes, and peace. ¹⁵Who hath found out her place? and who hath gone in to her treasures? ¹⁶Where are the princes of the nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the earth? ¹⁷That take their diversion with the birds of the air. ¹⁸That hoard up silver and gold, wherein men trust, and there is no end of their getting? who work in silver and are solicitous, and their works are unsearchable. ¹⁹They are cut off, and are gone down to hell, and others are risen up in their place. ²⁰Young men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the earth: but the way of knowledge they have not known, ²¹Nor have they understood the paths thereof, neither have their children received it, it is far from their face. ²²It hath not been heard of in the land of Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman. ²³The children of Agar also, that search after the wisdom that is of the earth, the merchants of Merrha, and of Theman, and the tellers of fables, and searchers of prudence and understanding: but the way of wisdom they have not known, neither have they remembered her paths. ²⁴O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of his possession! ²⁵It is great, and hath no end: it is high and immense. ²⁶There were the giants, those renowned men that were from the beginning, of great stature, expert in war. ²⁷The Lord chose not them, neither did they find the way of knowledge: therefore did they perish. ²⁸And because they had not wisdom, they perished through their folly. ²⁹Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds? ³⁰Who hath passed over the sea, and found her, and brought her preferably to chosen gold? ³¹There is none that is able to know her ways, nor that can search out her paths : ³²But he that knoweth all things, knoweth her, and hath found her out with his understanding: he that prepared the earth for evermore, and filled it with cattle and fourfooted beasts: ³³He that sendeth forth light, and it goeth: and hath called it, and it obeyeth him with trembling. ³⁴And the stars have given light in their watches, and rejoiced: ³⁵They were called, and they said: Here we are: and with cheerfuIness they have shined forth to him that made them. ³⁶This is our God, and there shall no other be accounted of in comparison of him. ³⁷He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved. ³⁸Afterwards he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men.

Chapter 4

¹This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law, that is for ever: all they that keep it, shall come to life: but they that have forsaken it, to death. ²Return, O Jacob, and take hold of it, walk in the way by its brightness, in the presence of the light thereof. ³Give not thy honour to another, nor thy dignity to a strange nation. ⁴We are happy, O Israel: because the things that are pleasing to God, are made known to us. ⁵Be of good comfort, O people of God, the memorial of Israel: ⁶You have been sold to the Gentiles, not for your destruction: but because you provoked God to wrath, you are delivered to your adversaries. ⁷For you have provoked him who made you, the eternal God, offering sacrifice to devils, and not to God. ⁸For you have forgotten God, who brought you up, and you have grieved Jerusalem that nursed you. ⁹For she saw the wrath of God coming upon you, and she said: Give ear, all you that dwell near Sion, for God hath brought upon me great mourning: ¹⁰For I have seen the captivity of my people, of my sons, and my daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them. ¹¹For I nourished them with joy: but I sent them away with weeping and mourning. ¹²Let no man rejoice over me, a widow, and desolate: I am forsaken of many for the sins of my children, because they departed from the law of God. ¹³And they have not known his justices, nor walked by the ways of God's commandments, neither have they entered by the paths of his truth and justice. ¹⁴Let them that dwell about Sion come, and remember the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them. ¹⁵For he hath brought a nation upon them from afar, a wicked nation, and of a strange tongue: ¹⁶Who have neither reverenced the ancient, nor pitied children, and have carried away the beloved of the widow, and have left me all alone without children. ¹⁷But as for me, what help can I give you? ¹⁸But he that hath brought the evils upon you, he will deliver you out of the hands of your enemies. ¹⁹Go your way, my children, go your way: for I am left alone. ²⁰I have put off the robe of peace, and have put upon me the sackcloth of supplication, and I will cry to the most High in my days. ²¹Be of good comfort, my children, cry to the Lord, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the princes your enemies. ²²For my hope is in the Eternal that he will save you: and joy is come upon me from the Holy One, because of the mercy which shall come to you from our everlasting Saviour. ²³For I sent you forth with mourning and weeping: but the Lord will bring you back to me with joy and gladness for ever. ²⁴For as the neighbours of Sion have now seen your captivity from God: so shall they also shortly see your salvation from God, which shall come upon you with great honour, and everlasting glory. ²⁵My children, suffer patiently the wrath that is come upon you: for thy enemy hath persecuted thee, but thou shalt quickly see his destruction: and thou shalt get up upon his neck. ²⁶My delicate ones have walked rough ways, for they were taken away as a flock made a prey by the enemies. ²⁷Be of good comfort, my children, and cry to the Lord: for you shall be remembered by him that hath led you away. ²⁸For as it was your mind to go astray from God; so when you return again you shall seek him ten times as much. ²⁹For he that hath brought evils upon you, shall bring you everlasting joy again with your salvation. ³⁰Be of good heart, O Jerusalem: for he exhorteth thee, that named thee. ³¹The wicked that have afflicted thee, shall perish: and they that have rejoiced at thy ruin, shall be punished. ³²The cities which thy children have served, shall be punished: and she that received thy sons. ³³For as she rejoiced at thy ruin, and was glad of thy fall: so shall she be grieved for her own desolation. ³⁴And the joy of her multitude shall be cut off: and her gladness shall be turned to mourning. ³⁵For fire shall come upon her from the Eternal, long to endure, and she shall be inhabited by devils for a great time. ³⁶Look about thee, O Jerusalem, towards the east, and behold the joy that cometh to thee from God. ³⁷For behold thy children come, whom thou sentest away scattered, they come gathered together from the east even to the west, at the word of the Holy One rejoicing for the honour of God.

Chapter 5

¹Put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of thy mourning, and affliction: and put on the beauty, and honour of that everlasting glory which thou hast from God. ²God will clothe thee with the double garment of justice, and will set a crown on thy head of everlasting honour. ³For God will shew his brightness in thee, to every one under heaven. ⁴For thy name shall be named to thee by God for ever: the peace of justice, and honour of piety. ⁵Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high: and look about towards the east, and behold thy children gathered together from the rising to the setting sun, by the word of the Holy One rejoicing in the remembrance of God. ⁶For they went out from thee on foot, led by the enemies: but the Lord will bring them to thee exalted with honour as children of the kingdom. ⁷For God hath appointed to bring down every high mountain, and the everlasting rocks, and to fill up the valleys to make them even with the ground: that Israel may walk diligently to the honour of God. ⁸Moreover the woods, and every sweet-smelling tree have overshadowed Israel by the commandment of God. ⁹For God will bring Israel with joy in the light of his majesty, with mercy, and justice, that cometh from him.

Chapter 6

¹For the sins that you have committed before God, you shall be carried away captives into Babylon by Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon. ²And when you are come into Babylon, you shall be there many years, and for a long time, even to seven generations: and after that I will bring you away from thence with peace. ³But now, you shall see in Babylon gods of gold, and of silver, and of stone, and of wood borne upon shoulders, causing fear to the Gentiles. ⁴Beware therefore that you imitate not the doings of others, and be afraid, and the fear of them should seize upon you. ⁵But when you see the multitude behind, and before, adoring them, say you in your hearts: Thou oughtest to be adored, O Lord. ⁶For my angel is with you: And I myself will demand an account of your souls. ⁷For their tongue that is polished by the craftsman, and themselves laid over with gold and silver, are false things, and they cannot speak. ⁸And as if it were for a maiden that loveth to go gay: so do they take gold and make them up. ⁹Their gods have golden crowns upon their heads: whereof the priests secretly convey away from them gold, and silver, and bestow it on themselves. ¹⁰Yea and they give thereof to prostitutes, and they dress out harlots: and again when they receive it of the harlots, they adorn their gods. ¹¹And these gods cannot defend themselves from the rust, and the moth. ¹²But when they have covered them with a purple garment, they wipe their face because of the dust of the house, which is very much among them. ¹³This holdeth a sceptre as a man, as a judge of the country, but cannot put to death one that offendeth him. ¹⁴And this hath in his hand a sword, or an axe, but cannot save himself from war, or from robbers, whereby be it known to you, that they are not gods. ¹⁵Therefore fear them not. For as a vessel that a man uses when it is broken becometh useless, even so are their gods: ¹⁶When they are placed in the house, their eyes are full of dust by the feet of them that go in. ¹⁷And as the gates are made sure on every side upon one that hath offended the king, or like a dead man carried to the grave, so do the priests secure the doors with bars and locks, lest they be stripped by thieves. ¹⁸They light candles to them, and in great number, of which they cannot see one: but they are like beams in the house. ¹⁹And they say that the creeping things which are of the earth, gnaw their hearts, while they eat them and their garments, and they feel it not. ²⁰Their faces are black with the smoke that is made in the house. ²¹Owls, and swallows, and other birds fly upon their bodies, and upon their heads, and cats in like manner. ²²Whereby you may know that they are no gods. Therefore fear them not. ²³The gold also which they have, is for shew, but except a man wipe off the rust, they will not shine: for neither when they were molten, did they feel it. ²⁴Men buy them at a high price, whereas there is no breath in them. ²⁵And having not the use of feet they are carried upon shoulders, declaring to men how vile they are. Be they confounded also that worship them. ²⁶Therefore if they fall to the ground, they rise not up again of themselves, nor if a man set them upright, will they stand by themselves, but their gifts shall be set before them, as to the dead. ²⁷The things that are sacrificed to them, their priests sell and abuse: in like manner also their wives take part of them, but give nothing of it either to the sick, or to the poor. ²⁸The childbearing and menstruous women touch their sacrifices: knowing therefore by these things that they are not gods, fear them not. ²⁹For how can they be called gods? because women set offerings before the gods of silver, and of gold, and of wood: ³⁰And priests sit in their temples, having their garments rent, and their heads and beards shaven, and nothing upon their heads. ³¹And they roar and cry before their gods, as men do at the feast when one is dead. ³²The priests take away their garments, and clothe their wives and their children. ³³And whether it be evil that one doth unto them, or good, they are not able to recompense it: neither can they set up a king nor put him down: ³⁴In like manner they can neither give riches, nor requite evil. If a man make a vow to them, and perform it not, they cannot require it. ³⁵They cannot deliver a man from death nor save the weak from the mighty. ³⁶They cannot restore the blind man to his sight: nor deliver a man from distress. ³⁷They shall not pity the widow, nor do good to the fatherless. ³⁸Their gods, of wood, and of stone, and of gold, and of silver, are like the stones that are hewn out of the mountains: and they that worship them shall be confounded. ³⁹How then is it to be supposed, or to be said, that they are gods? ⁴⁰Even the Chaldeans themselves dishonour them: who when they hear of one dumb that cannot speak, they present him to Bel, entreating him, that he may speak, ⁴¹As though they could be sensible that have no motion themselves: and they, when they shall perceive this, will leave them: for their gods themselves have no sense. ⁴²The women also with cords about them, sit in the ways, burning olive stones. ⁴³And when any one of them, drawn away by some passenger, lieth with him, she upbraideth her neighbour, that she was not thought as worthy as herself, nor her cord broken. ⁴⁴But all things that are done about them, are false: how is it then to be thought, or to be said, that they are gods? ⁴⁵And they are made by workmen, and by goldsmiths. They shall be nothing else but what the priests will have them to be. ⁴⁶For the artificers themselves that make them, are of no long continuance. Can those things then that are made by them be gods? ⁴⁷But they have left false things and reproach to them that come after. ⁴⁸For when war cometh upon them, or evils, the priests consult with themselves where they may hide themselves with them. ⁴⁹How then can they be thought to be gods, that can neither deliver themselves from war, nor save themselves from evils? ⁵⁰For seeing they are but of wood, and laid over with gold, and with silver, it shall be known hereafter that they are false things, by all nations and kings: and it shall be manifest that they are no gods, but the work of men's hands, and that there is no work of God in them. ⁵¹Whence therefore is it known that they are not gods, but the work of men's hands, and no work of God is in them? ⁵²They cannot set up a king over the land, nor give rain to men. ⁵³They determine no causes, nor deliver countries from oppression; because they can do nothing, and are as daws between heaven and earth. ⁵⁴For when fire shall fall upon the house of these gods of wood, and of silver, and of gold, their priests indeed will flee away, and be saved: but they themselves shall be burnt in the midst like beams. ⁵⁵And they cannot withstand a king and war. How then can it be supposed, or admitted that they are gods? ⁵⁶Neither are these gods of wood, and of stone, and laid over with gold, and with silver, able to deliver themselves from thieves or robbers: they that are stronger than them ⁵⁷Shall take from them the gold, and silver, and the raiment wherewith they are clothed, and shall go their way, neither shall they help themselves. ⁵⁸Therefore it is better to be a king that sheweth his power: or else a profitable vessel in the house, with which the owner thereof will be well satisfied: or a door in the house, to keep things safe that are therein, than such false gods. ⁵⁹The sun, and the moon, and the stars being bright, and sent forth for profitable uses, are obedient. ⁶⁰In like manner the lightning, when it breaketh forth, is easy to be seen: and after the same manner the wind bloweth in every country. ⁶¹And the clouds when God commandeth them to go over the whole world, do that which is commanded them. ⁶²The fire also being sent from above to consume mountains and woods, doth as it is commanded. But these neither in shew, nor in power are like to any one of them. ⁶³Wherefore it is neither to be thought, nor to be said, that they are gods: since they are neither able to judge causes, nor to do any good to men. ⁶⁴Knowing therefore that they are not gods, fear them not. ⁶⁵For neither can they curse kings, nor bless them. ⁶⁶Neither do they shew signs in the heaven to the nations, nor shine as the sun, nor give light as the moon. ⁶⁷Beasts are better than they, which can fly under a covert, and help themselves. ⁶⁸Therefore there is no manner of appearance that they are gods: so fear them not. ⁶⁹For as a scarecrow in a garden of cucumbers keepeth nothing, so are their gods of wood, and of silver, and laid over with gold. ⁷⁰They are no better than a white thorn in a garden, upon which every bird sitteth. In like manner also their gods of wood, and laid over with gold, and with silver, are like to a dead body cast forth in the dark. ⁷¹By the purple also and the scarlet which are motheaten upon them, you shall know that they are not gods. And they themselves at last are consumed, and shall be a reproach in the country. ⁷²Better therefore is the just man that hath no idols: for he shall be far from reproach.

Ecclesiasticus

This Book is so called from a Greek word that signifies a preacher: because, like an excellent preacher, it gives admirable lessons of all virtues. The author was Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem, who flourished about two hundred years before Christ. As it was written after the time of Esdras, it is not in the Jewish canon; but is received as canonical and divine by the Catholic Church, instructed by apostolical tradition, and directed by the spirit of God. It was first written in the Hebrew, but afterwards translated into Greek, by another Jesus, the grandson of the author, whose prologue to this book is the following:

The Prologue

¹The knowledge of many and great things hath been shewn us by the law, and the prophets, and others that have followed them: for which things Israel is to be commended for doctrine and wisdom, because not only they that speak must needs be skilful, but strangers also, both speaking and writing, may by their means become most learned. ²My grandfather Jesus, after he had much given himself to a diligent reading of the law, and the prophets, and other books, that were delivered to us from our fathers, had a mind also to write something himself, pertaining to doctrine and wisdom: that such as are desirous to learn, and are made knowing in these things, may be more and more attentive in mind, and be strengthened to live according to the law. ³I entreat you therefore to come with benevolence, and to read with attention, and to pardon us for those things wherein we may seem, while we follow the image of wisdom, to come short in the composition of words; for the Hebrew words have not the same force in them when translated into another tongue. And not only these, but the law also itself, and the prophets, and the rest of the books, have no small difference, when they are spoken in their own language. ⁴For in the eight and thirtieth year coming into Egypt, when Ptolemy Evergetes was king, and continuing there a long time, I found there books left, of no small nor contemptible learning. ⁵Therefore I thought it good, and necessary for me to bestow some diligence and labour to interpret this book; and with much watching and study in some space of time, I brought the book to an end, and set it forth for the service of them that are willing to apply their mind, and to learn how they ought to conduct themselves, who purpose to lead their life according to the law of the Lord.

Chapter 1

¹All wisdom is from the Lord God, and hath been always with him, and is before all time. ²Who hath numbered the sand of the sea, and the drops of rain, and the days of the world? Who hath measured the height of heaven, and the breadth of the earth, and the depth of the abyss? ³Who hath searched out the wisdom of God that goeth before all things? ⁴Wisdom hath been created before all things, and the understanding of prudence from everlasting. ⁵The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom, and her ways are everlasting commandments. ⁶To whom hath the root of wisdom been revealed, and who hath known her wise counsels? ⁷To whom hath the discipline of wisdom been revealed and made manifest? and who hath understood the multiplicity of her steps? ⁸There is one most high Creator Almighty, and a powerful king, and greatly to be feared, who sitteth upon his throne, and is the God of dominion. ⁹He created her in the Holy Ghost, and saw her, and numbered her, and measured her. ¹⁰And he poured her out upon all his works, and upon all flesh according to his gift, and hath given her to them that love him. ¹¹The fear of the Lord is honour, and glory, and gladness, and a crown of joy. ¹²The fear of the Lord shall delight the heart, and shall give joy, and gladness, and length of days. ¹³With him that feareth the Lord, it shall go well in the latter end, and in the day of his death he shall be blessed. ¹⁴The love of God is honourable wisdom. ¹⁵Ana they to whom she shall shew herself love her by the sight, and by the knowledge of her great works. ¹⁶The fear of the Lord Is the beginning of wisdom, and was created with the faithful in the womb, it walketh with chosen women, and is known with the just and faithful. ¹⁷The fear of the Lord is the religiousness of knowledge. ¹⁸Religiousness shall keep and justify the heart, it shall give joy and gladness. ¹⁹It shall go well with him that feareth the Lord, and in the days of his end he shall be blessed. ²⁰To fear God is the fulness of wisdom, and fulness is from the fruits thereof. ²¹She shall fill all her house with her increase, and the storehouses with her treasures. ²²The fear of the Lord is a crown of wisdom, filling up peace and the fruit of salvation: ²³And it hath seen, and numbered her: but both are the gifts of God. ²⁴Wisdom shall distribute knowledge, and understanding of prudence: and exalteth the glory of them that hold her. ²⁵The root of wisdom is to fear the Lord: and the branches thereof are longlived. ²⁶In the treasures of wisdom is understanding, and religiousness of knowledge: but to sinners wisdom is an abomination. ²⁷The fear of the Lord driveth out sin: ²⁸For he that is without fear, cannot be justified: for the wrath of his high spirits is his ruin. ²⁹A patient man shall bear for a time, and afterwards joy shall be restored to him. ³⁰A good understanding will hide his words for a time, and the lips of many shall declare his wisdom. ³¹In the treasures of wisdom is the signification of discipline: ³²But the worship of God is an abomination to a sinner. ³³Son, if thou desire wisdom, keep justice, and God will give her to thee. ³⁴For the fear of the Lord is wisdom and discipline: and that which is agreeable to him, ³⁵Is faith, and meekness: and he will fill up his treasures. ³⁶Be not incredulous to the fear of the Lord: and come not to him with a double heart. ³⁷Be not a hypocrite in the sight of men, and let not thy lips be a stumblingblock to thee. ³⁸Watch over them, lest thou fall, and bring dishonour upon thy soul, ³⁹And God discover thy secrets, and cast thee down in the midst of the congregation. ⁴⁰Because thou camest to the Lord wickedly, and thy heart is full of guile and deceit.

Chapter 2

¹Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation. ²Humble thy heart, and endure: incline thy ear, and receive the words of understanding: and make not haste in the time of clouds. ³Wait on God with patience: join thyself to God, and endure, that thy life may be increased in the latter end. ⁴Take all that shall be brought upon thee: and in thy sorrow endure, and in thy humiliation keep patience. ⁵For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation. ⁶Believe God, and he will recover thee: and direct thy way, and trust in him. Keep his fear, and grow old therein. ⁷Ye that fear the Lord, wait for his mercy: and go not aside from him, lest ye fall. ⁸Ye that fear the Lord, believe him: and your reward shall not be made void. ⁹Ye that fear the Lord, hope in him: and mercy shall come to you for your delight. ¹⁰Ye that fear the Lord, love him, and your hearts shall be enlightened. ¹¹My children behold the generations of men: and know ye that no one hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded. ¹²For who hath continued in his commandment, and hath been forsaken? or who hath called upon him, and he despised him? ¹³For God is compassionate and merciful, and will forgive sins in the day of tribulation: and he is a protector to all that seek him in truth. ¹⁴Woe to them that are of a double heart and to wicked lips, and to the hands that do evil, and to the sinner that goeth on the earth two ways. ¹⁵Woe to them that are fainthearted, who believe not God: and therefore they shall not be protected by him. ¹⁶Woe to them that have lost patience, and that have forsaken the right ways, and have gone aside into crooked ways. ¹⁷And what will they do, when the Lord shall begin to examine? ¹⁸They that fear the Lord, will not be incredulous to his word: and they that love him, will keep his way. ¹⁹They that fear the Lord, will seek after the things that are well pleasing to him: and they that love him, shall be filled with his law. ²⁰They that fear the Lord, will prepare their hearts, and in his sight will sanctify their souls. ²¹They that fear the Lord, keep his Commandments, and will have patience even until his visitation, ²²Saying: If we do not penance, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men. ²³For according to his greatness, so also is his mercy with him.

Chapter 3

¹The sons of wisdom are the church of the just: and their generation, obedience and love. ²Children, hear the judgment of your father, and so do that you may be saved. ³For God hath made the father honourable to the children: and seeking the judgment of the mothers, hath confirmed it upon the children. ⁴He that loveth God, shall obtain pardon for his sine by prayer, and shall refrain himself from them, and shall be heard in the prayer of days. ⁵And he that honoureth his mother is as one that layeth up a treasure. ⁶He that honoureth his father shall have joy in his own children, and in the day of his prayer he shall be heard. ⁷He that honoureth his father shall enjoy a long life: and he that obeyeth the father, shall be a comfort to his mother. ⁸He that feareth the Lord, honoureth his parents, and will serve them as his masters that brought him into the world. ⁹Honour thy father, in work and word, and all patience, ¹⁰That a blessing may come upon thee from him, and his blessing may remain in the latter end. ¹¹The father's blessing establisheth the houses of the children: but the mother's curse rooteth up the foundation. ¹²Glory not in the dishonour of thy father: for his shame is no glory to thee. ¹³For the glory of a man is from the honour of his father, and a father without honour is the disgrace of the son. ¹⁴Son, support the old age of thy father, and grieve him not in his life; ¹⁵And if his understanding fail, have patience with him, and despise him not when thou art in thy strength: for the relieving of the father shall not be forgotten. ¹⁶For good shall be repaid to thee for the sin of thy mother. ¹⁷And in justice thou shalt be built up, and in the day of affliction thou shalt be remembered: and thy sine shall melt away as the ice in the fair warm weather. ¹⁸Of what an evil fame is he that forsaketh his father: and he is cursed of God that angereth his mother. ¹⁹My son, do thy works in meekness, and thou shalt be beloved above the glory of men. ²⁰The greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things, and thou shalt find grace before God: ²¹For great is the power of God alone, and he is honoured by the humble. ²²Seek not the things that are too high for thee, and search not into things above thy ability: but the things that God hath commanded thee, think on them always, and in many of his works be not curious. ²³For it is not necessary for thee to see with thy eyes those things that are hid. ²⁴In unnecessary matters be not over curious, and in many of his works thou shalt not be inquisitive. ²⁵For many things are shewn to thee above the understanding of men. ²⁶And the suspicion of them hath deceived many, and hath detained their minds in vanity. ²⁷A hard heart shall fear evil at the last: and he that loveth danger shall perish in it. ²⁸A heart that goeth two ways shall not have success, and the perverse of heart shall be scandalized therein. ²⁹A wicked heart shall be laden with sorrows, and the sinner will add sin to sin. ³⁰The congregation of the proud shall not be healed: for the plant of wickedness shall take root in them, and it shall not be perceived. ³¹The heart of the wise is understood in wisdom, and a good ear will hear wisdom with all desire. ³²A wise heart, and which hath understanding, will abstain from sine, and in the works of justice shall have success. ³³Water quencheth a flaming fire, and alms resisteth sins: ³⁴And God provideth for him that sheweth favour: he remembereth him afterwards, and in the time of his fall he shall find a sure stay.

Chapter 4

¹Son, defraud not the poor of alms, and turn not away thy eyes from the poor. ²Despise not the hungry soul: and provoke not the Boor in his want. ³Afflict not the heart of the needy, and defer not to give to him that is in distress. ⁴Reject not the petition of the afflicted: and turn not away thy face from the needy. ⁵Turn not away thy eyes from the poor for fear of anger: and leave not to them that ask of thee to curse thee behind thy back. ⁶For the prayer of him that curseth thee in the bitterness of his soul, shall be heard, for he that made him will hear him. ⁷Make thyself affable to the congregation of the poor, and humble thy soul to the ancient, and bow thy head to a great man. ⁸Bow down thy ear cheerfully to the poor, and pay what thou owest, and answer him peaceable words with mildness. ⁹Deliver him that suffereth wrong out of the hand of the proud: and be not fainthearted in thy soul. ¹⁰In judging be merciful to the fatherless as a father, and as a husband to their mother. ¹¹And thou shalt be as the obedient son of the most High, and he will have mercy on thee more than a mother. ¹²Wisdom inspireth life into her children, and protecteth them that seek after her, and will go before them in the way of justice. ¹³And he that loveth her, loveth life: and they that watch for her, shall embrace her sweetness. ¹⁴They that hold her fast, shall inherit life: and whithersoever she entereth, God will give a blessing. ¹⁵They that serve her, shall be servants to the holy one: and God loveth them that love her. ¹⁶He that hearkeneth to her, shall judge nations: and he that looketh upon her, shall remain secure. ¹⁷If he trust to her, he shall inherit her, and his generation shall be in assurance. ¹⁸For she walketh with him in temptation, and at the first she chooseth him. ¹⁹She will bring upon him fear and dread and trial: and she will scourge him with the affliction of her discipline, till she try him by her laws, and trust his soul. ²⁰Then she will strengthen him, and make a straight way to him, and give him joy, ²¹And will disclose her secrets to him, and will heap upon him treasures of knowledge and understanding of justice. ²²But if he go astray, she will forsake him, and deliver him into the hands of his enemy. ²³Son, observe the time, and fly from evil. ²⁴For thy soul be not ashamed to say the truth. ²⁵For there is a shame that bringeth sin, and there is a shame that bringeth glory and grace. ²⁶Accept no person against thy own person, nor against thy soul a lie. ²⁷Reverence not thy neighbour in his fall: ²⁸And refrain not to speak in the time of salvation. Hide not thy wisdom in her beauty. ²⁹For by the tongue wisdom is discerned: and understanding, and knowledge, and learning by the word of the wise, and steadfastness in the works of justice. ³⁰In nowise speak against the truth, but be ashamed of the lie of thy ignorance. ³¹Be not ashamed to confess thy sins, but submit not thyself to every man for sin. ³²Resist not against the face of the mighty, and do not strive against the stream of the river. ³³Strive for justice for thy soul, and even unto death fight for justice, and God will overthrow thy enemies for thee. ³⁴Be not hasty in thy tongue: and slack and remiss in thy works. ³⁵Be not as a lion in thy house, terrifying them of thy household, and oppressing them that are under thee. ³⁶Let not thy hand be stretched out to receive, and shut when thou shouldst give.

Chapter 5

¹Set not thy heart upon unjust possessions, and say not: I have enough to live on: for it shall be of no service in the time of vengeance and darkness. ²Follow not in thy strength the desires of thy heart: ³And say not: How mighty am I? and who shall bring me under for my deeds? for God will surely take revenge. ⁴Say not: I have sinned, and whet harm hath befallen me? for the most High is a patient rewarder. ⁵Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin: ⁶And say not: The mercy of the Lord is great, he will have mercy on the multitude of my sins. ⁷For mercy and wrath quickly come from him, and his wrath looketh upon sinners. ⁸Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. ⁹For his wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance he will destroy thee. ¹⁰Be not anxious for goods unjustly gotten: for they shall not profit thee in the day of calamity and revenge. ¹¹Winnow not with every wind, and go not into every way: for so is every sinner proved by a double tongue. ¹²Be steadfast in the way of the Lord, and in the truth of thy judgment, and in knowledge, and let the word of peace and justice keep with thee. ¹³Be meek to hear the word, that thou mayst understand: and return a true answer with wisdom. ¹⁴If thou have understanding, answer thy neighbour: but if not, let thy hand be upon thy mouth, lest thou be surprised in an unskilful word, and be confounded. ¹⁵Honour and glory is in the word of the wise, but the tongue of the fool is his ruin. ¹⁶Be not called a whisperer, and be not taken in thy tongue, and confounded. ¹⁷For confusion and repentance is upon a thief, and an evil mark of disgrace upon the double tongued, but to the whisperer hatred, and enmity, and reproach. ¹⁸Justify alike the small and the great.

Chapter 6

¹Instead of a friend become not an enemy to thy neighbour: for an evil man shall inherit reproach and shame, so shall every sinner that is envious and double tongued. ²Extol not thyself in the thoughts of thy soul like a bull: lest thy strength be quashed by folly, ³And it eat up thy leaves, and destroy thy fruit: and thou be left as a dry tree in the wilderness. ⁴For a wicked soul shall destroy him that hath it, and maketh him to be a joy to his enemies, and shall lead him into the lot of the wicked. ⁵A sweet word multiplieth friends, and appeaseth enemies, and a gracious tongue in a good man aboundeth. ⁶Be in peace with many, but let one of a thousand be thy counsellor. ⁷If thou wouldst get a friend, try him before thou takest him, and do not credit him easily. ⁸For there is a friend for his own occasion, and he will not abide in the day of thy trouble. ⁹And there is a friend that turneth to enmity; and there is a friend that will disclose hatred and strife and reproaches. ¹⁰And there is a friend a companion at the table, and he will not abide in the day of distress. ¹¹A friend ii he continue steadfast, shall be to thee as thyself, and shall act with confidence among them of thy household. ¹²If he humble himself before thee, and hide himself from thy face, thou shalt have unanimous friendship for good. ¹³Separate thyself from thy enemies, and take heed of thy friends. ¹⁴A faithful friend is a strong defence: and he that hath found him, hath found a treasure. ¹⁵Nothing can be compared to a faithful friend, and no weight of gold and silver is able to countervail the goodness of his fidelity. ¹⁶A faithful friend is the medicine of life and immortality: and they that fear the Lord, shall find him. ¹⁷He that feareth God, shall likewise have good friendship: because according to him shall his friend be. ¹⁸My son, from thy youth up receive instruction, and even to thy grey hairs thou shalt find wisdom. ¹⁹Come to her as one that plougheth, and soweth, and wait for her good fruits: ²⁰For in working about her thou shalt labour a little, and shalt quickly eat of her fruits. ²¹How very unpleasant is wisdom to the unlearned, and the unwise will not continue with her. ²²She shall be to them as a mighty stone of trial, and they will cast her from them before it be long. ²³For the wisdom of doctrine is according to her name, and she is not manifest unto many, but with them to whom she is known, she continueth even to the sight of God. ²⁴Give ear, my son, and take wise counsel, and cast not away my advice. ²⁵Put thy feet into her fetters, and thy neck into her chains: ²⁶Bow down thy shoulder, and bear her, and be not grieved with her bands. ²⁷Come to her with all thy mind, and keep her ways with all thy power. ²⁸Search for her, and she shall be made known to thee, and when thou hast gotten her, let her not go: ²⁹For in the latter end thou shalt find rest in her, and she shall be turned to thy joy. ³⁰Then shall her fetters be a strong defence for thee, and a firm foundation, and her chain a robe of glory: ³¹For in her is the beauty of life, and her bands are a healthful binding. ³²Thou shalt put her on as a robe of glory, and thee shalt set her upon thee as a crown of joy. ³³My son, if thou wilt attend to me, thou shalt learn: and if thou wilt apply thy mind, thou shalt be wise. ³⁴If thou wilt incline thy ear, thou shalt receive instruction: and if thou love to hear, thou shalt be wise. ³⁵Stand in the multitude of ancients that are wise, and join thyself from thy heart to their wisdom, that thou mayst hear every discourse of God, and the sayings of praise may not escape thee. ³⁶And if thou see a man of understanding, go to him early in the morning, and let thy foot wear the steps of his doors. ³⁷Let thy thoughts be upon the precepts of God, and meditate continually on his commandments: and he will give thee a heart, and the desire of wisdom shall be given thee.

Chapter 7

¹Do no evils, and no evils shall lay hold of thee. ²Depart from the unjust, and evils shall depart from thee. ³My son, sow not evils in the furrows of injustice, and thou shalt not reap them sevenfold. ⁴Seek not of the Lord a pre-eminence, nor of the king the seat of honour. ⁵Justify not thyself before God, for he knoweth the heart: and desire not to appear wise before the king. ⁶Seek not to be made a judge, unless thou have strength enough to extirpate iniquities: lest thou fear the person of the powerful, and lay a stumblingblock for thy integrity. ⁷Offend not against the multitude of a city, neither cast thyself in upon the people, ⁸Nor bind sin to sin: for even in one thou shalt not be unpunished. ⁹Be not fainthearted in thy mind: ¹⁰Neglect not to pray, and to give alms. ¹¹Say not: God will have respect to the multitude of my gifts, and when I offer to the most high God, he will accept my offerings. ¹²Laugh no man to scorn in the bitterness of his soul: for there is one that humbleth and exalteth, God who seeth ¹³Devise not a lie against thy brother: neither do the like against thy friend. ¹⁴Be not willing to make any manner of lie: for the custom thereof is not good. ¹⁵Be not full of words in a multitude of ancients, and repeat not the word in thy prayer. ¹⁶Hate not laborious works, nor husbandry ordained by the most High. ¹⁷Number not thyself among the multitude of the disorderly. ¹⁸Remember wrath, for it will not tarry long. ¹⁹Humble thy spirit very much: for the vengeance on the flesh of the ungodly is fire and worms. ²⁰Do not transgress against thy friend deferring money, nor despise thy dear brother for the sake of gold. ²¹Depart not from a wise and good wife, whom thou best gotten in the fear of the Lord: for the grace of her modesty is above gold. ²²Hurt not the servant that worketh faithfully, nor the hired man that giveth thee his life. ²³Let a wise servant be dear to thee as thy own soul, defraud him not of liberty, nor leave him needy. ²⁴Hast thou cattle? have an eye to them: and if they be for thy profit, keep them with thee. ²⁵Hast thou children? instruct them, and bow down their neck from their childhood. ²⁶Hast thou daughters? have a care of their body, and shew not thy countenance gay towards them. ²⁷Marry thy daughter well, and then shalt do a great work, and give her to a wise man. ²⁸If thou hast a wife according to thy soul, cast her not off: and to her that is hateful, trust not thyself. With thy whole heart, ²⁹Honour thy father, and forget not the groanings of thy mother: ³⁰Remember that thou hadst not been born but through them: and make a return to them as they have done for thee. ³¹With all thy soul fear the Lord, and reverence his priests. ³²With all thy strength love him that made thee: and forsake not his ministers. ³³Honour God with all thy soul, and give honour to the priests, and purify thyself with thy arms. ³⁴Give them their portion, as it is commanded thee, of the firstfruits and of purifications: and for thy negligences purify thyself with a few. ³⁵Offer to the Lord the gift of thy shoulders, and the sacrifice of sanctification, and the firstfruits of the holy things: ³⁶And stretch out thy hand to the poor, that thy expiation and thy blessing may be perfected. ³⁷A gift hath grace in the sight of all the living, and restrain not grace from the dead. ³⁸Be not wanting in comforting them that weep, and walk with them that mourn. ³⁹Be not slow to visit the sick: for by these things thou shalt be confirmed in love. ⁴⁰In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.

Chapter 8

¹Strive not with a powerful man, lest thou fall into his hands. ²Contend not with a rich man, lest he bring an action against thee. ³For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them. ⁴Strive not with a man that is full of tongue, and heap not wood upon his fire. ⁵Communicate not with an ignorant man, lest he speak ill of thy family. ⁶Despise not a man that turneth away from sin, nor reproach him therewith: remember that we are all worthy of reproof. ⁷Despise not a man in his old age; for we also shall become old. ⁸Rejoice not at the death of thy enemy; knowing that we all die, and are not willing that others should rejoice at our death. ⁹Despise not the discourse of them that are ancient and wise, but acquaint thyself with their proverbs. ¹⁰For of them thou shalt learn wisdom, and instruction of understanding, and to serve great men without blame. ¹¹Let not the discourse of the ancients escape thee, for they have learned of their fathers: ¹²For of them thou shalt learn understanding, and to give an answer in time of need. ¹³Kindle not the coals of sinners by rebuking them, lest thou be burnt with the flame of the fire of their sins. ¹⁴Stand not against the face of an injurious person, lest he sit as a spy to entrap thee in thy words. ¹⁵Lend not to a man that is mightier than thyself: and if thou lendest, count it as lost. ¹⁶Be not surety above thy power: and if thou be surety, think as if thou wert to pay it. ¹⁷Judge not against a judge: for he judgeth according to that which is just. ¹⁸Go not on the way with a bold man, lest he burden thee with his evils: for he goeth according to his own will, and thou shalt perish together with his folly. ¹⁹Quarrel not with a passionate man, and go not into the desert with a bold man: for blood is as nothing in his sight, and where there is no help he will overthrow thee. ²⁰Advise not with fools, for they cannot love but such things as please them. ²¹Before a stranger do no matter of counsel: for thou knowest not what he will bring forth. ²²Open not thy heart to every man: lest he repay thee with an evil turn, and speak reproachfully to thee.

Chapter 9

¹Be not jealous over the wife of thy bosom, lest she shew in thy regard the malice of a wicked lesson. ²Give not the power of thy soul to a woman, lest she enter upon thy strength, and thou be confounded. ³Look not upon a woman that hath a mind for many: lest thou fall into her snares. ⁴Use not much the company of her that is a dancer, and hearken not to her, lest thou perish by the force of her charms. ⁵Gaze not upon a maiden, lest her beauty be a stumblingblock to thee. ⁶Give not thy soul to harlots in any point: lest thou destroy thyself and thy inheritance. ⁷Look not round about thee in the of the city, nor wander up and down in the streets thereof. ⁸Turn away thy face from a woman dressed up, and gaze not about upon another's beauty. ⁹For many have perished by the beauty of a woman, and hereby lust is enkindled as a fire. ¹⁰Every woman that is a harlot, shall be trodden upon as dung in the way. ¹¹Many by admiring the beauty of another man's wife, have become reprobate, for her conversation burneth as fire. ¹²Sit not at all with another man's wife, nor repose upon the bed with her: ¹³And strive not with her over wine, lest thy heart decline towards her, and by thy blood thou fall into destruction. ¹⁴Forsake not an old friend, for the new will not be like to him. ¹⁵A new friend is as new wine: it shall grow old, and thou shalt drink it with pleasure. ¹⁶Envy not the glory and riches of a sinner: for thou knowest not what his ruin shall be. ¹⁷Be not pleased with the wrong done by the unjust, knowing that even to hell the wicked shall not please. ¹⁸Keep thee far from the man that hath power to kill, so thou shalt not suspect the fear of death. ¹⁹And if thou come to him, commit no fault, lest he take away thy life. ²⁰Know it to be a communication with death: for thou art going in the midst of snares, and walking upon the arms of them that are grieved: ²¹According to thy power beware of thy neighbor, and treat with the wise and prudent. ²²Let just men be thy guests, and let thy glory be in the fear of God. ²³And let the thought of God be in thy mind, and all thy discourse on the commandments of the Highest. ²⁴Works shall be praised for the hand of the artificers, and the prince of the people for the wisdom of his speech, but word of the ancients for the sense. ²⁵A man full of tongue is terrible in his city, and he that is rash in his word shall be hateful.

Chapter 10

¹There is not a more wicked thing than to love money: for such a one setteth even his own soul to sale: because while he liveth he hath cast away his bowels. ¹¹All power is of short life. A long sickness is troublesome to the physician. ¹²The physician cutteth off it short sickness: so also a king is to day, and to morrow he shall die. ¹³For when a man shall die, he shall inherit serpents, end beasts, and worms. ¹⁴The beginning of the pride of man, is to fall off from God: ¹⁵Because his heart is departed from him that made him: for pride is the beginning of all sin: be that holdeth it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end. ¹⁶Therefore hath the Lord disgraced the assemblies of the wicked, and hath utterly destroyed them. ¹⁷God hath overturned the thrones of proud princes, and hath set up the meek in their stead. ¹⁸God hath made the roots of proud nations to wither, and hath planted the humble of these nations. ¹⁹The Lord hath overthrown the lands of the Gentiles, and hath destroyed them even to the foundation. ²⁰He hath made some of them to wither away, and hath destroyed them, and hath made the memory of them to cease from the earth. ²¹God hath abolished the memory of the proud, and hath preserved the memory of them that are humble in mind. ²²Pride was not made for men: nor wrath for the race of women. ²³That seed of men shall be honoured, which feareth God: but that seed shall be dishonoured, which transgresseth the commandments of the Lord. ²⁴In the midst of brethren their chief is honourable: so shall they that fear the Lord, be in his eyes. ²⁵The fear of God is the glory of the rich, and of the honourable, and of the poor: ²⁶Despise not a just man that is poor, and do not magnify a sinful man that is rich. ²⁷The great man, and the judge, and the mighty is in honour: and there is none greater than he that feareth God. ²⁸They that are free shall serve a servant that is wise: and a man that is prudent and well instructed will not murmur when he is reproved; and he that is ignorant, shall not be honoured. ²⁹Extol not thyself in doing thy work, and linger not in the time of distress: ³⁰Better is he that laboureth, and aboundeth in all things, than he that boasteth himself and wanteth bread. ³¹My son, keep thy soul in meekness, and give it honour according to its desert. ³²Who will justify him that sinneth against his own soul? and who will honour him that dishonoureth his own soul? ³³The poor man is glorified by his discipline and fear: and there is a man that is honoured for his wealth. ³⁴But he that is glorified in poverty, how much more in wealth? and he that is glorified in wealth, let him fear poverty.

Chapter 11

¹The wisdom of the humble shall exalt his head, and shall make him sit in the midst of great men. ²Praise not a man for his beauty, neither despise a man for his look. ³The bee is small among flying things, but her fruit hath the chiefest sweetness. ⁴Glory not in apparel at any time, and be not exalted in the day of thy honour: for the works of the Highest only are wonderful, and his works are glorious, and secret, end hidden. ⁵Many tyrants have sat on the throne, and he whom no man would think on, hath worn the crown. ⁶Many mighty men have been greatly brought down, and the glorious have been delivered into the hand of others. ⁷Before thou inquire, blame no man: and when thou hast inquired, reprove justly. ⁸Before thou hear, answer not a word: and interrupt not others in the midst of their discourse. ⁹Strive not in a matter which doth not concern thee, and sit not in judgment with sinners. ¹⁰My son, meddle not with many matters: and if thou be rich, thou shalt not be free from sin: for if thou pursue after thou shalt not overtake: and if thou run before thou shalt not escape. ¹¹There is an ungodly man that laboureth, and maketh haste, and is in sorrow, and is so much the more in want. ¹²Again, there is an inactive man that wanteth help, is very weak in ability, and full of poverty: ¹³Yet the eye of God hath looked upon him for good, and hath lifted him up from his low estate, and hath exalted his head: and many have wondered at him, and have glorified God. ¹⁴Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches, are from God. ¹⁵Wisdom and discipline, and the knowledge of the law are with God. Love and the ways of good things are with him ¹⁶Error and darkness are created with sinners: and they that glory in evil things, grow old in evil. ¹⁷The gift of God abideth with the just, and his advancement shall have success for ever. ¹⁸There is one that is enriched by living sparingly, and this is the portion of his reward. ¹⁹In that he saith: I have found me rest, and now I will eat of my goods alone: ²⁰And he knoweth not what time shall pass, and that death approacheth, and that he must leave all to others, and shall die. ²¹Be steadfast in thy covenant, and be conversant therein, and grow old in the work of thy commandments. ²²Abide not in the works of sinners. But trust in God, and stay in thy place. ²³For it is easy in the eyes of God on a sudden to make the poor man rich. ²⁴The blessing of God maketh haste to reward the just, and in a swift hour his blessing beareth fruit. ²⁵Say not: What need I, and what good shall I have by this? ²⁶Say not: I am sufficient for myself: and what shall I be made worse by this? ²⁷In the day of good things be not unmindful of evils: and in the day of evils be not unmindful of good things: ²⁸For it is easy before God in the day of death to reward every one according to his ways. ²⁹The affliction of an hour maketh one forget great delights, and in the end of a man is the disclosing of his works. ³⁰Praise not any man before death, for a man is known by his children. ³¹Bring not every man into thy house: for many are the snares of the deceitful. ³²For as corrupted bowels send forth stinking breath, and as the partridge is brought into the cage, and as the roe into the snare: so also is the heart of the proud, and as a spy that looketh on the fall of his neighbour. ³³For he lieth in wait and turneth good into evil, and on the elect he will lay a blot. ³⁴Of one spark cometh a great fire, and of one deceitful man much blood: and a sinful man lieth in wait for blood. ³⁵Take heed to thyself of a mischievous man, for he worketh evils: lest he bring upon thee reproach for ever. ³⁶Receive a stranger in, and he shall overthrow thee with a whirlwind, and shall turn thee out of thy own.

Chapter 12

¹If thou do good, know to whom thou dost it, and there shall be much thanks for thy good deeds. ²Do good to the just, and thou shalt find great recompense: and if not of him, assuredly of the Lord. ³For there is no good for him that is always occupied in evil, and that giveth no alms: for the Highest hateth sinners, and hath mercy on the penitent. ⁴Give to the merciful and uphold not the sinner: God will repay vengeance to the ungodly and to sinners, and keep them against the day of vengeance. ⁵Give to the good, and receive not a sinner. ⁶Do good to the humble, and give not to the ungodly: hold back thy bread, and give it not to him, lest thereby he overmaster thee. ⁷For thou shalt receive twice as much evil for all the good thou shalt have done to him: for the Highest also hateth sinners, and will repay vengeance to the ungodly. ⁸A friend shall not be known in prosperity, and an enemy shall not be hidden in adversity. ⁹In the prosperity of a man, his enemies are grieved: and a friend is known in his adversity. ¹⁰Never trust thy enemy: for as a brass pot his wickedness rusteth: ¹¹11Though he humble himself and go crouching, yet take good heed and beware of him. ¹²Set him not by thee, neither let him sit on thy right hand, lest he turn into thy place, and seek to take thy seat: and at the last thou acknowledge my words, and be pricked with my sayings. ¹³Who will pity an enchanter struck by a serpent, or any that come near wild beasts? so is it with him that keepeth company with a wicked man, and is involved in his sins. ¹⁴For an hour he will abide with thee: but if thou begin to decline, he will not endure it. ¹⁵An enemy speaketh sweetly with his lips, but in his heart he lieth in wait, to throw thee into a pit. ¹⁶An enemy weepeth with his eyes: but if he find an opportunity he will not be satisfied with blood: ¹⁷And if evils come upon thee, thou shalt find him there first. ¹⁸An enemy hath tears in his eyes, and while he pretendeth to help thee, will undermine thy feet. ¹⁹He will shake his head, and clap his hands, and whisper much, and change his countenance.

Chapter 13

¹He that toucheth pitch, shall be defiled with it: and he that hath fellowship with the proud, shall put on pride. ²He shall take a burden upon him that hath fellowship with one more honourable than himself. And have no fellowship with one that is richer than thyself. ³What agreement shall the earthen pot have with the kettle? for if they knock one against the other, it shall be broken. ⁴The rich man hath done wrong, and yet he will fume: but the poor is wronged and must hold his peace. ⁵If thou give, he will make use of thee: and if thou have nothing, he will forsake thee. ⁶If thou have any thing, he will live with thee, and will make thee bare, and he will not be sorry for thee. ⁷If he have need of thee he will deceive thee, and smiling upon thee will put thee in hope; he will speak thee fair, and will say: What wantest thou? ⁸And he will shame thee by his meats, till he have drawn thee dry twice or thrice, and at last he will laugh at thee: and afterward when he seeth thee, he will forsake thee, and shake his head at thee. ⁹Humble thyself to God, and wait for his hands. ¹⁰Beware that thou be not deceived Into folly, and be humbled. ¹¹Be not lowly in thy wisdom, lest being humbled thou be deceived into folly. ¹²If thou be invited by one that is mightier, withdraw thyself: for so he will invite thee the more. ¹³Be not troublesome to him, lest thou be put back: and keep not far from him, lest thou be forgotten. ¹⁴Affect not to speak with him as an equal: and believe not his many words: for by much talk he will sift thee, and smiling will examine thee concerning thy secrets. ¹⁵His cruel mind will lay up thy words: and he will not spare to do thee hurt, and to cast thee into prison. ¹⁶Take heed to thyself, and attend diligently to what thou hearest: for thou walkest in danger of thy ruin. ¹⁷When thou hearest those things, see as it were in sleep, and thou shalt awake. ¹⁸Love God all thy life, and call upon him for thy salvation. ¹⁹Every beast loveth its like: so also every man him that is nearest to himself. ²⁰All flesh shall consort with the like to itself, and every man shall associate himself to his like. ²¹If the wolf shall at any time have fellowship with the lamb, so the sinner with the just. ²²What fellowship hath a holy man with a dog, or what part hath the rich with the poor? ²³The wild ass is the lion's prey in the desert: so also the poor are devoured by the rich. ²⁴And as humility is an abomination to the proud: so also the rich man abhorreth the poor. ²⁵When a rich man is shaken, he is kept up by his friends: but when a poor man is fallen down, he is thrust away even by his acquaintance. ²⁶When a rich man hath been deceived, he hath many helpers: he hath spoken proud things, and they have justified him. ²⁷The poor man was deceived, and he is rebuked also: he hath spoken wisely, and could have no place. ²⁸The rich man spoke, and all held their peace, and what he said they extol even to the clouds. ²⁹The poor man spoke, and they say: Who is this? and if he stumble, they will overthrow him. ³⁰Riches are good to him that hath no sin in his conscience: and poverty is very wicked in the mouth of the ungodly. ³¹The heart of a man changeth his countenance, either for good, or for evil. ³²The token of a good heart, and a good countenance thou shalt hardly find, and with labour.

Chapter 14

¹Blessed is the man that hath not slipped by a word out of his mouth, and is not pricked with the remorse of sin. ²Happy is he that hath had no sadness of his mind, and who is not fallen from his hope. ³Riches are not comely for a covetous man and a niggard, and what should an envious man do with gold? ⁴He that gathereth together by wronging his own soul, gathereth for others, and another will squander away his goods in rioting. ⁵He that is evil to himself, to whom will he be good? and he shall not take pleasure in his goods. ⁶There is none worse than he that envieth himself, and this is the reward of his wickedness: ⁷And if he do good, he doth it ignorantly, and unwillingly: and at the last he discovereth his wickedness. ⁸The eye of the envious is wicked: and he turneth away his face, and despiseth his own soul. ⁹The eye of the covetous man is insatiable in his portion of iniquity: he will not be satisfied till he consume his own soul, drying it up. ¹⁰An evil eye is towards evil things: and he shall not have his fill of bread, but shall be needy and pensive at his own table. ¹¹My son, if thou have any thing, do good to thyself, and offer to God worthy offerings. ¹²Remember that death is not slow, and that the covenant of hell hath been shewn to thee: for the covenant of this world shall surely die. ¹³Do good to thy friend before thou die, and according to thy ability, stretching out thy hand give to the poor. ¹⁴Defraud not thyself of the good day, and let not the part of a good gift overpass thee. ¹⁵Shalt thou not leave to others to divide by lot thy sorrows and labours? ¹⁶Give and take, and justify thy soul. ¹⁷Before thy death work justice: for in hell there is no finding food. ¹⁸All flesh shall fade as grass, and as the leaf that springeth out on a green tree. ¹⁹Some grow, and some fall off: so is the generation of flesh and blood, one cometh to an end, and another is born. ²⁰Every work that is corruptible shall fail in the end: and the worker thereof shall go with it. ²¹And every excellent work shall be justified: and the worker thereof shall be honoured therein. ²²Blessed is the man that shall continue in wisdom, and that shall meditate in his justice, and in his mind shall think of the all seeing eye of God. ²³He that considereth her ways in his heart, and hath understanding in her secrets, who goeth after her as one that traceth, and stayeth in her ways: ²⁴He who looketh in at her windows, and hearkeneth at her door: ²⁵He that lodgeth near her house, and fastening a pin in her walls shall set up his tent nigh unto her, where good things shall rest in his lodging for ever. ²⁶He shall set his children under her shelter, and shall lodge under her branches: ²⁷He shall be protected under her covering from the heat, and shall rest in her glory.

Chapter 15

¹He that feareth God, will do good: and he that possesseth justice, shall lay hold on her, ²And she will meet him as an honourable mother, and will receive him as a wife married of a virgin. ³With the bread of life and understanding, she shall feed him, and give him the water of wholesome wisdom to drink: and she shall be made strong in him, and he shall not be moved: ⁴And she shall hold him fast, and he shall not be confounded: and she shall exalt him among his neighbours. ⁵And in the midst of the church she shall open his mouth, and shall fill him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and shall clothe him with a robe of glory. ⁶She shall heap upon him a treasure of joy and gladness, and shall cause him to inherit an everlasting name. ⁷But foolish men shall not obtain her, and wise men shall meet her, foolish men shall not see her: for she is far from pride and deceit. ⁸Lying men shall not be mindful of her: but men that speak truth shall be found with her, and shall advance, even till they come to the sight of God. ⁹Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner: ¹⁰For wisdom came forth from God: for praise shall be with the wisdom of God, and shall abound in a faithful mouth, and the sovereign Lord will give praise unto it. ¹¹Say not: It is through God, that she is not with me: for do not thou the things that he hateth. ¹²Say not: He hath caused me to err: for he hath no need of wicked men. ¹³The Lord hateth all abomination of error, and they that fear him shall not love it. ¹⁴God made man from the beginning, and left him in the hand of his own counsel. ¹⁵He added his commandments and precepts. ¹⁶If thou wilt keep the commandments and perform acceptable fidelity for ever, they shall preserve thee. ¹⁷He hath set water and fire before thee: stretch forth thy hand to which thou wilt. ¹⁸Before man is life and death, good and evil, that which he shall choose shall be given him: ¹⁹For the wisdom of God is great, and he is strong in power, seeing all men without ceasing. ²⁰The eyes of the Lord are towards them that fear him, and he knoweth all the work of man. ²¹He hath commanded no man to do wickedly, and he hath given no man license to sin: ²²For he desireth not a multitude of faithless and unprofitable children.

Chapter 16

¹Rejoice not in ungodly children, if they be multiplied: neither be delighted in them, if the fear of God be not with them. ²Trust not to their life, and respect not their labours. ³For better is one that feareth God, than a thousand ungodly children. ⁴And it is better to die without children, than to leave ungodly children. ⁵By one that is wise a country shall be inhabited, the tribe of the ungodly shall become desolate. ⁶Many such things hath my eyes seen, and greater things than these my ear hath heard. ⁷In the congregation of sinners a fire shall be kindled, and in an unbelieving nation wrath shall dame out. ⁸The ancient giants did not obtain pardon for their sine, who were destroyed trusting to their own strength: ⁹And he spared not the place where Lot sojourned, but abhorred them for the pride of their word. ¹⁰He had not pity on them, destroying the whole nation that extolled themselves in their sine. ¹¹So did he with the six hundred thousand footmen, who were gathered together in the hardness of their heart: and if one had been stiffnecked, it is a wonder if he had escaped unpunished: ¹²For mercy and wrath are with him. He is mighty to forgive, and to pour out indignation: ¹³According as his mercy is, so his correction judgeth a man according to his works. ¹⁴The sinner shall not escape in his rapines, and the patience of him that sheweth mercy shall not be put off. ¹⁵All mercy shall make a place for every man according to the merit of his works, and according to the wisdom of his sojournment. ¹⁶Say not: I shall be hidden from God. and who shall remember me from on high? ¹⁷In such a multitude I shall not be known: for what is my soul in such an immense creation? ¹⁸Behold the heaven, and the heavens of heavens, the deep, and all the earth, and the things that are in them, shall be moved in his sight, ¹⁹The mountains also, and the hills, end the foundations of the earth: when God shall look upon them, they shall be shaken with trembling. ²⁰And in all these things the heart is senseless: and every heart is understood by him: ²¹And his ways who shall understand, and the storm, which no eye of man see? ²²For many of his works are hidden: hut the works of his justice who shall declare? or who shall endure? for the testament is far from some, and the examination of all is in the end. ²³He that wanteth understanding thinketh vain things: and the foolish, and erring man, thinketh foolish things. ²⁴Hearken to me, my son, and learn the discipline of understanding, and attend to my words in thy heart. ²⁵And I will shew forth good doctrine in equity, and will seek to declare wisdom: and attend to my words in thy heart, whilst with equity of spirit I tell thee the virtues that God hath put upon his works from the beginning, and I shew forth in truth his knowledge. ²⁶The works of God are done in judgment from the beginning, and from the making of them he distinguished their parts, and their beginnings in their generations. ²⁷He beautified their works for ever, they have neither hungered, nor laboured, and they have not ceased from their works. ²⁸Nor shall any of them straiten his neighbour at any time. ²⁹Be not thou incredulous to his word. ³⁰After this God looked upon the earth, and filled it with his goods. ³¹The soul of every living thing hath shewn forth before the face thereof, and into it they return again.

Chapter 17

¹God created man of the earth, and made him after his own image. ²And he turned him into it again, and clothed him with strength according to himself. ³He gave him the number of his days and time, and gave him power over all things that are upon the earth. ⁴He put the fear of him upon all flesh, and he had dominion over beasts and fowls. ⁵He created of him a helpmate like to himself: he gave them counsel, and a tongue, and eyes, and ears, and a heart to devise: and he filled them with the knowledge of understanding. ⁶He created in them the science of the spirit, he filled their heart with wisdom, and shewed them both good and evil. ⁷He set his eye upon their hearts to shew them the greatness of his works: ⁸That they might praise the name which he hath sanctified: and glory in his wondrous acts, that they might declare the glorious things of his works. ⁹Moreover he gave them instructions, and the law of life for an inheritance. ¹⁰He made an everlasting covenant with them, and he shewed them his justice and judgments. ¹¹And their eye saw the majesty of his glory. and their ears heard his glorious voice, and he said to them: Beware of all iniquity. ¹²And he gave to every one of them commandment concerning his neighbour. ¹³Their ways are always before him, they are not hidden from his eyes. ¹⁴Over every nation he set a ruler. ¹⁵And Israel was made the manifest portion of God. ¹⁶And all their works are as the sun in the sight of God: and his eyes are continually upon their ways. ¹⁷Their covenants were not hid by their iniquity, and all their iniquities are in the sight of God. ¹⁸The alms of a man is as a signet with him, and shall preserve the grace of a man as the apple of the eye: ¹⁹And afterward he shall rise up, and shall render them their reward, to every one upon their own head, and shall turn them down into the bowels of the earth. ²⁰But to the penitent he hath given the way of justice, and he hath strengthened them that were fainting in patience, and hath appointed to them the lot of truth. ²¹Turn to the Lord, and forsake thy sins: ²²Make thy prayer before the face of the Lord, and offend less. ²³Return to the Lord, and turn away from thy injustice, and greatly hate abomination. ²⁴And know the justices and judgments of God, and stand firm in the lot set before thee, and in prayer to the most high God. ²⁵Go to the side of the holy age, with them that live and give praise to God. ²⁶Tarry not in the error of the ungodly, give glory before death. Praise perisheth from the dead as nothing. ²⁷Give thanks whilst thou art living, whilst thou art alive and in health thou shalt give thanks, and shalt praise God, and shalt glory in his mercies. ²⁸How great is the mercy of the Lord, and his forgiveness to them that turn to him I ²⁹For all things cannot be in men, because the son of man is not immortal, and they are delighted with the vanity of evil. ³⁰What is brighter than the sun; yet it shall be eclipsed. Or what is more wicked than that which flesh and blood hath invented? and this shall be reproved. ³¹He beholdeth the power of the height of heaven: and all men are earth and ashes.

Chapter 18

¹He that liveth for ever created all things together. God only shall be justified, and he remaineth an invincible king for ever. ²Who is able to declare his works? ³For who shall search out his glorious acts? ⁴And who shall shew forth the power of his majesty? or who shall be able to declare his mercy? ⁵Nothing may be taken away, nor added, neither is it possible to find out the glorious works of God: ⁶When a man hath done, then shall he begin: and when he leaveth off, he shall be at a loss. ⁷What is man, and what is his grace? and what is his good, or what is his evil? ⁸The number of the days of men at the most are a hundred years: as a drop of water of the sea are they esteemed: and as a pebble of the sand, so are a few years compared to eternity. ⁹Therefore God is patient in them, and poureth forth his mercy upon them. ¹⁰He hath seen the presumption of their heart that it is wicked, and hath known their end that it is evil. ¹¹Therefore bath he filled up his mercy in their favour, and hath shewn them the way of justice. ¹²The compassion of man is toward his neighbour: but the mercy of God is upon all flesh. ¹³He hath mercy, and teacheth, and correcteth, as a shepherd doth his hock. ¹⁴He hath mercy on him that receiveth the discipline of mercy, and that maketh haste in his judgments. ¹⁵My son, in thy good deeds, make no complaint, and when thou givest any thing, add not grief by an evil word. ¹⁶Shall not the dew assuage the heat? so also the good word is better than the gift. ¹⁷Lo, is not a word better than a gift? but both are with a justified man. ¹⁸A fool will upbraid bitterly: and a gift of one ill taught consumeth the eyes. ¹⁹Before judgment prepare thee justice, and learn before thou speak. ²⁰Before sickness take a medicine, and before judgment examine thyself, and thou shalt find mercy in the sight of God. ²¹Humble thyself before thou art sick, and in the time of sickness shew thy conversation. ²²Let nothing hinder thee from praying always, and be not afraid to be justified even to death: for the reward of God continueth for ever. ²³Before prayer prepare thy soul: and be not as a man that tempteth God. ²⁴Remember the wrath that shall be at the last day, and the time of repaying when he shall turn away his face. ²⁵Remember poverty is the time of abundance, and the necessities of poverty in the day of riches. ²⁶From the morning until the evening the time shall be changed, and all these are swift in the eyes of God. ²⁷A wise man will fear in every thing, and in the days of sine will beware of sloth. ²⁸Every man of understanding knoweth wisdom, and will give praise to him that findeth her. ²⁹They that were of good understanding in words, have also done wisely themselves: and have understood truth and justice, and have poured forth proverbs and judgments. ³⁰Go not after thy lusts, but turn away from thy own will. ³¹If thou give to thy soul her desires, she will make thee a joy to thy enemies. ³²Take no pleasure in riotous assemblies, be they ever so small: for their concertation is continual. ³³Make not thyself poor by borrowing to contribute to feasts when thou hast nothing in thy purse : for thou shalt be an enemy to thy own life.

Chapter 19

¹Hast thou heard a word against thy neighbour? let it die within thee, trusting that it will not burst thee. ¹¹At the hearing of a word the fool is in travail, as a woman groaning. in the bringing forth a child. ¹²As an arrow that sticketh in a man's thigh: so is a word in the heart of a fool. ¹³Reprove a friend, lest he may not have understood, and say : f did it not: or if he did it, that he may do it no more. ¹⁴Reprove thy neighbour, for it may be he hath not said it: and if he hath said it, that he may not say it again. ¹⁵Admonish thy friend: for there is often a fault committed. ¹⁶And believe not every word. There is one, that slippeth with the tongue, but not from his heart. ¹⁷For who is there that hath not offended with his tongue? Admonish thy neighbour before thou threaten him. ¹⁸And give place to the fear of the most High: for the fear of God is all wisdom, and therein is to fear God, and the disposition of the law is in all wisdom. ¹⁹But the learning of wickedness is not wisdom: and the device of sinners is not prudence. ²⁰There is a subtle wickedness, and the same is detestable: and there is a man that is foolish, wanting in wisdom. ²¹Better is a man that hath less wisdom, and wanteth understanding, with the fear of God, than he that aboundeth in understanding, and transgresseth the law of the most High. ²²There is an exquisite subtilty, and the same is unjust. ²³And there is one that uttereth an exact word telling the truth. There is one that humbleth himself wickedly, and his interior is full of deceit: ²⁴And there is one that submitteth himself exceedingly with a great lowliness: and there is one that casteth down his countenance, and maketh as if he did not see that which is unknown: ²⁵And if he be hindered from sinning for want of power, if he shall find opportunity to do evil, he will do it. ²⁶A man is known by his look, and a wise man, when thou meetest him, is known by his countenance. ²⁷The attire of the body, and the laughter of the teeth, and the gait of the man, shew what he is. ²⁸There is a lying rebuke in the anger of an injurious man: and there is a judgment that is not allowed to be good: and there is one that holdeth his peace, he is wise.

Chapter 20

¹How much better is it to reprove, than to be angry, and not to hinder him that confesseth in prayer. ²The lust of an eunuch shall devour a young maiden: ³So is he that by violence executeth unjust judgment. ⁴How good is it, when thou art reproved, to shew repentance! for so thou shalt escape wilful sin. ⁵There is one that holdeth his peace, that is found wise: and there is another that is hateful, that is bold in speech. ⁶There is one that holdeth his peace, because he knoweth not what to say: and there is another that holdeth his peace, knowing the proper time. ⁷A wise man will hold his peace till he see opportunity: but a babbler, and a fool, will regard no time. ⁸He that useth many words shall hurt his own soul: and he that taketh authority to himself unjustly shall be hated. ⁹There is success in evil things to a man without discipline, and there is a finding that turneth to loss. ¹⁰There is a gift that is not profitable: and there is a gift, the recompense of which is double. ¹¹There is an abasement because of glory: and there is one that shall lift up his head from a low estate. ¹²There is that buyeth much for a small price, and restoreth the same sevenfold. ¹³A man wise in words shall make himself beloved: but the graces of fools shall be poured out. ¹⁴The gift of the fool shall do thee no good: for his eyes are sevenfold. ¹⁵He will give a few things, and upbraid much: and the opening of his mouth is the kindling of a fire. ¹⁶To day a man lendeth, and to morrow he asketh it again: such a man as this is hateful. ¹⁷A fool shall have no friend, and there shall be no thanks for his good deeds. ¹⁸For they that eat his bread, are of a false tongue. How often, and how many will laugh him to scorn! ¹⁹For he doth not distribute with right understanding that which was to be had: in like manner also that which was not to be had. ²⁰The slipping of a false tongue is as one that falleth on the pavement: so the fall of the wicked shall come speedily. ²¹A man without grace is as a vain fable, it shall be continually in the mouth of the unwise. ²²A parable coming out, of a fool's mouth shall be rejected: for he doth not speak it in due season. ²³There is that is hindered from sinning through want, and in his rest he shall be pricked. ²⁴There is that will destroy his own soul through shamefacedness, and by occasion of an unwise person he will destroy it: and by respect of person he will destroy himself. ²⁵There is that for bashfulness promiseth to his friend, and maketh him his enemy for nothing. ²⁶A lie is a foul blot in a man, and yet it will be continually in the mouth of men without discipline. ²⁷A thief is better than a man that is always lying: but both of them shall inherit destruction. ²⁸The manners of lying men are without honour: and their confusion is with them without ceasing. ²⁹A wise man shall advance himself with his words, and a prudent man shall please the great ones. ³⁰He that tilleth his land shall make a high heap of corn: and he that worketh justice shall be exalted: and he that pleaseth great men shall escape iniquity. ³¹Presents and gifts blind the eyes of judges, and make them dumb in the mouth, so that they cannot correct. ³²Wisdom that is hid, and treasure that is not seen: what profit is there in them both? ³³Better is he that hideth his folly, than the man that hideth his wisdom.

Chapter 21

¹My son, hast thou sinned? do so no more: but for thy former sins also pray that they may be forgiven thee. ²Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent: for if thou comest near them, they will take hold of thee. ³The teeth thereof are the teeth of a lion, killing the souls of men. ⁴All iniquity is like a two-edged sword, there is no remedy for the wound thereof. ⁵Injuries and wrongs will waste riches: and the house that is very rich shall be brought to nothing by pride : so the substance of the proud shall be rooted out. ⁶The prayer out of the mouth of the poor shall reach the ears of God, and judgment shall come for him speedily. ⁷He that hateth to be reproved walketh in the trace of a sinner: and he that feareth God will turn to his own heart. ⁸He that is mighty by a bold tongue is known afar off, but a wise man knoweth to slip by him. ⁹He that buildeth his house at other men's charges, is as he that gathereth himself stones to build in the winter. ¹⁰The congregation of sinners is like tow heaped together, and the end of them is a flame of fire. ¹¹The way of sinners is made plain with stones, and in their end is hell, and darkness, and pains. ¹²He that keepeth justice shall get the understanding thereof. ¹³The perfection of the fear of God is wisdom and understanding. ¹⁴He that is not wise in good, will not be taught. ¹⁵But there is a wisdom that aboundeth in evil : and there is no understanding where there is bitterness. ¹⁶The knowledge of a wise man shall abound like a flood, and his counsel continueth like a fountain of life. ¹⁷The heart of a fool is like a broken vessel, and no wisdom at all shall it hold. ¹⁸A man of sense will praise every wise word he shall hear, and will apply it to himself: the luxurious man hath heard it, and it shall displease him, and he will cast it behind his back. ¹⁹The talking of a fool is like a burden in the way: but in the lips of the wise, grace shall be found. ²⁰The mouth of the prudent is sought after in the church, and they will think upon his words in their hearts. ²¹As a house that is destroyed, so is wisdom to a fool : and the knowledge of the unwise is as words without sense. ²²Doctrine to a fool is as fetters on the feet, and like manacles on the right hand. ²³A fool lifteth up his voice in laughter: but a wise man will scarce laugh low to himself. ²⁴Learning to the prudent is as an ornament of gold, and like a bracelet upon his right arm. ²⁵The foot of a fool is soon in his neighbour's house: but a man of experience will be abashed at the person of the mighty. ²⁶A fool will peep through the window into the house: but he that is well taught will stand without. ²⁷It is the folly of a man to hearken at the door: and a wise man will be grieved with the disgrace. ²⁸The lips of the unwise will be telling foolish things but the words of the wise shall be weighed in a balance. ²⁹The heart of fools is in their mouth: and the mouth of wise men is in their heart. ³⁰While the ungodly curseth the devil, he curseth his own soul. ³¹The talebearer shall defile his own soul, and shall be hated by all: and he that shall abide with him shall be hateful: the silent and wise man shall be honoured.

Chapter 22

¹The sluggard is pelted with a dirty stone, and all men will speak of his disgrace. ²The sluggard is pelted with the dung of oxen: and every one that toucheth him will shake his hands. ³A son ill taught is the confusion of the father: and a foolish daughter shall be to his loss. ⁴A wise daughter shall bring an inheritance to her husband: but she that confoundeth, becometh a disgrace to her father. ⁵She that is bold shameth both her father and husband, and will not be inferior to the ungodly: and shall be disgraced by them both. ⁶A tale out of time is like music in mourning: but the stripes and instruction of wisdom are never out of time. ⁷He that teacheth a fool, is like one that glueth a potsherd together. ⁸He that telleth a word to him that heareth not, is like one that waketh a man out of a deep sleep. ⁹He speaketh with one that is asleep, who uttereth wisdom to a fool: and in the end of the discourse he saith: Who is this? ¹⁰Weep for the dead, for his light hath failed: and weep for the fool, for his understanding faileth. ¹¹Weep but a little for the dead, for he is at rest. ¹²For the wicked life of a wicked fool is worse than death. ¹³The mourning for the dead is seven days: but for a fool and an ungodly man all the days of their life. ¹⁴Talk not much with a fool, and go not with him that hath no sense. ¹⁵Keep thyself from him, that thou mayst not have trouble, and thou shalt not be defiled with his sin. ¹⁶Turn away from him, and thou shalt find rest, and shalt not be wearied out with his folly. ¹⁷What is heavier than lead? and what other name hath he but fool? ¹⁸Sand and salt, and a mass of iron is easier to bear, than a man without sense, that is both foolish and wicked. ¹⁹A frame of wood bound together in the foundation of a building, shall not be loosed: so neither shall the heart that is established by advised counsel. ²⁰The thought of him that is wise at all times, shall not be depraved by fear. ²¹As pales set in high places, and plasterings made without cost, will not stand against the face of the wind: ²²So also a fearful heart in the imagination of a fool shall not resist against the violence of fear. ²³As a fearful heart in the thought of a fool at all times will not fear, so neither shall he that continueth always in the commandments of God. ²⁴He that pricketh the eye, bringeth out tears: and he that pricketh the heart, bringeth forth resentment. ²⁵He that flingeth a stone at birds, shall drive them away: so he that upbraideth his friend, breaketh friendship. ²⁶Although thou hast drawn a sword at a friend, despair not: for there may be a returning. To a friend, ²⁷If thou hast opened a sad mouth, fear not, for there may be a reconciliation: except upbraiding, and reproach, and pride, and disclosing of secrets, or a treacherous wound: for in all these cases a friend will flee away. ²⁸Keep fidelity with a friend in his poverty, that in his prosperity also thou mayst rejoice. ²⁹In the time of his trouble continue faithful to him, that thou mayst also be heir with him in his inheritance. ³⁰As the vapour of a chimney, and the smoke of the fire goeth up before the fire: so also injurious words, and reproaches, and threats, before blood. ³¹I will not be ashamed to salute a friend, neither will I hide myself from his face: and if any evil happen to me by him, I will bear it. ³²But every one that shall hear it, will beware of him. ³³Who will set a guard before my mouth, and a sure seal upon my lips, that I fall not by them, and that my tongue destroy me not?

Chapter 23

¹And let not the naming of God be usual in thy mouth, and meddle not with the names of saints, for thou shalt not escape free from them. ¹¹For as a slave daily put to the question, is never without a blue mark: so every one that sweareth, and nameth, shall not be wholly pure from sin. ¹²A man that sweareth much, shall be filled with iniquity, and a scourge shall not depart from his house. ¹³And if he make it void, his sin shall be upon him: and if he dissemble it, he offendeth double: ¹⁴And if he swear in vain, he shall not be justified: for his house shall be filled with his punishment. ¹⁵There is also another speech opposite to death, let it not be found in the inheritance of Jacob. ¹⁶For from the merciful all these things shall be taken away, and they shall not wallow in sins. ¹⁷Let not thy mouth be accustomed to indiscreet speech: for therein is the word of sin. ¹⁸Remember thy father and thy mother, for thou sittest is the midst of great men: ¹⁹Lest God forget thee in their sight, and thou, by thy daily custom, be infatuated and suffer reproach: and wish that thou hadst not been born, and curse the day of thy nativity. ²⁰The man that is accustomed to opprobrious words, will never be corrected all the days of his life. ²¹Two sorts of men multiply sins, and the third bringeth wrath and destruction. ²²A hot soul is a burning fire, it will never be quenched, till it devour some thing. ²³And a man that is wicked in the mouth of his flesh, will not leave off till he hath kindled a fire. ²⁴To a man that is a fornicator all bread is sweet, he will not be weary of sinning unto the end. ²⁵Every man that passeth beyond his own bed, despising his own soul, and saying: Who seeth me? ²⁶Darkness compasseth me about, and the walls cover me, and no man seeth me: whom do I fear? the most High will not remember my sins. ²⁷And he understandeth not that his eye seeth all things, for such a man's fear driveth from him the fear of God, and the eyes of men fearing him: ²⁸And he knoweth not that the eyes of the Lord are far brighter than the sun, beholding round about all the ways of men, and the bottom of the deep, and looking into the hearts of men, into the most hidden parts. ²⁹For all things were known to the Lord God, before they were created: so also after they were perfected he beholdeth all things. ³⁰This man shall be punished in the streets of the city, and he shall be chased as a colt: and where he suspected not, he shall be taken. ³¹And he shall be in disgrace with all men, because he understood not the fear of the Lord. ³²So every woman also that leaveth her husband, and bringeth in an heir by another : ³³For first she hath been unfaithful to the law of the most High: and secondly, she hath offended against her husband: thirdly, she hath fornicated in adultery, end hath gotten her children of another man. ³⁴This woman shall be brought into the assembly, and inquisition shall be made of her children. ³⁵Her children shall not take root, and her branches shall bring forth no fruit. ³⁶She shall leave her memory to be cursed, and her infamy shall not be blotted out. ³⁷And they that remain shall know. that there is nothing better than the fear of God: and that there is nothing sweeter than to have regard to the commandments of the Lord. ³⁸It is great glory to follow the Lord for length of days shall be received from him.

Chapter 24

¹Wisdom shall praise her own self, and shall be honoured in God, and shall glory in the midst of her people, ²And shall open her mouth in the churches of the most High, and shall glorify herself in the sight of his power, ³And in the midst of her own people she shall be exalted, and shall be admired in the holy assembly. ⁴And in the multitude of the elect she shall have praise, and among the blessed she shall be blessed, saying: ⁵I came out of the mouth of the most High, the firstborn before all creatures: ⁶I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never faileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth: ⁷I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in a pillar of a cloud. ⁸I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven, and have penetrated into the bottom of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea, ⁹And have stood in all the earth: and in every people, ¹⁰And in every nation I have had the chief rule: ¹¹And by my power I have trodden under my feet the hearts of all the high and low: and in all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord. ¹²Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he that made me, rested in my tabernacle, ¹³And he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect. ¹⁴From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before him. ¹⁵And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem. ¹⁶And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of mg God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints. ¹⁷I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on mount Sion. ¹⁸I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho: ¹⁹As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted. ²⁰I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon. and aromatical balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh: ²¹And I perfumed my dwelling as storax, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes, and as the frankincense not cut, and my odour is as the purest balm. ²²I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honour and grace. ²³As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches. ²⁴I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. ²⁵In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. ²⁶Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. ²⁷For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb. ²⁸My memory is unto everlasting generations. ²⁹They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst. ³⁰He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin. ³¹They that explain me shall have life everlasting. ³²All these things are the book of life, and the covenant of the most High, and the knowledge of truth. ³³Moses commanded a law in the precepts of justices, and an inheritance to the house of Jacob, and the promises to Israel. ³⁴He appointed to David his servant to raise up of him a most mighty king, and sitting on the throne of glory for ever. ³⁵Who filleth up wisdom as the Phison, and as the Tigris in the days of the new fruits. ³⁶Who maketh understanding to abound as the Euphrates, who multiplieth it as the Jordan in the time of harvest. ³⁷Who sendeth knowledge as the light, and riseth up as Gehon in the time of the vintage. ³⁸Who first hath perfect knowledge of her, and a weaker shall not search her out. ³⁹For her thoughts are more vast than the sea, and her counsels more deep than the great ocean. ⁴⁰I, wisdom, have poured out rivers. ⁴¹I, like a brook out of a river of a mighty water; I, like a channel of a river. and like an aqueduct, came out of paradise. ⁴²I said: I will water my garden of plants, and I will water abundantly the fruits of my meadow. ⁴³And behold my brook became a great river, and my river came near to a sea: ⁴⁴For I make doctrine to shine forth to all as the morning light, and I will declare it afar off. ⁴⁵I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth, and will behold all that sleep, and will enlighten all that hope in the Lord. ⁴⁶I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and will leave it to them that seek wisdom, and will not cease to instruct their offspring even to the holy age. ⁴⁷See ye that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all that seek out the truth.

Chapter 25

¹With three things my spirit is pleased, which are approved before God and men: ²The concord of brethren, and the love of neighbours, and mall and wife that agree well together. ³Three sorts my soul hateth, and I am greatly grieved at their life: ⁴A poor man that is proud: a rich man that is a liar: an old man that is a fool, and doting. ⁵The things that thou hast not gathered in thy youth, how shalt thou find them in thy old age? ⁶O how comely is judgment for a grey head, and for ancients to know counsel! ⁷O how comely is wisdom for the aged, and understanding and counsel to men of honour! ⁸Much experience is the crown of old men, and the fear of God is their glory. ⁹Nine things that are not to be imagined by the heart have I magnified, and the tenth I will utter to men with my tongue. ¹⁰A man that hath joy of his children: and he that liveth and seeth the fall of his enemies. ¹¹Blessed is he. that dwelleth with a wise woman, and that hath not slipped with his tongue, and that hath not served such as are unworthy of him. ¹²Blessed is he that findeth a true friend, and that declareth justice to an ear that heareth. ¹³How great is he that findeth wisdom and knowledge! but there is none above him that feareth the Lord. ¹⁴The fear of God hath set itself above all things: ¹⁵Blessed is the man, to whom it is given to have the fear of God: he that holdeth it, to whom shall he be likened? ¹⁶The fear of God is the beginning of his love: and the beginning of faith is to be fast joined unto it. ¹⁷The sadness of the heart is every plague: and the wickedness of a woman is all evil. ¹⁸And a man will choose any plague, but the plague of the heart: ¹⁹And ally wickedness, but the wickedness of a woman: ²⁰And any affliction, but the affliction from them that hate him: ²¹And ally revenge, but the revenge of enemies. ²²There is no head worse than the head of a serpent: ²³And there is no anger above the anger of a woman. It will be more agreeable to abide with a lion and a dragon, than to dwell with a wicked woman. ²⁴The wickedness of a woman changeth her face: and she darkeneth her countenance as a bear: and sheweth it like sackcloth. In the midst of her neighbours, ²⁵Her husband groaned, and hearing he sighed a little. ²⁶All malice is shore to the malice of a woman, let the lot of sinners fall upon her. ²⁷As the climbing of a sandy way is to the feet of the aged, so is a wife full of tongue to a quiet man. ²⁸Look not upon a woman's beauty, and desire not a woman for beauty. ²⁹A woman's anger, and impudence, and confusion is great. ³⁰A woman, if she have superiority, is contrary to her husband. ³¹A wicked woman abateth the courage, and maketh a heavy countenance, and a wounded heart. ³²Feeble hands, and disjointed knees, a woman that doth not make her husband happy. ³³From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die. ³⁴Give no issue to thy water, no, not a little: nor to a wicked woman liberty to gad abroad. ³⁵If she walk not at thy hand, she will confound thee in the sight of thy enemies. ³⁶Cut her off from thy flesh, lest she always abuse thee.

Chapter 26

¹Happy is the husband of a good wife: for the number of his years is double. ²A virtuous woman rejoiceth her husband: and shall fulfil the years of his life in peace. ³A good wife is a good portion, she shall be given in the portion of them that fear God, to a man for his good deeds. ⁴Rich or poor, if his heart is good, his countenance shall be cheerful at all times. ⁵Of three things my heart hath been afraid, and at the fourth my face hath trembled: ⁶The accusation of a city, and the gathering together of the people: ⁷And a false calumny, all are more grievous than death. ⁸A jealous woman is the grief and mourning of the heart. ⁹With a jealous woman is a scourge of the tongue which communicateth with all. ¹⁰As a yoke of oxen that is moved to and fro, so also is a wicked woman: he that hath hold of her, is as he that taketh hold of a scorpion. ¹¹A drunken woman is a great wrath: and her reproach and shame shall not be hid. ¹²The fornication of a woman shall be known by the haughtiness of her eyes, and by her eyelids. ¹³On a daughter that turneth not away herself, set a strict watch: lest finding an opportunity she abuse herself. ¹⁴Take heed of the impudence of her eyes, and wonder not if she slight thee. ¹⁵She will open her mouth as a thirsty traveller to the fountain, and will drink of every water near her, and will sit down by every hedge, and open her quiver against every arrow, until she fail. ¹⁶The grace of a diligent woman shall delight her husband, and shall fat his bones. ¹⁷Her discipline is the gift of God. ¹⁸Such is a wise and silent woman, and there is nothing so much worth as a well instructed soul. ¹⁹A holy and shamefaced woman is grace upon grace. ²⁰And no price is worthy of a continent soul. ²¹As the sun when it riseth to the world in the high places of God, so is the beauty of a good wife for the ornament of her house. ²²As the lamp shining upon the holy candlestick, so is the beauty of the face in a ripe age. ²³As golden pillars upon bases of silver, so are the firm feet upon the soles of a steady woman. ²⁴As everlasting foundations upon a solid rock, so the commandments of God In the heart of a holy woman. ²⁵At two things my heart is grieved, and the third bringeth anger upon me: ²⁶A man of was fainting through poverty: and a man of sense despised: ²⁷And he that passeth over from justice to sin, God hath prepared such an one for the sword. ²⁸Two sorts of callings have appeared to me hard and dangerous: a merchant is hardly free from negligence: and a huckster shall not be justified from the sins of the lips.

Chapter 27

¹Through poverty many have sinned: and he that seeketh to be enriched, turneth away his eye. ²As a stake sticketh fast in the midst of the joining of stones, so also in the midst of selling and buying, sin shall stick fast. ³Sin shall be destroyed with the sinner. ⁴Unless thou hold thyself diligently in the fear of the Lord, thy house shall quickly be overthrown. ⁵As when one sifteth with a sieve, the dust will remain: so will the perplexity of a man in his thoughts. ⁶The furnace trieth the potter's vessels, and the trial of affliction just men. ⁷Be the dressing of a tree sheweth the fruit thereof, so a word out of the thought of the heart of man. ⁸Praise not a man before he speaketh, for this is the trial of men. ⁹If thou followest justice, thou shalt obtain her: and shalt put her on as a long robe of honour, and thou shalt dwell with her: and she shall protect thee for ever, and in the day of acknowledgment thou shalt find a strong foundation. ¹⁰Birds resort unto their like: so truth will return to them that practise her. ¹¹The lion always lieth in wait for prey: so do sine for them that work iniquities. ¹²A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun: but a fool is changed as the moon. ¹³In the midst of the unwise keep in the word till its time: but be continually among men that think. ¹⁴The discourse of sinners is hateful, and their laughter is at the pleasures of sin. ¹⁵The speech that sweareth much shall make the hair of the head stand upright: and its irreverence shall make one stop his ears. ¹⁶Is the quarrels of the proud is the shedding of blood: and their cursing is a grievous hearing. ¹⁷He that discloseth the secret of a friend loseth his credit, and shall never find a friend to his mind. ¹⁸Love thy neighbour, and be joined to him with fidelity. ¹⁹But if thou discover his secrets, follow no more after him. ²⁰For as a man that destroyeth his friend, so also is he that destroyeth the friendship of his neighbour. ²¹And as one that letteth a bird go out of his hand, so hast thou let thy neighbour go, and thou shalt not get him again. ²²Follow after him no more, for he is gone afar off, he is fled, as a roe escaped out of the snare: because his soul is wounded. ²³Thou canst no more bind him up. And of a curse there is reconciliation: ²⁴But to disclose the secrets of a friend, leaveth no hope to an unhappy soul. ²⁵He that winketh with the eye forgeth wicked things, and no man will cast him off: ²⁶In the sight of thy eyes he will sweeten his mouth, and will admire thy words: but at the last he will writhe his mouth, and on thy words he will lay a stumblingblock. ²⁷I have hated many things, but not like him, and the Lord will hate him. ²⁸If one cast a stone on high, it will fall upon his own head: and the deceitful stroke will wound the deceitful. ²⁹He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that setteth a stone for his neighbour, shall stumble upon it: and he that layeth a snare for another, shall perish in it. ³⁰A mischievous counsel shall be rolled back upon the author, and he shall not know from whence it cometh to him. ³¹Mockery and reproach are of the proud, and vengeance as a lion shall lie in wait for him. ³²They shall perish in a snare that are delighted with the fall of the just: and sorrow shall consume them before they die. ³³Anger and fury are both of them abominable, and the sinful man shall be subject to them.

Chapter 28

¹He that seeketh to revenge himself, shall find vengeance from the Lord, and he will surely keep his sins in remembrance. ²Forgive thy neighbour if he hath hurl thee: and then shall thy sins be forgiven to thee when thou prayest. ³Man to man reserveth anger, and doth he seek remedy of God? ⁴He hath no mercy on a man like himself, and doth he entreat for his own sins? ⁵He that is but flesh, nourisheth anger, and doth he ask forgiveness of God? who shall obtain pardon for his sins? ⁶Remember thy last things, and let enmity cease: ⁷For corruption and death hang over in his commandments. ⁸Remember the fear of God, and be not angry with thy neighbour. ⁹Remember the covenant of the most High, and overlook the ignorance of thy neighbour. ¹⁰Refrain from strife, and thou shalt diminish thy sine: ¹¹For a passionate man kindleth strife, and a sinful man will trouble his friends, and bring in debate in the midst of them that are at peace. ¹²For as the wood of the forest is, so the fire burneth: and as a man's strength is, so shall his anger be, and according to his riches he shall increase his anger. ¹³A hasty contention kindleth a fire: and a hasty quarrel sheddeth blood: and a tongue that beareth witness bringeth death. ¹⁴If thou blow the spark, it shall burn as a fire: and if thou spit upon it, it shall be quenched: both come out of the mouth. ¹⁵The whisperer and the double tongued is accursed: for he hath troubled many that were at peace. ¹⁶The tongue of a third person hath disquieted many, and scattered them from nation to nation. ¹⁷It hath destroyed the strong cities of the rich, and hath overthrown the houses of great men. ¹⁸It hath cut in pieces the forces of people, and undone strong nations. ¹⁹The tongue of a third person hath cast out valiant women, and deprived them of their labours. ²⁰He that hearkeneth to it, shall never have rest, neither shall he have a friend in whom he may repose. ²¹The stroke of a whip maketh a blue mark: but the stroke of the tongue will break the bones. ²²Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue. ²³Blessed is he that is defended from a wicked tongue, that hath not passed into the wrath thereof, and that hath not drawn the yoke thereof, and hath not been bound in its bands. ²⁴For its yoke is a yoke of iron: and its bands are bands of brass. ²⁵The death thereof is a most evil death: and hell is preferable to it. ²⁶Its continuance shall not be for a long time, but it shall possess the ways of the unjust: and the just shall not be burnt with its flame. ²⁷They that forsake God shall fall into it, and it shall burn in them, and shall not be quenched, and it shall be sent upon them as a lion, and as a leopard it shall tear them. ²⁸Hedge in thy ears with thorns, hear not a wicked tongue, and make doors and bars to thy mouth. ²⁹Melt down thy gold and silver, and make a balance for thy words, and a just bridle for thy mouth: ³⁰And take heed lest thou slip with thy tongue, and fall in the sight of thy enemies who lie in wait for thee, and thy fall be incurable unto death.

Chapter 29

¹He that sheweth mercy, lendeth to his neighbour: and he that is stronger in hand, keepeth the commandments. ²Lend to thy neighbour in the time of his need, and pay thou thy neighbour again in due time. ³Reap thy word, and deal faithfully with him: and thou shalt always find that which is necessary for thee. ⁴Many have looked upon a thing lent as a thing found, and have given trouble to them that helped them. ⁵Till they receive, they kiss the hands of the lender, and in promises they humble their voice: ⁶But when they should repay, they will ask time, and will return tedious and murmuring words, and will complain of the time: ⁷And if he be able to pay, he will stand off, he will scarce pay one half, and will count it as if he had found it: ⁸But if not, he will defraud him of his money, and he shall get him for an enemy without cause: ⁹And he will pay him with reproaches and curses, and instead of honour and good turn will repay him injuries. ¹⁰Many have refused to lend, not out of wickedness, but they were afraid to be defrauded without cause. ¹¹But yet towards the poor be thou more hearty, and delay not to shew him mercy. ¹²Help the poor because of the commandment: and send him not away empty handed because of his poverty. ¹³Lose thy money for thy brother and thy friend: and hide it not under a stone to be lost. ¹⁴Place thy treasure in the commandments of the most High, and it shall bring thee more profit than gold. ¹⁵Shut up alms in the heart of the poor, and it shall obtain help for thee against all evil. ¹⁶Better than the shield of the mighty, and better than the spear: ¹⁷It shall fight for thee against thy enemy. ¹⁸A good man is surety for his neighbour: and he that hath lost shame, will leave him to himself. ¹⁹Forget not the kindness of thy surety: for he hath given his life for thee. ²⁰The sinner and the unclean fleeth from his surety. ²¹A sinner attributeth to himself the goods of his surety: and he that is of an unthankful mind will leave him that delivered him. ²²A man is surety for his neighbour: and when he hath lost all shame, he shall forsake him. ²³Evil suretyship hath undone many of good estate, and hath tossed them as a wave of the sea. ²⁴It hath made powerful men to go from place to place round about, and they have wandered in strange countries. ²⁵A sinner that transgresseth the commandment of the Lord, shall fall into an evil suretyship: and he that undertaketh many things, shall fall into judgment. ²⁶Recover thy neighbour according to thy power, and take heed to thyself that thou fall not. ²⁷The chief thing for man's life is water and bread, and clothing, and a house to cover shame. ²⁸Better is the poor man's fare under a roof of boards, than sumptuous cheer abroad in another man's house. ²⁹Be contented with little instead of much, and thou shalt not hear the reproach of going abroad. ³⁰It is a miserable life to go as a guest from house to house: for where a man is a stranger, he shall not deal confidently, nor open his mouth. ³¹He shall entertain and feed, and give drink to the unthankful, and moreover he shall hear bitter words. ³²Go, stranger, and furnish the table, and give others to eat what thou hast in thy hand. ³³Give place to the honourable presence of my friends: for I want my house, my brother being to be lodged with me. ³⁴These things are grievous to a man of understanding: the upbraiding of houseroom, and the reproaching of the lender.

Chapter 30

¹He that loveth his son, frequently chastiseth him, that he may rejoice in his latter end, and not grope after the doors of his neighbours. ²He that instructeth his son shall be praised in him, and shall glory in him in the midst of them of his household. ³He that teacheth his son, maketh his enemy jealous, and in the midst of his friends he shall glory in him. ⁴His father is dead, and he is as if he were not dead: for he hath left one behind him that is like himself. ⁵While he lived he saw and rejoiced in him: and when he died he was not sorrowful, neither was he confounded before his enemies. ⁶For he left behind him a defender of his house against his enemies, and one that will requite kindness to his friends. ⁷For the souls of his sons he shall bind up his wounds, and at every cry his bowels shall be troubled. ⁸8A horse not broken becometh stubborn, and a child left to himself will become headstrong. ⁹Give thy son his way, and he shall make thee afraid: play with him, and he shall make thee sorrowful. ¹⁰Laugh not with him, lest thou have sorrow, and at the last thy teeth be set on edge. ¹¹Give him not liberty in his youth, and wink not at his devices. ¹²Bow down his neck while he is young, and beat his sides while he is a child, lest he grow stubborn, and regard thee not, and so be a sorrow of heart to thee. ¹³Instruct thy son, and labour about him, lest his lewd behaviour be an offence to thee. ¹⁴Better is a poor man who is sound, and strong of constitution, than a rich man who is weak and afflicted with evils. ¹⁵Health of the soul in holiness of justice, is better then all gold and silver: and a sound body, than immense revenues. ¹⁶There is no riches above the riches of the health of the body: and there is no pleasure above the joy of the heart. ¹⁷Better is death than a bitter life: and everlasting rest, than continual sickness. ¹⁸Good things that are hidden in a mouth that is shut, are as masses of meat set about a grave. ¹⁹What good shall an offering do to an idol? for it can neither eat, nor smell: ²⁰So is he that is persecuted by the Lord, bearing the reward of his iniquity: ²¹He seeth with his eyes, and groaneth, as an eunuch embracing a virgin, and sighing. ²²Give not up thy soul to sadness, and afflict not thyself in thy own counsel. ²³The joyfulness of the heart, is the life of a man, and a never failing treasure of holiness: and the joy of a man is length of life. ²⁴Have pity on thy own soul, pleasing God, and contain thyself: gather up thy heart in his holiness: and drive away sadness far from thee. ²⁵For sadness hath killed many, and there is no profit in it. ²⁶Envy and anger shorten a man's days, and pensiveness will bring old age before the time. ²⁷A Cheerful and good heart is always feasting: for his banquets are prepared with diligence.

Chapter 31

¹Watching for riches consumeth the flesh, and the thought thereof driveth away sleep. ²The thinking beforehand turneth away the understanding, and a grievous sickness maketh the soul sober. ³The rich man hath laboured in gathering riches together, and when he resteth he shall be filled with his goods. ⁴The poor man hath laboured in his low way of life, and in the end he is still poor. ⁵He that loveth gold, shall not be justified: and he that followeth after corruption, shall be filled with it. ⁶Many have been brought to fall for gold, and the beauty thereof hath been their ruin. ⁷Gold is a stumblingblock to them that sacrifice to it: woe to them that eagerly follow after it, and every fool shall perish by it. ⁸Blessed is the rich man that is found without blemish: and that hath not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money nor in treasures. ⁹Who is he, and we will praise him? for he hath done wonderful things in his life. ¹⁰Who hath been tried thereby, and made perfect, he shall have glory everlasting. He that could have transgressed, and hath not transgressed: and could do evil things, and hath not done them: ¹¹Therefore are his goods established in the Lord, and all the church of the saints shall declare his alms. ¹²Art thou set at a great table? be not the first to open thy mouth upon it. ¹³Say not: There are many things which are upon it. ¹⁴Remember that a wicked eye is evil. ¹⁵What is created more wicked than an eye? therefore shall it weep over all the face when it shall see. ¹⁶Stretch not out thy hand first, lest being disgraced with envy thou be put to confusion. ¹⁷Be not hasty in a feast. ¹⁸Judge of the disposition of thy neighbour by thyself. ¹⁹Use as a frugal man the things that are set before thee: lest if thou eatest much, thou be hated. ²⁰Leave off first, for manners' sake: and exceed not, lest thou offend. ²¹21And if thou sittest among many, reach not thy hand out first of all: and be not the first to ask for drink. ²²How sufficient is a little wine for a man well taught, and in sleeping thou shalt not be uneasy with it, and thou shalt feel no pain. ²³Watching, and choler, and gripes, are with an intemperate man: ²⁴Sound and wholesome sleep with a moderate man: he shall sleep till morning, and his soul shall be delighted with him. ²⁵And if thou hast been forced to eat much, arise, go out, and vomit: and it shall refresh thee, and thou shalt not bring sickness upon thy body. ²⁶Hear me, my son, and despise me not: and in the end thou shalt find my words. ²⁷In all thy works be quick, and no infirmity shall come to thee. ²⁸The lips of many shall bless him that is liberal of his bread, and the testimony of his truth is faithful. ²⁹Against him that is niggardly of his bread, the city will murmur, and the testimony of his niggardliness is true. ³⁰Challenge not them that love wine: for wine hath destroyed very many. ³¹Fire trieth hard iron: so wine drunk to excess shall rebuke the hearts of the proud. ³²Wine taken with sobriety is equal lire to men: if thou drink it moderately, thou shalt be sober. ³³What is his life, who is diminished with wine? ³⁴What taketh away life? death. ³⁵Wine was created from the beginning to make men joyful, and not to make them drunk. ³⁶Wine drunken with moderation is the joy of the soul and the heart. ³⁷Sober drinking is health to soul and body. ³⁸Wine drunken with excess raiseth quarrels; and wrath, and many ruins. ³⁹Wine drunken with excess is bitterness of the soul. ⁴⁰The heat of drunkenness is the stumblingblock of the fool, lessening strength and causing wounds. ⁴¹Rebuke not thy neighbour in a banquet of wine: and despise him not in hip mirth. ⁴²Speak not to him words of reproach: and press him not in demanding again.

Chapter 32

¹Have they made thee ruler? be not lifted up: be among them as one of them. ²Have care of them, and so sit down, and when thou hast acquitted thyself of all thy charge, take thy place : ³That thou mayst rejoice for them, and receive a crown as an ornament of grace, and get the honour of the contribution. ⁴Speak, thou that art elder: for it becometh thee, ⁵To speak the first word with care knowledge, and hinder not music. ⁶Where there is no hearing, pour out words, and be not lifted up out season with thy wisdom. ⁷7A concert of music in a banquet wine is as a carbuncle set in gold. ⁸As a signet of an emerald in a work of gold: so is the melody of music with pleasant and moderate wine. ⁹Hear in silence, and for thy reverence good grace shall come to thee. ¹⁰Young man, scarcely speak in thy own cause. ¹¹If thou be asked twice, let thy answer be short. ¹²In many things be as if thou wert ignorant, and hear in silence and withal seeking. ¹³In the company of great men bake not upon thee: and when the ancients are present, speak not much. ¹⁴Before a storm goeth lightning: and before shamefacedness goeth favour: and for thy reverence good grace shall come to thee. ¹⁵And at the time of rising be not slack: but be first to run home to thy house, and there withdraw thyself, and there take thy pastime. ¹⁶And do what thou hast a mind, but not in sin or proud speech. ¹⁷And for all these things bless the Lord, that made thee, and that replenisheth thee with all his good things. ¹⁸He that feareth the Lord, will receive his discipline: and they that will seek him early, shall find a blessing. ¹⁹He that seeketh the law, shall be filled with it: and he that dealeth deceitfully, shall meet with a stumblingblock therein. ²⁰They that fear the Lord, shall find just judgment, and shall kindle justice as a light. ²¹A sinful man will flee reproof, and will find an excuse according to his will. ²²A man of counsel will not neglect understanding, a strange and proud man will not dread fear: ²³Even after he hath done with fear without counsel, he shall be controlled by the things of his own seeking. ²⁴My son, do thou nothing without counsel, and thou shalt not repent when thou hast done. ²⁵Go not in the way of ruin, and thou shalt not stumble against the stones; trust not thyself to a rugged may, lest thou set a stumblingblock to thy soul. ²⁶And beware of thy own children, and take heed of them of thy household. ²⁷In every work of thine regard thy soul in faith: for this is the keeping of the commandments. ²⁸He that believeth God, taketh heed to the commandments: and he that trusteth in him, shall fare never the worse.

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¹No evils shall happen to him that feareth the Lord, but in temptation God will keep him, and deliver him from evils. ²A wise man hateth not the commandments and justices, and he shall not be dashed in pieces as a ship in a storm. ³A man of understanding is faithful to the law of God, and the law is faithful to him. ⁴He that cleareth up a question, shall prepare what to say, and so having prayed he shall be heard, and shall keep discipline, and then he shall answer. ⁵The heart of a fool is as a wheel of a cart: and his thoughts are like a rolling axletree. ⁶A friend that is a mocker, is like a stallion horse: he neigheth under every one that sitteth upon him. ⁷Why doth one day excel another, and one light another, and one year another year, when all come of the sun? ⁸By the knowledge of the Lord they were distinguished, the sun being made, and keeping his commandment. ⁹And he ordered the seasons, and holidays of them, and in them they celebrated festivals at an hour. ¹⁰Some of them God made high and great days, and some of them he put in the number of ordinary days. And all men are from the ground, and out of the earth, from whence Adam was created. ¹¹With much knowledge the Lord hath divided them and diversified their ways. ¹²Some of them hath he blessed, and exalted: and some of them hath he sanctified, and set near himself: and some of them hath he cursed and brought low, end turned them from their station. ¹³As the potter's clay is in his hand, to fashion and order it: ¹⁴All his ways are according to his ordering: so man is in the hand of him that made him, and he will render to him according to his judgment. ¹⁵Good is set against evil, and life against death: so also is the sinner against a just man. And so look upon all the works of the most High. Two and two, and one against another. ¹⁶And I awaked last of all, and as one that gathereth after the grapegatherers. ¹⁷In the blessing of God I also have hoped: and as one that gathereth grapes, have I filled the winepress. ¹⁸See that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all that seek discipline. ¹⁹Hear me, ye great men, and all ye people, and hearken with your ears, ye rulers of the church. ²⁰Give not to son or wife, brother or friend, power over thee while thou livest; and give not thy estate to another, lest then repent, and thou entreat for the same. ²¹As long as thou livest, and hast breath in thee, let no man change thee. ²²For it is better that thy children should ask of thee, than that thou look toward the hands of thy children. ²³In all thy works keep the pre-eminence. ²⁴Let no stain sully thy glory. In the time when thou shalt end the days of thy life, and in the time of thy decease, distribute thy inheritance. ²⁵Fodder, and a wand, and a burden are for an ass: bread, and correction, and work for a slave. ²⁶He worketh under correction, and seeketh to rest: let his hands be idle, and he seeketh liberty. ²⁷The yoke and the thong bend a stiff neck, and continual labours bow a slave. ²⁸Torture and fetters are for a malicious slave: send him to work, that he be not idle: ²⁹For idleness hath taught much evil. ³⁰Set him to work: for so it is fit for him. And if he be not obedient, bring him down with fetters, but be not excessive towards any one: and do no grievous thing without judgment. ³¹If thou have a faithful servant, let him be to thee as thy own soul: treat him as a brother: because in the blood of thy soul thou hast gotten him. ³²If thou hurt him unjustly, he will run away: ³³And if he rise up and depart, thou knowest not whom to ask, and in what way to seek him.

Chapter 34

¹The hopes of a man that is void of understanding are vain and deceitful: and dreams lift up fools. ²The man that giveth heed to lying visions, is like to him that catcheth at a shadow, and followeth after the wind. ³The vision of dreams is the resemblance of one thing to another: as when a man's likeness is before the face of a man. ⁴What can be made clean by the unclean? and what truth can come from that which is false? ⁵Deceitful divinations and lying omens and the dreams of evildoers, are vanity: ⁶And the heart fancieth as that of a woman in travail: except it be a vision sent forth from the most High, set no thy heart upon them. ⁷For dreams have deceived many, and they have failed that put their trust in them. ⁸The word of the law shall be fulfilled without a lie, and wisdom shall be made plain in the mouth of the faithful. ⁹What doth he know, that hath not been tried? A man that hath much experience, shall think of many things: and he that hath learned many things, shall shew forth understanding. ¹⁰He that hath no experience, knoweth little: and he that hath been experienced in many things, multiplieth prudence. ¹¹He that hath not been tried, what manner of things doth he know? he that hath been surprised, shall abound with subtlety. ¹²I have seen many things by travelling, and many customs of things. ¹³Sometimes I have been in danger of death for these things, and I have been delivered by the grace of God. ¹⁴The spirit of those that fear God; is sought after, and by his regard shall be blessed. ¹⁵For their hope is on him that saveth them, and the eyes of God are upon them that love him. ¹⁶He that feareth the Lord shall tremble at nothing, and shall not be afraid for he is his hope. ¹⁷The soul of him that feareth the Lord is blessed. ¹⁸To whom doth he look, and who in his strength? ¹⁹The eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear him, he is their powerful protector, and strong stay, a defence from the heat, and a cover from the sun at noon, ²⁰A preservation from stumbling, and a help from falling; he raiseth up the soul, and enlighteneth the eyes, and giveth health, and life, and blessing. ²¹The offering of him that sacrificeth of a thing wrongfully gotten, is stained, and the mockeries of the unjust are not acceptable. ²²The Lord is only for them that wait upon him in the way of truth and justice. ²³The most High approveth not the gifts of the wicked: neither hath he respect to the oblations of the unjust, nor will he be pacified for sine by the multitude of their sacrifices. ²⁴He that offereth sacrifice of the goods of the poor, is as one that sacrificeth the son in the presence of his father. ²⁵The bread of the needy, is the life of the poor: he that defraudeth them thereof, is a man of blood. ²⁶He that taketh away the bread gotten by sweat, is like him that killeth his neighbour. ²⁷He that sheddeth blood, and he that defraudeth the labourer of his hire, are brothers. ²⁸When one buildeth up, and another pulleth down: what profit have they but the labour? ²⁹When one prayeth, and another curseth: whose voice will God hear? ³⁰He that washeth himself after touching the dead, if he toucheth him again, what doth his washing avail? ³¹So a man that fasteth for his sins, and doth the same again, what doth his humbling himself profit him? who will hear his prayer?

Chapter 35

¹He that keepeth the law, multiplieth offerings. ²It is a wholesome sacrifice to take heed to the commandments, and to depart from all iniquity. _J ³And to depart from injustice, is to offer a propitiatory sacrifice for injustices, and a begging of pardon for sins. ⁴He shall return thanks, that offereth fine flour: and he that doth mercy, offereth sacrifice. ⁵To depart from iniquity is that which pleaseth the Lord, and to depart from injustice, is an entreaty for sins. ⁶Thou shalt not appear empty in the sight of the Lord. ⁷For all these things are to be done because of the commandment of God. ⁸The oblation of the just maketh the altar fat, and is an odour of sweetness in the sight of the most High. ⁹The sacrifice of the just is acceptable, and the Lord will not forget the memorial thereof. ¹⁰Give glory to God with a good heart: and diminish not the firstfruits of thy hands. ¹¹In every gift shew a cheerful countenance, and sanctify thy tithes with joy. ¹²Give to the most High according to what he hath given to thee, and with a good eye do according to the ability of thy hands: ¹³For the Lord maketh recompense, and will give thee seven times as much. ¹⁴Do not offer wicked gifts, for such he will not receive. ¹⁵And look not upon an unjust sacrifice, for the Lord is judge, and there is not with him respect of person. ¹⁶The Lord will not accept any person against a poor man, and he will hear the prayer of him that is wronged. ¹⁷He will not despise the prayers of the fatherless; nor the widow, when she poureth out her complaint. ¹⁸Do not the widow's tears run down the cheek, and her cry against him that causeth them to fall? ¹⁹For from the cheek they go up even to heaven, and the Lord that heareth will not be delighted with them. ²⁰He that adoreth God with joy, shall be accepted, and his prayer shall approach even to the clouds. ²¹The prayer of him that humbleth himself, shall pierce the clouds: and till it come nigh he will not be comforted: and he will not depart till the most High behold. ²²And the Lord will not be slack, but will judge for the just, and will do judgment: and the Almighty will not have patience with them, that he may crush their back: ²³And he will repay vengeance to the Gentiles, till he have taken away the multitude of the proud, and broken the sceptres of the unjust, ²⁴Till he have rendered to men according to their deeds: and according to the works of Adam, and according to his presumption, ²⁵Till he have judged the cause of his people, and he shall delight the just with his mercy. ²⁶The mercy of God is beautiful in the time of affliction, as a cloud of rain in the time of drought.

Chapter 36

¹Have mercy upon us, O God of all, and behold us, and shew us the light of thy mercies: ²And send thy fear upon the nations, that have not sought after thee: that they may know that there is no God beside thee, and that they may shew forth thy wonders. ³Lift up thy hand over the strange nations, that they may see thy power. ⁴For as thou hast been sanctified in us in their sight, so thou shalt be magnified among them in our presence, ⁵That they may know thee, as we also have known thee, that there is no God beside thee, O Lord. ⁶Renew thy signs, and work new miracles. ⁷Glorify thy hand, and thy right arm. ⁸Raise up indignation, and pour out wrath. ⁹Take away the adversary, and crush the enemy. ¹⁰Hasten the time, and remember the end, that they may declare thy wonderful works. ¹¹11Let him that escapeth be consumed by the rage of the fire: and let them perish that oppress thy people. ¹²Crush the head of the princes of the enemies that say: There is no other beside us. ¹³Gather together all the tribes of Jacob: that they may know that there is no God besides thee, and may declare thy great works: and thou shalt inherit them as from the beginning. ¹⁴Have mercy on thy people, upon whom thy name is invoked: and upon Israel, m whom thou hast raised up to be thy firstborn. ¹⁵Have mercy on Jerusalem, the city which thou hast sanctified, the city of thy rest. ¹⁶Fill Sion with thy unspeakable words, and thy people with thy glory. ¹⁷Give testimony to them that are thy creatures from the beginning, and raise up the prophecies which the former prophets spoke in thy name. ¹⁸Reward them that patiently wait for thee, that thy prophets may be found faithful: and hear the prayers of thy servants, ¹⁹According to the blessing of Aaron over thy people, and direct us into the way of justice, and let all know that dwell upon the earth, that thou art God the beholder of all ages. ²⁰The belly will devour all meat, yet one is better than another. ²¹21The palate tasteth venison and the wise heart false speeches. ²²A perverse heart will cause grief, and a man of experience will resist it. ²³A woman will receive every man: yet one daughter is better than another. ²⁴The beauty of a woman cheereth the countenance of her husband, and a man desireth nothing more. ²⁵If she have a tongue that can cure, and likewise mitigate and shew mercy: her husband is not like other men. ²⁶He that possesseth a good wife, beginneth a possession: she is a help like to himself, and a pillar of rest. ²⁷Where there is no hedge, the possession shall be spoiled: and where there is no wife, he mourneth that is in want. ²⁸Who will trust him that hath no rest, and that lodgeth wheresoever the night taketh him, as a robber well appointed, that skippeth from city to city.

Chapter 37

¹Every friend will say: I also am his friend: but there is a friend, that is only a friend in name. Is not this a grief even to death? ²But a companion and a friend shall be turned to an enemy. ³O wicked presumption, whence camest thou to cover the earth with thy malice, and deceitfulness? ⁴There is a companion who rejoiceth with his friend in his joys, but in the time of trouble, he will be against him. ⁵There is a companion who condoleth with his friend for his belly's sake, and he will take up a shield against enemy. ⁶Forget not thy friend in thy mind, and be not unmindful of him in thy riches. ⁷Consult not with him that layeth a snare for thee, and hide thy counsel from them that envy thee. ⁸Every counsellor giveth out counsel, but there is one that is a counsellor for himself. ⁹Beware of a counsellor. And know before what need he hath: for he will devise to his own mind: ¹⁰Lest he thrust a stake into the ground, and say to thee: ¹¹Thy way is good; and then stand on the other side to see what shall befall thee. ¹²Treat not with a man without religion concerning holiness, nor with an unjust man concerning justice, nor with a woman touching her of whom she is jealous, nor with a coward concerning war, nor with a merchant about traffic, nor with a buyer of selling, nor with an envious man of giving thanks, ¹³Nor with the ungodly of piety, nor with the dishonest of honesty, nor with the held labourer of every work ¹⁴Nor with him that worketh by the year of the finishing of the year, nor with an idle servant of much business: give no heed to these in any matter of counsel. ¹⁵But be continually with a holy man, whomsoever thou shalt know to observe the fear of God, ¹⁶Whose soul is according to thy own soul: and who, when thou shalt stumble in the dark, will be sorry for thee. ¹⁷And establish within thyself a heart of good counsel: for there is no other thing of more worth to thee than it. ¹⁸The soul of a holy man discovereth sometimes true things, more than seven watchmen that sit in a high piece to watch. ¹⁹But above all these things pray to the most High, that he may direct thy way in truth. ²⁰In all thy works let the true word go before thee, and steady counsel before every action. ²¹A wicked word shall change the beast: out of which four manner of things arise, good and evil, life and death: and the tongue is continually the ruler of them. There is a man that is subtle and a teacher of many, and yet is unprofitable to his own soul. ²²A skilful man hath taught many, and is sweet to his own soul. ²³He that speaketh sophistically, is hateful: he shall be destitute of every thing. ²⁴Grace is not given him from the Lord: for he is deprived of all wisdom. ²⁵There is a wise man that is wise to his own soul: and the fruit of his understanding is commendable. ²⁶A wise man instructeth his own people, and the fruits of his understanding are faithful. ²⁷A wise man shall be filled with blessings, and they that see shall praise him. ²⁸The life of a man is in the number of his days: but the days of Israel are innumerable. ²⁹A wise man shall inherit honour among his people, and his name shall live for ever. ³⁰My son, prove thy soul in thy life: and if it be wicked, give it no power: ³¹For all things are not expedient for all, and every kind pleaseth not every soul. ³²Be not greedy in any feasting, and pour not out thyself upon any meat: ³³For in many meats there will be sickness, and greediness will turn to choler. ³⁴By surfeiting many have perished: but he that is temperate, shall prolong life.

Chapter 38

¹Honour the physician for the need thou hast of him: for the most High hath created him. ²For all healing is from God, and he shall receive gifts of the king. ³The skill of the physician shall lift up his head, and in the sight of great men he shall be praised. ⁴The most High hath created medicines out of the earth, and a wise man will not abhor them. ⁵Was not bitter water made sweet with wood? ⁶The virtue of these things is come to the knowledge of men, and the meet High hath given knowledge to men, that he may be honoured in his wonders. ⁷By these he shall cure and shall allay their pains, and of these the apothecary shall make sweet confections, and shall make up ointments of health, and of his works there shall be no end. ⁸For the peace of God is over all the face of the earth. ⁹My son, in thy sickness neglect not thyself, but pray to the Lord, and he shall heal thee. ¹⁰Turn away from sin and order thy hands aright, and cleanse thy heart from all offence. ¹¹Give a sweet savour, and a memorial of fine flour, and make a fat offering, and then give place to the physician. ¹²For the Lord created him: and let him not depart from thee, for his works are necessary. ¹³For there is a time when thou must fall into their hands: ¹⁴And they shall beseech the Lord, that he would prosper what they give for ease and remedy, for their conversation. ¹⁵He that sinneth in the sight of his Maker, shall fall into the hands of the physician. ¹⁶My son, shed tears over the dead, and begin to lament as if thou hadst suffered some great harm, and according to judgment cover his body, and neglect not his burial. ¹⁷And for fear of being ill spoken of weep bitterly for a, day, and then comfort thyself in thy sadness. ¹⁸And make mourning for him according to his merit for a day, or two, for fear of detraction. ¹⁹For of sadness cometh death, and it overwhelmeth the strength, and the sorrow of the heart boweth down the neck. ²⁰In withdrawing aside sorrow remaineth: and the substance of the poor is according to his heart. ²¹Give not up thy heart to sadness, but drive it from thee: and remember the latter end. ²²Forget it not: for there is no returning, and thou shalt do him no good, and shalt hurt thyself. ²³Remember my judgment: for also shall be so: yesterday for me, and to day for thee. ²⁴When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest, and comfort him in the departing of his spirit. ²⁵The wisdom of a scribe cometh by his time of leisure: and he that is less in action, shall receive wisdom. ²⁶With what wisdom shall he be furnished that holdeth the plough, and that glorieth in the goad, that driveth the oxen therewith, and is occupied in their labours, and his whole talk is about the offspring of bulls? ²⁷He shall give his mind to turn up furrows, and his care is to give the kine fodder. ²⁸So every craftsman and workmaster that laboureth night and day, he who maketh graven seals, and by his continual diligence varieth the figure: he shall give his mind to the resemblance of the picture, and by his watching shall finish the work. ²⁹So doth the smith sitting by the anvil and considering the iron work. The vapour of the fire wasteth his flesh, and he fighteth with the heat of the furnace. ³⁰The noise of the hammer is always in his ears, and his eye is upon the pat tern of the vessel he maketh. ³¹He setteth his mind to finish his work, and his watching to polish them, to perfection. ³²So doth the potter sitting at his work, turning the wheel about with his feet, who is always carefully set to his work, and maketh all his work by number: ³³He fashioneth the clay with his arm, and boweth down his strength before his feet: ³⁴He shall give his mind to finish the glazing, and his watching to make clean the furnace. ³⁵All these trust to their hands, and every one is wise in his own art. ³⁶Without these a city is not built. ³⁷And they shall not dwell, nor walk about therein, and they shall not go up into the assembly. ³⁸Upon the judges' seat they shall not sit, and the ordinance of judgment they shall not understand, neither shall they declare discipline and judgment, and they shall not be found where parables are spoken: ³⁹But they shall strengthen the state of the world, and their prayer shall be in the work of their craft, applying their soul, and searching in the law of the most High.

Chapter 39

¹The wise men will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients, and will be occupied in the prophets. ²He will keep the sayings of renowned men, and will enter withal into the subtilties of parables. ³He will search out the hidden meanings of proverbs, and will be conversant in the secrets of parables. ⁴He shall serve among great men, and: appear before the governor. ⁵He shall pass into strange countries: for he shall try good and evil among men. ⁶He will give his heart to resort early to the Lord that made him, and he will pray in the sight of the most High. ⁷He will open his mouth in prayer, and will make supplication for his sins. ⁸For if it shall please the great Lord, he will fill him with the spirit of understanding: ⁹And he will pour forth the words of his wisdom as showers, and in his prayer he will confess to the Lord. ¹⁰And he shall direct his counsel, and his knowledge, and in his secrets shall he meditate. ¹¹He shall shew forth the discipline he hath learned, and shall glory in the law of the covenant of the Lord. ¹²Many shall praise his wisdom, and it shall never be forgotten. ¹³The memory of him shall not depart away, and his name shall be in request from generation to generation. ¹⁴Nations shall declare his wisdom, and the church shall shew forth his praise. ¹⁵If he continue, he shall leave a name above a thousand: and if he rest, it shall be to his advantage. ¹⁶I will yet meditate that I may declare: for I am filled as with a holy transport. ¹⁷By a voice he saith: Hear me, ye divine offspring, and bud forth as the rose planted by the brooks of waters. ¹⁸Give ye a sweet odour as frankincense. ¹⁹Send forth flowers, as the lily, and yield a smell, and bring forth leaves in grace, and praise with canticles, and bless the Lord in his works. ²⁰Magnify his name, and give glory to him with the voice of your lips, and with the canticles of your mouths, and with harps, and in praising him, you shall say in this manner: ²¹All the works of the Lord are exceeding good. ²²At his word the waters stood as a heap: and at the words of his mouth the receptacles of waters: ²³For at his commandment favour is shewn, and there is no diminishing of his salvation. ²⁴The works of all flesh are before him, and there is nothing hid from his eyes. ²⁵He seeth from eternity to eternity, and there is nothing wonderful before him. ²⁶There is no saying: What is this, or what is that? for all things shall be sought in their time. ²⁷His blessing hath overflowed like a river. ²⁸And as a flood hath watered the earth; so shall his wrath inherit the nations, that have not sought after him: ²⁹Even as he turned the waters into a dry land, and the earth was made dry: and his ways were made plain for their journey: so to sinners they are stumblingblocks in his wrath. ³⁰Good things were created for the good from the beginning, so for the wicked, good and evil things. ³¹The principal things necessary for the life of men, are water, fire, and iron, salt, milk, and bread of flour, and honey, and the cluster of the grape, and oil, and clothing. ³²All these things shall be for good to the holy, so to the sinners and the ungodly they shall be turned into evil. ³³There are spirits that are created for vengeance, and in their fury they lay on grievous torments. ³⁴In the time of destruction they shall pour out their force: and they shall appease the wrath of him that made them. ³⁵Fire, hail, famine, and death, all these were created for vengeance. ³⁶The teeth of beasts, and scorpions, and serpents, and the sword taking vengeance upon the ungodly unto destruction. ³⁷In his commandments they shall feast, and they shall be ready upon earth when need is, and when their time is come they shall not transgress his word. ³⁸Therefore from the beginning I was resolved, and I have meditated, and thought on these things and left them in writing. ³⁹All the works of the Lord are good, and he will furnish every work in due time. ⁴⁰It is not to be said: This is worse than that: for all shall be well approved in their time. ⁴¹Now therefore with the whole heart and mouth praise ye him, and bless the name of the Lord.

Chapter 40

¹Great labour is created for all men, and a heavy yoke is upon the children of Adam, from the day of their coming out of their mother's womb, until the day of their burial into the mother of all. ²Their thoughts, and fears of the heart, their imagination of things to come, and the day of their end: ³From him that sitteth on a glorious throne, unto him that is humbled in earth and ashes: ⁴From him that weareth purple, and beareth the crown, even to him that is covered with rough linen: wrath, envy, trouble, unquietness, and the fear of death, continual anger, and strife, ⁵And in the time of rest upon his bed, the sleep of the night changeth his knowledge. ⁶A little and as nothing is his rest, and afterward in sleep, as in the day of keeping watch. ⁷He is troubled in the vision of his heart, as if he had escaped in the day of battle. In the time of his safety he rose up, and wondereth that there is no fear: ⁸Such things happen to all flesh, from man even to beast, and upon sinners are sevenfold mere. ⁹Moreover, death, and bloodshed, strife, and sword, oppressions, famine, and affliction, and scourges: ¹⁰All these things are created for the wicked, and for their sakes came the flood. ¹¹All things that are of the earth, shall return to the earth again, and all waters shall return to the sea. ¹²All bribery, and injustice shall blotted out, and fidelity shall stand for ever. ¹³The riches of the unjust shall be dried up like a river, and shall pass sway a noise like a great thunder in rain. ¹⁴While he openeth his hands he shall rejoice: but transgressors shall pine away in the end. ¹⁵The offspring of the ungodly shall not bring forth many branches, and make a noise as unclean roots upon the top of a rock. ¹⁶The weed growing over every water, and at the bank of the river, shall be pulled up before all grass. ¹⁷Grace is like a paradise in blessings, and mercy remaineth for ever. ¹⁸The life of a labourer that is content with what he hath, shall be sweet, and in it thou shalt find a treasure. ¹⁹Children, and the building of a city shall establish a name, but a blameless wife shall be counted above them both. ²⁰Wine and music rejoice the heart, but the love of wisdom is above them both. ²¹The flute and the psaltery make a sweet melody, but a pleasant tongue is above them both. ²²Thy eye desireth favour and beauty, but more than these green sown fields. ²³A friend and companion meeting together in season, but above them both is a wife with her husband. ²⁴Brethren are a help in the time of trouble, but mercy shall deliver more than they. ²⁵Gold and silver make the feet stand sure: but wise counsel is above them both. ²⁶Riches and strength lift up the heart: but above these is the fear of the Lord. ²⁷There is no want in the fear of the Lord, and it needeth not to seek for help. ²⁸The fear of the Lord is like a paradise of blessing, and they have covered it above all glory. ²⁹My son, in thy lifetime be not indigent: for it is better to die than to want. ³⁰The life of him that looketh toward another man's table is not to be counted a life: for he feedeth his soul with another man's meat. ³¹But a man, well instructed and taught, will look to himself. ³²Begging will be sweet in the mouth of the unwise, but in his belly there shall burn a fire.

Chapter 41

¹The children will complain of an ungodly father, because for his sake they are in reproach. ¹¹Woe to you, ungodly men, who have forsaken the law of the most high Lord. ¹²And if you be born, you shall be born in malediction: and if you die, in malediction shall be your portion. ¹³All things that are of the earth, shall return into the earth: so the ungodly shall from malediction to destruction. ¹⁴The mourning of men is about their body, but the name of the ungodly shall be blotted out. ¹⁵Take care of a good name: for this shall continue with thee, more than a thousand treasures precious and great. ¹⁶A good life hath its number of days: but a good name shall continue for ever. ¹⁷My children, keep discipline in peace: for wisdom that is hid, and a treasure that is not seen, what profit is there in them both? ¹⁸Better is the man that hideth his folly, then the man that hideth his wisdom. ¹⁹Wherefore have a shame of these things I am now going to speak of. ²⁰For it is not good to keep all shamefacedness: and all things do not please all men in opinion. ²¹Be ashamed of fornication before father and mother: and of a lie before a governor and a man in power: ²²Of an offence before a prince, and a judge: of iniquity before a congregation and a people: ²³Of injustice before a companion and friend: and in regard to the place where thou dwellest, ²⁴Of theft, and of the truth of God, and the covenant: of leaning with thy elbow over meat, and of deceit in giving and taking: ²⁵Of silence before them that salute thee: of looking upon a harlot: and of turning away thy face from thy kinsman. ²⁶Turn not sway thy face from thy neighbour, and of taking away a portion and not restoring. ²⁷Gaze not upon another man's wife, and be not inquisitive after his handmaid, and approach not her bed. ²⁸Be ashamed of upbraiding speeches before friends: and after thou hast given, upbraid not.

Chapter 42

¹Repeat not the word which thou hast heard, and disclose not the thing that is secret; so shalt thou be truly without confusion, and shall find favour before all men: be not ashamed of any of these things, and accept no person to sin thereby: ²Of the law of the most High, and of his covenant, and of judgment to justify the ungodly: ³Of the affair of companions and travellers, and of the gift of the inheritance of friends: ⁴Of exactness of balance and weights, of getting much or little: ⁵Of the corruption of buying, and of merchants, and of much correction of children, and to make the side of a wicked slave to bleed. ⁶Sure keeping is good over a wicked wife. ⁷Where there are many hands, shut up, and deliver all things in number, and weight: and put all in writing that thou givest out or receivest in. ⁸Be not ashamed to inform the unwise and foolish, and the aged, that are judged I by young men: and thou shalt be well instructed in all things, and well approved in the sight of all men living. ⁹The father waketh for the daughter when no man knoweth, and the care for her taketh away his sleep, when she is young, lest she pass away the flower of her age, and when she is married, lest she should be hateful: ¹⁰In her virginity, lest she should be corrupted, and be found with child in her father's house: and having a husband, lest she should misbehave herself, or at the least become barren. ¹¹Keep a sure watch over a shameless daughter: lest at any time she make thee become a laughingstock to thy enemies, and a byword in the city, and a reproach among the people, and she make thee ashamed before all the multitude. ¹²Behold not everybody's beauty: and tarry not among women. ¹³For from garments cometh a moth, end from a woman the iniquity of a man. ¹⁴For better is the iniquity of a man, than a woman doing a good turn, and a woman bringing shame and reproach. ¹⁵I will now remember the works of the Lord, and I will declare the things I have seen. By the words of the Lord are his works. ¹⁶The sun giving light hath looked upon all things, and full of the glory of the Lord is his work. ¹⁷Hath not the Lord made the saints to declare all his wonderful works, which the Lord Almighty hath firmly settled to be established for his glory? ¹⁸He hath searched out the deep, and the heart of men: and considered their crafty devices. ¹⁹For the Lord knoweth all knowledge, and hath beheld the signs of the world, he declareth the things that are past, and the things that are to come, and revealeth the traces of hidden things. ²⁰No thought escapeth him, and no word can hide itself from him. ²¹He hath beautified the glorious works of his wisdom: and he Is from eternity to eternity, and to him nothing may be added, ²²Nor can he be diminished, and he hath no need of any counsellor. ²³O how desirable are all his works, and what we can know is but as a spark! ²⁴All these things live, and remain for ever, and for every use all things obey him. ²⁵All things are double, one against another, and he hath made nothing defective. ²⁶He hath established the good things of every one. And who shall be filled with beholding his glory?

Chapter 43

¹The firmament on high is his beauty, the beauty of heaven with its glorious shew. ²The sun when he appeareth shewing forth at his rising, an admirable instrument, the work of the most High. ³At noon he burneth the earth, and who can abide his burning heat? As one keeping a furnace in the works of heat: ⁴The sun three times as much, burneth the mountains, breathing out fiery vapours, and shining with his beams, he blindeth the eyes. ⁵Great is the Lord that made him, and at his words he hath hastened his course. ⁶And the moon in all in her season, is for a declaration of times and a sign of the world. ⁷From the moon is the sign of the festival day, a light that decreaseth in her perfection. ⁸The month is called after her name, increasing wonderfully in her perfection ⁹Being an instrument of the armies on high, shining gloriously in the Armament of heaven. ¹⁰The glory of the stars is the beauty of heaven; the Lord enlighteneth the world on high. ¹¹By the words of the holy one they shall stand in judgment, and shall never fail in their watches. ¹²Look upon the rainbow, and bless him that made it: it is very beautiful in its brightness. ¹³It encompasseth the heaven about with the circle of its glory, the hands of the most High have displayed it. ¹⁴By his commandment he maketh the snow to fall apace, and sendeth forth swiftly the lightnings of his judgment. ¹⁵Through this are the treasures opened, and the clouds fly out like birds. ¹⁶By his greatness he hath fixed the clouds, and the hailstones are broken. ¹⁷At his sight shall the mountains be shaken, and at his will the south wind shall blow. ¹⁸The noise of his thunder shall strike the earth, so doth the northern storm, and the whirlwind: ¹⁹And as the birds lighting upon the earth, he scattereth snow, and the falling thereof, is as the coming down of locusts. ²⁰The eye admireth at the beauty of the whiteness thereof, and the heart is astonished at the shower thereof. ²¹He shall pour frost as salt upon the earth: and when it freezeth, it shall become like the tops of thistles. ²²The cold north wind bloweth, and the water is congealed into crystal; upon every gathering together of waters it shall rest, and shall clothe the waters as a breastplate. ²³And it shall devour the mountains, and burn the wilderness, and consume all that is green as with fire. ²⁴A present remedy of all is the speedy coming of a cloud, and a dew that meeteth it, by the heat that cometh, shall overpower it. ²⁵At his word the wind is still, and with his thought he appeaseth the deep, and the Lord hath planted islands therein. ²⁶Let them that sail on the sea, tell the dangers thereof: and when we hear with our ears, we shall admire. ²⁷There are great and wonderful works: a variety of beasts, and of all living things, and the monstrous creatures of whales. ²⁸Through him is established the end of their journey, and by his word all things are regulated. ²⁹We shall say much, and yet shall want words: but the sum of our words is, He is all. ³⁰What shall we be able to do to glorify him? for the Almighty himself is above all his works. ³¹31The Lord is terrible, and exceeding great, and his power is admirable. ³²Glorify the Lord as much as ever you can, for he will yet far exceed, and his magnificence is wonderful. ³³Blessing the Lord, exalt him as much as you can: for he is above all praise. ³⁴When you exalt him put forth all your strength, and be not weary: for you can never go far enough. ³⁵Who shall see him, and declare him? and who shall magnify him as he is from the beginning? ³⁶There are many things hidden from us that are greater than these: for we have seen but a few of his works. ³⁷But the Lord hath made all things, and to the godly he hath given wisdom.

Chapter 44

¹Let us now praise men of renown, and our fathers in their generation. ²The Lord hath wrought great glory through his magnificence from the beginning. ³Such as have borne rule in their dominions, men of great power, and endued with their wisdom, shewing forth in the prophets the dignity of prophets, ⁴And ruling over the present people, and by the strength of wisdom instructing the people in most holy words. ⁵Such as by their skill sought out musical tunes, and published canticles of the scriptures. ⁶Rich men in virtue, studying beautifulness: living at peace in their houses. ⁷All these have gained glory in their generations, and were praised in their days. ⁸They that were born of them have left a name behind them, that their praises might be related: ⁹And there are some, of whom there is no memorial: who are perished, as if they had never been: and are become as if they had never been born, and their children with them. ¹⁰But these were men of mercy, whose godly deeds have not failed: ¹¹Good things continue with their seed, ¹²Their posterity are a holy inheritance, and their seed hath stood in the covenants. ¹³And their children for their sakes remain for ever: their seed and their glory shall not be forsaken. ¹⁴Their bodies are buried in peace, and their name liveth unto generation and generation. ¹⁵Let the people shew forth their wisdom, and the church declare their praise. ¹⁶Henoch pleased God, and was translated into paradise, that he may give repentance to the nations. ¹⁷Noe was found perfect, just, and in the time of wrath he was made a reconciliation. ¹⁸Therefore was there a remnant left to the earth, when the flood came. ¹⁹The covenants of the world were made with him, that all flesh should no more be destroyed with the hood. ²⁰Abraham was the great father of a multitude of nations, and there was not found the like to him in glory, who kept the law of the most High, and was in covenant with him. ²¹In his flesh he established the covenant, and in temptation he was found faithful. ²²Therefore by an oath he gave him glory in his posterity, that he should increase as the dust of the earth, ²³And that he would exalt his seed as the stars, and they should inherit from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. ²⁴And he did in like manner with Isaac for the sake of Abraham his father. ²⁵The Lord gave him the blessing of all nations, and confirmed his covenant upon the head of Jacob. ²⁶He acknowledged him in his blessings, and gave him an inheritance, and divided him his portion in twelve tribes. ²⁷And he preserved for him men of mercy, that found grace in the eyes of all flesh.

Chapter 45

¹Moses was beloved of God, and men: whose memory is in benediction. ²He made him like the saints in glory, and magnified him in the fear of his enemies, and with his words he made prodigies to cease. ³He glorified him in the sight of kings, and gave him commandments in the sight of his people, and shewed him his glory. ⁴He sanctified him in his faith, and meekness, and chose him out of all flesh. ⁵For he heard him, and his voice, and brought him into a cloud. ⁶And he gave him commandments before his face, and a law of life and instruction, that he might teach Jacob his covenant, and Israel his judgments. ⁷He exalted Aaron his brother, and like to himself of the tribe of Levi: ⁸He made an everlasting covenant with him, and gave him the priesthood of the nation, and made him blessed in glory, ⁹And he girded him about with a glorious girdle, and clothed him with a robe of glory, and crowned him with majestic attire. ¹⁰He put upon him a garment to the feet, and breeches, and as ephod, and he compassed him with many little bells of gold all round about, ¹¹That as he went there might be a sound, and a noise made that might be heard in the temple, for a memorial to the children of his people. ¹²He gave him a holy robe of gold, and blue, and purple, a woven work of a wise man, endued with judgment and truth: ¹³Of twisted scarlet the work of an artist, with precious stones cut and set in gold, and graven by the work of a lapidary for a memorial, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁴And a crown of gold upon his mitre wherein was engraved Holiness, an ornament of honour: a work of power, and delightful to the eyes for its beauty. ¹⁵Before him there were none so beautiful, even from the beginning. ¹⁶No stranger was ever clothed with them, but only his children alone, and his grandchildren for ever. ¹⁷His sacrifices were consumed with fire every day. ¹⁸Moses filled his hands and anointed him with holy oil. ¹⁹This was made to him for an everlasting testament, and to his seed as the days of heaven, to execute the office of the priesthood, and to have praise, and to glorify his people in his name. ²⁰He chose him out of all men living, to offer sacrifice to God, incense, and a good savour, for a memorial to make reconciliation for his people: ²¹And he gave him power in his commandments, in the covenants of his judgments, that he should teach Jacob his testimonies, and give light to Israel in his law. ²²And strangers stood up against him, and through envy the men that were with Dathan and Abiron, compassed him about in the wilderness, and the congregation of Core in their wrath. ²³The Lord God saw and it pleased him not, and they were consumed in his wrathful indignation. ²⁴He wrought wonders upon them, and consumed them with a flame of fire. ²⁵And he added glory to Aaron, and gave him an inheritance, and divided unto him the firstfruits of the increase of the earth. ²⁶He prepared them bread in the first place unto fulness: for the sacrifices also of the Lord they shall eat, which he gave to him, and to his seed. ²⁷But he shall not inherit among the people in the land, and he hath no portion among the people: for he himself is his portion and inheritance. ²⁸Phinees the son of Eleazar is the third in glory, by imitating him in the fear of the Lord: ²⁹And he stood up in the shameful fall of the people: in the goodness and readiness of his soul he appeased God for Israel. ³⁰Therefore he made to him a covenant of peace, to be the prince of the sanctuary, and of his people, that the dignity of priesthood should be to him and to his seed for ever. ³¹And a covenant to David the king, the son of Jesse of the tribe of Juda, an inheritance to him and to his seed, that he might give wisdom into our heart to judge his people in justice, that their good things might not be abolished, and he made their glory in their nation everlasting.

Chapter 46

¹Valiant in war was Jesus the son of Nave, who was successor of Moses among the prophets, who was great according to his name, ²Very great for the saving the elect of God, to overthrow the enemies that rose up against them, that he might get the inheritance for Israel. ³How great glory did he gain when he lifted up his hands, and stretched out swords against the cities? ⁴Who before him hath so resisted? for the Lord himself brought the enemies. ⁵Was not the sun stopped in his anger, and one day made as two? ⁶He called upon the most high Sovereign when the enemies assaulted him on every side, and the great and holy God heard him by hailstones of exceeding great force. ⁷He made a violent assault against the nation of his enemies, and in the descent he destroyed the adversaries. ⁸That the nations might know his power, that it is not easy to fight against God. And he followed the mighty one: ⁹And in the days of Moses he did a work of mercy, he and Caleb the son of Jephone, in standing against the enemy, and withholding the people from sins, and appeasing the wicked murmuring. ¹⁰And they two being appointed, were delivered out of the danger from among the number of six hundred thousand men on foot, to bring them into their inheritance, into the land that floweth with milk and honey. ¹¹And the Lord gave strength also to Caleb, and his strength continued even to his old age, so that he went up to the high places of the land, and his seed obtained it for an inheritance: ¹²That all the children of Israel might see, that it is good to obey the holy God. ¹³Then all the judges, every one by name, whose heart was not corrupted: who turned not away from the Lord, ¹⁴That their memory might be blessed, and their bones spring up out of their place, ¹⁵And their name continue for ever, the glory of the holy men remaining unto their children. ¹⁶Samuel the prophet of the Lord, the beloved of the Lord his God, established a new government, and anointed princes over his people. ¹⁷By the law of the Lord he judged the congregation, and the God of Jacob beheld, and by his fidelity he was proved a prophet. ¹⁸And he was known to be faithful in his words, because he saw the God of light: ¹⁹And called upon the name of the Lord Almighty, in fighting against the enemies who beset him on every side, when he offered a lamb without blemish. ²⁰And the Lord thundered from heaven, and with a great noise made his voice to be heard. ²¹And he crushed the princes of the Tyrians, and all the lords of the Philistines: ²²And before the time of the end of his life in the world, he protested before the Lord, and his anointed: money, or any thing else, even to a shoe, he had not taken of any man, and no mall did accuse him. ²³And after this he slept, and he made known to the king, and shewed him the end of his life, and he lifted up his voice from the earth in prophecy to blot out the wickedness of the nation.

Chapter 47

¹Then Nathan the prophet arose in the days of David. ¹the Lord the Almighty, and he gave strength in his right hand, to take away the mighty warrior, and to set up the horn of his nation. ²And as the fat taken away from the flesh, so was David chosen from among the children of Israel. ³He played with lions as with lambs: and with bears he did in like manner as with the lambs of the flock, in his youth. ⁴Did not he kill the giant, and take away reproach from his people? ⁵In lifting up his hand, with the stone in the sling he beat down the boasting of Goliath: ⁶For he called upoI ⁷So in ten thousand did he glorify him, and praised him in the blessings of the Lord, in offering to him a crown of glory: ⁸For he destroyed the enemies on every side, and extirpated the Philistines the adversaries unto this day: he broke their horn for ever. ⁹In all his works he gave thanks to the holy one, and to the most High, with words of glory. ¹⁰With his whole heart he praised the Lord, and loved God that made him: and he gave him power against his enemies: ¹¹And he set singers before the altar, and by their voices he made sweet melody. ¹²And to the festivals he added beauty, and set in order the solemn times even to the end of his life, that they should praise the holy name of the Lord, and magnify the holiness of God in the morning. ¹³The Lord took away his sine, and exalted his horn for ever: and he gave him a covenant of the kingdom, and a throne of glory in Israel. ¹⁴After him arose up a wise son, and for his sake he cast down all the power of the enemies. ¹⁵Solomon reigned in days of peace, and God brought all his enemies under him, that he might build a house in his name, and prepare a sanctuary for ever: O how wise wast thou in thy youth! ¹⁶And thou wast filled as a river with wisdom, and thy soul covered the earth. ¹⁷And thou didst multiply riddles in parables: thy name went abroad to the islands far off, and thou wast beloved in thy peace. ¹⁸The countries wondered at thee for thy canticles, and proverbs, and parables, and interpretations, ¹⁹And at the name of the Lord God, whose surname is, God of Israel. ²⁰Thou didst gather gold as copper, and didst multiply silver as lead, ²¹And thou didst bow thyself to women: and by thy body thou wast brought under subjection. ²²Thou hast stained thy glory, and defiled thy seed so as to bring wrath upon thy children, and to have thy folly kindled, ²³That thou shouldst make the kingdom to be divided, and out of Ephraim a rebellious kingdom to rule. ²⁴But God will not leave off his mercy, and he will not destroy, nor abolish his own works, neither will he out up by the roots the offspring of his elect: and he will not utterly take away the seed of him that loveth the Lord. ²⁵Wherefore he gave a remnant to Jacob, and to David of the same stock. ²⁶And Solomon had an end with his fathers. ²⁷And he left behind him of his seed, the folly of the nation, ²⁸Even Roboam that had little wisdom, who turned away the people through his counsel: ²⁹And Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who caused Israel to sin, and shewed Ephraim the way of sin, and their sins were multiplied exceedingly. ³⁰They removed them far away from their land. ³¹And they sought out all iniquities, till vengeance came upon them, and put an end to all their sine.

Chapter 48

¹And Elias the prophet stood up, as a fire, and his word burnt like a torch. ²He brought a famine upon them, and they that provoked him in their envy, were reduced to a small number, for they could not endure the commandments of the Lord. ³By the word of the Lord he shut up the heaven, and he brought down fire from heaven thrice. ⁴Thus was Elias magnified in his wondrous works. And who can glory like to thee? ⁵Who raisedst up a dead man from below, from the lot of death, by the word of the Lord God. ⁶Who broughtest down kings to destruction, and brokest easily their power in pieces, and the glorious from their bed. ⁷Who heardest judgment in Sina, and in Horeb the judgments of vengeance. ⁸Who anointedst kings to penance, and madest prophets successors after thee. ⁹Who wast taken up in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot of fiery horses. ¹⁰Who art registered in the judgments of times to appease the wrath of the Lord, to reconcile the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob. ¹¹Blessed are they that saw thee, and were honoured with thy friendship. ¹²For we live only in our life, but after death our name shall not be such. ¹³Elias was indeed covered with the whirlwind, and his spirit was filled up in Eliseus: in his days he feared not the prince, and no man was more powerful than he. ¹⁴No word could overcome him, and after death his body prophesied. ¹⁵In his life he did great wonders, and is death he wrought miracles. ¹⁶For all this the people repented not, neither did they depart from their sins till they were cast out of their land, and were scattered through all the earth. ¹⁷And there was left but a small people, and a prince in the house of David. ¹⁸Some of these did that which pleased God: but others committed many sine. ¹⁹Ezechias fortified his city, and brought in water into the midst thereof, and he digged a rock with iron, and made a well for water. ²⁰In his days Sennacherib came up, and sent Rabsaces, and lifted up his hand against them, and he stretched out his hand against Sion, and became proud through his power. ²¹Then their hearts and hands trembled, and they were in pain as women in travail. ²²And they called upon the Lord who is merciful, and spreading their hands, they lifted them up to heaven: and the holy Lord God quickly heard their voice. ²³He was not mindful of their sins, neither did he deliver them up to their enemies, but he purified them by the hand of Isaias, the holy prophet. ²⁴He overthrew the army of the Assyrians, and the angel of the Lord destroyed them. ²⁵For Ezechias did that which pleased God, and walked valiantly in the way of David his father, which Isaias, the great prophet, and faithful in the sight of God, had commanded him. ²⁶In his days the sun went backward, and he lengthened the king's life. ²⁷With a great spirit he saw the things that are to come to pass at last, and comforted the mourners in Sion. ²⁸He shewed what should come to pass for ever, and secret things before they came.

Chapter 49

¹The memory of Josias is like the composition of a sweet smell made by the art of a perfumer: ²His remembrance shall be sweet as honey in every mouth, and as music at a banquet of wine. ³He was directed by God unto the repentance of the nation, and he took away the abominations of wickedness. ⁴And he directed his heart towards the Lord, and in the days of sinners he strengthened godliness. ⁵Except David, and Ezechias, and Josias, all committed sin. ⁶For the kings of Juda forsook the law of the most High, and despised the fear of God. ⁷So they gave their kingdom to others, and their glory to a strange nation. ⁸They burnt the chosen city of holiness, and made the streets thereof desolate according to the prediction of Jeremias. ⁹For they treated him evil, who was consecrated a prophet from his mother's womb, to overthrow, and pluck up, and destroy, and to build again, and renew. ¹⁰It was Ezechiel that saw the glorious vision, which was shewn him upon the chariot of cherubims. ¹¹For he made mention of the enemies under the figure of rain, and of doing good to them that shewed right ways. ¹²And may the bones of the twelve prophets spring up out of their place: for they strengthened Jacob, and redeemed themselves by strong faith. ¹³How shall we magnify Zorobabel? for he was as a signet on the right hand; ¹⁴In like manner Jesus the son of Josedec? who in their days built the house, and set up a holy temple to the Lord, prepared for everlasting glory. ¹⁵And let Nehemias be a long time remembered, who raised up for us our walls that were cast down, and set up the gates and the bars, who rebuilt our houses. ¹⁶No man was born upon earth like Henoch: for he also was taken up from the earth. ¹⁷Nor as Joseph, who was a man born prince of his brethren, the support of his family, the ruler of his brethren, the stay of the people: ¹⁸And his bones were visited, and after death they prophesied. ¹⁹Seth and Sem obtained glory among men: and above every soul Adam in the beginning.

Chapter 50

¹Simon the high priest, the son of Onias, who in his life propped up the house, and in his days fortified the temple. ²By him also the height of the temple was founded, the double building and the high walls of the temple. ³In his days the wells of water flowed out, and they were filled as the sea above measure. ⁴He took care of his nation, and delivered it from destruction. ⁵He prevailed to enlarge the city, and obtained glory in his conversation with the people: and enlarged the entrance of the house and the court. ⁶He shone in his days as the morning star in the midst of a cloud, and as the moon at the full. ⁷And as the sun when it shineth, so did he shine in the temple of God. ⁸And as the rainbow giving light in the bright clouds, and as the flower of roses in the days of the spring, and as the lilies that are on the brink of the water, and as the sweet smelling frankincense in the time of summer. ⁹As a bright Are, and frankincense burning in the fire. ¹⁰As a massy vessel of gold, adorned with every precious stone. ¹¹As an olive tree budding forth, and a cypress tree rearing itself on high, when he put on the robe of glory, and was clothed with the perfection of power. ¹²When he went up to the holy altar, he honoured the vesture of holiness. ¹³And when he took the portions out of the hands of the priests, he himself stood by the altar. And about him was the ring of his brethren: and as the cedar planted in mount Libanus, ¹⁴And as branches of palm trees, they stood round about him, and all the sons of Aaron in their glory. ¹⁵And the oblation of the Lord was in their hands, before all the congregation of Israel: and finishing his service, on the altar, to honour the offering of the most high Ring, ¹⁶He stretched forth his hand to make a libation, and offered of the blood of the grape. ¹⁷He poured out at the foot of the altar a divine odour to the most high Prince. ¹⁸Then the sons of Aaron shouted, they sounded with beaten trumpets, and made a great noise to be heard for a remembrance before God. ¹⁹Then all the people together made haste, and fell down to the earth upon their faces, to adore the Lord their God, and to pray to the Almighty God the most High. ²⁰And the singers lifted up their voices. and in the great house the sound of sweet melody was increased. ²¹And the people in prayer besought the Lord the most High, until the worship of the Lord was perfected, and they had finished their office. ²²Then coming down, he lifted up his hands over all the congregation of the children of Israel, to give glory to God with his lips, and to glory in his name: ²³And he repeated his prayer, willing to shew the power of God. ²⁴And now pray ye to the God of all, who hath done great things in all the earth, who hath increased our days from our mother's womb, and hath done with us according to his mercy. ²⁵May he grant us joyfulness of heart, and that there be peace in our days in Israel for ever: ²⁶That Israel may believe that the mercy of God is with us, to deliver us in his days. ²⁷There are two nations which my soul abhorreth: and the third is no nation, which I hate: ²⁸They that sit on mount Seir, and the Philistines, and the foolish people that dwell in Sichem. ²⁹Jesus the son of Sirach, of Jerusalem, hath written in this book the doctrine of wisdom and instruction, who renewed wisdom from his heart. ³⁰Blessed is he that is conversant in these good things: and he that layeth them up in his heart, shall be wise always. ³¹For if he do them, he shall be strong to do all things: because the light of God guideth his steps.

Chapter 51

¹They compassed me on every side, and there was no one that would help me. I looked for the succour of men, and there was none. ¹¹I remembered thy mercy, O Lord, and thy works, which are from the beginning of the world. ¹²How thou deliverest them that wait for thee, O Lord, and savest them out of the hands of the nations. ¹³Thou hast exalted my dwelling place upon the earth and I have prayed for death to pass away. ¹⁴I called upon the Lord, the father of my Lord, that he would not leave me in the day of my trouble, and in the time of the proud without help. ¹⁵I will praise thy name continually, and will praise it with thanksgiving, and my prayer was heard. ¹⁶And thou hast saved me from destruction, and hast delivered me from the evil time. ¹⁷Therefore I will give thanks, and praise thee, and bless the name of the Lord. ¹⁸When I was yet young, before I wandered about, I sought for wisdom openly in my prayer. ¹⁹I prayed for her before the temple, and unto the very end I will seek after her, and she flourished as a grape soon ripe. ²⁰My heart delighted in her, my foot walked in the right way, from my youth up I sought after her. ²¹I bowed down my ear a little, and received her. ²²I found much wisdom in myself, and I profited much therein. ²³To him that giveth me wisdom, will I give glory. ²⁴For I have determined to follow her: I have had a zeal for good, and shall not be confounded. ²⁵My soul hath wrestled for her, and in doing it I have been confirmed. ²⁶I stretched forth my hands on high, and I bewailed my ignorance of her. ²⁷I directed my soul to her, and in knowledge I found her. ²⁸I possessed my heart with her from the beginning: therefore I shall not be forsaken. ²⁹My entrails were troubled in seeking her: therefore shall I possess a good possession. ³⁰The Lord hath given me a tongue for my reward: and with it I will praise him. ³¹Draw near to me, ye unlearned, and gather yourselves together into the house of discipline. ³²Why are ye slow? and what do you say of these things? your souls are exceeding thirsty. ³³I have opened my mouth, and have spoken: buy her for yourselves without silver, ³⁴And submit your neck to the yoke, and let your soul receive discipline: for she is near at hand to be found. ³⁵Behold with your eyes how I have laboured a little, and have found much rest to myself. ³⁶Receive ye discipline as a great sum of money, and possess abundance of gold by her. ³⁷Let your soul rejoice in his mercy, and you shall not be confounded in his praise. ³⁸Work your work before the time, and he will give you your reward in his time.

The Book of Judith

The sacred writer of this Book is generally believed to be the high priest Eliachim (called also Joachim). The transactions herein related, most probably happened in his days, and in the reign of Manasses, after his repentance and return from captivity. It takes its name from that illustrious woman, by whose virtue and fortitude, and armed with prayer, the children of Israel were preserved from the destruction threatened them by Holofernes and his great army. It finishes with her canticle of thanksgiving to God.

Chapter 1

¹Now Arphaxad king of the Medes had brought many nations under his dominions, and he built a very strong city, which he called Ecbatana, ²Of stones squared and hewed: he made the walls thereof seventy cubits broad, and thirty cubits high, and the towers thereof he made a hundred cubits high. But on the square of them, each side was extended the space of twenty feet. ³And he made the gates thereof according to the height of the towers: ⁴And he gloried as a mighty one in the force of his army and in the glory of his chariots. ⁵Now in the twelfth year of his reign, Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians, who reigned in Ninive the great city, fought against Arphaxad and overcame him, ⁶In the great plain which is called Ragua, about the Euphrates, and the Tigris, and the Jadason, in the plain of Erioch the king of the Elicians. ⁷Then was the kingdom of Nabuchodonosor exalted, and his heart was elevated: and he sent to all that dwelt in Cilicia and Damascus, and Libanus, ⁸And to the nations that are in Carmelus, and Cedar, and to the inhabitants of Galilee in the great plain of Asdrelon, ⁹And to all that were in Samaria, and beyond the river Jordan even to Jerusalem, and all the land of Jesse till you come to the borders of Ethiopia. ¹⁰To all these Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians, sent messengers: ¹¹But they all with one mind refused, and sent them back empty, and rejected them without honour. ¹²Then king Nabuchodonosor being angry against all that land, swore by his throne and kingdom that he would revenge himself of all those countries.

Chapter 2

¹In the thirteenth year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, the two and twentieth day of the first month, the word was given out in the house of Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians, that he would revenge himself. ²And he called all the ancients, and all the governors, and his officers of war, and communicated to them the secret of his counsel: ³And he said that his thoughts were to bring all the earth under his empire. ⁴And when this saying pleased them all, Nabuchodonosor, the king, called Holofernes the general of his armies, ⁵And said to him: Go out against all the kingdoms of the west, and against them especially that despised my commandment. ⁶Thy eye shall not spare any kingdom, and all the strong cities thou shalt bring under my yoke. ⁷Then Holofernes called the captains and officers of the power of the Assyrians: and he mustered men for the expedition, as the king commanded him, a hundred and twenty thousand fighting men on foot, and twelve thousand archers, horsemen. ⁸And he made all his warlike preparations to go before with a multitude of innumerable camels, with all provisions sufficient for the armies in abundance, and herds of oxen, and flocks of sheep, without number. ⁹He appointed corn to be prepared out of all Syria in his passage. ¹⁰But gold and silver he took out of the king's house in great abundance. ¹¹And he went forth he and all the army, with the chariots, and horsemen, and archers, who covered the face of the earth, like locusts. ¹²And when he had passed through the borders of the Assyrians, he came to the great mountains of Ange, which are on the left of Cilicia: and he went up to all their castles, and took all the strong places. ¹³And he took by assault the renowned city of Melothus, and pillaged all the children of Tharsis, and the children of Ismahel, who were over against the face of the desert, and on the south of the land of Cellon. ¹⁴And he passed over the Euphrates and came into Mesopotamia: and he forced all the stately cities that were there, from the torrent of Mambre, till one comes to the sea: ¹⁵And he took the borders thereof from Cilicia to the coasts of Japheth, which are towards the south. ¹⁶And he carried away all the children of Madian, and stripped them of all their riches, and all that resisted him he slew with the edge of the sword. ¹⁷And after these things he went down into the plains of Damascus in the days of the harvest, and he set all the corn on fire, and he caused all the trees and vineyards to be cut down ¹⁸And the fear of them fell upon alit the inhabitants of the land.

Chapter 3

¹Then the kings and the princes of all the cities and provinces, of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Syria Sobal, and Libya, and Cilicia sent their ambassadors, who coming to Holofernes, said: ²Let thy indignation towards us cease: for it is better for us to live and serve Nabuchodonosor the great king, and be subject to thee, than to die and to perish, or suffer the miseries of slavery. ³All our cities and our possessions, all mountains and hills, and fields, and herds of oxen, and flocks of cheep, and goats, and horses, and camels, and all our goods, and families are in thy sight: ⁴Let all we have be subject to thy law. ⁵Both we and our children are thy servants. ⁶Come to us a peaceable lord, and use our service as it shall please thee. ⁷Then he came down from the mountains with horsemen, in great power, and made himself master of every city, and all the inhabitants of the land. ⁸And from all the cities he took auxiliaries valiant men, and chosen for war. ⁹And so great a fear lay upon all those provinces, that the inhabitants of all the cities, both princes and nobles, as well as the people, went out to meet him at his coming. ¹⁰And received him with garlands, and lights, and dances, and tumbrels, and flutes. ¹¹And though they did these things, they could not for all that mitigate the fierceness of his heart: ¹²For he both destroyed their cities and cut down their groves. ¹³For Nabuchodonosor the king had commanded him to destroy all the gods of the earth, that he only might be called God by those nations which could be brought under him by the power of Holofernes. ¹⁴And when he had passed through all Syria Sobal, and all Apamea, and all Mesopotamia, he came to the Idumeans into the land of Gabaa, ¹⁵And he took possession of their cities, and stayed there for thirty days, in which days he commanded all the troops of his army to be united.

Chapter 4

¹Then the children of Israel, who dwelt in the land of Juda, hearing these things, were exceedingly afraid of him. ²Dread and horror seized upon their minds, lest he should do the same to Jerusalem and to the temple of the Lord, that he had done to other cities and their temples. ³And they sent into all Samaria round about, as far as Jericho, and seized upon all the tops of the mountains: ⁴And they compassed their towns with walls, and gathered together corn for provision for war. ⁵And Eliachim the priest wrote to all that were over against Esdrelon, which faceth the great plain near Dothain, and to all by whom there might be a passage of way, that they should take possession of the ascents of the mountains, by which there might be any way to Jerusalem, and should keep watch where the way was narrow between the mountains. ⁶And the children of Israel did as the priest of the Lord Eliachim had appointed them, ⁷And all the people cried to the Lord with great earnestness, and they humbled their souls in fastings, and prayers, both they and their wives. ⁸And the priests put on haircloths, and they caused the little children to lie prostrate before the temple of the Lord, and the altar of the Lord they covered with haircloth. ⁹And they cried to the Lord the God of Israel with one accord, that their children might not be made a prey, and their wives carried off, and their cities destroyed, and their holy things profaned, and that they might not be made a reproach to the Gentiles. ¹⁰Then Eliachim the high priest of the Lord went about all Israel and spoke to them, ¹¹Saying: Know ye that the Lord will hear your prayers, if you continue with perseverance in fastings and prayers in the sight of the Lord. ¹²Remember Moses the servant of the Lord, who overcame Amalec that trusted in his own strength, and in his power, and in his army, and in his shields, and in his chariots, and in his horsemen, not by fighting with the sword, but by holy prayers: ¹³So shall all the enemies of Israel be, if you persevere in this work which you have begun. ¹⁴So they being moved by this exhortation of his, prayed to the Lord, and continued in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁵So that even they who offered the holocausts to the Lord, offered the sacrifices to the Lord girded with haircloths, and with ashes upon their head. ¹⁶And they all begged of God with all their heart, that he would visit his people Israel.

Chapter 5

¹And it was told Holofernes the general of the army of the Assyrians, that the children of Israel prepared themselves to resist, and had shut up the ways of the mountains. ²And he was transported with exceeding great fury and indignation, and he called all the princes of Moab and the leaders of Amman. ³And he said to them: Tell me what is this people that besetteth the mountains: or what are their cities, and of what sort, and how great: also what is their power, or what is their multitude: or who is the king over their warfare: ⁴And why they above all that dwell in the east, have despised us, and have not come out to meet us, that they might receive us with peace? ⁵Then Achior captain of all the children of Ammon answering, said: If thou vouch safe, my lord, to hear, I will tell the truth in thy sight concerning this people, that dwelleth in the mountains, and there shall not a false word come out of my mouth. ⁶This people is of the offspring of the Chaldeans. ⁷They dwelt first in Mesopotamia, because they would not follow the gods of their fathers, who were in the land of the Chaldeans. ⁸Wherefore forsaking the ceremonies of their fathers, which consisted in the worship of many gods, ⁹They worshipped one God of heaven, who also commanded them to depart from thence, and to dwell in Charan. And when there was a famine over all the land, they went down into Egypt, and there for four hundred years were so multiplied, that the army of them could not be numbered. ¹⁰And when the king of Egypt oppressed them, and made slaves of them to labour in clay and brick, in the building of his cities, they cried to their Lord, and he struck the whole land of Egypt with divers plagues. ¹¹And when the Egyptians had cast them out from them, and the plague had ceased from them, and they had a mind to take them again, and bring them back to their service, ¹²The God of heaven opened the sea to them in their flight, so that the waters were made to stand firm as a wall on either side, and they walked through the bottom of the sea and passed it dry foot. ¹³And when an innumerable army of the Egyptians pursued after them in that place, they were so overwhelmed with the waters, that there was not one left, to tell what had happened to posterity. ¹⁴And after they came out of the Red Sea, they abode in the deserts of mount Sina, in which never man could dwell, or son of man rested. ¹⁵There bitter fountains were made sweet for them to drink, and for forty years they received food from heaven. ¹⁶Wheresoever they went in without bow and arrow, and without shield and sword, their God fought for them and overcame. ¹⁷And there was no one that triumphed over this people, but when they departed from the worship of the Lord their God. ¹⁸But as often as beside their own God, they worshipped any other, they were given to spoil, and to the sword, and to reproach. ¹⁹And as often as they were penitent for having revolted from the worship of their God, the God of heaven gave them power to resist. ²⁰So they overthrew the king of the Chanaanites, and of the Jebusites, and of the Pherezites, and of the Hethites, and of the Hevites, and of the Amorrhites, and all the mighty ones in Hesebon, and they possessed their lands, and their cities: ²¹And as long as they sinned not in the sight of their God, it was well with them: for their God hateth iniquity. ²²And even some years ago when they had revolted from the way which God had given them to walk therein, they were destroyed in battles by many nations, and very many of them were led away captive into a strange land. ²³But of late returning to the Lord their God, from the different places wherein they were scattered, they are come together and are gone up into all these mountains, and possess Jerusalem again, where their holies are ²⁴Now therefore, my lord, search if there be any iniquity of theirs in the sight of their God: let us go up to them, because their God will surely deliver them to thee, and they shall be brought under the yoke of thy power: ²⁵But if there be no offense of this people in the sight of their God, we can not resist them, because their God will defend them: and we shall be a reproach to the whole earth. ²⁶And it came to pass, when Achior had ceased to speak these words, all the great men of Holofernes were angry, and they had a mind to kill him, saying to each other: ²⁷Who is this, that saith the children of Israel can resist king Nabuchodonosor, and his armies, men unarmed, and without force, and without skill in the art of war? ²⁸That Achior therefore may know that he deceiveth us, let us go up into the mountains: and when the bravest of them shall be taken, then shall he with them be stabbed with the sword: ²⁹That every nation may know that Nabuchodonosor is god of the earth, and besides him there is no other.

Chapter 6

¹And it came to pass when they had left off speaking, that Holofernes being in a violent passion, said to Achior: ²Because thou hast prophesied unto us, saying: That the nation of Israel is defended by their God, to shew thee that there is no God, but Nabuehodonosor: ³When we shall slay them all as one man, then thou also shalt die with them by the sword of the Assyrians, and all Israel shall perish with thee: ⁴And thou shalt find that Nabuchodonosor is lord of the whole earth: and then the sword of my soldiers shall pass through thy sides, and thou shalt be stabbed and fall among the wounded of Israel, and thou shalt breathe no more till thou be destroyed with them. ⁵But if thou think thy prophecy true, let not thy countenance sink, and let the paleness that is in thy face, depart from thee, if thou imaginest these my words cannot be accomplished. ⁶And that thou mayst know that thou shalt experience these things together with them, behold from this hour thou shalt be associated to their people, that when they shall receive the punishment they deserve from my sword, thou mayst fall under the same vengeance. ⁷Then Holofernes commanded his servants to take Achior, and to lead him to Bethulia, and to deliver him into the hands of the children of Israel. ⁸And the servants of Holofernes taking him, went through the plains: but when they came near the mountains, the slingers came out against them. ⁹Then turning out of the way by the side of the mountain, they tied Achior to a tree hand and foot, and so left him bound with ropes, and returned to their master. ¹⁰And the children of Israel coming down from Bethulia, came to him, and loosing him they brought him to Bethulia, and setting him in the midst of the people, asked him what was the matter, that the Assyrians had left him bound. ¹¹In those days the rulers there, were Ozias the son of Micha of the tribe of Simeon, and Charmi, called also Gothoniel. ¹²And Achior related in the midst of the ancients, and in the presence of all the people, all that he had said being asked by Holofernes: and how the people of Holofernes would have killed him for this word, ¹³And how Holofernes himself being angry had commanded him to be delivered for this cause to the Israelites: that when he should overcome the children of Israel, then he might command Achior also himself to be put to death by diverse torments, for having said: The God of heaven is their defender. ¹⁴And when Achior had declared all these things, all the people fell upon their faces, adoring the Lord, and all of them together mourning and weeping poured out their prayers with one accord to the Lord, ¹⁵Saying: O Lord God of heaven and earth, behold their pride, and look on our low condition, and have regard to the face of thy saints, and shew that thou forsakes not them that trust on thee, and that thou humblest them that presume of themselves, and glory in their own strength. ¹⁶So when their weeping was ended, and the peoples prayer, in which they continued all the day, was concluded, they comforted Achior, ¹⁷Saying: the God of our fathers, whose power thou hast set forth, will make this return to thee, that thou rather shalt see their destruction. ¹⁸And when the Lord our God shall give this liberty to his servants, let God be with thee also in the midst of us: that as it shall please thee, so thou with all thine mayst converse with us. ¹⁹Then Ozias, after the assembly was broken up, received him into his house, and made him a great supper. ²⁰And all the ancients were invited, and they refreshed themselves together after their fast was over. ²¹And afterwards all the people were called together, and they prayed all the night long within the church, desiring help of the God of Israel.

Chapter 7

¹But Holofernes on the next day gave orders to his army, to go up against Bethulia. ²Now there were in his troops a hundred and twenty thousand footmen, and two and twenty thousand horsemen, besides the preparations of those men who had been taken, and who had been brought away out of the provinces and cities of all the youth. ³All these prepared themselves together to fight against the children of Israel, and they came by the hillside to the top, which looketh toward Dothain, from the place which is called Behlma, unto Chelmon, which is over against Esdrelon. ⁴But the children of Israel, when they saw the multitude of them, prostrated themselves upon the ground, putting ashes upon their heads, praying with one accord, that the God of Israel would shew his mercy upon his people. ⁵And taking their arms of war, they posted themselves at the places, which by a narrow pathway lead directly between the mountains, and they guarded them all day and night. ⁶Now Holofernes, in going round about, found that the fountains which supplied them with water, ran through an aqueduct without the city on the south side: and he commanded their aqueduct to he cut off. ⁷Nevertheless there were springs not far from the walls, out of which they were seen secretly to draw water, to refresh themselves a little rather than to drink their fill. ⁸But the children of Ammon and Moab came to Holofernes, saying: The children of Israel trust not in their spears, nor in their arrows, but the mountains are their defense, and the steep hires and precipices guard them. ⁹Wherefore that thou mayst overcome them without joining battle, set guards at the springs that they may not draw water out of them, and thou shalt destroy them without sword, or at least being wearied out they will yield up their city, which they suppose, because it is situate in the mountains, to be impregnable. ¹⁰And these words pleased Holofernes, and his officers, and he placed all round about a hundred men at every spring. ¹¹And when they had kept this watch for full twenty days, the cisterns, and the reserve of waters failed among all the inhabitants of Bethulia, so that there was not within the city, enough to satisfy them, no not for one day, for water was daily given out to the people by measure. ¹²Then all the men and women, young men, and children, gathering themselves together to Ozias, all together with one voice, ¹³Said: God be judge between us and thee, for thou hast done evil against us, in that thou wouldst not speak peaceably with the Assyrians, and for this cause God hath sold us into their hands. ¹⁴And therefore there is no one to help us, while we are cast down before their eyes in thirst, and sad destruction. ¹⁵And now assemble ye all that are in the city, that we may of our own accord yield ourselves all up to the people of Holofernes. ¹⁶For it is better, that being captives we should live and bless the Lord, than that we should die, and be a reproach to all flesh, after we have seen our wives and our infants die before our eyes. ¹⁷We call to witness this day heaven and earth, and the God of our fathers, who taketh vengeance upon us according to our sins, conjuring you to deliver now the city into the hand of the army of Holofernes, that our end may be short by the edge of the sword, which is made longer by the drought of thirst. ¹⁸And when they had said these things, there was great weeping and lamentation of all in the assembly, and for many hours with one voice they cried to God, saying: ¹⁹We have sinned with our fathers we have done unjustly, we have commited iniquity: ²⁰Have thou mercy on us, because thou art good, or punish our iniquities by chastising us thyself, and deliver not them that trust in thee to a people that knoweth not thee, ²¹That they may not say among the gentiles: Where is their God? ²²And when being wearied with these cries, and tired with these weepings, they held their peace, ²³Ozias rising up all in tears, said: Be of good courage, my brethren, and let us wait these five days for mercy from the Lord. ²⁴For perhaps he will put a stop to his indignation, and will give glory to his own name. ²⁵But if after five days be past there come no aid, we will do the things which you leave spoken.

Chapter 8

¹Now it came to pass, when Judith a widow had heard these words, who was the daughter of Merari, the son of Idox, the son of Joseph, the son of Ozias, the son of Elai, the son of Jamnor, the son of Gedeon, the son of Raphaim, the son of Achitob, the son of Melehias, the son of Enan, the son of Nathanias, the son of Salathiel, the son of Simeon, the son of Ruben: ²And her husband was Manasses, who died in the time of the barley harvest: ³For he was standing over them that bound sheaves in the field ; and the heat came upon his head, and he died in Bethulia his own city, and was buried there with his fathers. ⁴And Judith his relict was a widow now three years and six months. ⁵And she made herself a private chamber in the upper part of her house, in which she abode shut up with her maids. ⁶And she wore haircloth upon her loins, and fasted all the days of her life, except the sabbaths, and new moons, and the feasts of the house of Israel. ⁷And she was exceedingly beautiful, and her husband left her great riches, and very many servants, and large possessions of herds of oxen, and flocks of sheep. ⁸And she was greatly renowned among all, because she feared the Lord very much, neither was there any one that spoke an ill word of her. ⁹When therefore she had heard that Ozias had promised that he would deliver up the city after the fifth day, she sent to the ancients Chabri and Charmi. ¹⁰And they came to her, and she said to them: What is this word, by which Ozias hath consented to give up the city to the Assyrians, if within five days there come no aid to us? ¹¹And who are you that tempt the Lord? ¹²This is not a word that may draw down mercy, but rather that may stir up wrath, and enkindle indignation. ¹³You have set a time for the mercy of the Lord, and you have appointed him a day, according to your pleasure. ¹⁴But forasmuch as the Lord is patient, let us be penitent for this same thing, and with many tears let us beg his pardon: ¹⁵For God will not threaten like man, nor be inflamed to anger like the son of man. ¹⁶And therefore let us humble our souls before him, and continuing in an humble spirit, in his service: ¹⁷Let us ask the Lord with tears, that according to his will so he would shew his mercy to us: that as our heart is troubled by their pride, so also we may glorify in our humility. ¹⁸For we have not followed the sins of our fathers, who forsook their God, and worshipped strange gods. ¹⁹For which crime they were given up to their enemies, to the sword, and to pillage, and to confusion: but we know no other God but him. ²⁰Let us humbly wait for his consolation, and the Lord our God will require our blood of the afflictions of our enemies, and he will humble all the nations that shall rise up against us, and bring them to disgrace. ²¹And now, brethren, as you are the ancients among the people of God, and their very soul resteth upon you: comfort their hearts by your speech, that they may be mindful how our fathers were tempted that they might be proved, whether they worshipped their God truly. ²²They must remember how our father Abraham was tempted, and being proved by many tribulations, was made the friend of God. ²³go Isaac, so Jacob, so Moses, and all that have pleased God, passed through many tribulations, remaining faithful. ²⁴But they that did not receive the trials with the fear of the Lord, but uttered their impatience and the reproach of their murmuring against the Lord, ²⁵Were destroyed by the destroyer, and perished by serpents. ²⁶As for us therefore let us not revenge ourselves for these things which we suffer ²⁷But esteeming these very punishments to be less than our sins deserve, let us believe that these scourges of the Lord, with which like servants we are chastised, have happened for our amendment, and not for our destruction. ²⁸And Ozias and the ancients said to her: All things which thou hast spoken are true, and there is nothing to be reprehended in thy words. ²⁹Now therefore pray for us, for thou art a holy woman, and one fearing God. ³⁰And Judith said to them: As you know that what I have been able to say is of God: ³¹So that which I intend to do prove ye if it be of God, and pray that God may strengthen my design. ³²You shall stand at the gate this night, and I will go out with my maidservant: and pray ye, that as you have said, in five days the Lord may look down upon his people Israel. ³³But I desire that you search not into what I am doing, and till I bring you word let nothing else be done but to pray for me to the Lord our God. ³⁴And Ozias the prince of Juda said to her: Go in peace, and the Lord be with thee to take revenge of our enemies. So returning they departed.

Chapter 9

¹And when they were gone, Judith went into her oratory: and putting on haircloth, laid ashes on her head: and falling down prostrate before the Lord, she cried to the Lord, saying: ²O Lord God of my father Simeon, who gavest him a sword to execute vengeance against strangers, who had defiled by their uncleanness, and uncovered the virgin unto confusion: ³And who gavest their wives to he made a prey, and their daughters into captivity: and all their spoils to be divided to thy servants, who were zealous with thy zeal: assist, I beseech thee, O Lord God, me a widow. ⁴For thou hast done the things of old, and hast devised one thing after another: and what thou hast designed hath been done. ⁵For all thy ways are prepared, and in thy providence thou hast placed thy judgments. ⁶Look upon the camp of the Assyrians now, as thou wast pleased to look upon the camp of the Egyptians, when they pursued armed after thy servants, trusting in their chariots, and in their horsemen, and in a multitude of warriors. ⁷But thou lookedst over their camp, and darkness wearied them. ⁸The deep held their feet, and the waters overwhelmed them. ⁹So may it be with these also, O Lord, who trust in their multitude, and in their chariots, and in their pikes, and in their shields, and in their arrows, and glory in their spears, ¹⁰And know not that thou art our God, who destroyest wars from the beginning, and the Lord is thy name. ¹¹Lift up thy arm as from the beginning, and crush their power with thy power: let their power fall in their wrath, who promise themselves to violate thy sanctuary, and defile the dwelling place of thy name, and to beat down with their sword the horn of thy altar. ¹²Bring to pass, O Lord, that his pride may be cut off with his own sword. ¹³Let him be caught in the net of his own eyes in my regard, and do thou strike him by the graces of the words of my lips. ¹⁴Give me constancy in my mind, that I may despise him: and fortitude that I may overthrow him. ¹⁵For this will be a glorious monument for thy name, when he shall fall by the hand of a woman. ¹⁶For thy power, O Lord, is not in a multitude, nor is thy pleasure in the strength of horses, nor from the beginning have the proud been acceptable to thee: but the prayer of the humble and the meek hath always pleased thee. ¹⁷O God of the heavens, creator of the waters, and Lord of the whole creation, hear me a poor wretch, making supplication to thee, and presuming of thy mercy. ¹⁸Remember, O Lord, thy covenant, and put thou words in my mouth, and strengthen the resolution in my heart, that thy house may continue in thy holiness: ¹⁹And all nations may acknowledge that thou art God, and there is no other besides thee.

Chapter 10

¹And it came to pass, when she had ceased to cry to the Lord, that she rose from the place wherein she lay prostrate before the Lord. ²And she called her maid, and going down into her house she took off her haircloth, and put away the garments of her widowhood, ³And she washed her body, and anointed herself with the best ointment, and plaited the hair of her head, and put a bonnet upon her head, and clothed herself with the garments of her gladness, and put sandals on her feet, and took her bracelets, and lilies, and earlets, and rings, and adorned herself with all her ornaments. ⁴And the Lord also gave her more beauty: because all this dressing up did not proceed from sensuality, lent from virtue: and therefore the Lord increased this her beauty, so that she appeared to all men's eyes incomparably lovely. ⁵And she gave to her maid a bottle of wine to carry, and a vessel of oil, and parched corn, and dry figs, and bread and cheese, and went out. ⁶And when they came to the gate of the city, they found Ozias, and the ancients of the city waiting. ⁷And when they saw her they were astonished, and admired her beauty exceedingly. ⁸But they asked her no question, only they let her pass, saying: The God of our fathers give thee grace, and may he strengthen all the counsel of thy heart with his power, that Jerusalem may glory in thee, and thy name may be in the number of the holy and just. ⁹And they that were there said, all with one voice: So be it, so be it. ¹⁰But Judith praying to the Lord, passed through the gates, she and her maid. ¹¹And it came to pass, when she went down the hill, about break of day, that the watchmen of the Assyrians met her and stopped her, saying: Whence comest thou? or whither goest thou? ¹²And she answered: I am a daughter of the Hebrews, and I am fled from them, because I knew they would be made a prey to you, because they despised you, and would not of their own accord yield themselves, that they might find mercy in your sight. ¹³For this reason I thought with myself, saying: I will go to the presence of the prince Holofernes, that I may tell him their secrets, and shew him by what way he may take them, without the loss of one man of his army. ¹⁴And when the men had heard her words, they beheld her face, and their eyes were amazed, for they wondered exceedingly at her beauty. ¹⁵And they said to her: Thou hast saved thy life by taking this resolution, to come down to our lord. ¹⁶And be assured of this, that when thou shalt stand before him, he will treat thee well, and thou wilt be most acceptable to his heart. And they brought her to the tent of Holofernes, telling him of her. ¹⁷And when she was come into his presence, forthwith Holofernes was caught by his eyes. ¹⁸And his officers said to him: Who can despise the people of the Hebrews who have such beautiful women, that we should not think it worth our while for their sakes to fight against them? ¹⁹And Judith seeing Holofernes sitting under a canopy, which was woven of purple and gold, with emeralds and precious stones: ²⁰After she had looked on his face bowed down to him, prostrating herself to the ground. And the servants of Holofernes lifted her up, by the command of their master.

Chapter 11

¹Then Holofernes said to her: Be of good comfort, and fear not in thy heart: for I have never hurt a man that was willing to serve Nabuchodonosor the king. ²And if thy people had not despised me, I would never have lifted up my spear against them. ³But now tell me, for what cause hast thou left them, and why it hath pleased thee to come to us? ⁴And Judith said to him: Receive the words of thy handmaid, for if thou wilt follow the words of thy handmaid, the Lord will do with thee a perfect thing. ⁵For as Nabuchodonosor the king of the earth liveth, and his power liveth which is in thee for chastising of all straying souls: not only men serve him through thee, but also the beasts of the field obey him. ⁶For the industry of thy mind is spoken of among all nations, and it is told through the whole world, that thou only art excellent, and mighty in all his kingdom, and thy discipline is cried up in all provinces. ⁷It is known also what Achior said, nor are we ignorant of what thou hast commanded to be done to him. ⁸For it is certain that our God is so offended with sins, that he hath sent word by his prophets to the people, that he will deliver them up for their sins. ⁹And because the children of Israel know they have offended their God, thy dread is upon them. ¹⁰Moreover also a famine hath come upon them, and for drought of water they are already to be counted among the dead. ¹¹And they have a design even to kill their cattle, and to drink the blood of them. ¹²And the consecrated things of the Lord their God which God forbade them to touch, in corn, wine, and oil, these have they purposed to make use of, and they design to consume the things which they ought not to touch with their hands: therefore because they do these things, it is certain they will be given up to destruction. ¹³And I thy handmaid knowing this, am fled from them, and the Lord hath sent me to tell thee these very things. ¹⁴For I thy handmaid worship God even now that I am with thee, and thy handmaid will go out, and I will pray to God, ¹⁵And he will tell me when he will repay them for their sins, and I will come and tell thee, so that I may bring thee through the midst of Jerusalem, and thou shalt have all the people of Israel, as sheep that have no shepherd, and there shall not so much as one dog bark against thee: ¹⁶Because these things are told me by the providence of God. ¹⁷And because God is angry with them, I am sent to tell these very things to thee. ¹⁸And all these words pleased Holofernes, and his servants, and they admired her wisdom, and they said one to another: ¹⁹There is not such another woman upon earth in look, in beauty, and in sense of words. ²⁰And Holofernes said to her: God hath done well who sent thee before the people, that thou mightest give them into our hands: ²¹And because thy promise is good, if thy God shall do this for me, he shall also be my God, and thou shalt be great in the house of Nabuchodonosor, and thy name shall be renowned through all the earth.

Chapter 12

¹Then he ordered that she should go in where his treasures were laid up, and bade her tarry there, and he appointed what should be given her from his own table. ²And Judith answered him and said: Now I cannot eat of these things which thou commandest to be given me, lest sin come upon me: but I will eat of the things which I have brought. ³And Holofernes said to her: If these things which thou hast brought with thee fail thee, what shall we do for thee? ⁴And Judith said: As thy soul liveth, my lord, thy handmaid shall not spend all these things till God do by my hand that which I have purposed. And his servants brought her into the tent which he had commanded. ⁵And when she was going in, she desired that she might have liberty to go out at night and before day to prayer, and to beseech the Lord. ⁶And he commanded his chamberlains, that she might go out and in, to adore her God as she pleased, for three days. ⁷And she went out in the nights into the valley of Bethulia, and washed herself in a fountain of water. ⁸And as she came up, she prayed to the Lord the God of Israel, that he would direct her way to the deliverance of his people. ⁹And going in, she remained pure in the tent, until she took her own meat in the evening. ¹⁰And it came to pass on the fourth day, that Holofernes made a supper for his servants, and said to Vagao his eunuch: so, and persuade that Hebrew woman, to consent of her own accord to dwell with me. ¹¹For it is looked upon as shameful among the Assyrians, if a woman mock a man, by doing so as to pass free from him. ¹²Then Vagao went in to Judith, and said: Let not my good maid be afraid to go in to my lord, that she may be honoured before his face, that she may eat with him and drink wine and be merry. ¹³And Judith answered him: Who am I, that I should gainsay my lord? ¹⁴All that shall be good and best before his eyes, I will do. And whatsoever shall please him, that shall be best to me all the days of my life. ¹⁵And she arose and dressed herself out with her garments, and going in she stood before his face. ¹⁶And the heart of Holofernes was smitten, for he was burning with the desire of her. ¹⁷And Holofernes said to her: Drink now, and sit down and be merry for thou hast found favour before me. ¹⁸And Judith said: I will drink my lord, because my life is magnified this day above all my days. ¹⁹And she took and ate and drank before him what her maid had prepared for her. ²⁰And Holofernes was made merry on her occasion, and drank exceeding much wine, so much as he had never drunk in his life.

Chapter 13

¹And when it was grown late, his servants made haste to their lodgings, and Vagao shut the chamber doors, and went his way. ²And they were all overcharged with wine. ³And Judith was alone in the chamber. ⁴But Holofernes lay on his bed, fast asleep, being exceedingly drunk. ⁵And Judith spoke to her maid to stand without before the chamber, and to watch: ⁶And Judith stood before the bed praying with tears, and the motion of her lips in silence, ⁷Saying: Strengthen me, O Lord God of Israel, and in this hour look on the works of my hands, that as thou hast promised, thou mayst raise up Jerusalem thy city: and that I may bring to pass that which I have purposed, having a belief that it might be done by thee. ⁸And when she had said this, she went to the pillar that was at his bed's head, and loosed his sword that hung tied upon it. ⁹And when she had drawn it out, she took him by the hair of his head, and said: Strengthen me, O Lord God, at this hour. ¹⁰And she struck twice upon his neck, and out off his head, and took off his canopy from the pillars, and rolled away his headless body. ¹¹And after a while she went out, and delivered the head of Holofernes to her maid, and bade her put it into her wallet. ¹²And they two went out according to their custom, as it were to prayer, and they passed the camp, and having compassed the valley, they came to the gate of the city. ¹³And Judith from afar off cried to the watchmen upon the walls: Open the gates for God is with us, who hath shewn his power in Israel. ¹⁴And it came to pass, when the men had heard her voice, that they called the ancients of the city. ¹⁵And all ran to meet her from the least to the greatest: for they now had no hopes that she would come. ¹⁶And lighting up lights they all gathered round about her: and she went up to a higher place, and commanded silence to be made. And when all had held their peace, ¹⁷Judith said: Praise ye the Lord our God, who hath not forsaken them that hope in him. ¹⁸And by me his handmaid he hath fulfilled his mercy, which he promised to the house of Israel: and he hath killed the enemy of his people by my hand this night. ¹⁹Then she brought forth the head of Holofernes out of the wallet, and shewed it them, saying: Behold the head of Holofernes the general of the army of the Assyrians, and behold his canopy, wherein he lay in his drunkenness, where the Lord our God slew him by the hand of a woman. ²⁰But as the same Lord liveth, his angel hath been my keeper both going hence, and abiding there, and returning from thence hither: and the Lord hath not suffered me his handmaid to be defiled, but hath brought me back to you without pollution of sin, rejoicing for his victory, for my escape, and for your deliverance. ²¹Give all of you glory to him, because he is good, because his mercy endureth for ever. ²²And they all adored the Lord, and said to her: The Lord hath blessed thee by his power, because by thee he hath brought our enemies to nought. ²³And Ozias the prince of the people of Israel, said to her: Blessed art thou, O daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth. ²⁴Blessed be the Lord who made heaven and earth, who hath directed thee to the cutting off the head of the prince of our enemies. ²⁵Because he hath so magnified thy name this day, that thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord for ever, for that thou hast not spared thy life, by reason of the distress and tribulation of thy people, but hast prevented our ruin in the presence of our God. ²⁶And all the people said: So be it, so be it. ²⁷And Achior being called for came, and Judith said to him: The God of Israel, to whom thou gavest testimony, that he revengeth himself of his enemies, he hath cut off the head of all the unbelievers this night by my hand. ²⁸And that thou mayst find that it is so, behold the head of Holofernes, who in the contempt of his pride despised the God of Israel: and threatened thee with death, saying: When the people of Israel shall be taken, I will command thy sides to be pierced with a sword. ²⁹Then Achior seeing the head of Holofernes, being seized with a great fear he fell on his face upon the earth, and his soul swooned away. ³⁰But after he had recovered his spirits he fell down at her feet, and reverenced her and said: ³¹Blessed art thou by thy God in every tabernacle of Jacob, for in every nation which shall hear thy name, the God of Israel shall be magnified on occasion of thee.

Chapter 14

¹And Judith said to all the people: Hear me, my brethren, hang ye up this head upon our walls. ²And as soon as the sun shall rise, let every man take his arms, and rush ye out, not as going down beneath, but as making an assault. ³Then the watchmen must needs run to awake their prince for the battle. ⁴And when the captains of them shall run to the tent of Holofernes, and shall find him without his head wallowing in his blood, fear shall fall upon them. ⁵And when you shall know that they are fleeing, go after them securely, for the Lord will destroy them under your feet. ⁶Then Achior seeing the power that the God of Israel had wrought, leaving the religion of the gentiles, he believed God, and circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, and was joined to the people of Israel, with all the succession of his kindred until this present day. ⁷And immediately at break of day, they hung up the head of Holofernes upon the walls, and every man took his arms, and they sent out with a great noise and shouting. ⁸And the watchmen seeing this, ran to the tent of Holofernes. ⁹And they that were in the tent came, and made a noise before the door of the chamber to awake him, endeavoring by art to break his rest, that Holofernes might awake, not by their calling him, but by their noise. ¹⁰For no man durst knock, or open and go into the chamber of the general of the Assyrians. ¹¹But when his captains and tribunes were come, and all the chiefs of the army of the king of the Assyrians, they said to the chamberlains ¹²Go in, and awake him, for the mice coming out of their holes, have presumed to challenge us to fight. ¹³Then Vagao going into his chamber, stood before the curtain, and made a clapping with his hands: for he thought that he was sleeping with Judith. ¹⁴But when with hearkening, he perceived no motion of one lying, he came near to the curtain, and lifting it up, and seeing the body of Holofernes, lying upon the ground, without the head, sweltering in his blood, he cried out with a loud voice, with weeping, and rent his garments. ¹⁵And he went into the tent of Judith, and not finding her, he ran out to the people, ¹⁶And said: One Hebrew woman hath made confusion in the house of king Nabuchodonosor: for behold Holofernes lieth upon the ground, and his head is not upon him. ¹⁷Now when the chiefs of the army of the Assyrians had heard this, they all rent their garments, and an intolerable fear and dread fell upon them, and their minds were troubled exceedingly. ¹⁸And there was a very great cry in the midst of their camp.

Chapter 15

¹And when all the army heard that Holofernes was beheaded, courage and counsel fled from them, and being seized with trembling and fear they thought only to save themselves by flight: ²So that no one spoke to his neighbor, but hanging down the head, leaving all things behind, they made haste to escape from the Hebrews, who, as they heard, were coming armed upon them, and fled by the ways of the fields, and the paths of the hills. ³So the children of Israel seeing them fleeing, followed after them. And they went down sounding with trumpets and shouting after them. ⁴And because the Assyrians were not united together, they went without order in their flight ; but the children of Israel pursuing in one body, defeated all that they could find. ⁵And Ozias sent messengers through all the cities and countries of Israel. ⁶And every country, and every city, sent their chosen young men armed after them, and they pursued them with the edge of the sword until they came to the extremities of their confines. ⁷And the rest that were in Bethulia went into the camp of the Assyrians, and took away the spoils, which the Assyrians in their flight had left behind them, and they were laden exceedingly. ⁸But they that returned conquerors to Bethulia, brought with them all things that were theirs, so that there was no numbering of their cattle, and beasts, and all their moveables, insomuch that from the least to the greatest all were made rich by their spoils. ⁹And Joachim the high priest came from Jerusalem to Bethulia with all his ancients to see Judith. ¹⁰And when she was come out to him, they all blessed her with one voice, saying: Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honour of our people: ¹¹For thou hast done manfully, and thy heart has been strengthened, because thou hast loved chastity, and after thy husband hast not known any other: therefore also the hand of the Lord hath strengthened thee, and therefore thou shalt be blessed for ever. ¹²And all the people said: So be it, so be it ¹³And thirty days were scarce sufficient for the people of Israel to gather up the spoils of the Assyrians. ¹⁴But all those things that were proved to be the peculiar goods of Holofernes, they gave to Judith in gold, and silver, and garments and precious stones, and all household stuff, and they all were delivered to her by the people. ¹⁵And all the people rejoiced, with the women, and virgins, and young men, playing on instruments and harps.

Chapter 16

¹Then Judith sung this canticle to the Lord, saying: ²Begin ye to the Lord with timbrels, sing ye to the Lord with cymbals, tune unto him a new psalm, extol and call upon his name. ³The Lord putteth an end to wars, the Lord is his name. ⁴He hath set his camp in the midst of his people, to deliver us from the hand of all our enemies. ⁵The Assyrians came out of the mountains from the north in the multitude of his strength: his multitude stopped up the torrents, and their horses covered the valleys. ⁶He bragged that he would set my borders on fire, and kill my young men with the sword, to make my infants a prey, and my virgins captives. ⁷But the almighty Lord hath struck him, and hath delivered him into the hands of a woman, and hath slain him. ⁸For their mighty one did not fall by young men, neither did the sons of Titan strike him, nor tall giants oppose themselves to him, but Judith the daughter of Merari weakened him with the beauty of her face. ⁹For she put off her the garments of widowhood, and put on her the garments of joy, to give joy to the children of Israel. ¹⁰She anointed her face with ointment, and bound up her locks with a crown, she took a new robe to deceive him. ¹¹Her sandals ravished his eyes, her beauty made his soul her captive, with a sword she cut off his head. ¹²The Persians quaked at her constancy, and the Medes at her boldness. ¹³Then the camp of the Assyrians howled, when my lowly ones appeared, parched with thirst. ¹⁴The sons of the damsels have pierced them through, and they have killed them like children fleeing away: they perished in battle before the face of the Lord my God. ¹⁵Let us sing a hymn to the Lord, let us sing a new hymn to our God. ¹⁶O Adonai, Lord, great art thou, and glorious in thy power, and no one can overcome thee. ¹⁷Let all thy creatures serve thee: because thou hast spoken, and they were made: thou didst send forth thy spirit, and they were created, and there is no one that can resist thy voice. ¹⁸The mountains shall be moved from the foundations with the waters: the rooks shall melt as wax before thy face. ¹⁹But they that fear thee, shall be great with thee in all things. ²⁰Woe be to the nation that riseth up against my people: for the Lord almighty will take revenge on them, in the day of judgment he will visit them. ²¹For he will give fire, and worms into their flesh, that they may burn, and may feel for ever. ²²And it came to pass after these things, that all the people, after the victory, came to Jerusalem to adore the Lord: and as soon as they were purified, they all offered holocausts, and vows, and their promises. ²³And Judith offered for an anathema of oblivion all the arms of Holofernes, which the people gave her, and the canopy that she had taken away out of his chamber. ²⁴And the people were joyful in the sight of the sanctuary, and for three months the joy of this victory was celebrated with Judith. ²⁵And after those days every man returned to his house, and Judith was made great in Bethulia, and she was most renowned in all the land of Israel. ²⁶And chastity was joined to her virtue, so that she knew no man all the days of her life, after the death of Manasses her husband. ²⁷And on festival days she came forth with great glory. ²⁸And she abode in her husband's house a hundred and five years, and made her handmaid free, and she died, and was buried with her husband in Bethulia. ²⁹And all the people mourned for seven days. ³⁰And all the time of her life there was none that troubled Israel, nor many years after her death. ³¹But the day of the festivity of this victory is received by the Hebrews in the number of holy days, and is religiously observed by the Jews from that time until this day.

The First Book of Machabees

These books are so called, because they contain the history of the people of God under the command of Judas Machabeus and his brethren: and he, as some will have it, was surnamed Machabeus, from carrying in his ensigns, or standards, those words of Exodus 15.11, Who is like to thee among the strong, O Lord: in which the initial letters, in the Hebrew, are M. C. B. E. I. It is not known who is the author of these books. But as to their authority, though they are not received by the Jews, saith St. Augustine, (lib. 18, De Civ. Dei, c. 36,) they are received by the church: who, in settling her canon of the scriptures, chose rather to be directed by the tradition she had received from the apostles of Christ, than by that of the scribes and Pharisees. And as the church has declared these two Books canonical, even in two general councils, viz., Florence and Trent, there can be no doubt of their authenticity.

Chapter 1

¹Now it came to pass, after that Alexander the son of Philip the Macedonian, who first reigned in Greece, coming out of the land of Cethim, had overthrown Darius king of the Persians and Medes: ²He fought many battles, and took the strong holds of all, and slew the kings of the earth: ³And he went through even to the ends of the earth, and took the spoils of many nations: and the earth was quiet before him. ⁴And he gathered a power, and a very strong army: and his heart was exalted and lifted up. ⁵And he subdued countries of nations, and princes: and they became tributaries to him. ⁶And after these things, he fell down upon his bed, and knew that he should die. ⁷And he called his servants the nobles that were brought up with him from his youth: and he divided his kingdom among them, while he was yet alive. ⁸And Alexander reigned twelve years, and he died. ⁹And his servants made themselves kings every one in his place: ¹⁰And they all put crowns upon themselves after his death, and their sons after them many years, and evils were multiplied in the earth. ¹¹And there came out of them a wicked root, Antiochus the Illustrious, the son of king Antiochus, who had been a hostage at Rome: and he reigned in the hundred and thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks. ¹²In those days there went out of Israel wicked men, and they persuaded many, saying: Let us go, and make a covenant with the heathens that are round about us: for since we departed from them, many evils have befallen us. ¹³And the word seemed good in their eyes. ¹⁴And some of the people determined to do this, and went to the king: and he gave them license to do after the ordinances of the heathens. ¹⁵And they built a place of exercise in Jerusalem, according to the laws of the nations: ¹⁶And they made themselves prepuces, and departed from the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the heathens, and were sold to do evil. ¹⁷And the kingdom was established before Antiochus, and he had a mind to reign over the land of Egypt, that he might reign over two kingdoms. ¹⁸And he entered into Egypt with a great multitude, with chariots and elephants, and horsemen, and a great number of ships: ¹⁹And he made war against Ptolemee king of Egypt, but Ptolemee was afraid at his presence, and fled, and many were wounded unto death. ²⁰And he took the strong cities in the land of Egypt: and he took the spoils of the land of Egypt. ²¹And after Antiochus had ravaged Egypt in the hundred and forty-third year, he returned and went up against Israel. ²²And he went up to Jerusalem with a great multitude. ²³And he proudly entered into the sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof, and the table of proposition, and the pouring vessels, and the vials, and the little mortars of gold, and the veil, and the crowns, and the golden ornament that was before the temple: and he broke them all in pieces. ²⁴And he took the silver and gold, and the precious vessels: and he took the hidden treasures which he found: and when he had taken all away he departed into his own country. ²⁵And he made a great slaughter of men, and spoke very proudly. ²⁶And there was great mourning in Israel, and in every place where they were. ²⁷And the princes, and the ancients mourned, and the virgins and the young men were made feeble, and the beauty of the women was changed. ²⁸Every bridegroom took up lamentation: and the bride that set in the marriage bed, mourned: ²⁹And the land was moved for the inhabitants thereof, and all the house of Jacob was covered with confusion. ³⁰And after two full years the king sent the chief collector of his tributes to the cities of Juda, and he came to Jerusalem with a great multitude. ³¹And he spoke to them peaceable words in deceit: and they believed him. ³²And he fell upon the city suddenly, and struck it with a great slaughter, and destroyed much people in Israel. ³³And he took the spoils of the city, and burnt it with fire, and threw down the houses thereof, and the walls thereof round about: ³⁴And they took the women captive, and the children, and the cattle they possessed. ³⁵And they built the city of David with a great and strong wall, and with strong towers, and made it a fortress for them: ³⁶And they placed there a sinful nation, wicked men, and they fortified themselves therein: and they stored up armour, and victuals, and gathered together the spoils of Jerusalem; ³⁷And laid them up there: and they became a great snare. ³⁸And this was a place to lie in wait against the sanctuary, and an evil devil in Israel. ³⁹And they shed innocent blood round about the sanctuary, and defiled the holy place. ⁴⁰And the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled away by reason of them, and the city was made the habitation to strangers, and she became a stranger to her own seed, and her children forsook her. ⁴¹Her sanctuary was desolate like a wilderness, her festival days were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into reproach, her honours were brought to nothing. ⁴²Her dishonour was increased according to her glory, and her excellency was turned into mourning. ⁴³And king Antiochus wrote to all his kingdom, that all the people should be one: and every one should leave his own law. ⁴⁴And all nations consented according to the word of king Antiochus. ⁴⁵And many of Israel consented to his service, and they sacrificed to idols, and profaned the sabbath. ⁴⁶And the king sent letters by the hands of messengers to Jerusalem, and to all the cities of Juda: that they should follow the law of the nations of the earth, ⁴⁷And should forbid holocausts and sacrifices, and atonements to be made in the temple of God. ⁴⁸And should prohibit the sabbath, and the festival days, to be celebrated. ⁴⁹And he commanded the holy places to be profaned, and the holy people of Israel. ⁵⁰And he commanded altars to be built, and temples, and idols, and swine's flesh to be immolated, and unclean beasts. ⁵¹And that they should leave their children uncircumcised, and let their souls be defiled with all uncleannesses, and abominations, to the end that they should forget the law, and should change all the justifications of God. ⁵²And that whosoever would not do according to the word of king Antiochus should be put to death. ⁵³According to all these words he wrote to his whole kingdom, and he appointed rulers over the people that should force them to do these things. ⁵⁴And they commanded the cities of Juda to sacrifice. ⁵⁵Then many of the people were gathered to them that had forsaken the law of the Lord: and they committed evils in the land: ⁵⁶And they drove away the people of Israel into lurking holes, and into the secret places of fugitives. ⁵⁷On the fifteenth day of the month Casleu, in the hundred and forty-fifth year, king Antiochus set up the abominable idol of desolation upon the altar of God, and they built altars throughout all the cities of Juda round about: ⁵⁸And they burnt incense, and sacrificed at the doors of the houses, and in the streets. ⁵⁹And they cut in pieces, and burnt with fire the books of the law of God: ⁶⁰And every one with whom the books of the testament of the Lord were found, and whosoever observed the law of the Lord, they put to death, according to the edict of the king. ⁶¹Thus by their power did they deal with the people of Israel, that were found in the cities month after month. ⁶²And on the five and twentieth day of the month they sacrificed upon the altar of the idol that was over against the altar of God. ⁶³Now the women that circumcised their children, were slain according to the commandment of king Antiochus. ⁶⁴And they hanged the children about their necks in all their houses: and those that had circumcised them, they put to death. ⁶⁵And many of the people of Israel determined with themselves, that they would not eat unclean things: and they chose rather to die than to be defiled with unclean meats. ⁶⁶And they would not break the holy law of God, and they were put to death: ⁶⁷And there was very great wrath upon the people.

Chapter 2

¹In those days arose Mathathias the son of John, the son of Simeon, a priest of the sons of Joarib, from Jerusalem, and he abode in the mountain of Modin. ²And he had five sons: John who was surnamed Gaddis: ³And Simon, who was surnamed Thasi: ⁴And Judas, who was called Machabeus: ⁵And Eleazar, who was surnamed Abaron: and Jonathan, who was surnamed Apphus. ⁶These saw the evils that were done in the people of Juda, and in Jerusalem. ⁷And Mathathias said: Woe is me, wherefore was I born to see the ruin of my people, and the ruin of the holy city, and to dwell there, when it is given into the hands of the enemies? ⁸The holy places are come into the hands of strangers: her temple is become as a man without honour. ⁹The vessels of her glory are carried away captive: her old men are murdered in the streets, and her young men are fallen by the sword of the enemies. ¹⁰What nation hath not inherited her kingdom, and gotten of her spoils? ¹¹All her ornaments are taken away. She that was free is made a slave. ¹²And behold our sanctuary, and our beauty, and our glory is laid waste, and the Gentiles have defiled them. ¹³To what end then should we live any longer? ¹⁴And Mathathias and his sons rent their garments, and they covered themselves with haircloth, and made great lamentation. ¹⁵And they that were sent from king Antiochus came thither, to compel them that were fled into the city of Modin, to sacrifice, and to burn incense, and to depart from the law of God. ¹⁶And many of the people of Israel consented, and came to them: but Mathathias and his sons stood firm. ¹⁷And they that were sent from Antiochus, answering, said to Mathathias: Thou art a ruler, and an honourable, and great man in this city, and adorned with sons, and brethren. ¹⁸Therefore come thou first, and obey the king's commandment, as all nations have done, and the men of Juda, and they that remain in Jerusalem: and thou, and thy sons, shall be in the number of the king's friends, and enriched with gold, and silver, and many presents. ¹⁹Then Mathathias answered, and said with a loud voice: Although all nations obey king Antiochus, so as to depart every man from the service of the law of his fathers, and consent to his commandments: ²⁰I and my sons, and my brethren will obey the law of our fathers. ²¹God be merciful unto us: it is not profitable for us to forsake the law, and the justices of God: ²²We will not hearken to the words of king Antiochus, neither will we sacrifice, and transgress the commandments of our law, to go another way. ²³Now as he left off speaking these words, there came a certain Jew in the sight of all to sacrifice to the idols upon the altar in the city of Modin, according to the king's commandment. ²⁴And Mathathias saw and was grieved, and his reins trembled, and his wrath was kindled according to the judgment of the law, and running upon him he slew him upon the altar: ²⁵Moreover the man whom king Antiochus had sent, who compelled them to sacrifice, he slew at the same time, and pulled down the altar. ²⁶And shewed zeal for the law, as Phinees did by Zamri the son of Salomi. ²⁷And Mathathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying: Every one that hath zeal for the law, and maintaineth the testament, let him follow me. ²⁸So he, and his sons fled into the mountains, and left all that they had in the city. ²⁹Then many that sought after judgment, and justice, went down into the desert: ³⁰And they abode there, they and their children, and their wives, and their cattle: because afflictions increased upon them. ³¹And it was told to the king's men, and to the army that was in Jerusalem in the city of David, that certain men who had broken the king's commandment, were gone away into the secret places in the wilderness, and that many were gone after them. ³²And forthwith they went out towards them, and made war against them on the sabbath day, ³³And they said to them: Do you still resist? come forth, and do according to the edict of king Antiochus, and you shall live. ³⁴And they said: We will not come forth, neither will we obey the king's edict, to profane the sabbath day. ³⁵And they made haste to give them battle. ³⁶But they answered them not, neither did they cast a stone at them, nor stopped up the secret places, ³⁷Saying: Let us all die in our innocency: and heaven and earth shall be witnesses for us, that you put us to death wrongfully. ³⁸So they gave them battle on the sabbath: and they were slain with their wives, and their children, and their cattle, to the number of a thousand persons. ³⁹And Mathathias and his friends heard of it, and they mourned for them exceedingly. ⁴⁰And every man said to his neighbour: If we shall all do as our brethren have done, and not fight against the heathens for our lives, and our justifications: they will now quickly root us out of the earth. ⁴¹And they determined in that day, saying: Whosoever shall come up against us to fight on the sabbath day, we will fight against him: and we will not all die, as our brethren that were slain in the secret places. ⁴²Then was assembled to them the congregation of the Assideans, the stoutest of Israel, every one that had a good will for the law. ⁴³And all they that fled from the evils, joined themselves to them, and were a support to them. ⁴⁴And they gathered an army, and slew the sinners in their wrath, and the wicked men in their indignation: and the rest fled to the nations for safety. ⁴⁵And Mathathias and his friends went round about, and they threw down the altars: ⁴⁶And they circumcised all the children whom they found in the confines of Israel that were uncircumcised: and they did valiantly. ⁴⁷And they pursued after the children of pride, and the work prospered in their hands: ⁴⁸And they recovered the law out of the hands of the nations, and out of the hands of the kings: and they yielded not the horn to the sinner. ⁴⁹Now the days drew near that Mathathias should die, and he said to his sons: Now hath pride and chastisement gotten strength, and the time of destruction, and the wrath of indignation: ⁵⁰Now therefore, O my sons, be ye zealous for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of your fathers. ⁵¹And call to remembrance the works of the fathers, which they have done in their generations: and you shall receive great glory, and an everlasting name. ⁵²Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was reputed to him unto justice? ⁵³Joseph in the time of his distress kept the commandment, and he was made lord of Egypt. ⁵⁴Phinees our father, by being fervent in the zeal of God, received the covenant of an everlasting priesthood. ⁵⁵Jesus, whilst he fulfilled the word, was made ruler in Israel. ⁵⁶Caleb, for bearing witness before the congregation, received an inheritance. ⁵⁷David by his mercy obtained the throne of an everlasting kingdom. ⁵⁸Elias, while he was full of zeal for the law, was taken up into heaven. ⁵⁹Ananias and Azarias and Misael by believing, were delivered out of the flame. ⁶⁰Daniel in his innocency was delivered out of the mouth of the lions. ⁶¹And thus consider through all generations: that none that trust in him fail in strength. ⁶²And fear not the words of a sinful man, for his glory is dung, and worms: ⁶³To day he is lifted up, and to morrow he shall not be found, because he is returned into his earth; and his thought is come to nothing. ⁶⁴You therefore, my sons, take courage, and behave manfully in the law: for by it you shall be glorious. ⁶⁵And behold, I know that your brother Simon is a man of counsel: give ear to him always, and he shall be a father to you. ⁶⁶And Judas Machabeus who is valiant and strong from his youth up, let him be the leader of your army, and he shall manage the war of the people. ⁶⁷And you shall take to you all that observe the law: and revenge ye the wrong of your people. ⁶⁸Render to the Gentiles their reward, and take heed to the precepts of the law. ⁶⁹And he blessed them, and was joined to his fathers. ⁷⁰And he died in the hundred and forty-sixth year: and he was buried by his sons in the sepulchres of his fathers in Modin, and all Israel mourned for him with great mourning.

Chapter 3

¹Then his son Judas, called Machabeus, rose up in his stead. ²And all his brethren helped him, and all they that had joined themselves to his father, and they fought with cheerfulness the battle of Israel. ³And he got his people great honour, and put on a breastplate as a giant, and girt his warlike armour about him in battles, and protected the camp with his sword. ⁴In his acts he was like a lion, and like a lion's whelp roaring for his prey. ⁵And he pursued the wicked and sought them out, and them that troubled his people he burnt with fire: ⁶And his enemies were driven away for fear of him, and all the workers of iniquity were troubled: and salvation prospered in his hand. ⁷And he grieved many kings, and made Jacob glad with his works, and his memory is blessed for ever. ⁸And he went through the cities of Juda, and destroyed the wicked out of them, and turned away wrath from Israel. ⁹And he was renowned even to the utmost part of the earth, and he gathered them that were perishing. ¹⁰And Apollonius gathered together the Gentiles, and a numerous and great army from Samaria, to make war against Israel. ¹¹And Judas understood it, and went forth to meet him: and he overthrew him, and killed him: and many fell down slain, the rest fled away. ¹²And he took their spoils, and Judas took the sword of Apollonius, and fought with it all his lifetime. ¹³And Seron captain of the army of Syria heard that Judas had assembled a company of the faithful, and a congregation with him, ¹⁴And he said: I will get me a name, and will be glorified in the kingdom, and will overthrow Judas, and those that are with him, that have despised the edict of the king. ¹⁵And he made himself ready: and the host of the wicked went up with him, strong succours, to be revenged of the children of Israel. ¹⁶And they approached even as far as Bethoron: and Judas went forth to meet him, with a small company. ¹⁷But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas: How shall we, being few, be able to fight against so great a multitude and so strong, and we are ready to faint with fasting today? ¹⁸And Judas said: It is an easy matter for many to be shut up in the hands of a few: and there is no difference in the sight of the God of heaven to deliver with a great multitude, or with a small company: ¹⁹For the success of war is not in the multitude of the army, but strength cometh from heaven. ²⁰They come against us with an insolent multitude, and with pride, to destroy us, and our wives, and our children, and to take our spoils. ²¹But we will fight for our lives and our laws: ²²And the Lord himself will overthrow them before our face: but as for you, fear them not. ²³And as soon as he had made an end of speaking, he rushed suddenly upon them: and Seron and his host were overthrown before him: ²⁴And he pursued him by the descent of Bethoron even to the plain, and there fell of them eight hundred men, and the rest fled into the land of the Philistines. ²⁵And the fear of Judas and of his brethren, and the dread of them fell upon all the nations round about them. ²⁶And his fame came to the king, and all nations told of the battles of Judas. ²⁷Now when king Antiochus heard these words, he was angry in his mind: and he sent and gathered the forces of all his kingdom, an exceeding strong army. ²⁸And he opened his treasury, and gave out pay to the army for a year: and he commanded them, that they should be ready for all things. ²⁹And he perceived that the money of his treasures failed, and that the tributes of the country were small because of the dissension, and the evil that he had brought upon the land, that he might take away the laws of old times: ³⁰And he feared that he should not have as formerly enough, for charges and gifts, which he had given before with a liberal hand: for he had abounded more than the kings that had been before him. ³¹And he was greatly perplexed in mind, and purposed to go into Persia, and to take tributes of the countries, and to gather much money. ³²And he left Lysias, a nobleman of the blood royal, to oversee the affairs of the kingdom, from the river Euphrates even to the river of Egypt: ³³And to bring up his son Antiochus, till he came again. ³⁴And he delivered to him half the army, and the elephants: and he gave him charge concerning all that he would have done, and concerning the inhabitants of Judea, and Jerusalem: ³⁵And that he should send an army against them, to destroy and root out the strength of Israel, and the remnant of Jerusalem, and to take away the memory of them from that place: ³⁶And that he should settle strangers to dwell in all their coasts, and divide their land by lot. ³⁷So the king took the half of the army that remained, and went forth from Antioch the chief city of his kingdom, in the hundred and forty-seventh year: and he passed over the river Euphrates, and went through the higher countries. ³⁸Then Lysias chose Ptolemee the son of Dorymenus, and Nicanor, and Gorgias, mighty men of the king's friends. ³⁹And he sent with them forty thousand men, and seven thousand horsemen: to go into the land of Juda, and to destroy it according to the king's orders. ⁴⁰So they went forth with all their power, and came, and pitched near Emmaus in the plain country. ⁴¹And the merchants of the countries heard the fame of them: and they took silver and gold in abundance, and servants: and they came into the camp, to buy the children of Israel for slaves: and there were joined to them the forces of Syria, and of the land of the strangers. ⁴²And Judas and his brethren saw that evils were multiplied, and that the armies approached to their borders: and they knew the orders the king had given to destroy the people and utterly abolish them. ⁴³And they said every man to his neighbour: Let us raise up the low condition of our people, and let us fight for our people, and our sanctuary. ⁴⁴And the assembly was gathered that they might be ready for battle: and that they might pray, and ask mercy and compassion. ⁴⁵Now Jerusalem was not inhabited, but was like a desert: there was none of her children that went in or out: and the sanctuary was trodden down: and the children of strangers were in the castle, there was the habitation of the Gentiles: and joy was taken away from Jacob, and the pipe and harp ceased there. ⁴⁶And they assembled together, and came to Maspha over against Jerusalem: for in Maspha was a place of prayer heretofore in Israel. ⁴⁷And they fasted that day, and put on haircloth, and put ashes upon their heads: and they rent their garments: ⁴⁸And they laid open the books of the law, in which the Gentiles searched for the likeness of their idols: ⁴⁹And they brought the priestly ornaments, and the firstfruits and tithes, and stirred up the Nazarites that had fulfilled their days: ⁵⁰And they cried with a loud voice toward heaven, saying: What shall we do with these, and whither shall we carry them? ⁵¹For thy holies are trodden down, and are profaned, and thy priests are in mourning, and are brought low. ⁵²And behold the nations are come together against us to destroy us: thou knowest what they intend against us. ⁵³How shall we be able to stand before their face, unless thou, O God, help us? ⁵⁴Then they sounded with trumpets, and cried out with a loud voice. ⁵⁵And after this Judas appointed captains over the people, over thousands, and over hundreds, and over fifties, and over tens. ⁵⁶And he said to them that were building houses, or had betrothed wives, or were planting vineyards, or were fearful, that they should return every man to his house, according to the law. ⁵⁷So they removed the camp, and pitched on the south side of Emmaus. ⁵⁸And Judas said: Gird yourselves, and be valiant men, and be ready against the morning, that you may fight with these nations that are assembled against us to destroy us and our sanctuary. ⁵⁹For it is better for us to die in battle, than to see the evils of our nation, and of the holies: ⁶⁰Nevertheless as it shall be the will of God in heaven so be it done.

Chapter 4

¹Then Gorgias took five thousand men, and a thousand of the best horsemen: and they removed out of the camp by night. ²That they might come upon the camp of the Jews, and strike them suddenly: and the men that were of the castle were their guides. ³And Judas heard of it, and rose up, he and the valiant men, to attack the king's forces that were in Emmaus. ⁴For as yet the army was dispersed from the camp. ⁵And Gorgias came by night into the camp of Judas, and found no man, and he sought them in the mountains: for he said: These men flee from us. ⁶And when it was day, Judas shewed himself in the plain with three thousand men only, who neither had armour nor swords. ⁷And they saw the camp of the Gentiles that it was strong, and the men in breastplates, and the horsemen round about them, and these were trained up to war. ⁸And Judas said to the men that were with him: Fear ye not their multitude, neither be ye afraid of their assault. ⁹Remember in what manner our fathers were saved in the Red Sea, when Pharao pursued them with a great army. ¹⁰And now let us cry to heaven: and the Lord will have mercy on us, and will remember the covenant of our fathers, and will destroy this army before our face this day: ¹¹And all nations shall know that there is one that redeemeth and delivereth Israel. ¹²And the strangers lifted up their eyes, and saw them coming against them. ¹³And they went out of the camp to battle, and they that were with Judas sounded the trumpet. ¹⁴And they joined battle: and the Gentiles were routed, and fled into the plain. ¹⁵But all the hindmost of them fell by the sword, and they pursued them as far as Gezeron, and even to the plains of Idumea, and of Azotus, and of Jamnia: and there fell of them to the number of three thousand men. ¹⁶And Judas returned again with his army that followed him, ¹⁷And he said to the people: Be not greedy of the spoils: for there is war before us: ¹⁸And Gorgias and his army are near us in the mountain: but stand ye now against our enemies, and overthrow them, and you shall take the spoils afterwards with safety. ¹⁹And as Judas was speaking these words, behold part of them appeared looking forth from the mountain. ²⁰And Gorgias saw that his men were put to flight, ad that they had set fire to the camp: for the smoke that was seen declared what was done. ²¹And when they had seen this, they were seized with great fear, seeing at the same time Judas and his army in the plain ready to fight. ²²So they all fled away into the land of the strangers. ²³And Judas returned to take the spoils of the camp, and they got much gold, and silver, and blue silk, and purple of the sea, and great riches. ²⁴And returning home they sung a hymn, and blessed God in heaven, because he is good, because his mercy endureth for ever. ²⁵So Israel had a great deliverance that day. ²⁶And such of the strangers as escaped, went and told Lysias all that had happened. ²⁷And when he heard these things, he was amazed and discouraged: because things had not succeeded in Israel according to his mind, and as the king had commanded. ²⁸So the year following Lysias gathered together threescore thousand chosen men, and five thousand horsemen, that he might subdue them. ²⁹And they came into Judea, and pitched their tents in Bethoron, and Judas met them with ten thousand men. ³⁰And they saw that the army was strong, and he prayed, and said: Blessed art thou, O Saviour of Israel, who didst break the violence of the mighty by the hand of thy servant David, and didst deliver up the camp of the strangers into the hands of Jonathan the son of Saul and of his armourbearer. ³¹Shut up this army in the hands of thy people Israel, and let them be confounded in their host and their horsemen. ³²Strike them with fear, and cause the boldness of their strength to languish, and let them quake at their own destruction. ³³Cast them down with the sword of them that love thee: and let all that know thy name, praise thee with hymns. ³⁴And they joined battle: and there fell of the army of Lysias five thousand men. ³⁵And when Lysias saw that his men were put to flight, and how bold the Jews were, and that they were ready either to live, or to die manfully, he went to Antioch, and chose soldiers, that they might come again into Judea with greater numbers. ³⁶Then Judas, and his brethren said: Behold our enemies are discomfited: let us go up now to cleanse the holy places and to repair them. ³⁷And all the army assembled together, and they went up into mount Sion. ³⁸And they saw the sanctuary desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burnt, and shrubs growing up in the courts as in a forest, or on the mountains, and the chambers joining to the temple thrown down. ³⁹And they rent their garments, and made great lamentation, and put ashes on their heads: ⁴⁰And they fell face down to the ground on their faces, and they sounded with the trumpets of alarm, and they cried towards heaven. ⁴¹Then Judas appointed men to fight against them that were in the castle, till they had cleansed the holy places. ⁴²And he chose priests without blemish, whose will was set upon the law of God: ⁴³And they cleansed the holy places, and took away the stones that had been defiled into an unclean place. ⁴⁴And he considered about the altar of holocausts that had been profaned, what he should do with it. ⁴⁵And a good counsel came into their minds, to pull it down: lest it should be a reproach to them, because the Gentiles had defiled it; so they threw it down. ⁴⁶And they laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, till there should come a prophet, and give answer concerning them. ⁴⁷Then they took whole stones according to the law, and built a new altar according to the former: ⁴⁸And they built up the holy places, and the things that were within the temple: and they sanctified the temple, and the courts. ⁴⁹And they made new holy vessels, and brought in the candlestick, and the altar of incense, and the table into the temple. ⁵⁰And they put incense upon the altar, and lighted up the lamps that were upon the candlestick, and they gave light in the temple. ⁵¹And they set the loaves upon the table, and hung up the veils, and finished all the works that they had begun to make. ⁵²And they arose before the morning on the five and twentieth day of the ninth month (which is the month of Casleu) in the hundred and forty-eighth year. ⁵³And they offered sacrifice according to the law upon the new altar of holocausts which they had made. ⁵⁴According to the time, and according to the day wherein the heathens had defiled it, in the same was it dedicated anew with canticles, and harps, and lutes, and cymbals. ⁵⁵And all the people fell upon their faces, and adored, and blessed up to heaven, him that had prospered them. ⁵⁶And they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and they offered holocausts with joy, and sacrifices of salvation, and of praise. ⁵⁷And they adorned the front of the temple with crowns of gold, and escutcheons, and they renewed the gates, and the chambers, and hanged doors upon them. ⁵⁸And there was exceeding great joy among the people, and the reproach of the Gentiles was turned away. ⁵⁹And Judas, and his brethren, and all the church of Israel decreed, that the day of the dedication of the altar should be kept in its season from year to year for eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month of Casleu, with joy and gladness. ⁶⁰They built up also at that time mount Sion, with high walls, and strong towers round about, lest the Gentiles should at any time come, and tread it down as they did before. ⁶¹And he placed a garrison there to keep it, and he fortified it to secure Bethsura, that the people might have a defence against Idumea.

Chapter 5

¹Now it came to pass, when the nations round about heard that the altar and the sanctuary were built up as before, that they were exceeding angry. ²And they thought to destroy the generation of Jacob that were among them, and they began to kill some of the people, and to persecute them. ³Then Judas fought against the children of Esau in Idumea, and them that were in Acrabathane: because they beset the Israelites around about, and he made a great slaughter of them. ⁴And he remembered the malice of the children of Bean: who were a snare and a stumblingblock to the people, by lying in wait for them in the way. ⁵And they were shut up by him in towers, and he set upon them, and devoted them to utter destruction, and burnt their towers with fire, and all that were in them. ⁶Then he passed over to the children of Ammon, where he found a mighty power, and much people, and Timotheus was their captain: ⁷And he fought many battles with them, and they were discomfited in their sight, and he smote them: ⁸And he took the city of Gazer and her towns, and returned into Judea. ⁹And the Gentiles that were in Galaad, assembled themselves together against the Israelites that were in their quarters to destroy them: and they fled into the fortress of Datheman. ¹⁰And they sent letters to Judas and his brethren, saying, The heathens that are round about are gathered together against us, to destroy us: ¹¹And they are preparing to come, and to take the fortress into which we are fled: and Timotheus is the captain of their host. ¹²Now therefore come, and deliver us out of their hands, for many of us are slain. ¹³And all our brethren that were in the places of Tubin, are killed: and they have carried away their wives, and their children, captives, and taken their spoils, and they have slain there almost a thousand men. ¹⁴And while they were yet reading these letters, behold there came other messengers out Galilee with their garments rent, who related according to these words: ¹⁵Saying, that they of Ptolemais, and of Tyre, and of Sidon, were assembled against them, and all Galilee is filled with strangers, in order to consume us. ¹⁶Now when Judas and all the people heard these words, a great assembly met together to consider what they should do for their brethren that were in trouble, and were assaulted by them. ¹⁷And Judas said to Simon his brother: Choose thee men, and go, and deliver they brethren in Galilee: and I, and my brother Jonathan will go into the country of Galaad. ¹⁸And he left Joseph the son of Zacharias, and Azarias captains of the people with the remnant of the army in Judea to keep it: ¹⁹And he commanded them, saying: Take ye the charge of this people: but make no war against the heathens, till we return. ²⁰Now three thousand men were alloted to Simon, to go into Gallilee: and eight thousand to Judas to go into the land of Galaad. ²¹And Simon went into Galilee, and fought many battles with the heathens: and the heathens were discomfited before his face, and he pursued them even to the gate of Ptolemais. ²²And there fell of the heathens almost three thousand men, and he took the spoils of them, ²³And he took with him those that were in Galilee and in Arbatis with their wives, and children, and all that they had, and he brought them into Judea with great joy. ²⁴And Judas Machabeus, and Jonathan his brother passed over the Jordan, and went three days' journey through the desert. ²⁵And the Nabutheans met them, and received them in a peaceable manner, and told them all that happened to their brethren in the land of Galaad, ²⁶And that many of them were shut up in Barasa, and in Bosor, and in Alima, and in Casphor, and in Mageth, and in Carnaim: all these strong and great cities. ²⁷Yea, and that they were kept shut up in the rest of the cities of Galaad, and that they had appointed to bring their army on the morrow near to these cities, and to take them and to destroy them all in one day. ²⁸Then Judas and his army suddenly turned their march into the desert, to Bosor, and took the city: and he slew every male by the edge of the sword, and took all their spoils, and burnt it with fire. ²⁹And they removed from thence by night, and went till they came to the fortress. ³⁰And it came to pass that early in the morning, when they lifted up their eyes, behold there were people without number, carrying ladders and engines to take the fortress, and assault them. ³¹And Judas saw that the fight was begun, and the cry of the battle went up to heaven like a trumpet, and a great cry out of the city: ³²And he said to his host: Fight ye to day for your brethren. ³³And he came with three companies behind them, and they sounded their trumpets, and cried out in prayer. ³⁴And the host of Timotheus understood that it was Machabeus, and they fled away before his face: and they made a great slaughter of them: and there fell of them in that day almost eight thousand men. ³⁵And Judas turned aside to Maspha, and assaulted, and took it, and he slew every male thereof, and took the spoils thereof, and burnt it with fire. ³⁶From thence he marched, and took Casbon, and Mageth, and Bosor, and the rest of the cities of Galaad. ³⁷But after this Timotheus gathered another army, and camped over against Raphon beyond the torrent. ³⁸And Judas sent men to view the army: and they brought him word, saying: All the nations, that are round about us, are assembled unto him an army exceeding great: ³⁹And they have hired the Arabians to help them, and they have pitched their tents beyond the torrent, ready to come to fight against thee. And Judas went to meet them. ⁴⁰And Timotheus said to the captains of his army: When Judas and his army come near the torrent of water, if he pass over unto us first, we shall not be able to withstand him: for he will certainly prevail over us. ⁴¹But if he be afraid to pass over, and camp on the other side of the river, we will pass over to them and shall prevail against him. ⁴²Now when Judas came near the torrent of water, he set the scribes of the people by the torrent, and commanded them, saying: Suffer no man to stay behind: but let all come to the battle. ⁴³And he passed over to them first, and all the people after him, and all the heathens were discomfited before them, and they threw away their weapons, and fled to the temple that was in Carnaim. ⁴⁴And he took that city, and the temple he burnt with fire, with all things that were therein: and Carnaim was subdued, and could not stand against the face of Judas. ⁴⁵And Judas gathered together all the Israelites that were in the land of Galaad, from the least even to the greatest, and their wives, and children, and an army exceeding great, to come into the land of Juda. ⁴⁶And they came as far as Ephron: now this was a great city situate in the way, strongly fortified, and there was no means to turn from it on the right hand or on the left, but the way was through the midst of it. ⁴⁷And they that were in the city, shut themselves in, and stopped up the gates with stones: and Judas sent to them with peaceable words, ⁴⁸Saying: Let us pass through your land, to go into our country: and no man shall hurt you: we will only pass through on foot. But they would not open to them. ⁴⁹Then Judas commanded proclamation to be made in the camp, that they should make an assault every man in the place where he was. ⁵⁰And the men of the army drew near, and he assaulted that city all the day, and all the night, and the city was delivered into his hands: ⁵¹And they slew every male with the edge of the sword, and he razed the city, and took the spoils thereof, and passed through all the city over them that were slain. ⁵²Then they passed over the Jordan to the great plain that is over against Bethsan. ⁵³And Judas gathered together the hindmost, and he exhorted the people all the way through, till they came into the land of Juda. ⁵⁴And they went up to mount Sion with joy and gladness, and offered holocausts, because not one of them was slain, till they had returned in peace. ⁵⁵Now in the days that Judas and Jonathan were in the land of Galaad, and Simon his brother in Galilee before Ptolemais, ⁵⁶Joseph the son of Zacharias, and Azarias captain of the soldiers, heard of the good success, and the battles that were fought. ⁵⁷And he said: Let us also get us a name, and let us go fight against the Gentiles that are round about us. ⁵⁸And he gave charge to them that were in his army, and they went towards Jamnia. ⁵⁹And Gorgias and his men went out of the city, to give them battle. ⁶⁰And Joseph and Azarias were put to flight, and were pursued unto the borders of Judea: and there fell, on that day, of the people of Israel about two thousand men, and there was a great overthrow of the people: ⁶¹Because they did not hearken to Judas, and his brethren, thinking that they should do manfully. ⁶²But they were not of the seed of those men by whom salvation was brought to Israel. ⁶³And the men of Juda were magnified exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and of all the nations where their name was heard. ⁶⁴And people assembled to them with joyful acclamations. ⁶⁵Then Judas and his brethren went forth and attacked the children of Esau, in the land toward the south, and he took Chebron, and her towns: and he burnt the walls thereof and the towers all round it. ⁶⁶And he removed his camp to go into the land of the aliens, and he went through Samaria. ⁶⁷In that day some priests fell in battle, while desiring to do manfully they went out unadvisedly to fight. ⁶⁸And Judas turned to Azotus into the land of the strangers, and he threw down their altars, and he burnt the statues of their gods with fire: and he took the spoils of the cities, and returned into the land of Juda.

Chapter 6

¹Now king Antiochus was going through the higher countries, and he heard that the city of Elymais in Persia was greatly renowned, and abounding in silver and gold. ²And that there was in it a temple, exceeding rich: and coverings of gold, and breastplates, and shields which king Alexander, son of Philip the Macedonian that reigned first in Greece, had left there. ³Lo, he came, and sought to take the city and to pillage it: But he was not able, because the design was known to them that were in the city. ⁴And they rose up against him in battle, and he fled away from thence, and departed with great sadness, and returned towards Babylonia. ⁵And whilst he was in Persia, there came one that told him, how the armies that were in the land of Juda were put to flight: ⁶And that Lysias went with a very great power, and was put to flight before the face of the Jews, and that thy were grown strong by the armour, and power, and store of spoils, which they had gotten out of the camps which they had destroyed: ⁷And that they had thrown down the abomination which he had set up upon the altar in Jerusalem, and that they had compassed about the sanctuary with high walls as before, and Bethsura also his city. ⁸And it came to pass when the king heard these words, that he was struck with fear, and exceedingly moved: and he laid himself down upon his bed, and fell sick for grief, because it had not fallen out to him as he imagined. ⁹And he remained there many days: for great grief came more and more and more upon him, and he made account that he should die. ¹⁰And he called for all his friends, and said to them: Sleep is gone from my eyes, and I am fallen away, and my heart is cast down for anxiety. ¹¹And I said in my heart: Into how much tribulation am I come, and into what floods of sorrow, wherein now I am: I that was pleasant and beloved in my power! ¹²But now I remember the evils that I have done in Jerusalem, from whence also I took away all the spoils of gold, and of silver that were in it, and I sent to destroy the inhabitants of Juda without cause. ¹³I know therefore that for this cause these evils have found me: and behold I perish with great grief in a strange land. ¹⁴Then he called Philip, one of his friends, and he made him regent over all his kingdom. ¹⁵And he gave him the crown, and his robe, and his ring, that he should go to Antiochus his son, and should bring him up for the kingdom. ¹⁶So king Antiochus died there in the year one hundred and forty-nine. ¹⁷And Lysias understood that the king was dead, and he set up Antiochus his son to reign, whom he brought up young: and he called his name Eupator. ¹⁸Now they that were in the castle, had shut up the Israelites round about the holy places: and they were continually seeking their hurt, and to strengthen the Gentiles. ¹⁹And Judas purposed to destroy them: and he called together all the people, to besiege them. ²⁰And they came together, and besieged them in the year one hundred and fifty, and they made battering slings and engines. ²¹And some of the besieged got out: and some wicked men of Israel joined themselves unto them. ²²And they went to the king, and said: How long dost thou delay to execute the judgment, and to revenge our brethren? ²³We determined to serve thy father and to do according to his orders, and obey his edicts: ²⁴And for this they of our nation are alienated from us, and have slain as many of us as they could find, and have spoiled our inheritances. ²⁵Neither have they put forth their hand against us only, but also against all our borders. ²⁶And behold they have approached this day to the castle of Jerusalem to take it, and they have fortified the stronghold of Bethsura: ²⁷And unless thou speedily prevent them, they will do greater things than these, and thou shalt not be able to subdue them. ²⁸Now when the king heard this, he was angry: and he called together all his friends, and the captains of his army, and them that were over the horsemen. ²⁹There came also to him from other realms, and from the islands of the sea hired troops. ³⁰And the number of his army was an hundred thousand footmen, and twenty thousand horsemen, and thirty-two elephants, trained to battle. ³¹And they went through Idumea, and approached to Bethsura, and fought many days, and they made engines: but they sallied forth and burnt them with fire, and fought manfully. ³²And Judas departed from the castle, and removed the camp to Bethzacharam, over against the king's camp. ³³And the king rose before it was light, and made his troops march on fiercely towards the way of Bethzacharam: and the armies made themselves ready for the battle, and they sounded the trumpets: ³⁴And they shewed the elephants the blood of grapes, and mulberries to provoke them to fight. ³⁵And they distributed the beasts by the legions: and there stood by every elephant a thousand men in coats of mail, and with helmets of brass on their heads: and five hundred horsemen set in order were chosen for every beast. ³⁶These before the time wheresoever the beast was, the were there: and withersoever it went, they went, and they departed not from it. ³⁷And upon the beast, there were strong wooden towers, which covered every one of them: and engines upon them: and upon every one thirty-two valiant men, who fought from above; and an Indian to rule the beast. ³⁸And the rest of the horsemen he placed on this side and on that side at the two wings, with trumpets to stir up the army, and to hasten them forward that stood thick together in the legions thereof. ³⁹Now when the sun shone upon the shields of gold, and of brass, the mountains glittered therewith, and they shone like lamps of fire. ⁴⁰And part of the king's army was distinguished by the high mountains, and the other part by the low places: and they marched on warily and orderly. ⁴¹And all the inhabitants of the land were moved at the noise of their multitude, and the marching of the company, and the rattling of the armour, for the army was exceeding great and strong. ⁴²And Judas and his army drew near for battle: and there fell of the king's army six hundred men. ⁴³And Eleazar the son of Saura saw one of the beasts harnessed with the king's harness: and it was higher than the other beasts: and it seemed to him that the king was on it: ⁴⁴And he exposed himself to deliver his people and to get himself an everlasting name. ⁴⁵And he ran up to it boldly in the midst of the legion, killing on the right hand, and on the left, and they fell by him on this side and that side. ⁴⁶And he went between the feet of the elephant, and put himself under it: and slew it, and it fell to the ground upon him, and he died there. ⁴⁷Then they seeing the strength of the king and the fierceness of his army, turned away from them. ⁴⁸But the king's army went up against them to Jerusalem: and the king's army pitched their tents against Judea and mount Sion. ⁴⁹And he made peace with them that were in Bethsura: and they came forth out of the city, because they had no victuals, being shut up there, for it was the year of rest to the land. ⁵⁰And the king took Bethsura: and he placed there a garrison to keep it. ⁵¹And he turned his army against the sanctuary for many days: and he set up there battering slings, and engines and instruments to cast fire, and engines to cast stones and javelins, and pieces to shoot arrows, and slings. ⁵²And they also made engines against their engines, and they fought for many days. ⁵³But there were no victuals in the city, because it was the seventh year: and such as had stayed in Judea of them that came from among the nations, had eaten the residue of all that which had been stored up. ⁵⁴And there remained in the holy places but a few, for the famine had prevailed over them: and they were dispersed every man to his own place. ⁵⁵Now Lysias heard that Philip, whom king Antiochus while he lived had appointed to bring up his son Antiochus, and to reign, to be king, ⁵⁶Was returned from Persia, and Media, with the army that went with him, and that he sought to take upon him the affairs of the kingdom: ⁵⁷Wherefore he made haste to go, and say to the king and to the captains of the army: We decay daily, and our provision of victuals is small, and the place that we lay siege to is strong, and it lieth upon us to take order for the affairs of the kingdom. ⁵⁸Now therefore let us come to an agreement with these men, and make peace with them and with all their nation. ⁵⁹And let us covenant with them, that they may live according to their own laws as before. For because of our despising their laws, they have been provoked, and have done all these things. ⁶⁰And the proposal was acceptable in the sight of the king, and of the princes: and he sent to them to make peace: and they accepted of it. ⁶¹And the king and the princes swore to them: and they came out of the stronghold. ⁶²Then the king entered into mount Sion, and saw the strength of the place: and he quickly broke the oath that he had taken, and gave commandment to throw down the wall round about. ⁶³And he departed in haste, and returned to Antioch, where he found Philip master of the city: and he fought against him, and took the city.

Chapter 7

¹In the hundred and fifty-first year Demetrius the son of Seleucus departed from the city of Rome, and came up with a few men into a city of the sea coast, and reigned there. ²And it came to pass, as he entered into the house of the kingdom of his fathers, that the army seized upon Antiochus, and Lysias, to bring them unto him. ³And when he knew it, he said: Let me not see their face. ⁴So the army slew them. And Demetrius sat upon the throne of his kingdom: ⁵And there came to him the wicked and ungodly men of Israel: And Alcimus was at the head of them, who desired to be made high priest. ⁶And they accused the people to the king, saying: Judas and his brethren have destroyed all thy friends, and he hath driven us out of our land. ⁷Now therefore send some man whom thou trustest, and let him go, and see all the havock he hath made amongst us, and in the king's lands: and let him punish all his friends and their helpers. ⁸Then the king chose Bacchides, one of his friends that ruled beyond the great river in the kingdom, and was faithful to the king: and he sent him, ⁹To see the havock that Judas had made: and the wicked Alcimus he made high priest, and commanded him to take revenge upon the children of Israel. ¹⁰And they arose, and came with a great army into the land of Juda: and they sent messengers, and spoke to Judas and his brethren with peaceable words deceitfully. ¹¹But they gave no heed to their words: for they saw that they were come with a great army. ¹²Then there assembled to Alcimus and Bacchides a company of the scribes to require things that are just: ¹³And first the Assideans that were among the children of Israel, and they sought peace of them. ¹⁴For they said: One that is a priest of the seed of Aaron is come, he will not deceive us. ¹⁵And he spoke to them peaceably: and he swore to them, saying: We will do you no harm nor your friends. ¹⁶And they believed him. And he took threescore of them, and slew them in one day, according to the word that is written: ¹⁷The flesh of thy saints, and the blood of them they have shed round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them. ¹⁸Then fear and trembling fell upon all the people: for they said: There is no truth, nor justice among them: for they have broken the covenant, and the oath which they made. ¹⁹And Bacchides removed the camp from Jerusalem, and pitched in Bethzecha: and he sent, and took many of them that were fled away from him, and some of the people he killed, and threw them into a great pit. ²⁰Then he committed the country to Alcimus, and left with him troops to help him. So Bacchides went away to the king: ²¹But Alcimus did what he could to maintain his chief priesthood. ²²And they that disturbed the people resorted to him, and they got the land of Juda into their power, and did much hurt in Israel. ²³And Judas saw all the evils that Alcimus, and they that were with him, did to the children of Israel, much more than the Gentiles. ²⁴And he went out into all the coasts of Juda round about, and took vengeance upon the men that had revolted, and they ceased to go forth any more into the country. ²⁵And Alcimus saw that Judas, and they that were with him prevailed: and he knew that he could not stand against them, and he went back to the king, and accused them of many crimes. ²⁶And the king sent Nicanor one of his principal lords, who was a great enemy to Israel: and he commanded him to destroy the people. ²⁷And Nicanor came to Jerusalem with a great army, and he sent to Judas and to his brethren deceitfully with friendly words, ²⁸Saying: Let there be no fighting between me and you: I will come with a few men to see your faces with peace. ²⁹And he came to Judas, and they saluted one another peaceably: and the enemies were prepared to take away Judas by force. ³⁰And the thing was known to Judas that he was come to him with deceit: and he was much afraid of him, and would not see his face any more. ³¹And Nicanor knew that his counsel was discovered: and he went out to fight against Judas near Capharsalama. ³²And there fell of Nicanor's army almost five thousand men, and they fled into the city of David. ³³And after this Nicanor went up into mount Sion: and some of the priests and the people came out to salute him peaceably, and to shew him the holocausts that were offered for the king. ³⁴But he mocked them and despised them, and abused them: and he spoke proudly, ³⁵And swore in anger, saying: Unless Judas and his army be delivered into my hands, as soon as ever I return in peace, I will burn this house. And he went out in a great rage. ³⁶And the priests went in, and stood before the face of the altar and the temple: and weeping, they said: ³⁷Thou, O Lord, hast chosen this house for thy name to be called upon therein, that it might be a house of prayer and supplication for thy people. ³⁸Be avenged of this man, and his army, and let them fall by the sword: remember their blasphemies, and suffer them not to continue any longer. ³⁹Then Nicanor went out from Jerusalem, and encamped near to Bethoron: and an army of Syria joined him. ⁴⁰But Judas pitched in Adarsa with three thousand men: and Judas prayed, and said: ⁴¹O Lord, when they that were sent by king Sennacherib blasphemed thee, an angel went out, and slew of them a hundred and eighty-five thousand: ⁴²Even so destroy this army in our sight to day, and let the rest know that he hath spoken ill against thy sanctuary: and judge thou him according to his wickedness. ⁴³And the armies joined battle on the thirteenth day of the month Adar: and the army of Nicanor was defeated, and he himself was first slain in the battle. ⁴⁴And when his army saw that Nicanor was slain, they threw away their weapons, and fled: ⁴⁵And they pursued after them one day's journey from Adazer, even till ye come to Gazara, and they sounded the trumpets after them with signals. ⁴⁶And they went forth out of all the towns of Judea round about, and they pushed them with the horns, and they turned again to them, and they were all slain with the sword, and there was not left of them so much as one. ⁴⁷And they took the spoils of them for a booty, and they cut off Nicanor's head, and his right hand, which he had proudly stretched out, and they brought it, and hung it up over against Jerusalem. ⁴⁸And the people rejoiced exceedingly, and they spent that day with great joy. ⁴⁹And he ordained that this day should be kept every year, being the thirteenth of the month of Adar. ⁵⁰And the land of Juda was quiet for a short time.

Chapter 8

¹Now Judas heard of the fame of the Romans, that they are powerful and strong, and willingly agree to all things that are requested of them: and that whosoever have come to them, they have made amity with them, and that they are mighty in power. ²And they heard of their battles, and their noble acts, which they had done in Galatia, how they conquered them, and brought them under tribute: ³And how great things they had done in the land of Spain, and that they had brought under their power the mines of silver and of gold that are there, and had gotten possession of all the place by their counsel and patience: ⁴And had conquered places that were very far off from them, and kings that came against them from the ends of the earth, and had overthrown them with great slaughter: and the rest pay them tribute every year. ⁵And that they had defeated in battle Philip, and Perses the king of the Ceteans, and the rest that had borne arms against them, and had conquered them: ⁶And how Antiochus the great king of Asia, who went to fight against them, having a hundred and twenty elephants, with horsemen, and chariots, and a very great army, was routed by them: ⁷And how they took him alive, and appointed to him, that both he and they that should reign after him, should pay a great tribute, and that he should give hostages, and that which was agreed upon, ⁸And the country of the Indians, and of the Medes, and of the Lydians, some of their best provinces: and those which they had taken from them they gave to king Eumenes. ⁹And that they who were in Greece had a mind to go and to destroy them: and they had knowledge thereof, ¹⁰And they sent a general against them, and fought with them, and many of them were slain, and they carried away their wives and their children captives, and spoiled them, and took possession of their land, and threw down their walls, and brought them to be their servants unto this day. ¹¹And the other kingdoms, and islands, that at any time had resisted them, they had destroyed and brought under their power. ¹²But with their friends, and such as relied upon them, they kept amity, and had conquered kingdoms that were near, and that were far off: for all that heard their name, were afraid of them. ¹³That whom they had a mind to help to a kingdom, those reigned: and whom they would, they deposed from a kingdom: and they were greatly exalted. ¹⁴And none of all these wore a crown, or was clothed in purple, to be magnified thereby. ¹⁵And that they made themselves a senate house, and consulted daily three hundred and twenty men, that sat in council always for the people, that they might do the things that were right. ¹⁶And that they committed their government to one man every year, to rule over all their country, and they all obey one, and there is no envy, nor jealousy amongst them. ¹⁷So Judas chose Eupolemus the son of John, the son of Jacob, and Jason the son of Eleazar, and he sent them to Rome to make a league of amity and confederacy with them. ¹⁸And that they might take off from them the yoke of the Grecians, for they saw that they oppressed the kingdom of Israel with servitude. ¹⁹And they went to Rome, a very long journey, and they entered into the senate house, and said: ²⁰Judas Machabeus, and his brethren, and the people of the Jews have sent us to you, to make alliance and peace with you, and that we may be registered your confederates and friends. ²¹And the proposal was pleasing in their sight. ²²And this is the copy of the writing that they wrote back again, graven in tables of brass, and sent to Jerusalem, that it might be with them there for a memorial of the peace and alliance. ²³GOOD SUCCESS BE TO THE ROMANS, and to the people of the Jews, by sea and by land for ever: and far be the sword and enemy from them. ²⁴But if there come first any war upon the Romans, or any of their confederates, in all their dominions: ²⁵The nation of the Jews shall help them according as the time shall direct, with all their heart: ²⁶Neither shall they give them, whilst they are fighting, or furnish them with wheat, or arms, or money, or ships, as it hath seemed good to the Romans: and they shall obey their orders, without taking any thing of them. ²⁷In like manner also if war shall come first upon the nation of the Jews, the Romans shall help them with all their heart, according as the time shall permit them. ²⁸And there shall not be given to them that come to their aid, either wheat, or arms, or money, or ships, as it hath seemed good to the Romans: and they shall observe their orders without deceit. ²⁹According to these articles did the Romans covenant with the people of the Jews. ³⁰And if after this one party or the other shall have a mind to add to these articles, or take away anything, they may do it at their pleasure: and whatsoever they shall add, or take away, shall be ratified. ³¹Moreover concerning the evils that Demetrius the king hath done against them, we have written to him, saying: Why hast thou made thy yoke heavy upon our friends, and allies, the Jews? ³²If therefore they come again to us complaining of thee, we will do them justice, and will make war against thee by sea and land.

Chapter 9

¹In the mean time when Demetrius heard that Nicanor and his army were fallen in battle, he sent again Bacchides and Alcimus into Judea; and the right wing of his army with them. ²And they took the road that leadeth to Galgal, and they camped in Masaloth, which is in Arabella: and they made themselves masters of it, and slew many people. ³In the first month of the hundred and fifty-second year they brought the army to Jerusalem: ⁴And they arose, and went to Berea with twenty thousand men, and two thousand horsemen. ⁵Now Judas had pitched his tents in Laisa, and three thousand chosen men with him: ⁶And they saw the multitude of the army that they were many, and they were seized with great fear: and many withdrew themselves out of the camp, and there remained of them no more than eight hundred men. ⁷And Judas saw that his army slipped away, and the battle pressed upon him, and his heart was cast down: because he had not time to gather them together, and he was discouraged. ⁸Then he said to them that remained: Let us arise, and go against our enemies, if we may be able to fight against them. ⁹But they dissuaded him, saying: We shall not be able, but let us save our lives now, and return to our brethren, and then we will fight against them: for we are but few. ¹⁰Then Judas said: God forbid we should do this thing, and flee away from them: but if our time be come, let us die manfully for our brethren, and let us not stain our glory. ¹¹And the army removed out of the camp, and they stood over against them: and the horsemen were divided into two troops, and the slingers, and the archers went before the army, and they that were in the front were all men of valour. ¹²And Bacchides was in the right wing, and the legion drew near on two sides, and they sounded the trumpets: ¹³And they also were on Judas' side, even they also cried out, and the earth shook at the noise of the armies: and the battle was fought from morning even unto the evening. ¹⁴And Judas perceived that the stronger part of the army of Bacchides was on the right side, and all the stout of heart came together with him: ¹⁵And the right wing was discomfited by them, and he pursued them even to the mount Azotus. ¹⁶And they that were in the left wing saw that the right wing was discomfited, and they followed after Judas, and them that were with him, at their back: ¹⁷And the battle was hard fought, and there fell many wounded of the one side and of the other. ¹⁸And Judas was slain, and the rest fled away. ¹⁹And Jonathan and Simon took Judas their brother, and buried him in the sepulchre of their fathers in the city of Modin. ²⁰And all the people of Israel bewailed him with great lamentation, and they mourned for him many days. ²¹And said: How is the mighty man fallen, that saved the people of Israel! ²²But the rest of the words of the wars of Judas, and of the noble acts that he did, and of his greatness, are not written: for they were very many. ²³And it came to pass after the death of Judas, that the wicked began to put forth their heads in all the confines of Israel, and all the workers of iniquity rose up. ²⁴In those days there was a very great famine, and they and all their country yielded to Bacchides. ²⁵And Bacchides chose the wicked men, and made them lords of the country: ²⁶And they sought out, and made diligent search after the friends of Judas, and brought them to Bacchides, and he took vengeance of them, and abused them. ²⁷And there was a great tribulation in Israel, such as was not since the day, that there was no prophet seen in Israel. ²⁸And all the friends of Judas came together, and said to Jonathan: ²⁹Since thy brother Judas died, there is not a man like him to go forth against our enemies, Bacchides, and them that are the enemies of our nation. ³⁰Now therefore we have chosen thee this day to be our prince, and captain in his stead to fight our battles. ³¹So Jonathan took upon him the government at that time, and rose up in the place of Judas his brother. ³²And Bacchides had knowledge of it, and sought to kill him. ³³And Jonathan and Simon his brother, knew it, and all that were with them: and they fled into the desert of Thecua, and they pitched by the water of the lake of Asphar, ³⁴And Bacchides understood it, and he came himself with all his army over the Jordan on the sabbath day. ³⁵And Jonathan sent his brother a captain of the people, to desire the Nabutheans his friends, that they would lend them their equipage, which was copious. ³⁶And the children of Jambri came forth out of Madaba, and took John, and all that he had, and went away with them. ³⁷After this it was told Jonathan, and Simon his brother, that the children of Jambri made a great marriage, and were bringing the bride out of Madaba, the daughter of one of the great princes of Chanaan, with great pomp. ³⁸And the remembered the blood of John their brother: and they went up, and hid themselves under the covert of the mountain. ³⁹And they lifted up their eyes, and saw: and behold a tumult, and great preparation: and the bridegroom came forth, and his friends, and his brethren to meet them with timbrels, and musical instruments, and many weapons. ⁴⁰And they rose up against them from the place where they lay in ambush, and slew them, and there fell many wounded, and the rest fled into the mountains, and they took all their spoils: ⁴¹And the marriage was turned into mourning, and the noise of their musical instruments into lamentation. ⁴²And they took revenge for the blood of their brother: and they returned to the bank of the Jordan. ⁴³And Bacchides heard it, and he came on the sabbath day even to the bank of the Jordan with a great power. ⁴⁴And Jonathan said to his company: Let us arise, and fight against our enemies: for it is not now as yesterday, and the day before. ⁴⁵And behold the battle is before us, and the water of the Jordan on this side and on that side, and banks, and marshes, and woods: and there is no place for us to turn aside. ⁴⁶Now therefore cry ye to heaven, that ye may be delivered from the hand of your enemies. And they joined battle. ⁴⁷And Jonathan stretched forth his hand to strike Bacchides, but he turned away from him backwards. ⁴⁸And Jonathan, and they that were with him leaped into the Jordan, and swam over the Jordan to them: ⁴⁹And there fell of Bacchides' side that day a thousand man: and they returned to Jerusalem, ⁵⁰And they built strong cities in Judea, the fortress that was in Jericho, and in Ammaus, and in Bethoron, and in Bethel, and Thamnata, and Phara, and Thopo, with high walls, and gates, and bars. ⁵¹And he placed garrisons in them, that they might wage war against Israel: ⁵²And he fortified the city of Bethsura, and Gazara, and the castle, and set garrisons in them, and provisions of victuals: ⁵³And he took the sons of the chief men of the country for hostages, and put them in the castle in Jerusalem in custody. ⁵⁴Now in the year one hundred and fifty-three, the second month, Alcimus commanded the walls of the inner court of the sanctuary to be thrown down, and the works of the prophets to be destroyed: and he began to be destroyed: and he began to destroy. ⁵⁵At that time Alcimus was struck: and his works were hindered, and his mouth was stopped, and he was taken with a palsy, so that he could no more speak a word, nor give order concerning his house. ⁵⁶And Alcimus died at that time in great torment. ⁵⁷And Bacchides saw that Alcimus was dead: and he returned to the king, and the land was quiet for two years. ⁵⁸And all the wicked held a council, saying: Behold Jonathan, and they that are with him, dwell at ease, and without fear: now therefore let us bring Bacchides hither, and he shall take them all in one night. ⁵⁹So they went, and gave him counsel. ⁶⁰And he arose to come with a great army: and he sent secretly letters to his adherents that were in Judea, to seize upon Jonathan, and them that were with him: but they could not, for their design was known to them. ⁶¹And he apprehended of the men of the country, that were the principal authors of the mischief, fifty men, and slew them. ⁶²And Jonathan, and Simon, and they that were with him retired into Bethbessen, which is in the desert: and he repaired the breaches thereof, and they fortified it. ⁶³And when Bacchides knew it, he gathered together all his multitude: and sent word to them that were of Judea. ⁶⁴And he came, and camped above Bethbessen, and fought against it many days, and made engines. ⁶⁵But Jonathan left his brother Simon in the city, and went forth into the country: and came with a number of men. ⁶⁶And struck Odares, and his brethren, and the children of Phaseron in their tents, and he began to slay, and to increase in forces. ⁶⁷But Simon and they that were with him, sallied out of the city, and burnt the engines. ⁶⁸And they fought against Bacchides, and he was discomfited by them: and they afflicted him exceedingly, for his counsel, and his enterprise was in vain. ⁶⁹And he was angry with the wicked men that had given him counsel to come into their country, and he slew many of them: and he purposed to return with the rest into their country. ⁷⁰And Jonathan had knowledge of it, and he sent ambassadors to him to make peace with him, and to restore to him the prisoners. ⁷¹And he accepted it willingly, and did according to his words, and swore that the would do him no harm all the days of his life. ⁷²And he restored to him the prisoners which he before had taken out of the land of Juda: and he returned and went away into his own country, and he came no more into their borders. ⁷³So the sword ceased from Israel: and Jonathan dwelt in Machmas, and Jonathan began there to judge the people, and he destroyed the wicked out of Israel.

Chapter 10

¹Now in the hundred and sixtieth year Alexander the son of Antiochus, surnamed the Illustrious, came up and took Ptolemais, and they received him, and he reigned there. ²And king Demetrius heard of it, and gathered together an exceeding great army, and went forth against him to fight. ³And Demetrius sent a letter to Jonathan with peaceable words, to magnify him. ⁴For he said: Let us first make a peace with him, before he make one with Alexander against us. ⁵For he will remember all the evils that we have done against him, and against his brother, and against his nation. ⁶And he gave him authority to gather together an army, and to make arms, and that he should be his confederate: and the hostages that were in the castle, he commanded to be delivered to him. ⁷And Jonathan came to Jerusalem, and read the letters in the hearing of all the people, and of them that were in the castle. ⁸And they were struck with great fear, because they heard that the king had given him authority to gather together an army. ⁹And the hostages were delivered to Jonathan, and he restored them to their parents. ¹⁰And Jonathan dwelt in Jerusalem, and began to build, and to repair the city. ¹¹And he ordered workmen to build the walls, and mount Sion round about with square stones for fortification: and so they did. ¹²And the strangers that were in the strong holds, which Bacchides had built, fled away. ¹³And every man left his place, and departed into his own country: ¹⁴Only in Bethsura there remained some of them, that had forsaken the law, and the commandments of God: for this was a place of refuge for them. ¹⁵And king Alexander heard of the promises that Demetrius had made Jonathan: and they told him of the battles, and the worthy acts that he, and his brethren had done, and the labours that they had endured. ¹⁶And he said: Shall we find such another man? now therefore we will make him our friend and our confederate. ¹⁷So he wrote a letter, and sent it to him according to these words, saying: ¹⁸King Alexander to his brother Jonathan, greeting. ¹⁹We have heard of thee, that thou art a man of great power, and fit to be our friend: ²⁰Now therefore we make thee this day high priest of thy nation, and that thou be called the king's friend, (and he sent him a purple robe, and a crown of gold,) and that thou be of one mind with us in our affairs, and keep friendship with us. ²¹Then Jonathan put on the holy vestment in the seventh month, in the year one hundred and threescore, at the feast day of the tabernacles: and he gathered together an army, and made a great number of arms. ²²And Demetrius heard these words, and was exceeding sorry, and said: ²³What is this that we have done, that Alexander hath prevented us to gain the friendship of the Jews to strengthen himself? ²⁴I also will write to them words of request, and offer dignities, and gifts: that they may be with me to aid me. ²⁵And he wrote to them in these words: King Demetrius to the nation of the Jews, greeting. ²⁶Whereas you have kept covenant with us, and have continued in our friendship, and have not joined with our enemies, we have heard of it, and are glad. ²⁷Wherefore now continue still to keep fidelity towards us, and we will reward you with good things, for what you have done in our behalf. ²⁸And we will remit to you many charges, and will give you gifts. ²⁹And now I free you, and all the Jews from tributes, and I release you from the customs of salt, and remit the crowns, and the thirds of the seed: ³⁰And the half of the fruit of trees, which is my share, I leave to you from this day forward, so that it shall not be taken of the land of Juda, and of the three cities that are added thereto out of Samaria and Galilee, from this day forth and for ever: ³¹And let Jerusalem be holy and free, with the borders thereof: and let the tenths, and tributes be for itself. ³²I yield up also the power of the castle that is in Jerusalem, and I give it to the high priest, to place therein such men as he shall choose to keep it. ³³And every soul of the Jews that hath been carried captive from the land of Juda in all my kingdom, I set at liberty freely, that all be discharged from tributes even of their cattle. ³⁴And I will that all the feasts, and the sabbaths, and the new moons, and the days appointed, and three days before the solemn day, and three days after the solemn day, be all days of immunity and freedom, for all the Jews that are in my kingdom: ³⁵And no man shall have power to do any thing against them, or to molest any of them, in any cause. ³⁶And let there be enrolled in the king's army to the number of thirty thousand of the Jews: and allowance shall be made them as is due to all the king's forces, and certain of them shall be appointed to be in the fortresses of the great king: ³⁷And some of them shall be set over the affairs of the kingdom, that are of trust, and let the governors be taken from among themselves, and let them walk in their own laws, as the king hath commanded in the land of Juda. ³⁸And the three cities that are added to Judea, out of the country of Samaria, let them be accounted with Judea: that they may be under one, and obey no other authority but that of the high priest: ³⁹Ptolemais, and the confines thereof, I give as a free gift to the holy places, that are in Jerusalem, for the necessary charges of the holy things. ⁴⁰And I give every year fifteen thousand sicles of silver out of the king's accounts, of what belongs to me: ⁴¹And all that is above, which they that were over the affairs the years before, had not paid, from this time they shall give it to the works of the house. ⁴²Moreover the five thousand sicles of silver which they received from the account of the holy places, every year, shall also belong to the priests that execute the ministry. ⁴³And whosoever shall flee into the temple that is in Jerusalem, and in all the borders thereof, being indebted to the king for any matter, let them be set at liberty, and all that they have in my kingdom, let them have it free. ⁴⁴For the building also, or repairing the works of the holy places, the charges shall be given out of the king's revenues: ⁴⁵For the building also of the walls of Jerusalem, and the fortifying thereof round about, the charges shall be given out of the king's account, as also for the building of the walls in Judea. ⁴⁶Now when Jonathan, and the people heard these words, they gave no credit to them nor received them: because they remembered the great evil that he had done in Israel, for he had afflicted them exceedingly. ⁴⁷And their inclinations were towards Alexander, because he had been the chief promoter of peace in their regard, and him they always helped. ⁴⁸And king Alexander gathered together a great army, and moved his camp near to Demetrius. ⁴⁹And the two kings joined battle, and the army of Demetrius fled away, and Alexander pursued after him, and pressed them close. ⁵⁰And the battle was hard fought till the sun went down: and Demetrius was slain that day. ⁵¹And Alexander sent ambassadors to Ptolemee king of Egypt, with words to this effect, saying: ⁵²Forasmuch as I am returned into my kingdom, and am set in the throne of my ancestors and have gotten the dominion, and have overthrown Demetrius, and possessed our country, ⁵³And have joined battle with him, and both he and his army have been destroyed by us, and we are placed in the throne of his kingdom: ⁵⁴Now therefore let us make friendship one with another: and give me now thy daughter to wife, and I will be thy son in law, and I will give both thee and her gifts worthy of thee. ⁵⁵And king Ptolemee answered, saying: Happy is the day wherein thou didst return to the land of thy fathers, and sattest in the throne of their kingdom. ⁵⁶And now I will do to thee as thou hast written: but meet me at Ptolemais, that we may see one another, and I may give her to thee as thou hast said. ⁵⁷So Ptolemee went out of Egypt, with Cleopatra his daughter, and he came to Ptolemais in the hundred and sixty-second year. ⁵⁸And king Alexander met him, and he gave him his daughter Cleopatra: and he celebrated her marriage at Ptolemais, with great glory, after the manner of kings. ⁵⁹And king Alexander wrote to Jonathan, that he should come and meet him. ⁶⁰And he went honourably to Ptolemais, and he met there the two kings, and he gave them much silver, and gold, and presents: and he found favour in their sight. ⁶¹And some pestilent men of Israel, men of a wicked life, assembled themselves against him to accuse him: and the king gave no heed to them. ⁶²And he commanded that Jonathan's garments should be taken off, and that he should be clothed with purple: and they did so. And the king made him sit by himself. ⁶³And he said to his princes: Go out with him into the midst of the city, and make proclamation, that no man complain against him of any matter, and that no man trouble him for any manner of cause. ⁶⁴So when his accusers saw his glory proclaimed, and him clothed with purple, they all fled away. ⁶⁵And the king magnified him, and enrolled him amongst his chief friends, and made him governor and partaker of his dominion. ⁶⁶And Jonathan returned into Jerusalem with peace and joy. ⁶⁷In the year one hundred and sixty-five Demetrius the son of Demetrius came from Crete into the land of his fathers. ⁶⁸And king Alexander heard of it, and was much troubled, and returned to Antioch. ⁶⁹And king Demetrius made Apollonius his general, who was governor of Celesyria: and he gathered together a great army, and came to Jamnia: and he sent to Jonathan the high priest, ⁷⁰Saying: Thou alone standest against us, and I am laughed at, and reproached, because thou shewest thy power against us in the mountains. ⁷¹Now therefore if thou trustest in thy forces, come down to us into the plain, and there let us try one another: for with me is the strength of war. ⁷²Ask, and learn who I am, and the rest that help me, who also say that your foot cannot stand before our face, for thy fathers have twice been put to flight in their own land: ⁷³And now how wilt thou be able to abide the horsemen, and so great an army in the plain, where there is no stone, nor rock, nor place to flee to? ⁷⁴Now when Jonathan heard the words of Apollonius, he was moved in his mind: and he chose ten thousand men, and went out of Jerusalem, and Simon his brother met him to help him. ⁷⁵And they pitched their tents near Joppe, but they shut him out of the city: because a garrison of Apollonius was in Joppe, and he laid siege to it. ⁷⁶And they that were in the city being affrighted, opened the gates to him: so Jonathan took Joppe. ⁷⁷And Apollonius heard of it, and he took three thousand horsemen, and a great army. ⁷⁸And he went to Azotus as one that was making a journey, and immediately he went forth into the plain: because he had a great number of horsemen, and he trusted in them. And Jonathan followed after him to Azotus, and they joined battle. ⁷⁹And Apollonius left privately in the camp a thousand horsemen behind them. ⁸⁰And Jonathan knew that there was an ambush behind him, and they surrounded his army, and cast darts at the people from morning till evening. ⁸¹But the people stood still, as Jonathan had commanded them: and so their horses were fatigued. ⁸²Then Simon drew forth his army, and attacked the legion: for the horsemen were wearied: and they were discomfited by him, and fled. ⁸³And they that were scattered about the plain, fled into Azotus, and went into Bethdagon their idol's temple, there to save themselves. ⁸⁴But Jonathan set fire to Azotus, and the cities that were around it, and took the spoils of them, and the temple of Dagon: and all them that were fled into it, he burnt with fire. ⁸⁵So they that were slain by the sword, with them that were burnt, were almost eight thousand men. ⁸⁶And Jonathan removed his army from thence, and camped against Ascalon: and they went out of the city to meet him with great honour. ⁸⁷And Jonathan returned into Jerusalem with his people, having many spoils. ⁸⁸And it came to pass: When Alexander the king heard these words, that he honoured Jonathan yet more. ⁸⁹And he sent him a buckle of gold, as the custom is, to be given to such as are of the royal blood. And he gave him Accaron and all the borders thereof in possession.

Chapter 11

¹And the king of Egypt gathered together an army, like the sand that lieth upon the sea shore, and many ships: and he sought to get the kingdom of Alexander by deceit, and join it to his own kingdom. ²And he went out into Syria with peaceable words, and they opened to him the cities, and met him: for king Alexander had ordered them to go forth to meet him, because he was his father in law. ³Now when Ptolemee entered into the cities, he put garrisons of soldiers in every city. ⁴And when he came near to Azotus, they shewed him the temple of Dagon that was burnt with fire, and Azotus, and the suburbs thereof that were destroyed, and the bodies that were cast abroad, and the graves of them that were slain in the battle, which they had made near the way. ⁵And they told the king that Jonathan had done these things, to make him odious: but the king held his peace. ⁶And Jonathan came to meet the king at Joppe with glory, and they saluted one another, and they lodged there. ⁷And Jonathan went with the king as far as the river, called Eleutherus: and he returned into Jerusalem. ⁸And king Ptolemee got the dominion of the cities by the sea side, even to Seleucia, and he devised evil designs against Alexander. ⁹And he sent ambassadors to Demetrius, saying: Come, let us make a league between us, and I will give thee my daughter whom Alexander hath, and thou shalt reign in the kingdom of thy father. ¹⁰For I repent that I have given him my daughter: for he hath sought to kill me. ¹¹And he slandered him, because he coveted his kingdom. ¹²And he took away his daughter, and gave her to Demetrius, and alienated himself from Alexander, and his enmities were made manifest. ¹³And Ptolemee entered into Antioch, and set two crowns upon his head, that of Egypt, and that of Asia. ¹⁴Now king Alexander was in Cilicia at that time: because they that were in those places had rebelled. ¹⁵And when Alexander heard of it, he came to give him battle, and king Ptolemee brought forth his army, and met him with a strong power, and put him to flight. ¹⁶And Alexander fled into Arabia, there to be protected: and king Ptolemee was exalted. ¹⁷And Zabdiel the Arabian took off Alexander's head, and sent it to Ptolemee. ¹⁸And king Ptolemee died the third day after: and they that were in the strong holds were destroyed by them that were within the camp. ¹⁹And Demetrius reigned in the hundred and sixty-seventh year. ²⁰In those days Jonathan gathered together them that were in Judea, to take the castle that was in Jerusalem: and they made many engines of war against it. ²¹Then some wicked men that hated their own nation, went away to king Demetrius, and told him that Jonathan was besieging the castle. ²²And when he heard it, he was angry: and forthwith he came to Ptolemais, and wrote to Jonathan, that he should not besiege the castle, but should come to him in haste, and speak to him. ²³But when Jonathan heard this, he bade them besiege it still: and he chose some of the ancients of Israel, and of the priests, and put himself in danger. ²⁴And he took gold, and silver, and raiment, and many other presents, and went to the king to Ptolemais, and he found favour in his sight. ²⁵And certain wicked men of his nation made complaints against him. ²⁶And the king treated him as his predecessor had done before: and he exalted him in the sight of all his friends. ²⁷And he confirmed him in the high priesthood, and all the honours he had before, and he made him the chief of his friends. ²⁸And Jonathan requested of the king that he would make Judea free from tribute, and the three governments, and Samaria, and the confines thereof: and he promised him three hundred talents. ²⁹And the king consented: and he wrote letters to Jonathan of all these things to this effect. ³⁰King Demetrius to his brother Jonathan, and to the nation of the Jews, greeting. ³¹We send you here a copy of the letter, which we have written to Lasthenes our parent concerning you, that you might know it. ³²King Demetrius to Lasthenes his parent, greeting. ³³We have determined to do good to the nation of the Jews who are our friends, and keep the things that are just with us, for their good will which they bear towards us. ³⁴We have ratified therefore unto them all the borders of Judea, and the three cities, Apherema, Lydda, and Ramatha, which are added to Judea, out of Samaria, and all their confines, to be set apart to all them that sacrifice in Jerusalem, instead of the payments which the king received of them every year, and for the fruits of the land, and of the trees. ³⁵And as for other things that belonged to us of the tithes, and of the tributes, from this time we discharge them of them: the saltpans also, and the crowns that were presented to us. ³⁶We give all to them, and nothing hereof shall be revoked from this time forth and for ever. ³⁷Now therefore see that thou make a copy of these things, and let it be given to Jonathan, and set upon the holy mountain, in a conspicuous place. ³⁸And king Demetrius seeing that the land was quiet before him, and nothing resisted him, sent away all his forces, every man to his own place, except the foreign army, which he had drawn together from the islands of the nations: so all the troops of his fathers hated him. ³⁹Now there was one Tryphon who had been of Alexander's party before: who seeing that all the army murmured against Demetrius, went to Emalchuel the Arabian, who brought up Antiochus the son of Alexander. ⁴⁰And he pressed him much to deliver him to him, that he might be king in his father's place: and he told him all that Demetrius had done, and how his soldiers hated him. And he remained there many days. ⁴¹And Jonathan sent to king Demetrius, desiring that he would cast out them that were in the castle in Jerusalem, and those that were in the strong holds: because they fought against Israel. ⁴²And Demetrius sent to Jonathan, saying: I will not only do this for thee, and for thy people, but I will greatly honour thee, and thy nation, when opportunity shall serve. ⁴³Now therefore thou shalt do well if thou send me men to help me: for all my army is gone from me. ⁴⁴And Jonathan sent him three thousand valiant men to Antioch: and they came to the king, and the king was very glad of their coming. ⁴⁵And they that were of the city assembled themselves together, to the number of a hundred and twenty thousand men, and would have killed the king. ⁴⁶And the king fled into the palace, and they of the city kept the passages of the city, and began to fight. ⁴⁷And the king called the Jews to his assistance: and they came to him all at once, and they all dispersed themselves through the city. ⁴⁸And they slew in that day a hundred thousand men, and they set fire to the city, and got many spoils that day, and delivered the king. ⁴⁹And they that were of the city saw that the Jews had got the city as they would: and they were discouraged in their minds, and cried to the king, making supplication, and saying: ⁵⁰Grant us peace, and let the Jews cease from assaulting us, and the city. ⁵¹And they threw down their arms, and made peace, and the Jews were glorified in the sight of the king, and in the sight of all that were in his realm, and were renowned throughout the kingdom, and returned to Jerusalem with many spoils. ⁵²So king Demetrius sat in the throne of his kingdom: and the land was quiet before him. ⁵³And he falsified all whatsoever he had said, and alienated himself from Jonathan, and did not reward him according to the benefits he had received from him, but gave him great trouble. ⁵⁴And after this Tryphon returned, and with him Antiochus the young boy, who was made king, and put on the diadem. ⁵⁵And there assembled unto him all the hands which Demetrius had sent away, and they fought against Demetrius, who turned his back and fled. ⁵⁶And Tryphon took the elephants, and made himself master of Antioch. ⁵⁷And young Antiochus wrote to Jonathan, saying: I confirm thee in the high priesthood, and I appoint thee ruler over the four cities, and to be one of the king's friends. ⁵⁸And he sent him vessels of gold for his service, and he gave him leave to drink in gold, and to be clothed in purple, and to wear a golden buckle: ⁵⁹And he made his brother Simon governor from the borders of Tyre even to the confines of Egypt. ⁶⁰Then Jonathan went forth and passed through the cities beyond the river: and all the forces of Syria gathered themselves to him to help him, and he came to Ascalon, and they met him honourably out of the city. ⁶¹And he went from thence to Gaza: and they that were in Gaza shut him out: and he besieged it, and burnt all the suburbs round about, and took the spoils. ⁶²And the men of Gaza made supplication to Jonathan, and he gave them the right hand: and he took their sons for hostages, and sent them to Jerusalem: and he went through the country as far as Damascus. ⁶³And Jonathan heard that the generals of Demetrius were come treacherously to Cades, which is in Galilee, with a great army, purposing to remove him from the affairs of the kingdom: ⁶⁴And he went against them: but left his brother Simon in the country. ⁶⁵And Simon encamped against Bethsura, and assaulted it many days, and shut them up. ⁶⁶And they desired him to make peace, and he granted it them: and he cast them out from thence, and took the city, and placed a garrison in it. ⁶⁷And Jonathan, and his army encamped by the water of Genesar, and before it was light they were ready in the plain of Asor. ⁶⁸And behold the army of the strangers met him in the plain, and they laid an ambush for him in the mountains: but he went out against them. ⁶⁹And they that lay in ambush arose out of their places, and joined battle. ⁷⁰And all that were on Jonathan's side fled, and none was left of them, but Mathathias the son of Absalom, and Judas the son of Calphi, chief captain of the army. ⁷¹And Jonathan rent his garments, and cast earth upon his head, and prayed. ⁷²And Jonathan turned again to them to battle, and he put them to flight, and they fought. ⁷³And they of his part that fled saw this, and they turned again to him, and they all with him pursued the enemies even to Cades to their own camp, and they came even thither. ⁷⁴And there fell of the aliens in that day three thousand men: and Jonathan returned to Jerusalem.

Chapter 12

¹And Jonathan saw that the time served him, and he chose certain men and sent them to Rome, to confirm and to renew the amity with them: ²And he sent letters to the Spartans, and to other places according to the same form. ³And they went to Rome, and entered into the senate house, and said: Jonathan the high priest, and the nation of the Jews have sent us to renew the amity, and alliance as it was before. ⁴And they gave them letters to their governors in every place, to conduct them into the land of Juda with peace. ⁵And this is a copy of the letters which Jonathan wrote to the Spartans: ⁶Jonathan the high priest, and the ancients of the nation, and the priests, and the rest of the people of the Jews, to the Spartans, their brethren, greeting. ⁷There were letters sent long ago to Onias the high priest from Arius who reigned then among you, to signify that you are our brethren, as the copy here underwritten doth specify. ⁸And Onias received the ambassador with honour: and received the letters wherein there was mention made of the alliance, and amity. ⁹We, though we needed none of these things, having for our comfort the holy books that are in our hands, ¹⁰Chose rather to send to you to renew the brotherhood and friendship, lest we should become strangers to you altogether: for there is a long time passed since you sent to us. ¹¹We therefore at all times without ceasing, both in our festivals, and other days, wherein it is convenient, remember you in the sacrifices that we offer, and in our observances, as it is meet, and becoming to remember brethren. ¹²And we rejoice at your glory. ¹³But we have had many troubles and wars on every side, and the kings that are round about us, have fought against us. ¹⁴But we would not be troublesome to you, nor the rest of our allies and friends in these wars. ¹⁵For we have had help from heaven, and we have been delivered, and our enemies are humbled. ¹⁶We have chosen therefore Numenius the son of Antiochus, and Antipater the son of Jason, and have sent them to the Romans to renew with them the former amity and alliance. ¹⁷And we have commanded them to go also to you, and to salute you, and to deliver you our letters, concerning the renewing of our brotherhood. ¹⁸And now you shall do well to give us an answer hereto. ¹⁹And this is the copy of the letter which he had sent to Onias: ²⁰Arius king of the Spartans to Onias the high priest, greeting. ²¹It is found in writing concerning the Spartans, and the Jews, that they are brethren, and that they are of the stock of Abraham. ²²And now since this is come to our knowledge, you do well to write to us of your prosperity. ²³And we also have written back to you: That our cattle, and our possessions are yours: and yours, ours. We therefore have commanded that these things should be told you. ²⁴Now Jonathan heard that the generals of Demetrius were come again with a greater army than before to fight against him. ²⁵So he went out from Jerusalem, and met them in the land of Amath: for he gave them no time to enter into his country. ²⁶And he sent spies into their camp, and they came back and brought him word that they designed to come upon them in the night. ²⁷And when the sun was set, Jonathan commanded his men to watch, and to be in arms all night long ready to fight, and he set sentinels round about the camp. ²⁸And the enemies heard that Jonathan and his men were ready for battle, and they were struck with fear, and dread in their heart: and they kindled fires in their camp. ²⁹But Jonathan and they that were with him knew it not till the morning: for they saw the lights burning. ³⁰And Jonathan pursued after them, but overtook them not: for they had passed the river Eleutherus. ³¹And Jonathan turned upon the Arabians that are called Zabadeans: and he defeated them, and took the spoils of them. ³²And he went forward, and came to Damascus, and passed through all that country. ³³Simon also went forth, and came as far as Ascalon, and the neighbouring fortresses, and he turned aside to Joppe, and took possession of it, ³⁴(For he heard that they designed to deliver the hold to them that took part with Demetrius,) and he put a garrison there to keep it. ³⁵And Jonathan came back, and called together the ancients of the people, and he took a resolution with them to build fortresses in Judea, ³⁶And to build up walls in Jerusalem, and raise a mount between the castle and the city, to separate it from the city, that so it might have no communication, and that they might neither buy nor sell. ³⁷And they came together to build up the city: for the wall that was upon the brook towards the east was broken down, and he repaired that which is called Caphetetha: ³⁸And Simon built Adiada in Sephela, and fortified it, and set up gates and bars. ³⁹Now when Tryphon had conceived a design to make himself king of Asia, and to take the crown, and to stretch out his hand against king Antiochus: ⁴⁰Fearing lest Jonathan would not suffer him, but would fight against him: he sought to seize upon him, and to kill him. So he rose up and came to Bethsan. ⁴¹And Jonathan went out to meet him with forty thousand men chosen for battle, and came to Bethsan. ⁴²Now when Tryphon saw that Jonathan came with a great army, he durst not stretch forth his hand against him, ⁴³But received him with honour, and commended him to all his friends, and gave him presents: and he commanded his troops to obey him, as himself. ⁴⁴And he said to Jonathan: Why hast thou troubled all the people, whereas we have no war? ⁴⁵Now therefore send them back to their own houses: and choose thee a few men that may be with thee, and come with me to Ptolemais, and I will deliver it to thee, and the rest of the strong holds, and the army, and all that have any charge, and I will return and go away: for this is the cause of my coming. ⁴⁶And Jonathan believed him, and did as he said: and sent away his army, and they departed into the land of Juda: ⁴⁷But he kept with him three thousand men: of whom he sent two thousand into Galilee, and one thousand went with him. ⁴⁸Now as soon as Jonathan entered into Ptolemais, they of Ptolemais shut the gates of the city, and took him: and all them that came in with him they slew with the sword. ⁴⁹Then Tryphon sent an army and horsemen into Galilee, and into the great plain to destroy all Jonathan's company. ⁵⁰But they, when they understood that Jonathan and all that were with him were taken and slain, encouraged one another, and went out ready for battle. ⁵¹Then they that had come after them, seeing that they stood for their lives, returned back. ⁵²Whereupon they all came peaceably into the land of Juda. And they bewailed Jonathan, and them that had been with him, exceedingly: and Israel mourned with great lamentation. ⁵³Then all the heathens that were round about them, sought to destroy them. For they said: ⁵⁴They have no prince, nor any to help them: now therefore let us make war upon them, and take away the memory of them from amongst mem.

Chapter 13

¹Now Simon heard that Tryphon was gathering together a very great army, to invade the land of Juda, and to destroy it. ²And seeing that the people was in dread, and in fear, he went up to Jerusalem, and assembled the people: ³And exhorted them, saying: You know what great battles I and my brethren, and the house of my father, have fought for the laws, and the sanctuary, and the distresses that we have seen: ⁴By reason whereof all my brethren have lost their lives for Israel's sake, and I am left alone. ⁵And now far be it from me to spare my life in any time of trouble: for I am not better than my brethren. ⁶I will avenge then my nation and the sanctuary, and our children, and wives: for all the heathens are gathered together to destroy us out of mere malice. ⁷And the spirit of the people was enkindled as soon as they heard these words. ⁸And they answered with a loud voice, saying: Thou art our leader in the place of Judas, and Jonathan thy brother. ⁹Fight thou our battles, and we will do whatsoever thou shalt say to us. ¹⁰So gathering together all the men of war, he made haste to finish all the walls of Jerusalem, and he fortified it round about. ¹¹And he sent Jonathan the son of Absalom, and with him a new army into Joppe, and he cast out them that were in it, and himself remained there. ¹²And Tryphon removed from Ptolemais with a great army, to invade the land of Juda, and Jonathan was with him in custody. ¹³But Simon pitched in Addus, over against the plain. ¹⁴And when Tryphon understood that Simon was risen up in the place of his brother Jonathan, and that he meant to join battle with him, he sent messengers to him, ¹⁵Saying: We have detained thy brother Jonathan for the money that he owed in the king's account, by reason of the affairs which he had the management of. ¹⁶But now send a hundred talents of silver, and his two sons for hostages, that when he is set at liberty he may not revolt from us, and we will release him. ¹⁷Now Simon knew that he spoke deceitfully to him, nevertheless he ordered the money, and the children to be sent: lest he should bring upon himself a great hatred of the people of Israel, who might have said: ¹⁸Because he sent not the money, and the children, therefore is he lost. ¹⁹So he sent the children, and the hundred talents: and he lied, and did not let Jonathan go. ²⁰And after this Tryphon entered within the country, to destroy it: and they went about by the way that leadeth to Ador: and Simon and his army marched to every place whithersoever they went. ²¹And they that were in the castle, sent messengers to Tryphon, that he should make haste to come through the desert, and sent them victuals. ²²And Tryphon made ready all his horsemen to come that night: but there fell a very great snow, and he came not into the country of Galaad. ²³And when he approached to Bascama, he slew Jonathan and his sons there. ²⁴And Tryphon returned, and went into his own country. ²⁵And Simon sent, and took the bones of Jonathan his brother, and buried them in Modin, in the city of his fathers. ²⁶And all Israel bewailed him with great lamentation: and they mourned for him many days. ²⁷And Simon built over the sepulchre of his father and of his brethren, a building lofty to the sight, of polished stone behind and before: ²⁸And he set up seven pyramids one against another for his father and his mother, and his four brethren: ²⁹And round about these he set great pillars: and upon the pillars arms for a perpetual memory: and by the arms ships carved, which might be seen by all that sailed on the sea. ³⁰This is the sepulchre that he made in Modin even unto this day. ³¹But Tryphon when he was upon a journey with the young king Antiochus, treacherously slew him. ³²And he reigned in his place, and put on the crown of Asia: and brought great evils upon the land. ³³And Simon built up the strong holds of Judea, fortifying them with high towers, and great walls, and gates, and bars: and he stored up victuals in the fortresses. ³⁴And Simon chose men and sent to king Demetrius, to the end that he should grant an immunity to the land: for all that Tryphon did was to spoil. ³⁵And king Demetrius in answer to this request, wrote a letter in this manner: ³⁶King Demetrius to Simon the high priest, and friend of kings, and to the ancients, and to the nation of the Jews, greeting. ³⁷The golden crown, and the palm, which you sent, we have received: and we are ready to make a firm peace with you, and to write to the king's chief officers to release you the things that we have released. ³⁸For all that we have decreed in your favour, shall stand in force. The strong holds that you have built, shall be your own. ³⁹And as for any oversight or fault committed unto this day, we forgive it, and the crown which you owed: and if any other thing were taxed in Jerusalem, now let it not be taxed. ⁴⁰And if any of you be fit to be enrolled among ours, let them be enrolled, and let there be peace between us. ⁴¹In the year one hundred and seventy the yoke of the Gentiles was taken off from Israel. ⁴²And the people of Israel began to write in the instruments, and public records, The first year under Simon the high priest, the great captain and prince of the Jews. ⁴³In those days Simon besieged Gaza, and camped round about it, and he made engines, and set them to the city, and he struck one tower, and took it. ⁴⁴And they that were within the engine leaped into the city: and there was a great uproar in the city. ⁴⁵And they that were in the city went up with their wives and children upon the wall, with their garments rent, and they cried with a loud voice, beseeching Simon to grant them peace. ⁴⁶And they said: Deal not with us according to our evil deeds, but according to thy mercy. ⁴⁷And Simon being moved, did not destroy them: but yet he cast them out of the city, and cleansed the houses wherein there had been idols, and then he entered into it with hymns, blessing the Lord. ⁴⁸And having cast out of it all uncleanness, he placed in it men that should observe the law: and he fortified it, and made it his habitation. ⁴⁹But they that were in the castle of Jerusalem were hindered from going out and coming into the country, and from buying and selling: and they were straitened with hunger, and many of them perished through famine. ⁵⁰And they cried to Simon form peace, and he granted it to them: and he cast them out from thence, and cleansed the castle from uncleannesses. ⁵¹And they entered into it the three and twentieth day of the second month, in the year one hundred and seventy-one, with thanksgiving, and branches of palm trees, and harps, and cymbals, and psalteries, and hymns, and canticles, because the great enemy was destroyed out of Israel. ⁵²And he ordained that these days should be kept every year with gladness. ⁵³And he fortified the mountain of the temple that was near the castle, and he dwelt there himself, and they that were with him. ⁵⁴And Simon saw that John his son was a valiant man for war: and he made him captain of all the forces: and he dwelt in Gazara.

Chapter 14

¹In the year one hundred and seventy-two, king Demetrius assembled has army, and went into Media to get him succours to fight against Tryphon. ²And Arsaces the king of Persia and Media heard that Demetrius was entered within his borders, and he sent one of his princes to take him alive, and bring him to him. ³And he went and defeated the army of Demetrius: and took him, and brought him to Arsaces, and he put him into custody. ⁴And all the land of Juda was at rest all the days of Simon, and he sought the good of his nation: and his power, and his glory pleased them well all his days. ⁵And with all his glory he took Joppe for a haven, and made an entrance to the isles of the sea. ⁶And he enlarged the bounds of his nation, and made himself master of the country. ⁷And he gathered together a great number of captives, and had the dominion of Gazara, and of Bethsura, and of the castle: and took away all uncleanness out of it and there was none that resisted him. ⁸And every man tilled his land with peace: and the land of Juda yielded her increase, and the trees of the fields their fruit. ⁹The ancient men sat all in the streets, and treated together of the good things of the land, and the young men put on them glory, and the robes of war. ¹⁰And he provided victuals for the cities, and he appointed that they should be furnished with ammunition, so that the fame of his glory was renowned even to the end of the earth. ¹¹He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy. ¹²And every man sat under his vine, and under his fig tree: and there was none to make them afraid. ¹³There was none left in the land to fight against them: kings were discomfited in those days. ¹⁴And he strengthened all those of his people that were brought low, and he sought the law, and took away every unjust and wicked man. ¹⁵He glorified the sanctuary, and multiplied the vessels of the holy places. ¹⁶And it was heard at Rome, and as far as Sparta, that Jonathan was dead: and they were very sorry. ¹⁷But when they heard that Simon his brother was made high priest in his place, and was possessed of all the country, and the cities therein: ¹⁸They wrote to him in tables of brass, to renew the friendship and alliance which they had made with Judas, and with Jonathan his brethren. ¹⁹And they were read before the assembly in Jerusalem. And this is the copy of the letters that the Spartans sent. ²⁰The princes and the cities of the Spartans to Simon the high priest, and to the ancients, and the priests, and the rest of the people of the Jews their brethren, greeting. ²¹The ambassadors that were sent to our people, have told us of your glory, and honour, and joy: and we rejoice at their coming. ²²And we registered what was said by them in the councils of the people in this manner: Numenius the son of Antiochus, and Antipater the son of Jason, ambassadors of the Jews, came to us to renew the former friendship with us. ²³And it pleased the people to receive the men honourably, and to put a copy of their words in the public records, to be a memorial to the people of the Spartans. And we have written a copy of them to Simon the high priest. ²⁴And after this Simon sent Numenius to Rome, with a great shield of gold the weight of a thousand pounds, to confirm the league with them. And when the people of Rome had heard ²⁵These words, they said: What thanks shall we give to Simon, and his sons? ²⁶For he hath restored his brethren, and hath driven away in fight the enemies of Israel from them: and they decreed him liberty, and registered it in tables of brass, and set it upon pillars in mount Sion. ²⁷And this is a copy of the writing: The eighteenth day of the month Elul, in the year one hundred and seventy-two, being the third year under Simon the high priest at Asaramel, ²⁸In a great assembly of the priests, and of the people, and the princes of the nation, and the ancients of the country, these things were notified: Forasmuch as there have often been wars in our country, ²⁹And Simon the son of Mathathias of the children of Jarib, and his brethren have put themselves in danger, and have resisted the enemies of their nation, for the maintenance of their holy places, and the law: and have raised their nation to great glory. ³⁰And Jonathan gathered together his nation, and was made their high priest, and he was laid to his people. ³¹And their enemies desired to tread down and destroy their country, and to stretch forth their hands against their holy places. ³²Then Simon resisted and fought for his nation, and laid out much of his money, and armed the valiant men of his nation, and gave them wages: ³³And he fortified the cities of Judea, and Bethsura that lieth in the borders of Judea, where the armour of the enemies was before: and he placed there a garrison of Jews. ³⁴And he fortified Joppe which lieth by the sea: and Gazara, which bordereth upon Azotus, wherein the enemies dwelt before, and he placed Jews here: and furnished them with all things convenient for their reparation. ³⁵And the people seeing the acts of Simon, and to what glory he meant to bring his nation, made him their prince, and high priest, because he had done all these things, and for the justice, and faith, which he kept to his nation, and for that he sought by all means to advance his people. ³⁶And in his days things prospered in his hands, so that the heathens were taken away out of their country, and they also that were in the city of David in Jerusalem in the castle, out of which they issued forth, and profaned all places round about the sanctuary, and did much evil to its purity. ³⁷And he placed therein Jews for the defence of the country, and of the city, and he raised up the walls of Jerusalem. ³⁸And king Demetrius confirmed him in the high priesthood. ³⁹According to these things he made him his friend, and glorified him with great glory. ⁴⁰For he had heard that the Romans had called the Jews their friends, and confederates, and brethren, and that they had received Simon's ambassadors with honour: ⁴¹And that the Jews, and their priests, had consented that he should be their prince, and high priest for ever, till there should arise a faithful prophet: ⁴²And that he should be chief over them, and that he should have the charge of the sanctuary, and that he should appoint rulers over their works, and over the country, and over the armour, and over the strong holds. ⁴³And that he should have care of the holy places: and that he should be obeyed by all, and that all the writings in the country should be made in his name: and that he should be clothed with purple, and gold: ⁴⁴And that it should not be lawful for any of the people, or of the priests, to disannul any of these things, or to gainsay his words, or to call together an assembly in the country without him: or to be clothed with purple, or to wear a buckle of gold: ⁴⁵And whosoever shall do otherwise, or shall make void any of these things shall be punished. ⁴⁶And it pleased all the people to establish Simon, and to do according to these words. ⁴⁷And Simon accepted thereof, and was well pleased to execute the office of the high priesthood, and to be captain, and prince of the nation of the Jews, and of the priests, and to be chief over all. ⁴⁸And they commanded that this writing should be put in tables of brass, and that they should be set up within the compass of the sanctuary, in a conspicuous place: ⁴⁹And that a copy thereof should be put in the treasury, that Simon and his sons may have it.

Chapter 15

¹And king Antiochus the son of Demetrius sent letters from the isles of the sea to Simon the priest, and prince of the nation of the Jews, and to all the people: ²And the contents were these: King Antiochus to Simon the high priest, and to the nation of the Jews, greeting. ³Forasmuch as certain pestilent men have usurped the kingdom of our fathers, and my purpose is to challenge the kingdom, and to restore it to its former estate: and I have chosen a great army, and have built ships of war. ⁴And I design to go through the country that I may take revenge of them that have destroyed our country, and that have made many cities desolate in my realm. ⁵Now therefore I confirm unto thee all the oblations which all the kings before me remitted to thee, and what other gifts soever they remitted to thee: ⁶And I give thee leave to coin thy own money in thy country: ⁷And let Jerusalem be holy and free, and all the armour that hath been made, and the fortresses which thou hast built, and which thou keepest in thy hands, let them remain to thee. ⁸And all that is due to the king, and what should be the king's hereafter, from this present and for ever, is forgiven thee. ⁹And when we shall have recovered our kingdom, we will glorify thee, and thy nation, and the temple with great glory, so that your glory shall be made manifest in all the earth. ¹⁰In the year one hundred and seventy-four Antiochus entered into the land of this fathers, and all the forces assembled to him, so that few were left with Tryphon. ¹¹And king Antiochus pursued after him, and he fled along by the sea coast and came to Dora. ¹²For he perceived that evils were gathered together upon him, and his troops had forsaken him. ¹³And Antiochus camped above Dora with a hundred and twenty thousand men of war, and eight thousand horsemen: ¹⁴And he invested the city, and the ships drew near by sea: and they annoyed the city by land, and by sea, and suffered none to come in, or to go out. ¹⁵And Numenius, and they that had been with him, came from the city of Rome, having letters written to the kings, and countries, the contents whereof were these: ¹⁶Lucius the consul of the Romans, to king Ptolemee, greeting. ¹⁷The ambassadors of the Jews our friends came to us, to renew the former friendship and alliance, being sent from Simon the high priest, and the people of the Jews. ¹⁸And they brought also a shield of gold of a thousand pounds. ¹⁹It hath seemed good therefore to us to write to the kings, and countries, that they should do them no harm, nor fight against them, their cities, or countries: and that they should give no aid to them that fight against them. ²⁰And it hath seemed good to us to received the shield of them. ²¹If therefore any pestilent men are fled out of their country to you, deliver them to Simon the high priest, that he may punish them according to their law. ²²These same things were written to king Demetrius, and to Attalus, and to Ariarathes, and to Arsaces, ²³And to all the countries; and to Lampsacus, and to the Spartans, and to Delus, and Myndus, and Sicyon, and Caria, and Samus, and Pamphylia, and Lycia, and Alicarnassus, and Cos, and Side, and Aradus, and Rhodes, and Phaselis, and Gortyna, and Gnidus, and Cyprus, and Cyrene. ²⁴And they wrote a copy thereof to Simon the high priest, and to the people of the Jews. ²⁵But king Antiochus moved his camp to Dora the second time, assaulting it continually, and making engines: and shut up Tryphon, that he could not go out. ²⁶And Simon sent to him two thousand chosen men to aid him, silver also, and gold, and abundance of furniture. ²⁷And he would not receive them, but broke all the covenant that he had made with him before, and alienated himself from him. ²⁸And he sent to him Athenobius one of his friends, to treat with him, saying: You hold Joppe, and Gazara, and the castle that is in Jerusalem, which are cities of my kingdom: ²⁹Their borders you have wasted, and you have made great havock in the land, and have got the dominion of many places in my kingdom. ³⁰Now therefore deliver up the cities that you have taken, and the tributes of the places whereof you have gotten the dominion without the borders of Judea. ³¹But if not, give me for them five hundred talents of silver, and for the havock that you have made, and the tributes of the cities other five hundred talents: or else we will come and fight against you. ³²So Athenobius the king's friend came to Jerusalem, and saw the glory of Simon and his magnificence in gold, and silver, and his great equipage, and he was astonished, and told him the king's words. ³³And Simon answered him, and said to him: We have neither taken other men's land, neither do we hold that which is other men's: but the inheritance of our fathers, which was for some time unjustly possessed by our enemies. ³⁴But we having opportunity claim the inheritance of our fathers. ³⁵And as to thy complaints concerning Joppe and Gazara, they did great harm to the people, and to our country: yet for these we will give a hundred talents. And Athenobius answered him not a word: ³⁶But returning in a rage to the king, made report to him of these words, and of the glory of Simon, and of all that he had seen, and the king was exceeding angry. ³⁷And Tryphon fled away by ship to Orthosias. ³⁸And the king appointed Cendebeus captain of the sea coast, and gave him an army of footmen and horsemen. ³⁹And he commanded him to march with his army towards Judea: and he commanded him to build up Gedor, and to fortify the gates of the city, and to war against the people. But the king himself pursued after Tryphon. ⁴⁰And Cendebeus came to Jamnia, and began to provoke the people, and to ravage Judea, and to take the people prisoners, and to kill, and to build Gedor. ⁴¹And he placed there horsemen, and an army: that they might issue forth, and make incursions upon the ways of Judea, as the king had commanded him.

Chapter 16

¹Then John came up from Gazara, and told Simon his father what Cendebeus had done against their people. ²And Simon called his two eldest sons, Judas and John, and said to them: I and my brethren, and my father's house, have fought against the enemies of Israel from our youth even to this day: and things have prospered so well in our hands that we have delivered Israel oftentimes. ³And now I am old, but be you instead of me, and my brethren, and go out, and fight for our nation: and the help from heaven be with you. ⁴Then he chose out of the country twenty thousand fighting men, and horsemen, and they went forth against Cendebeus: and they rested in Modin. ⁵And they arose in the morning, and went into the plain: and behold a very great army of footmen and horsemen came against them, and there was a running river between them. ⁶And he and his people pitched their camp over against them, and he saw that the people were afraid to go over the river, so he went over first: then the men seeing him, passed over after him. ⁷And he divided the people, and set the horsemen in the midst of the footmen: but the horsemen of the enemies were very numerous. ⁸And they sounded the holy trumpets: and Cendebeus and his army were put to flight: and there fell many of them wounded, and the rest fled into the strong hold. ⁹At that time Judas John's brother was wounded: but John pursued after them, till he came to Cedron, which he had built: ¹⁰And they fled even to the towers that were in the fields of Azotus, and he burnt them with fire. And there fell of them two thousand men, and he returned into Judea in peace. ¹¹Now Ptolemee the son of Abobus was appointed captain in the plain of Jericho, and he had abundance of silver and gold, ¹²For he was son in law of the high priest. ¹³And his heart was lifted up, and he designed to make himself master of the country, and he purposed treachery against Simon, and his sons, to destroy them. ¹⁴Now Simon, as he was going through the cities that were in the country of Judea, and taking care for the good ordering of them, went down to Jericho, he and Mathathias and Judas his sons, in the year one hundred and seventy-seven, the eleventh month: the same is the month Sabath. ¹⁵And the son of Abobus received them deceitfully into a little fortress, that is called Doch which he had built: and he made them a great feast, and hid men there. ¹⁶And when Simon and his sons had drunk plentifully, Ptolemee and his men rose up and took their weapons, and entered into the banqueting place, and slew him, and his two sons, and some of his servants. ¹⁷And he committed a great treachery in Israel, and rendered evil for good. ¹⁸And Ptolemee wrote these things and sent to the king that he should send him an army to aid him, and he would deliver him the country, and their cities, and tributes. ¹⁹And he sent others to Gazara to kill John: and to the tribunes he sent letters to come to him, and that he would give them silver, and gold, and gifts. ²⁰And he sent others to take Jerusalem, and the mountain of the temple. ²¹Now one running before, told John in Gazara, that his father and his brethren were slain, and that he hath sent men to kill thee also. ²²But when he heard it he was exceedingly afraid: and he apprehended the men that came to kill him, and he put them to death: for he knew that they sought to make him away. ²³And as concerning the rest of the acts of John, and his wars, and the worthy deeds, which he bravely achieved, and the building of the walls, which he made, and the things that he did: ²⁴Behold these are written in the book of the days of his priesthood, from the time he was made high priest after his father.

The Second Book of Machabees

This second book of MACHABEES is not a continuation of the history contained in the first: nor does it come down so low as the first does: but relates many of the same facts more at large, and adds other remarkable particulars, omitted in the first book, relating to the state of the Jews, as well before as under the persecution of ANTIOCHUS. The author, who is not the same with that of the first book, has given (as we learn from chap 2.20, etc.) a short abstract of what JASON of Cyrene had written in the five volumes, concerning JUDAS and his brethren. He wrote in Greek, and begins with two letters, sent by the Jews of Jerusalem to their brethren in Egypt.

Chapter 1

¹To the brethren the Jews that are I throughout Egypt, the brethren, the Jews that are in Jerusalem, and in the land of Judea, send health, and good peace. ²May God be gracious to you, and remember his covenant that he made with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, his faithful servants: ³And give you all a heart to worship him, and to do his will with a great heart, and a willing mind. ⁴May he open your heart in his law, and in his commandments, and send you peace. ⁵May he hear your prayers, and be reconciled unto you, and never forsake you in the evil time. ⁶And now here we are praying for you. ⁷When Demetrius reigned, in the year one hundred and sixty-nine, we Jews wrote to you, in the trouble, and violence, that came upon us in those years, after Jason withdrew himself from the holy land, and from the kingdom. ⁸They burnt the gate, and shed innocent blood: then we prayed to the Lord, and were heard, and we offered sacrifices, and fine flour, and lighted the lamps, and set forth the leaves. ⁹And now celebrate ye the days of Scenopegia in the month of Casleu. ¹⁰In the year Bone hundred and eighty-eight, the people that is at Jerusalem, and in Judea, and the senate, and Judas, to Aristobolus, the preceptor of king Ptolemee, who is of the stock of the anointed priests, and to the Jews that are in Egypt, health and welfare. ¹¹Having been delivered by God out of great dangers, we give him great thanks, forasmuch as we have been in war with such a king. ¹²For he made numbers of men swarm out of Persia that have fought against us, and the holy city. ¹³For when the leader himself was in Persia, and with him a very great army, he fell in the temple of Nanea, being deceived by the counsel of the priests of Nanea. ¹⁴For Antiochus, with his friends, came to the place as though he would marry her, and that he might receive great sums of money under the title of a dowry. ¹⁵And when the priests of Nanea had set it forth, and he with a small company had entered into the compass of the temple, they shut the temple, ¹⁶When Antiochus was came in: and opening a secret entrance of the temple, they cast stones and slew the leader, and them that were with him, and hewed them in pieces, and cutting off their heads they threw them forth. ¹⁷Blessed be God in all things, who hath delivered up the wicked. ¹⁸Therefore whereas we purpose to keep the purification of the temple on the five and twentieth day of the month of Casleu, we thought it necessary to signify it to you: that you also may keep the day of Scenopegia, and the day of the fire, that was given when Nehemias offered sacrifice, after the temple and the altar was built. ¹⁹For when our fathers were led in Persia, the priests that then were worshippers of God took privately the fire from the altar, and hid it in a valley where there was a deep pit without water, and there they kept it safe, ²⁰But when many years had passed, and it pleased God that Nehemias should be sent by the king of Persia, he sent some of the posterity of those priests that had hid it, to seek for the fire: and as they told us, they found no fire, but thick water. ²¹Then he bade them draw it up, and bring it to him: and the priest Nehemias commanded the sacrifices that were laid on, to be sprinkled with the same water, both the wood, and the things that were laid upon it. ²²And when this was done, and the time came that the sun shone out, which before was in a cloud, there was a great fire kindled, so that all wondered. ²³And all the priests made prayer, while the sacrifice was consuming, Jonathan beginning, and the rest answering. ²⁴And the prayer of Nehemias was after this manner: Lord God, Creator of all things, dreadful and strong, just and merciful, who alone art the goad king, ²⁵Who alone art gracious, who alone art just, and almighty, and eternal, who deliverest Israel from all evil, who didst choose the fathers and didst sanctify them : ²⁶Receive the sacrifice for all thy people Israel, and preserve thy own portion, and sanctify it. ²⁷Gather together our scattered people, deliver them that are slaves to the Gentiles, and look upon them that are despised and abhorred: that the Gentiles may know that thou art our God. ²⁸Punish them that oppress us, and that treat us injuriously with pride. ²⁹Establish thy people in thy holy place, as Moses hath spoken. ³⁰And the priests sung hymns till the sacrifice was consumed. ³¹And when the sacrifice was consumed, Nehemias commanded the water that was left to be poured out upon the great stones. ³²Which being done, there -was kindled a dame from them: but it was consumed by the light that shined from the altar. ³³And when this matter became public, it was told to the king of Persia, that in the place where the priests that were led away, had hid the fire, there appeared water, with which Nehemias and they that were with him had purified the sacrifices. ³⁴And the king considering, and diligently examining the matter, made a temple for it, that he might prove what had happened. ³⁵And when he had proved it, he gave the priests many goods, and divers presents, and he took end distributed them to them with his own hand. ³⁶And Nehemias called this place Nephthar, which is interpreted purification. But many call it Nephi. ⁹⁰that the place was unknown to all men.

Chapter 2

¹Now it is found in the descriptions of Jeremias the prophet, that he commanded them that went into captivity, to take the fire, as it hath been signified, and how he gave charge to them that were carried away into captivity. ²And how he gave them the law that they should not forget the commandments of the Lord, and that they should not err in their minds, seeing the idols of gold, and silver, and the ornaments of them. ³And with other such like speeches, he exhorted them that they would not remove the law from their heart. ⁴It was also contained in the same writing, how the prophet, being warned by God, commanded that the tabernacle and the ark should accompany him, till he came forth to the mountain " where Moses went up, and saw the inheritance of God. ⁵And when Jeremias came thither he found a hollow cave: and he carried in thither the tabernacle, and the ark, and the altar of incense, and so stopped the door. ⁶Then some of them that followed him, came up to mark the place: but they could not And it. ⁷And when Jeremias perceived it, he blamed them, saying: The place shall be unknown, till God gather together the congregation of the people, and receive them to mercy. ⁸And then the Lord will shew these things, and the majesty of the Lord shall appear, and there shall be a cloud as it was also shewed to Moses, "and he shewed it when Solomon prayed that the place might be sanctified to the great God. ⁹For he treated wisdom in a magnificent manner: and like a wise man, he offered the sacrifice of the dedication, and of the finishing of the temple. ¹⁰And as Moses prayed to the Lord and fire came down from heaven, and consumed the holocaust: so Solomon also prayed, and fire came down from heaven and consumed the holocaust. ¹¹And Moses said: Because the sin offering was not eaten, it was consumed. ¹²So Solomon also celebrated the dedication eight days. ¹³And these same things were set down in the memoirs and commentaries of Nehemias: and how he made a library, and gathered together out of the countries, the books both of the prophets, and of David, and the epistles of the kings. and concerning the holy gifts. ¹⁴And in like manner Judas also gathered together all such things as were lost by the war we had, and they are in our possession. ¹⁵Wherefore if you want these things, send some that may fetch them to you. ¹⁶As we are then about to celebrate the purification, we have written unto you: and you shall do well, if you keep the same days. ¹⁷And we hope that God who hath delivered his people, and hath rendered to all the inheritance, and the kingdom, and the priesthood, and the sanctuary, ¹⁸As he promised in the law, will shortly have mercy upon us, and will gather us together from every land under heaven into the holy place. ¹⁹For he hath delivered us out of great perils, and hath cleansed the place. ²⁰Now as concerning Judas Machabeus. and his brethren, and the purification of the great temple, and the dedication o the altar: ²¹As also the wars against Antioch the Illustrious, and his son Eupator: ²²And the manifestations that from heaven to them, that behaved themselves manfully on the behalf of the Jews, so that, being but a few, they made themselves masters of the whole country, and put to flight; the barbarous multitude : ²³And recovered again the most renowned temple in all the world, and delivered the city, and restored the laws that were abolished, the Lord with all clemency shewing mercy to them. ²⁴And all such things as have been comprised in five books by Jason of Cyrene, we have attempted to abridge in one book. ²⁵For considering the multitude of books, and the difficulty that they find that desire to undertake the narrations of histories, because of the multitude of the matter, ²⁶We have taken care for those indeed that are willing to read, that it might be a pleasure of mind: and for the studious, that they may more easily commit to memory: and that all that read might receive profit. ²⁷And as to ourselves indeed, in undertaking this work of abridging, we have taken in hand no easy task, yea rather a business full of watching and sweat. ²⁸But as they that prepare a feast, and seek to satisfy the will of others: for the sake of many, we willingly undergo the labour. ²⁹Leaving to the authors the exact handling of every particular, and as for ourselves, according to the plan proposed, studying to be brief. ³⁰For as the master builder of a new house must have care of the whole building: but he that taketh care to paint it, must seek out fit things for the adorning of it: so must it be judged for us. ³¹For to collect all that is to be known, to put the discourse in order, and curiously to discuss every particular point, is the duty of the author of a history: ³²But to pursue brevity of speech, and to avoid nice declarations of things, is to be granted to him that maketh an abridgment. ³³Here then we will begin the narration: let this be enough by way of a preface: for it is a foolish thing to make a long prologue, and to be short in the story itself.

Chapter 3

¹Therefore when the holy city was inhabited with all peace, and the laws as yet were very well kept, because of the godliness of Onias the high priest, and the hatred his soul had of evil, ²It came to pass that even the kings themselves, and the princes esteemed the place worthy of the highest honour, and glorified the temple with very great gifts: ³So that Seleucus king of Asia allowed out of his revenues all the charges belonging to the ministry of the sacrifices. ⁴But one Simon of the tribe of Benjamin, who was appointed overseer of the temple, strove in opposition to the high priest, to bring about some unjust thing in the city. ⁵And when he could not overcome Onias he went to Apollonius the son of Tharseas, who at that time was governor of Celesyria and Phenicia: ⁶And told him, that the treasury in Jerusalem was full of immense sums of money, and the common store was infinite, which did not belong to the account of the sacrifices: and that it was possible to bring all into the king's hands. ⁷Now when Apollonius had given the king notice concerning the money that he was told of, he called for Heliodorus, who had the charge over his affairs, and sent him with commission to bring him the foresaid money. ⁸So Heliodorus forthwith began his journey, under a colour of visiting the cities of Celesyria and Phenicia, but indeed to fulfil the king's purpose. ⁹And when he was come to Jerusalem, and had been courteously received in the city by the high priest, he told him what information had been given concerning the money: and declared the cause for which he was come: and asked if these things were so indeed. ¹⁰Then the high priest told him that these were sums deposited, and provisions for the subsistence of the widows and the fatherless. ¹¹And that some part of that which wicked Simon had given intelligence of, belonged to Hircanus son of Tobias, a man of great dignity: and that the whole was four hundred talents of silver, and two hundred of gold: ¹²But that to deceive them who had trusted to the place and temple which is honoured throughout the whole world, for the reverence and holiness of it, was a thing which could not by any means be done. ¹³But he, by reason of the orders he had received from the king, said that by :all means the money must be carried to the king. ¹⁴So on the day he had appointed, Heliodorus entered in to order this matter. But there was no small terror throughout the whole city. ¹⁵And the priests prostrated themselves before the altar in their priests' vestments, and called upon him from heaven, who made the law concerning things given to be kept, that he would preserve them safe, for them that had deposited them. ¹⁶Now whosoever saw the countenance of the high priest, was wounded in heart: for his face, and the changing of his colour declared the inward sorrow of his mind. ¹⁷For the man was so compassed with sadness and horror of the body, that it was manifest to them that beheld him, what sorrow he had in his heart. ¹⁸Others also came hocking together out of their houses, praying and making public supplication, because the place was like to come into contempt. ¹⁹And the women, girded with haircloth about their breasts, came together in the streets. And the virgins also that were shut up, came forth, some to Onias, and some to the walls, and others looked out of the windows. ²⁰And all holding up their hands towards heaven, made supplication. ²¹For the expectation of the mixed multitude, and of the high priest who was in an agony, would have moved any one to pity. ²²And these indeed called upon almighty God, to preserve the things that had been committed to them, safe and sure for those that had committed them. ²³But Heliodorus executed that which he had resolved on, himself being present in the same place with his guard about the treasury. ²⁴But the spirit of the almighty God gave a great evidence of his presence, so that all that had presumed to obey him, falling down by the power of God, were struck with fainting and dread. ²⁵For there appeared to them a horse with a terrible rider upon him, adorned with a very rich covering: and he ran fiercely and struck Heliodorus with his fore feet, and he that sat upon him seemed to have armour of gold. ²⁶Moreover there appeared two other young men beautiful and strong, bright and glorious, and in comely apparel: who stood by him, on either side, and scourged him without ceasing with many stripes. ²⁷Arid Heliodorus suddenly fell to the ground, and they took him up covered with great darkness, and having put him into a litter they carried him out. ²⁸So he that came with many servants, and all his guard into the aforesaid treasury, was carried out, no one being able to help him, the manifest power of God being known. ²⁹And he indeed by the power of God lay speechless, and without all hope of recovery. ³⁰But they praised the Lord because he had glorified his place: and the temple, that a little before was full of fear and trouble, when the almighty Lord appeared, was filled with joy and gladness. ³¹Then some of the friends of Heliodorus forthwith begged of Onias, that he would call upon the most High to grant him his life, who was ready to give up the ghost. ³²So the high priest considering that the king might perhaps suspect that some mischief had been done to Heliodorus by the Jews, offered a sacrifice of health for the recovery of the man. ³³And when the high priest was praying, the same young men in the same clothing stood by Heliodorus, and said to him: Give thanks to Onias the priest: because for his sake the Lord hath granted thee life. ³⁴And thou having been scourged by God, declare unto all men the great works and the power of God. And having spoken thus, they appeared no more. ³⁵So Heliodorus after he had offered a sacrifice to God, and made great vows to him, that had granted him life, and given thanks to Onias, taking his troops with him, returned to the king. ³⁶And he testified to all men the works of the great God, which he had seen with his own eyes. ³⁷And when the king asked Heliodorus, who might be a fit man to be sent yet once more to Jerusalem, he said: ³⁸If thou hast any enemy or traitor to thy kingdom, send him thither, and thou shalt receive him again scourged, if so be he escape: for there is undoubtedly in that place a certain power of God. ³⁹For he that hath his dwelling in the heavens, is the visitor, and protector of that place, and he striketh and destroyeth them that come to do evil to it. ⁴⁰And the things concerning Heliodorus, and the keeping of the treasury fell out in this manner.

Chapter 4

¹But Simon, of whom we spoke before, and of his country, spoke ill of Onias, as though he had incited Heliodorus to do these things, and had been the promoter of evils: ²And he presumed to call him a traitor to the kingdom, who provided for the city, and defended his nation, and wed zealous for the law of God. ³But when the enmities proceeded so far, that murders also were committed by some of Simon's friends: ⁴Onias considering the danger of this contention, and that Apollonius, who was the governor of Celesyria and Phenicia, was outrageous, which increased the malice of Simon, went to the king, ⁵Not to be an accuser of his countrymen, but with a view to the common good of all the people. ⁶For he saw that, except the king took care, it was impossible that matters should be settled in peace, or that Simon would cease from his folly. ⁷But after the death of Seleucus, when Antiochus, who was called the Illustrious, had taken possession of the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias ambitiously sought the high priesthood: ⁸And went to the king, promising him three hundred and sixty talents of silver, and out of other revenues fourscore talents. ⁹Besides this he promised also a hundred and fifty more, if he might have license to set him up a place for exercise, and a place for youth, and to entitle them, that were at Jerusalem, Antiochians. ¹⁰Which when the king had granted, and he had gotten the rule into his hands, forthwith he began to bring over his countrymen to the fashion of the heathens. ¹¹And abolishing those things, which had been decreed of special favour by the kings in behalf of the Jews, by the means of John the father of that Eupolemus, who went ambassador to Rome to make amity and alliance, he disannulled the lawful ordinances of the citizens, and brought in fashions that were perverse. ¹²For he had the boldness to set up, U under the very castle, a place of exercise, and to put all the choicest youths in brothel houses. ¹³Now this was not the beginning, but an increase, and progress of heathenish and foreign manners, through the abominable and unheard of wickedness of Jason, that impious wretch and no priest. ¹⁴Insomuch that the priests were not now occupied about the offices of the altar, but despising the temple and neglecting the sacrifices, hastened to be partakers of the games, and of the unlawful allowance thereof, and of the exercise of the discus. ¹⁵And setting nought by the honours of their fathers, they esteemed the Grecian glories for the best: ¹⁶For the sake of which they incurred a dangerous contention, and followed earnestly their ordinances, and in all things they coveted to be like them, who were their enemies and murderers. ¹⁷For acting wickedly against the laws of God doth not pass unpunished: but this the time following will declare. ¹⁸Now when the game that was used every fifth year was kept at Tyre, the king being present, ¹⁹The wicked Jason sent from Jerusalem sinful men to carry three hundred didrachmas of silver for the sacrifice of Hercules; but the bearers thereof desired it might not be bestowed on the sacrifices, because it was not necessary, but might be deputed for other charges. ²⁰So the money was appointed by him that sent it to the sacrifice of Hercules: but because of them that carried it was employed for the making of galleys. ²¹Now when Apollonius the son of Mnestheus was sent into Egypt to treat with the nobles of king Philometor, and Antiochus understood that he was wholly excluded from the affairs of the kingdom, consulting his own interest, he departed thence and came to Joppe, and from thence to Jerusalem: ²²Where he was received in a, magnificent manner by Jason, and the city, and came in with torch lights, and with praises, end from thence he returned with his army into Phenicia. ²³Three years afterwards Jason sent Menelaus, brother of the aforesaid Simon, to carry money to the king, and to bring answers from him concerning certain necessary affairs. ²⁴But he being recommended to the king, when he had magnified the appearance of his power, got the high priesthood for himself, by offering more than Jason by three hundred talents of silver. ²⁵So having received the king's mandate, he returned bringing nothing worthy of the high priesthood: but having the mind of a cruel tyrant, and the rage of a savage beast. ²⁶Then Jason, who had undermined his own brother, being himself undermined, was driven out a fugitive into the country of the Ammonites ²⁷So Menelaus got the principality: but as for the money he had promised to the king he took no care, when Sostratus the governor of the castle called for ²⁸For to him appertained the gathering of the taxes: wherefore they were both called before the king. ²⁹And Menelaus was removed from the priesthood, Lysimachus his brother succeeding: and Sostratus was made governor of the Cyprians. ³⁰When these things were in doing, it fell out that they of Tharsus and Mallos raised a sedition, because they were given for a gift to Antiochis, the king's concubine. ³¹The king therefore went in all haste to appease them, leaving Andronicus, one of his nobles, for his deputy. ³²Then Menelaus supposing that he had found a convenient time, having stolen certain vessels of gold out of the temple, gave them to Andronicus, and others he had sold at Tyre, and in the neighbouring cities. ³³Which when Onias understood most certainly, he reproved him, keeping himself in a safe place at Antioch beside Daphne. ³⁴Whereupon Menelaus coming to Andronicus, desired him to kill Onias. And he went to Onias, and gave him his right hand with an oath, and (though he were suspected by him) persuaded him to come forth out of the sanctuary, and immediately slew him, without any regard to justice. ³⁵For which cause not only the Jews, but also the other nations, conceived indignation, and were much grieved for the unjust murder of so great a man. ³⁶And when the king was come back from the places of Cilicia, the Jews that were at Antioch, and also the Creaks went to him: complaining of the unjust murder of Onias. ³⁷Antiochus therefore was grieved in his mind for Onias, and being moved to pity, shed tears, remembering the sobriety and modesty of the deceased. ³⁸And being inflamed to anger, he commanded Andronicus to be stripped of his purple, and to be led about through all the city: and that in the same place wherein he had committed the impiety against Onias, the sacrilegious wretch should be put to death, the Lord repaying him his deserved punishment. ³⁹Now when many sacrileges had been committed by Lysimachus in the temple by the counsel of Menelaus, and the rumour of it was spread abroad, the multitude gathered themselves together against Lysimachus, a great quantity of gold being already carried away. ⁴⁰Wherefore the multitude making an insurrection, and their minds being filled with anger, Lysimachus armed about three thousand men, and began to use violence, one Tyrannus being captain, a man far gone both in age, and in madness. ⁴¹But when they perceived the attempt of Lysimachus, some caught up stones, some strong clubs: and some threw ashes upon Lysimachus, ⁴²And many of them were wounded, and some struck down to the ground, but all were put to flight: and as for the sacrilegious fellow himself, they slew him beside the treasury. ⁴³Now concerning these matters, an accusation was laid against Menelaus. ⁴⁴And when the king was come to Tyre, three men were sent from the ancients to plead the cause before him. ⁴⁵But Menelaus being convicted, promised Ptolemee to give him much money to persuade the king to favour him. ⁴⁶So Ptolemee went to the king in a certain court where he was, as it were to cool himself, and brought him to be of another mind: ⁴⁷So Menelaus who was guilty of all the evil, was acquitted by him of the accusations: and those poor men, who, if they had pleaded their cause even before Scythians, should have been judged innocent, were condemned to death. ⁴⁸Thus they that prosecuted the cause for the city, and for the people, and the sacred vessels, did soon suffer unjust punishment. ⁴⁹Wherefore even the Tyrians being moved with indignation, were liberal towards their burial. ⁵⁰And so through the covetousness of them that were in power, Menelaus continued in authority, increasing in malice to the betraying of the citizens.

Chapter 5

¹At the same time Antiochus prepared for a second journey into Egypt. ²And it came to pass that through the whole city of Jerusalem for the space of forty days there were seen horsemen running in the air, in gilded raiment, and armed with spears, like bands of soldiers. ³And horses set in order by ranks, running one against another, with the shakings of shields, and a multitude of men in helmets, with drawn swords, and casting of darts, and glittering of golden armour, and of harnesses of all sorts. ⁴Wherefore all men prayed that these prodigies might turn to good. ⁵Now when there was gone forth a false rumour, as though Antiochus had been dead, Jason taking with him no fewer than a thousand men, suddenly assaulted the city: and though the citizens ran together to the wall, the city at length was taken, and Menelaus fled into the castle. ⁶But Jason slew his countrymen without mercy, not considering that prosperity against one's own kindred is a very great evil, thinking they had been enemies, and not citizens, whom he conquered. ⁷Yet he did not gee the principality, but received confusion at tile end, for the reward of his treachery, and fled again into the country of the Ammonites. ⁸At the last having been shut up by Aretas the king of the Arabians, in order for his destruction, flying from city to city, hated by all men, as a forsaker of the laws, and execrable, as an enemy of his country and countrymen, he was thrust out into Egypt: ⁹And he that had driven many out of their country, perished in a strange land, going to Lacedemon, as if for kindred sake he should have refuge there: ¹⁰But he that had cast out many unburied, was himself cast forth both unlamented and unburied, neither having foreign burial, nor being partaker of the sepulchre of his fathers. ¹¹Now when these things were done, the king suspected that the Jews would forsake the alliance: whereupon departing out of Egypt with a furious mind, he took the city by force of arms. ¹²And commanded the soldiers to kill, and not to spare any that came in their way, and to go up into the houses slay. ¹³Thus there was a slaughter of young and old, a destruction of women children, and killing of virgins and infants. ¹⁴And there were slain in the space o three whole days fourscore thousand, forty thousand were made prisoners, and as many sold. ¹⁵But this was not enough; he presumed also to enter into the temple, the most holy in all the world, Menelaus, that traitor to the laws, and to his country, being his guide. ¹⁶And taking in his wicked hands the holy vessels, which were given by other kings and cities, for the ornament and the glory of the place, he unworthily handled and profaned them. ¹⁷Thus Antiochus going astray in mind, did not consider that God was angry for a while, because of the sins of the habitants of the city: and therefore contempt had happened to the place: ¹⁸Otherwise had they not been involved in many sins, as Heliodorus, who was sent by king Seleucus to rob treasury, so this man also, as soon as had come, had been forthwith scourged, and put back from his presumption. ¹⁹But God did not choose the people for the place's sake, but the place for the people's sake. ²⁰And therefore the place also itself was made partaker of the evils of the people: but afterward shall communicate in the good things thereof, and as it was forsaken in the wrath of almighty God, shall be exalted again with great glory, when the great Lord shall be reconciled. ²¹So when Antiochus had taken away out of the temple a thousand and eight hundred talents, he went back in all haste to Antioch, thinking through pride, that he might now make the land navigable, and the sea passable on foot: such was the haughtiness of his mind. ²²He left also governors to afflict the people: at Jerusalem, Philip, a Phrygian by birth, but in manners more barbarous than he that set him there: ²³And in Gazarim, Andronicus and Menelaus, who bore a more heavy hand upon the citizens than the rest. ²⁴And whereas he was set against the Jews, he sent that hateful prince Apollonius with an army of two and twenty thousand men, commanding him to kill all that were of perfect age, and to sell the women and the younger sort. ²⁵Who when he was come to Jerusalem, pretending peace, rested till the holy day of the sabbath: and then the Jews keeping holiday, he commanded his men to take arms. ²⁶And he slew all that were come forth to see: and running through the city with armed men, he destroyed a very great multitude. ²⁷But Judas Machabeus, who was the tenth, had withdrawn himself into a desert place, and there lived amongst wild beasts in the mountains with his company: and they continued feeding on herbs, that they might not be partakers of the pollution.

Chapter 6

¹But not long after the king sent a certain old man of Antioch, to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers and of God: ²And to defile the temple that was in Jerusalem, and to call it the temple of Jupiter Olympius: and that in Gazarim of Jupiter Hospitalis, according as they were that inhabited the place. ³And very bad was this invasion of evils and grievous to all. ⁴For the temple was full of the riot and revellings of the Gentiles: and of men lying with lewd women. And women thrust themselves of their accord into the holy places, and brought in things that were not lawful. ⁵The altar also was filled with unlawful things, which were forbidden by the laws. ⁶And neither were the sabbaths kept, nor the solemn days of the fathers observed, neither did any man plainly profess himself to be a Jew. ⁷But they were led by bitter constraint on the king's birthday to the sacrifices: and when the feast of Bacchus was kept, they wore compelled to go about crowned with ivy in honour of Bacchus. ⁸And there went out a decree into the neighbouring cities of the Gentiles, by the suggestion of the Ptolemeans, that they also should act in like manner against the Jews, to oblige them to sacrifice: ⁹And whosoever would not conform themselves to the ways of the Gentiles, should be put to death: then was misery to be seen. ¹⁰For two women were accused to have circumcised their children: whom, when they had openly led about through the city with the infants hanging at their breasts, they threw down headlong from the walls. ¹¹And others that had met together in caves that were near, and were keeping the sabbath day privately, being discovered by Philip, were burnt with fire, because they made a conscience to help themselves with their hands, by reason of the religious observance of the day. ¹²Now I beseech those that shall read this book, that they be not shocked at these calamities, but that they consider the things that happened, not as being for the destruction, but for the correction of our nation. ¹³For it is a token of great goodness when sinners are not suffered to go on in their ways for a long time, but are presently punished. ¹⁴For, not as with other nations (whom the Lord patiently expecteth, that when the day of judgment shall come, he may punish them in the fulness of their sins:) ¹⁵Doth he also deal with us, so as to suffer our sins to come to their height, and then take vengeance on us. ¹⁶And therefore he never withdraweth his mercy from us: but though he chastise his people with adversity, he forsaketh them not. ¹⁷But let this suffice in a few words for a warning to the readers. And now we must come to the narration. ¹⁸Eleazar one of the chief of the scribes, a man advanced in years, and of a comely countenance, was pressed to open his mouth to eat swine's flesh. ¹⁹But he, choosing rather a most glorious death than a hateful life, went forward voluntarily to the torment. ²⁰And considering in what manner he was come to ii;, patiently bearing, he determined not to do any unlawful things for the love of life. ²¹But they that stood by, being moved with wicked pity, for the old friendship they had with the man, taking him aside, desired that flesh might be brought, which it was lawful for him to eat, that he might make as if he had eaten, as the king had commanded of the flesh of the sacrifice: ²²That by so doing he might be delivered from death: and for the sake of their old friendship with the man they did him this courtesy. ²³But he began to consider the dignity of his age, and his ancient years, and the inbred honour of his grey head, and his good life and conversation from a child: and he answered without delay, according to the ordinances of the holy law made by God, saying, that he would rather be sent into the other world. ²⁴For it doth not become our age, said he, to dissemble: whereby many young persons might think that Eleazar, at the age of fourscore and ten years, was gone over to the life of the heathens: ²⁵And so they, through my dissimulation, and for a little time of a corruptible life, should be deceived, end hereby I should bring a stain and a curse upon my old age. ²⁶For though, for the present time, I should be delivered from the punishments of men, yet should I not escape the hand of the Almighty neither alive nor dead. ²⁷Wherefore by departing manfully out of this life, I shall shew myself worthy of my old age: ²⁸And I shall leave an example of fortitude to young men, if with a ready mind and constancy I suffer an honourable death, for the most venerable and most holy laws. And having spoken thus, he was forthwith carried to execution. ²⁹And they that led him, and had been a little before more mild, were changed to wrath for the words he had spoken, which they thought were uttered out of arrogancy. ³⁰But when he was now ready to die with the stripes, he groaned, and said: O Lord, who hast the holy knowledge, thou knowest manifestly that whereas I might be delivered from death, I suffer grevious pains in body: but in soul am well content to suffer these things because I fear thee. ³¹Thus did this man die, leaving not only to young men, but also to the whole nation, the memory of his death for an example of virtue and fortitude.

Chapter 7

¹It came to pass also, that seven brethren, together with their mother, were apprehended, and compelled by the king to eat swine's flesh against the law, for which end they were tormented with whips and scourges. ²But one of them, who was the eldest, said thus: What wouldst thou ask, or learn of us? we are ready to die rather than to transgress the laws of God, received from our fathers. ³Then the king being angry commanded fryingpans, and brazen caldrons to be made hot: which forthwith being heated, ⁴He commanded to cut out the tongue of him that had spoken first: and the skin of his head being drawn off, to chop off also the extremities of his hands and feet, the rest of his brethren, and his mother, looking on. ⁵And when he was now maimed in all parts, he commanded him, being yet alive, to be brought to the Are, and to be fried in the fryingpan: and while he was suffering therein long torments, the rest, together with the mother, exhorted one another to die manfully, ⁶Saying: The Lord God will look upon the truth, and will take pleasure in us, "as Moses declared in the profession of the canticle: And In his servants he will take pleasure. ⁷So when the first was dead after this manner, they brought the next to make him a, mocking stock: and when they had pulled off the skin of his head with the hair, they asked him if he would eat, before he were punished throughout the whole body in every limb. ⁸But he answered in his own language, and said: I will not do it. Wherefore Ire also in the next place, received the torments of the first: ⁹And when he was at the last gasp, he said thus: Thou indeed, O most wicked man, destroyest us out of this present life: but the King of the world will raise us up, who die for his laws, in the resurrection of eternal life. ¹⁰After him the third was made a mocking stock, and when he was required, he quickly put forth his tongue, and courageously stretched out his hands: ¹¹And said with confidence: These have from heaven, but for the laws of God I now despise them: because I hope to receive them again from him. ¹²So that the king, and they that were with him, wondered at the young man's courage, because he esteemed the torments as nothing. ¹³And after he was thus dead, they tormented the fourth in the like manner ¹⁴And when he was now ready to die, he spoke thus: It is better, being put to death by men, to look for hope from God, to be raised up again by him: for, as to thee thou shalt have no resurrection unto life. ¹⁵And when they had brought the fifth, they tormented him. But he looking upon the king, ¹⁶Said: Whereas thou hast power among men, though thou art corruptible, thou dost what thou wilt: but think not that our nation is forsaken by God. ¹⁷But stay patiently a while, and thou shalt see his great power, in what manner he will torment thee and thy seed. ¹⁸After him they brought the sixth, and he being ready to die, spoke thus: Be not deceived without cause: for we suffer these things for ourselves, having sinned against our God, and things worthy of admiration are done to us: ¹⁹But do not think that thou s escape unpunished, for that thou attempted to fight against God. ²⁰Now the mother was to be ad above measure, and worthy to be remembered by good men, who beheld seven sons slain in the space of one day, and bore it with a good courage, for the hope that she had in God: ²¹And she bravely exhorted every o of them in her own language, being filled with wisdom: and joining a man's heart to a woman's thought, ²²She said to them: I know not how you were formed in my womb: for I neither gave you breath, nor soul, nor life, neither did I frame the limbs of every one of you. ²³But the Creator of the world, that formed the nativity of man, and that found out the origin of all, he will restore to you again in his mercy, both breath and life, as now you despise yourselves for the sake of his laws. ²⁴Now Antiochus, thinking himself despised, and withal despising the voice of the upbraider, when the youngest was yet alive, did not only exhort him by words, but also assured him with an oath, that he would make him a rich and a happy man, and, if he would turn from the laws of his fathers, would take him for a friend, and furnish him with things necessary. ²⁵But when the young man was not moved with these things, the king called the mother, and counselled her to deal with the young man to save his life. ²⁶And when he had exhorted her with many words, she promised that she would counsel her son. ²⁷So bending herself towards him, mocking the cruel tyrant, she said her own language: My son, have pi upon me, that bore thee nine months my womb, and save thee suck years, and nourished thee, and b thee up unto this age. ²⁸I beseech thee, my son, look upon heaven and earth, and all that is in them: and consider that God made the out of nothing, and mankind also: ²⁹So thou shalt not fear this tormentor, but being made a worthy partner with thy brethren, receive death, that in that mercy I may receive thee again with thy brethren. ³⁰While she was yet speaking these words, the young man said: For whom do you stay ? I will not obey the commandment of the king, but the commandment of the law, which was given us by Moses. ³¹But thou that hast been the author of all mischief against the Hebrews, shalt not escape the hand of God. ³²For we suffer thus for our sine. ³³And though the Lord our God is angry with us a little while for our chastisement and correction: yet he will be reconciled again to his servants. ³⁴But thou, O wicked and of all men most flagitious, be not lifted up without cause with vain hopes, whilst thou art raging against his servants. ³⁵For thou hast not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty God, who beholdeth all things. ³⁶For my brethren, having now undergone a short pain, are under the covenant of eternal life: but thou by the judgment of God shalt receive just punishment for thy pride. ³⁷But I, like my brethren, offer up my life and my body for the laws of our fathers: calling upon God to be speedily merciful to our nation, and that thou by torments and stripes mayst confess that he alone is God. ³⁸But in me and in my brethren the wrath of the Almighty, which hath justly been brought upon all our nation, shall cease. ³⁹Then the king being incensed with anger, raged against him more cruelly than all the rest, taking it grievously that he was mocked. ⁴⁰So this man also died undefiled, wholly trusting in the Lord. ⁴¹And last of all after the sons the mother also was consumed. ⁴²But now there is enough said of the sacrifices, and of the excessive cruelties.

Chapter 8

¹But Judas Machabeus, and they that were with him, went privately into the towns: and calling together their kinsmen and friends, and taking unto them such as continued in the Jews' religion, they assembled six thousand men. ²And they called upon the Lord that he would look upon his people that was trodden down by all, and would have pity on the temple, that was defiled by the wicked: ³That he would have pity also upon the city that was destroyed, that was ready to be made even with the ground, and would hear the voice of the blood that cried to him: ⁴That he would remember also the most unjust deaths of innocent children, and the blasphemies offered to his name, and would shew his indignation on this occasion. ⁵Now when Machabeus had gathered a multitude, he could not be withstood by the heathens: for the wrath of the Lord was turned into mercy. ⁶So coming unawares upon the towns and cities, he set them on fire, and taking possession of the most commodious places, he made no small slaughter of the enemies. ⁷And especially in the nights he went upon these expeditions, and the fame of his valour was spread abroad every where. ⁸Then Philip, seeing that the man gained ground by little and little, and that things for the most part succeeded prosperously with him, wrote to Ptolemee the governor of Celesyria and Phenicia, to send aid to the king's affairs. ⁹And he with all speed sent Nicanor the son of Patroclus, one of his special friends, giving him no fewer than twenty thousand armed men of different nations, to root out the whole race of the Jews, joining also with him Gorgias, a good soldier, and of great experience in matters of war. ¹⁰And Nicanor purposed to raise for the king the tribute of two thousand talents, that was to be given to the Romans, by making so much money of the captive Jews: ¹¹Wherefore he sent immediately to the cities upon the sea coast, to invite men together to buy up the Jewish slaves, promising that they should have ninety slaves for one talent, not reflecting on the vengeance, which was to follow him from the Almighty. ¹²Now when Judas found that Nicanor was coming, he imparted to the Jews that were with him, that the enemy was at hand. ¹³And some of them being afraid, and distrusting the justice of God, fled away: ¹⁴Others sold all that they had left, and withal besought the Lord, that he would deliver them from the wicked Nicanor, who had sold them before he came near them: ¹⁵And if not for their sakes, yet for the covenant that he had made with their fathers, and for the sake of his holy and glorious name that was invoked upon them. ¹⁶But Machabeus calling together seven thousand that were with him, exhorted them not to be reconciled to the enemies, nor to fear the multitude of the enemies who came wrongfully against them, but to fight manfully: ¹⁷Setting before their eyes the injury they had unjustly done the holy place, and also the injury they had done to the city, which had been shamefully abused, besides their destroying the ordinances of the fathers. ¹⁸For, said he, they trust in their weapons, and in their boldness: but we trust in the Almighty Lord, who at a beck can utterly destroy both them that come against us, and the whole world. ¹⁹Moreover he put them in mind also of the helps their fathers had received from God: and how under Sennacherib a hundred and eighty-five thousand had been destroyed. ²⁰And of the battle that they had fought against the Galatians in Babylonia, how they, being in all but six thousand, when it came to the point, and Macedonians their companions were a stand, slew a hundred and twenty thousand, because of the help they had from heaven, and for this they received many favours. ²¹With these words they were greatly encouraged, and disposed even to die for the laws and their country. ²²So he appointed his brethren cap over each division of his army, Simon, and Joseph, and Jonathan, giving to one fifteen hundred men. ²³And after the holy Book had been read to them by Esdras, and he had given them for a watchword, The help of God: himself leading the first band, he joined battle with Nicanor: ²⁴And the Almighty being their helper, they slew above nine thousand men: and having wounded and disabled the greater part of Nicanor's army, they obliged them to fly. ²⁵And they took the money of them that came to buy them, and they pursued them on every side. ²⁶But they came back for want of time: for it was the day before the sabbath: and therefore they did not continue the pursuit. ²⁷But when they had gathered together their arms and their spoils, they kept the sabbath: blessing the Lord who had delivered them that day, distilling the beginning of mercy upon them. ²⁸Then after the sabbath they divided the spoils to the feeble and the orphans, and the widows: and the rest they took for themselves and their servants. ²⁹When this was done, and they had all made a common supplication, they besought the merciful Lord to be reconciled to his servants unto the end. ³⁰Moreover they slew above twenty thousand of them that were with Timotheus and Bacchides who fought them, and they made themselves masters of the high strong holds: and they divided amongst them many spoils, giving equal portions to the feeble, the fatherless and the widows, yea and the aged also. ³¹And when they had carefully gathered together their arms, they laid them all up in convenient places, and the residue of their spoils they carried to Jerusalem : ³²They slew also Philarches who was with Timotheus, a wicked man, who had many ways afflicted the Jews. ³³And when they kept the feast of the victory at Jerusalem, they burnt Callisthenes, that had set fire to the holy gates, who had taken refuge in a certain house, rendering to him a worthy reward for his impieties: ³⁴But as for that most wicked man Nicanor, who had brought a thousand merchants to the sale of the Jews, ³⁵Being through the help of the Lord brought down by them, of whom he had made no account, laying; aside his garment of glory, fleeing through the midland country, he came alone to Antioch, being rendered very unhappy by the destruction of his army. ³⁶And he that had promised to levy the tribute for the Romans by the means of the captives of Jerusalem, now professed that the Jews had God for their protector, and therefore they could not be hurt, because they followed the laws appointed by him.

Chapter 9

¹At that time Antiochus returned with dishonour out of Persia. ²For he had entered into the city called Persepolis, and attempted to rob the temple, and to oppress the city: but the multitude running together to arms, put them to flight: and so it fell out that Antiochus being put to flight returned with disgrace. ³Now when he was come about Ecbatana, he received the news of what had happened to Nicanor and Timotheus. ⁴And swelling with anger he thought to revenge upon the Jews the injury done by them that had put him to flight. And therefore he commanded his chariot to be driven, without stopping in his journey, the judgment of heaven urging him forward, because he had spoken so proudly, that he would come to Jerusalem, and make it a common burying place of the Jews. ⁵But the Lord the God of Israel, that seeth all things, struck him with an incurable and an invisible plague. For as soon as he had ended these words, a dreadful pain in his bowels came upon him, and bitter torments of the inner parts. ⁶And indeed very justly, seeing he had tormented the bowels of others with many and new torments, albeit he by no means ceased from his malice. ⁷Moreover being filled with pride, breathing out fire in his rage against the Jews, and commanding the matter to be hastened, it happened as he was going with violence that he fell from the chariot, so that his limbs were much pained by a grievous bruising of the body. ⁸Thus he that seemed to himself to command even the waves of the sea, being proud above the condition of man, and to weigh the heights of the mountains in a balance, now being cast down to the ground, was carried in a litter, bearing witness to the manifest power of God in himself: ⁹So that worms swarmed out of the body of this man, and whilst he lived in sorrow and pain, his flesh fell off, and the filthiness of his smell was noisome to the army. ¹⁰And the man that thought a little to before he could reach the stars of heaven, no man could endure to carry, for the intolerable stench. ¹¹And by this means, being brought from his great pride, he began to come to the knowledge of himself, being admonished by the scourge of God, his pains increasing every moment ¹²And when he himself could not now abide his own stench, he spoke thus: It is just to be subject to God, and that a mortal man should not equal himself to God. ¹³Then this wicked man prayed to the Lord, of whom he was not like to obtain mercy. ¹⁴And the city to which he was going in haste to lay it even with the ground, and to make it a, common buryingplace, he now desireth to make free. ¹⁵And the Jews whom he said he would not account worthy to be so much as buried, but would give them up to be devoured by the birds and wild beasts, and would utterly destroy them with their children, he now promiseth to make equal with the Athenians. ¹⁶The holy temple also which before he had spoiled, he promiseth to adorn with goodly gifts, and to multiply the holy vessels, and to allow out of his revenues the charges pertaining to the sacrifices. ¹⁷Yea also, that he would become a Jew himself, and would go through every place of the earth, and declare the power of God. ¹⁸But his pains not ceasing (for the just judgment of God was come upon him) despairing of life he wrote to the Jews in the manner of a supplication, a letter in these words: ¹⁹To his very good subjects the Jews, Antiochus king and ruler wisheth much health and welfare, and happiness. ²⁰If you and your children are well, and if all matters go with you to your mind, we give very great thanks. ²¹As for me, being infirm, but yet kindly remembering you, returning out of the places of Persia, and being taken with a grievous disease, I thought it necessary to take care for the common good: ²²Not distrusting my life, but having great hope to escape the sickness. ²³But considering that my father also, at what time she led an army into the higher countries, appointed who should reign after him: ²⁴To the end that if any thing contrary to expectation should fall out, or ally bad tidings should be brought, they that were in the countries, knowing to whom the whole government was left, might not be troubled. ²⁵Moreover, considering that neighbouring princes and borderers wait for opportunities, and expect what shall be the event, I have appointed my son Antiochus king, whom I often recommended to many of you, when I went into the higher provinces: and I have written to him what I have joined here below. ²⁶I pray you therefore, and request of you, that remembering favours both public and private, you will every man of you continue to be faithful to me and to my son. ²⁷For I trust that he will behave with I moderation and humanity, and following my intentions, will be gracious unto you. ²⁸Thus the murderer and blasphemer, being grievously struck, as himself had treated others, died a miserable death in a strange country among the mountains. ²⁹But Philip that was brought up with him, carried away his body: and out of fear of the son of Antiochus, went into Egypt to Ptolemee Philometor.

Chapter 10

¹But Machabeus, and they that were with him, by the protection of the Lord, recovered the temple and the city again. ²But he threw down the altars, which the heathens had set up in the streets, as also the temples of the idols. ³And having purified the temple, they made another altar: and taking fire out of the fiery stones, they offered sacrifices after two years, and set forth incense, and lamps, and the leaves of proposition. ⁴And when they had done these things, they besought the Lord, lying prostrate on the ground, that they might no more fall into such evils; but if they should at any time sin, that they might be chastised by him more gently, and not be delivered up to barbarians and blasphemous men. ⁵Now upon the same day that the temple had been polluted by the strangers, on the very same day it was cleansed again, to wit, on the five and twentieth day of the month of Casleu. ⁶And they kept eight days with joy, after the manner of the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long before they had kept the feast of the tabernacles when they were in the mountains, and in dens like wild beasts. ⁷Therefore they now, carried boughs, and green branches, and palms for Him that had given them good success in cleansing his place. ⁸And they ordained by a common statute, and decree, that all the nation of the Jews should keep those days every year. ⁹And this was the end of Antiochus that was called the Illustrious. ¹⁰But now we will relate the acts of Eupator the son of that wicked Antiochus, abridging the account of the evils that happened in the wars. ¹¹For when he was come to the crown. he appointed over the affairs of his realm one Lysias, general of the army of Phenicia and Syria. ¹²For Ptolemee that was called Macer, was determined to be strictly just to the Jews, and especially by reason of the wrong that had been done them, and to deal peaceably with them. ¹³But being accused for this to Eupator by his friends, and being oftentimes called traitor, because he had left Cyprus which Philometor had committed to him, and coming over to Antiochus the Illustrious, had revolted also from him, he put an end to his life by poison. ¹⁴But Gorgias, who was governor of the holds, taking with him the strangers, often fought against the Jews. ¹⁵And the Jews that occupied the most commodious hold, received those that were driven out of Jerusalem, and attempted to make war. ¹⁶Then they that were with Machabeus, beseeching the Lord by prayers to be their helper, made a strong attack upon the strong holds of the Idumeans: ¹⁷And assaulting them with great force, won the holds, killed them that came in the way, and slew altogether no fewer than twenty thousand. ¹⁸And whereas some were fled into very strong towers, having all manner of provision to sustain a siege, ¹⁹Machabeus left Simon and Joseph, and Zacheus, and them that were with them in sufficient number to besiege them, and departed to those expeditions which urged more. ²⁰Now they that were with Simon, being led with covetousness, were persuaded For the sake of money by some that were in the towers: and taking seventy thousand didrachmas, let some of them escape. ²¹But when it was told Machabeus what was done, he assembled the rulers of the people, and accused those men that they had sold their brethren for money, having let their adversaries escape. ²²So he put these traitors to death, and forthwith took the two towers. ²³And having good success in arms and in all things he took in hand, he slew more than twenty thousand in the two holds. ²⁴But Timotheus who before had been overcome by the Jews, having called together a multitude of foreign troops, and assembled horsemen out of Asia, came as though he would take Judea by force of arms. ²⁵But Machabeus and they that were with him, when he drew near, prayed to the Lord, sprinkling earth upon their heads and girding their loins with haircloth, ²⁶And lying prostrate at the foot of the altar, besought him to be merciful to them, and to be an enemy to their enemies, and an adversary to their adversaries, as the law saith. ²⁷And so after prayer taking their arms, they went forth further from the city, and when they were come very near the enemies they rested. ²⁸But as soon as the sun was risen both sides joined battle: the one part having with their valour the Lord for a surety o victory and success: but the other side making their rage their leader in battle. ²⁹But when they were in the heat of the engagement there appeared to the enemies from heaven five men upon horses, comely with golden bridles, conducting the Jews: ³⁰Two of whom took Machabeus between them, and covered him on every side with their arms, and kept him safe: but cast darts and fireballs against the enemy, so that they fell down, being both confounded with blindness, and filled with trouble. ³¹And there were slain twenty thousand five hundred, and six hundred horsemen. ³²But Timotheus fled into Gazara a strong hold, where Chereas was governor. ³³Then Machabeus, and they that were with him, cheerfully laid siege to the fortress four days. ³⁴But they that were within, trusting to the strength of the place, blasphemed exceedingly, and cast forth abominable words. ³⁵But when the fifth day appeared, twenty young men of them that were with Machabeus, inflamed in their minds because of the blasphemy, approached manfully to the wall, and pushing forward with fierce courage got up upon it. ³⁶Moreover others also getting up after them, went to set Are to the towers and the gates, and to burn the blasphemers alive. ³⁷And having for two days together pillaged and sacked the fortress, they killed Timotheus, who was found hid in a certain place: they slew also his brother Chereas, and Apollophanes. ³⁸And when this was done, they blessed the Lord with hymns and thanksgiving, who had done great things in Israel, and given them the victory.

Chapter 11

¹A short time after this Lysias the king's lieutenant, and cousin, and who had chief charge over all the affairs, being greatly displeased with what had happened, ²Gathered together fourscore thousand men, and all the horsemen, and came against the Jews, thinking to take the city, and make it a habitation of the Gentiles : ³And to make a gain of the temple, as of the other temples of the Gentiles, and to set the high priesthood to sale every year: ⁴Never considering the power of God, but puffed up in mind, and trusting in the multitude of his foot soldiers, and the thousands of his horsemen, and his fourscore elephants. ⁵So he came into Judea, and approaching to Bethsura, which was in a narrow place, the space of five furlongs from Jerusalem, he laid siege to that fortress. ⁶But when Machabeus and they that were with him, understood that the strong holds were besieged, they and all the people besought the Lord with lamentations and tears, that he would send a good angel to save Israel. ⁷Then Machabeus himself, first taking his arms, exhorted the rest to expose themselves together with him, to the danger, and to succour their brethren. ⁸And when they were going forth together with a willing mind, there appeared at Jerusatem a horseman going before them in white clothing, with golden armour, shaking a spear. ⁹Then they all together blessed merciful Lord, and took great courage, being ready to break through not only men, but also the fiercest beasts, walls of iron. ¹⁰So they went on courageously, having a helper from Peaven, and the who shewed mercy to them. ¹¹And rushing violently upon the my, like lions, they slew of them eleven thousand footmen, and one thousand hundred horsemen: ¹²And put all the rest to flight: many of them being wounded, escaped naked: yea and Lysias himself fled away shamefully, and escaped. ¹³And as he was a man of understanding considering with himself, the loss he had suffered, and perceiving that the Hebrews could not be overcome, because they relied upon the help of the Almighty God, he sent to them: ¹⁴And promised that he would agree to all things that are just, and that he would persuade the king to be their friend. ¹⁵Then Machabeus consented to the request of Lysias, providing for the common Food in all things, and whatsoever Machabeus wrote to Lysias concerning the Jews, the king allowed of. ¹⁶For there were letters written to the Jews from Lysias, to this effect: Lysias to the people of the Jews, greeting. ¹⁷John and Abesalom who were sent from you, delivering your writings, requested that I would accomplish those things which were signified by them. ¹⁸Therefore whatsoever things could be reported to the king I have represented to him: and he hath granted as much as the matter permitted. ¹⁹If therefore you will keep yourselves loyal in affairs, hereafter also I will endeavour to be a means of your good. ²⁰But as concerning other particulars, I have given orders by word both to these, and to them that are sent by me, to commune with you. ²¹Fare ye well. In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the four and twentieth day of the month of Dioscorus. ²²But the king's letter contained these words: King Antiochus to Lysias his brother, greeting. ²³Our father being translated amongst the gods, we are desirous that they that are in our realm should live quietly, and apply themselves diligently to their own concerns, ²⁴And we have heard that the Jews would not consent to my father to turn to the rites of the Greeks, but that they would keep to their own manner of living, and therefore that they request us to allow them to live after their own laws. ²⁵Wherefore being desirous that this nation also should be at rest, we have ordained and decreed, that the temple should be restored to them, and that they may live according to the custom of their ancestors. ²⁶Thou shalt do well therefore to send to them, and grant them peace, that our pleasure being known, they may be of good comfort, and look to their own affairs. ²⁷But the king's letter to the Jews was in this manner: King Antiochus to the senate of the Jews, and to the rest of the Jews, greeting. ²⁸If you are well, you are as we desire, we ourselves also are well. ²⁹Menelaus came to us, saying that you desired to come down to your countrymen, that are with us. ³⁰We grant therefore a safe conduct to all that come and go, until the thirtieth day of the month of Xanthicus, ³¹That the Jews may use their own Bind of meats, and their own laws as before, and that none of them any manner of ways be molested for things which have been done by ignorance. ³²And we have sent also Menelaus to speak to you. ³³Fare ye well. In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the fifteenth day of the month of Xanthicus. ³⁴The Romans also sent them a letter, to this effect. Quintus Memmius, and Titus Manilius, ambassadors of the Romans, to the people of the Jews, greeting. ³⁵Whatsoever Lysias the king's cousin hath granted you, we also have granted. ³⁶But touching such things as he thought should be referred to the king, after you have diligently conferred among yourselves, send some one forthwith, that we may decree as it is convenient for you: for we are going to Antioch. ³⁷And therefore make haste to write back, that we may know of what mind you are. ³⁸Fare ye well. In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the fifteenth day of the month of Xanthicus.

Chapter 12

¹When these covenants were made, Lyslas went to the king, and the Jews gave themselves to husbandry. ²But they that were behind, namely, Timotheus and Apollonius the son of Genneus, also Hieronymus, and Demophon, and besides them Nicanor the governor of Cyprus, would not suffer them to live in peace, and to be quiet. ³The men of Joppe also were guilty of this kind of wickedness: they desired the Jews who dwelt among them to go with their wives and children into the boats, which they had prepared, as though they had no enmity to them. ⁴Which when they had consented to, according to the common decree of the city, suspecting nothing, because of the peace : when they were gone forth into the deep, they drowned no fewer than two hundred of them. ⁵But as soon as Judas heard of this cruelty done to his countrymen, he commanded the men that were with him: and after having called upon God the just judge, ⁶He came against those murderers of his brethren, and set the haven on fire in the night, burnt the boats, and slew with the sword them that escaped from the fire. ⁷And when he had done these things in this manner, he departed as if he would return again, and root out all the Joppites. ⁸But when he understood that the men of Jamnia also designed to do in like manner to the Jews that dwelt among them, ⁹He came upon the Jamnites also by night, a nd set the haven on fire with the ships, so that the light of the fire was seen at Jerusalem two hundred and forty furlongs off. ¹⁰And when they were now gone from thence nine furlongs, and were marching towards Timotheus, five thousand footmen and five hundred horsemen of the Arabians set upon them. ¹¹And after a hard fight, in which by the help of God they got the victory, the rest of the Arabians being overcome, besought Judas for peace, promising to give him pastures, and to assist him in other things. ¹²And Judas thinking that they might be profitable indeed in many things, promised them peace, and after having joined hands, they departed to their tents. ¹³He also laid siege to a certain strong city, encompassed with bridges and walls, and inhabited by multitudes of different nations, the name of which is Casphin. ¹⁴But they that were within it, trusting in the strength of the walls, and the provision of victuals, behaved in a more negligent manner, and provoked Judas with railing and blaspheming, and uttering such words as were not to be spoken. ¹⁵But Machabeus calling upon the great Lord of the world, who without any rams or engines of war threw down the walls of Jericho in the time of Josue, fiercely assaulted the walls. ¹⁶And having taken the city by the will of the Lord, he made an unspeakable slaughter, so that a pool adjoining of two furlongs broad seemed to run with the blood of the slain. ¹⁷From thence they departed seven hundred and fifty furlongs, and came to Characa to the Jews that are called Tubianites. ¹⁸But as for Timotheus, they found him not in those places, for before he had dispatched any thing he went back, having left a very strong garrison in a certain hold : ¹⁹But Dositheus, and Sosipater, who were captains with Machabeus, slew them that were left by Timotheus in the hold, to the number of ten thousand men. ²⁰And Machabeus having set in order about him six thousand men, and divided them by bands, went forth against Timetheus, who had with him a hundred and twenty thousand footmen, and two thousand five hundred horsemen. ²¹Now when Timotheus had knowledge of the coming of Judas, he sent the women and children, and the other baggage before him into a fortress, called Carnion: for it was impregnable and hard to come at, by reason of the straitness of the places. ²²But when the first band of Judas came in sight, the enemies were struck with fear, by the presence of God, who seeth all things, and they were put to flight one from another, so that they were often thrown down by their own companions, and wounded with the strokes of their own swords. ²³But Judas was vehemently earnest in punishing the profane, of whom he slew thirty thousand men. ²⁴And Timotheus himself fell into the hands of the band of Dositheus and Sosipater, and with many prayers he besought them to let him go with his life, because he had the parents and brethren of many of the Jews, who, by his death, might happen to be deceived. ²⁵And when he had given his faith that he would restore them according to the agreement, they let him go without hurt, for the saving of their brethren. ²⁶Then Judas went away to Carnion, where he slew five and twenty thousand persons. ²⁷And after he had put to flight and destroyed these, he removed his army to Ephron, a strong city, wherein there dwelt a multitude of divers nations: and stout young men standing upon the walls made a vigorous resistance: and in this place there were many engines of war, and a provision of darts. ²⁸But when they had invocated the Almighty, who with his power breaketh the strength of the enemies, they took the city; and slew five and twenty thousand of them that were within. ²⁹From thence they departed to Scythopolis, which lieth six hundred furlongs from Jerusalem. ³⁰But the Jews that were among the Scythopolitans testifying that they were used kindly by them, and that even in the times of their adversity they had treated them with humanity: ³¹They gave them thanks exhorting them to be still friendly to their nation, and so they came to Jerusalem, the feast of the weeks being at hand. ³²And after Pentecost they marched against Gorgias the governor of Idumea. ³³And he came out with three thousand footmen, and four hundred horsemen. ³⁴And when they had joined battle, it happened that a few of the Jews were slain. ³⁵But Dositheus, a horseman, one of Bacenor's band, a valiant man, took hold of Gorgias: and when he would have taken him alive, a certain horseman of the Thracians came upon him, and cut off his shoulder: and so Gorgias escaped to Maresa. ³⁶But when they that were with Esdrin had fought long, and were weary, Judas called upon the Lord to be their helper, and leader of the battle: ³⁷Then beginning in his own language, and singing hymns with a loud voice, he put Gorgias' soldiers to flight. ³⁸So Judas having gathered together his army, came into the city Odollam: and when the seventh day came, they purified themselves according to the custom, and kept the sabbath in the place. ³⁹And the day following Judas cam with his company, to take away the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their kinsmen, in the sepulchres of their fathers. ⁴⁰And they found under the coats o the slain some of the donaries of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbiddeth the Jews: ⁴¹Then they all blessed the just judgment of the Lord, who had discovered the things that were hidden. ⁴²And so betaking themselves to prayers, they besought him, that the sin which had been committed might be forgotten. But the most valiant Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forasmuch as they saw before their eyes what had happened, because of the sins of those that were slain. ⁴³And making a gathering, he twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection, ⁴⁴(For if he had not hoped that the that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,) ⁴⁵And because he considered that the who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. ⁴⁶It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins. ⁹⁰that all plainly saw, for this cause they were slain.

Chapter 13

¹In the year one hundred and forty-nine, Judas understood that Antiochus Eupator was coming with a multitude against Judea, ²And with him Lysias the regent, who had charge over the affairs of the realm, having with him a hundred and ten thousand footmen, five thousand horsemen, twenty-two elephants, and three hundred chariots armed with hooks. ³Menelaus also joined himself with them: and with great deceitfulness besought Antiochus, not for the welfare of his country, but in hopes that he should be appointed chief ruler. ⁴But the King of kings stirred up the mind of Antiochus against the sinner, and upon Lysias suggesting that he was the cause of all the evils, he commanded (as the custom is with them) that he should be apprehended and put to death in the same place. ⁵Now there was in that place a tower fifty cubits high, having a heap of ashes on every side: this had a prospect steep down. ⁶From thence he commanded the sacrilegious wretch to be thrown down into the ashes, all men thrusting him forward unto death. ⁷And by such a law it happened that Menelaus the transgressor of the law was put to death: not having so much as burial in the earth. ⁸And indeed very justly, for insomuch as he had committed many sins against the altar of God, the fire and ashes of which were holy: he was condemned to die in ashes. ⁹But the king, with his mind full of rage, came on to shew himself worse to the Jews than his father was. ¹⁰Which, when Judas understood, he commanded the people to call upon the Lord day and night, that as he had always done, so now also he would help them: ¹¹Because they were afraid to be deprived of the law, and of their country, and of the holy temple: and that he would not suffer the people, that had of late taken breath for a little while, to be again in subjection to blasphemous nations. ¹²So when they had all done this together, and had craved mercy of the Lord with weeping and fasting, lying prostrate on the ground for three days continually, Judas exhorted them to make themselves ready. ¹³But he with the ancients determined, before the king should bring his army into Judea, and make himself master of the city, to go out, and to commit the event of the thing to the judgment of the Lord. ¹⁴So committing all to God, the creator of the world, and having exhorted his people to fight manfully, and to stand up even to death for the laws, the temple, the city, their country, and citizens: he placed his army about Modin. ¹⁵And having given his company for a watchword, The victory of God, with most valiant chosen young men, he set upon the king's quarter by night, and slew four thousand men in the camp, and the greatest of the elephants, with them that had been upon him, ¹⁶And having filled the camp of the enemies with exceeding greet fear and tumult, they went off with good success. ¹⁷Now this was done at the break of day, by the protection and help of the Lord. ¹⁸18; But the king having taken taste of the hardiness of the Jews, attempted to take the strong places by policy: ¹⁹And he marched with his army to Bethsura, which was a strong hold of the Jews: but he was repulsed, he failed, he rest his men. ²⁰Now Judas sent necessaries to them that were within. ²¹But Rhodocus, one of the Jews' army, disclosed the secrets to the enemies, so he was sought out, and taken up, and put in prison. ²²Again the king treated with them that were in Bethsura: gave his right hand: took theirs: and went away. ²³He fought with Jucias: and was overcome. And when he understood that Philip, who had been left over the affairs, had rebelled at Antioch, he was in a consternation of mind, and entreating the Jews, and yielding to them, he swore to all things that seemed reasonable, and, being reconciled, offered sacrifices, honoured the temple, and left gifts. ²⁴He embraced Machabeus, and made him governor and prince from Ptolemais unto the Cerrenians. ²⁵But when he was come to Ptolemais, the men of that city were much displeased with the conditions of the peace, being angry for fear they should break the covenant. ²⁶Then Lysias went up to the judgment seat, and set forth the reason, and appeased the people, and returned to Antioch: and thus matters went with regard to the king's coming and his return.

Chapter 14

¹But after the space of three years Judas, and they that were with him, understood that Demetrius the son of Seleucus was come up with a great power, and a navy by the haven of Tripolis to places proper for his purpose. ²And had made himself master of the countries against Antiochus, and his general Lysias. ³Now one Alcimus, who had been chief priest, but had wilfully defiled himself in the time of mingling with the heathens, seeing that there was no safety for him, nor access to the altar, ⁴Came to king Demetrius in the year one hundred and fifty, presenting unto him a crown of gold, and a palm, and besides these, some boughs which seemed to belong to the temple. And that day indeed he held his peace. ⁵But having gotten a convenient time to further his madness, being called to counsel by Demetrius, and asked what the Jews relied upon, and what were their counsels, ⁶He answered thereunto: They among the Jews that are called Assideans, of whom Judas Machabeus is captain, nourish wars, and raise seditions, and will not suffer the realm to be in peace. ⁷For I also being deprived of my ancestors' glory (I mean of the high priesthood) am now come hither: ⁸Principally indeed out of fidelity to the king's interests, but in the next place also to provide for the good of my countrymen: for all our nation suffereth much from the evil proceedings of those men. ⁹Wherefore, king, seeing thou knowest all these things, take care, I beseech thee, both of the country, and of our nation, according to thy humanity which is known to all men, ¹⁰For as long as Judas liveth, it is not possible that the state should be quiet. ¹¹Now when this man had spoken to this effect, the rest also of the king's friends, who were enemies of Judas, incensed Demetrius against him. ¹²And forthwith he sent Nicanor, the commander over the elephants, governor into Judea: ¹³Giving him in charge, to take Judas himself: and disperse all them that were with him, and to make Alcimus the high priest of the great temple. ¹⁴Then the Gentiles who had fled out of Judea from Judas, came to Nicanor by docks, thinking the miseries and calamities of the Jews to be the welfare of their affairs. ¹⁵Now when the Jews heard of Nicanor's coming, and that the nations were assembled against them, they cast earth upon their heads, and made supplication to him, who chose his people to keep them for ever, and who protected his portion by evident signs. ¹⁶Then at the commandment of their captain, they forthwith removed from the place where they were, and went to the town of Dessau, to meet them. ¹⁷Now Simon the brother of Judas had joined battle with Nicanor, but was frightened with the sudden coming of the adversaries. ¹⁸Nevertheless Nicanor hearing of the valour of Judas' companions, and the greatness of courage with which they fought for their country, was afraid to try the matter by the sword. ¹⁹Wherefore he sent Posidonius, and Theodotius, and Matthias before to present and receive the right hands. ²⁰And when there had been a consultation thereupon, and the captain had acquainted the multitude with it, the) were all of one mind to consent to covenants. ²¹So they appointed a day upon which they might commune together by themselves: and seats were brought out, and set for each one. ²²But Judas ordered men to be ready in convenient places, lest some mischief might he suddenly practised by the enemies: so they made an agreeable conference. ²³And Nicanor abode in Jerusalem, and did no wrong, but sent away the flocks of the multitudes that had been gathered together. ²⁴And Judas was always dear to him from the heart, and he was well affected to the man. ²⁵And he desired him to marry a wife, and to have children. So he married: he lived quietly, and they lived in common. ²⁶But Alcimus seeing the love they had one to another, and the covenants, came to Demetrius, and told him that Nicanor assented to the foreign interest, for that he meant to make Judas, who was a traitor to the kingdom, his successor. ²⁷Then the king being in a rage and provoked with this man's wicked accusations, wrote to Nicanor, signifying, that he was greatly displeased with the covenant of friendship: and that he commanded him nevertheless to send Machabeus prisoner in all haste to Antioch. ²⁸When this was known, Nicanor was in a consternation, and took it grievously that he should make void the articles that were agreed upon, having received no injury from the man. ²⁹But because he could not oppose the king, he watched an opportunity to comply with the orders. ³⁰But when Machabeus perceived that Nicanor was more stern to him, and that when they met together as usual he behaved himself in a rough manner: and was sensible that this rough behaviour came not of good, he gathered together a few of his men, and hid himself from Nicanor. ³¹But he finding himself notably prevented by the man, came to the great and holy temple: and commanded the priests that were offering the accustomed sacrifices, to deliver him the man. ³²And when they swore unto him, that they knew not where the man was whom he sought, he stretched out his hand to the temple, ³³And swore, saying: Unless you deliver Judas prisoner to me, I will lay this temple of God even with the ground, and will beat down the altar, and I will dedicate this temple to Bacchus. ³⁴And when he had spoken thus he departed. But the priests stretching forth their hands to heaven, called upon him that was ever the defender of their nation, saying in this manner: ³⁵Thou, O Lord of all things, who wantest nothing, wast pleased that the temple of thy habitation should be amongst us. ³⁶Therefore now, Lord the holy of all holies, keep this house for ever undefiled which was lately cleansed. ³⁷Now Razias, one of the ancients of Jerusalem, was accused to Nicanor, a man that was a lover of the city, and of good report, who for his affection was called the father of the Jews. ³⁸This man, for a long time, had held fast his purpose of keeping himself pure in the Jews' religion, and was ready to expose his body and life, that he might persevere therein. ³⁹So Nicanor being willing to declare the hatred that he bore the Jews, sent five hundred soldiers to take him. ⁴⁰For he thought by insnaring him to hurt the Jews very much. ⁴¹Now as the multitude sought to rush into his house, and to break open the door, and to set fire to it, when he was ready to be taken, he struck himself with his sword: ⁴²Choosing to die nobly rather than to fall into the hands of the wicked, and to suffer abuses unbecoming his noble birth. ⁴³But whereas through haste he missed of giving himself a sure wound, and the crowd was breaking into the doors, he ran boldly to the wall, and manfully threw himself down to the crowd: ⁴⁴But they quickly making room for his fall, he came upon the midst of the neck. ⁴⁵And as he had yet breath in him, being inflamed in mind he arose: and while his blood ran down with a great stream, and he was grievously wounded, he ran through the crowd: ⁴⁶And standing upon a steep rock, when he was now almost without blood, grasping his bowels with both hands, he cast them upon the throng, calling upon the Lord of life and spirit, to restore these to him again: and so he departed this life.

Chapter 15

¹But when Nicanor understood that Judas was in the places of Samaria, he purposed to set upon him with all violence on the sabbath day. ²And when the Jews that were constrained to follow him, said: Do not act so fiercely and barbarously, but give honour to the day that is sanctified: and reverence him that beholdeth all things: ³That unhappy man asked, if there were a mighty One in heaven, that had commanded the sabbath day to be kept. ⁴And when they answered: There is the living Lord himself in heaven, the mighty One, that commanded the seventh day to be kept, ⁵Then he said: And I am mighty upon the earth, and I command to take arms, and to do the king's business. Nevertheless he prevailed not to accomplish his design. ⁶So Nicanor being puffed up with exceeding great pride, thought to set up a public monument of his victory over Judas. ⁷But Machabeus ever trusted with all hope that God would help them. ⁸And he exhorted his people not to fear the coming of the nations, but to remember the help they had before received from heaven, and now to hope for victory from the Almighty. ⁹And speaking to them out of the law, and the prophets, and withal putting them in mind of the battles they had fought before, he made them more cheerful: ¹⁰Then after he had encouraged them, he shewed withal the falsehood of the Gentiles, and their breach of oaths. ¹¹So he armed every one of them, not with defence of shield and spear, but with very good speeches and exhortations, and told them a dream worthy to be believed, whereby he rejoiced them all. ¹²Now the vision was in this manner: Onias who had been high priest, a good and virtuous man, modest in his looks, gentle in his manners, and graceful in his speech, and who from a child was exercised in virtues, holding up his hands, prayed for all the people of the Jews: ¹³After this there appeared also another man, admirable for age, and glory, and environed with great beauty and majesty : ¹⁴Then Onias answering, Raid: This is a lover of his brethren, and of the people of Israel: this is he that prayeth much for the people, and for all the holy city, Jeremias the prophet of God. ¹⁵Whereupon Jeremias stretched forth his right hand, and gave to Judas a sword of gold, saying: ¹⁶Take this holy sword a gift from God, wherewith thou shalt overthrow the adversaries of my people Israel. ¹⁷Thus being exhorted with the words of Judas, which were very good, and proper to stir up the courage, and strengthen the hearts of the young men, they resolved to fight, and to set upon them manfully : that valour might decide the matter, because the holy city and the temple were in danger. ¹⁸For their concern was less for their wives, and children, and for their brethren, and kinsfolks: but their greatest and principal fear was for the holiness of the temple. ¹⁹And they also that were in the city, had no little concern for them that were to be engaged in battle. ²⁰And now when all expected what judgment would be given, and the enemies were at hand, and the army was set in array, the beasts and the horsemen ranged in convenient places, ²¹Machabeus considering the coming of the multitude, and the divers preparations of armour, and the fierceness of the beasts, stretching out his hands to heaven, called upon the Lord, that worketh wonders, who giveth victory to them that are worthy, not according to the power of their arms, but according as it seemeth good to him. ²²And in his prayer he said after this manner: Thou, O Lord, who didst send thy angel in the time of Ezechias king of Juda, and didst kill a hundred and eighty-five thousand of the army of Sennacherib: ²³Send now also, Lord of heaven, thy good angel before us, for the fear and dread of the greatness of thy arm, ²⁴That they may be afraid, who come with blasphemy against thy holy people. And thus he concluded his prayer. ²⁵But Nicanor, and they that were with him came forward, with trumpets and songs. ²⁶But Judas, and they that were with him, encountered them, calling upon God by prayers: ²⁷So fighting with their hands, but praying to the Lord with their hearts, they slew no less than five and thirty thousand, being greatly cheered with the presence of God. ²⁸And when the battle was over, and they were returning with joy, they understood that Nicanor was slain in his armour. ²⁹Then making a shout, and a great noise, they blessed the Almighty Lord in their own language. ³⁰And Judas, who was altogether ready, in body and mind, to die for his countrymen, commanded that Nicanor's head, and his hand with the shoulder should be cut off, and carried to Jerusalem. ³¹And when he was come thither, having called together his countrymen, and the priests to the altar, he sent also for them that were in the castle, ³²And shewing them the head of Nicenor, and the wicked hand, which he had stretched out, with proud boasts, against the holy house of the Almighty God, ³³He commanded also, that the tongue of the wicked Nicanor, should be cut out and given by pieces to birds, and the hand of the furious man to be hanged up over against the temple. ³⁴Then all blessed the Lord of heaven, saying: Blessed be he that hath kept his own place undefiled. ³⁵And he hung up Nicanor's head in the top of the castle, that it might be an evident and manifest sign of the help of God. ³⁶And they all ordained by a common decree, by no means to let this day pass without solemnity: ³⁷But to celebrate the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, called, in the Syrian language, the day before Mardochias' day. ³⁸So these things being done with relation to Nicanor, and from that time the city being possessed by the Hebrews, I also will here make an end of my narration. ³⁹Which if I have done well, and as it becometh the history, it is what I desired: but if not so perfectly, it must be pardoned me. ⁴⁰For as it is hurtful to drink always wine, or always water, but pleasant to use sometimes the one, and sometimes the other: so if the speech be always nicely framed, it will not be grateful to the readers. But here it shall be ended.

The Book of Tobias

This Book takes its name from the holy man Tobias, whose wonderful virtues are herein recorded. It contains most excellent documents of great piety, extraordinary patience, and of a perfect resignation to the will of God. His humble prayer was heard, and the angel Raphael was sent to relieve him: he is thankful and praises the Lord, calling on the children of Israel to do the same. Having lived to the age of one hundred and two years, he exhorts his son and grandsons to piety, foretells the destruction of Ninive and the rebuilding of Jerusalem: he dies happily.

Chapter 1

¹Tobias of the tribe and city of Nephtali, (which is in the upper parts of Galilee above Naasson, beyond the way that leadeth to the west, having on the right hand the city of Sephet,) ²When he was made captive in the days of Salmanasar king of the Assyrians, even in his captivity, forsook not the way of truth, ³But every day gave all he could get to his brethren his fellow captives, that were of his kindred. ⁴And when he was younger than any of the tribe of Nephtali, yet did he no childish thing in his work. ⁵Moreover when all went to the golden calves which Jeroboam king of Israel had made, he alone fled the company of all, ⁶And went to Jerusalem to the temple of the Lord, and there adored the Lord God of Israel, offering faithfully all his firstfruits, and his tithes, ⁷So that in the third year he gave all his tithes to the proselytes, and strangers. ⁸These and such like things did he observe when but a boy according to the law of God. ⁹But when he was a man, he took to wife Anna of his own tribe, and had a son by her, whom he called after his own name, ¹⁰And from his infancy he taught him to fear God, and to abstain from all sin. ¹¹And when by the captivity he with his wife and his son and all his tribe was come to the city of Ninive, ¹²(When all ate of the meats of the Gentiles) he kept his soul and never was defiled with their meats. ¹³And because he was mindful of the Lord with all his heart, God gave him favour in the sight of Salmanasar the king. ¹⁴And he gave him leave to go whithersoever he would, with liberty to do whatever he had a mind. ¹⁵He therefore went to all that were in captivity, and gave them wholesome admonitions. ¹⁶And when he was come to Rages a city of the Medes, and had ten talents of silver of that with which he had been honoured by the king: ¹⁷And when amongst a great multitude of his kindred, he saw Gabelus in want, who was one of his tribe, taking a note of his hand he gave him the aforesaid sum of money. ¹⁸But after a long time, Salmanasar the king being dead, when Sennacherib his son, who reigned in his place, had a hatred for the children of Israel: ¹⁹Tobias daily went among all his kindred, and comforted them, and distributed to every one as he was able, out of his goods: ²⁰He fed the hungry, and gave clothes to the naked, and was careful to bury the dead, and they that were slain. ²¹And when king Sennacherib was come back, fleeing from Judea by reason of the slaughter that God had made about him for his blasphemy, and being angry slew many of the children of Israel, Tobias buried their bodies. ²²But when it was told the king, he commanded him to be slain, and took away all his substance. ²³But Tobias fleeing naked away with his son and with his wife, lay concealed, for many loved him. ²⁴But after forty-five days, the king was killed by his own sons. ²⁵And Tobias returned to his house, and all his substance was restored to him.

Chapter 2

¹But after this, when there was a festival of the Lord, and a good dinner was prepared in Tobias's house, ²He said to his son: Go, and bring some of our tribe that fear God, to feast with us. ³And when he had gone, returning he told him, that one of the children of Israel lay slain in the street. And he forthwith leaped up from his place at the table, and left his dinner, and came fasting to the body: ⁴And taking it up carried it privately to his house, that after the sun was down, he might bury him cautiously. ⁵And when he had hid the body, he ate bread with mourning and fear, ⁶Remembering the word which the Lord spoke by Amos the prophet: Your festival days shall be turned into lamentation and mourning. ⁷So when the sun was down, he went and buried him. ⁸Now all his neighbours blamed him, saying: Once already commandment was given for thee to be slain because of this matter, and thou didst scarce escape the sentence of death, and dost thou again bury the dead? ⁹But Tobias fearing God more than the king, carried off the bodies of them that were slain, and hid them in his house, and at midnight buried them. ¹⁰Now it happened one day, that being wearied with burying, he came to his house, and cast himself down by the wall and slept, ¹¹And as he was sleeping, hot dung out of a swallow's nest fell upon his eyes, and he was made blind. ¹²Now this trial the Lord therefore permitted to happen to him, that an example might be given to posterity of his patience, as also of holy Job. ¹³For whereas he had always feared God from his infancy, and kept his commandments, he repined not against God because the evil of blindness had befallen him, ¹⁴But continued immoveable in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his life. ¹⁵For as the kings insulted over holy Job: so his relations and kinsmen mocked at his life, saying: ¹⁶Where is thy hope, for which thou gavest alms, and buriedst the dead? ¹⁷But Tobias rebuked them, saying: Speak not so: ¹⁸For we are the children of the saints, and look for that life which God will give to those that never change their faith from him. ¹⁹Now Anna his wife went daily to weaving work, and she brought home what she could get for their living by the labour of her hands. ²⁰Whereby it came to pass, that she received a young kid, and brought it home: ²¹And when her husband heard it bleating, he said: Take heed, lest perhaps it be stolen: restore ye it to its owners, for it is not lawful for us either to eat or to touch any thing that cometh by theft. ²²At these words his wife being angry answered: It is evident thy hope is come to nothing, and thy alms now appear. ²³And with these, and other such like words she upbraided him.

Chapter 3

¹Then Tobias sighed, and began to pray with tears, ²Saying: Thou art just, O Lord, and all thy judgments are just, and all thy ways mercy, and truth, and judgment: ³And now, O Lord, think of me, and take not revenge of my sins, neither remember my offenses, nor those of my parents. ⁴For we have not obeyed thy commandments, therefore are we delivered to spoil and to captivity, and death, and are made a fable, and a reproach to all nations, amongst which thou hast scattered us. ⁵And now, O Lord, great are thy judgments, because we have not done according to thy precepts, and have not walked sincerely before thee: ⁶And now, O Lord, do with me according to thy will, and command my spirit to be received in peace: for it is better for me to die, than to live. ⁷Now it happened on the same day, that Sara daughter of Raguel, in Rages a city of the Medes, received a reproach from one of her father's servant maids, ⁸Because she had been given to seven husbands, and a devil named Asmodeus had killed them, at their first going in unto her. ⁹So when she reproved the maid for her fault, she answered her, saying: May we never see son, or daughter of thee upon the earth, thou murderer of thy husbands. ¹⁰Wilt thou kill me also, as thou hast already killed seven husbands? At these words she went into an upper chamber of her house: and for three days and three nights did neither eat nor drink: ¹¹But continuing in prayer with tears besought God, that he would deliver her from this reproach. ¹²And it came to pass on the third day, when she was making an end of her prayer, blessing the Lord, ¹³She said: Blessed is thy name, O God of our fathers: who when thou hast been angry, wilt shew mercy, and in the time of tribulation forgivest the sins of them that call upon thee. ¹⁴To thee, O Lord, I turn my face, to thee I direct my eyes. ¹⁵I beg, O Lord, that thou loose me from the bond of this reproach, or else take me away from the earth. ¹⁶Thou knowest, O Lord, that I never coveted a husband, and have kept my soul clean from all lust. ¹⁷Never have I joined myself with them that play: neither have I made myself partaker with them that walk in lightness. ¹⁸But a husband I consented to take, with thy fear, not with my lust. ¹⁹And either I was unworthy of them, or they perhaps were not worthy of me: because perhaps thou hast kept me for another man. ²⁰For thy counsel is not in man's power. ²¹But this every one is sure of that worshippeth thee, that his life, if it be under trial, shall be crowned: and if it be under tribulation, it shall be delivered: and if it be under correction, it shall be allowed to come to thy mercy. ²²For thou art not delighted in our being lost: because after a storm thou makest a calm, and after tears and weeping thou pourest in joyfulness. ²³Be thy name, O God of Israel, blessed for ever. ²⁴At that time the prayers of them both were heard in the sight of the glory of the most high God: ²⁵And the holy angel of the Lord, Raphael was sent to heal them both, whose prayers at one time were rehearsed in the sight of the Lord.

Chapter 4

¹Therefore when Tobias thought that his prayer was heard that he might die, he called to him Tobias his son, ²And said to him: Hear, my son, the words of my mouth, and lay them as a foundation in thy heart. ³When God shall take my soul, thou shalt bury my body: and thou shalt honour thy mother all the days of her life: ⁴For thou must be mindful what and how great perils she suffered for thee in her womb. ⁵And when she also shall have ended the time of her life, bury her by me. ⁶And all the days of thy life have God in thy mind: and take heed thou never consent to sin, nor transgress the commandments of the Lord our God. ⁷Give alms out of thy substance, and turn not away thy face from any poor person: for so it shall come to pass that the face of the Lord shall not be turned from thee. ⁸According to thy ability be merciful. ⁹If thou have much give abundantly: if thou have a little, take care even so to bestow willingly a little. ¹⁰For thus thou storest up to thyself a good reward for the day of necessity. ¹¹For alms deliver from all sin, and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness. ¹²Alms shall be a great confidence before the most high God, to all them that give it. ¹³Take heed to keep thyself, my son, from all fornication, and beside thy wife never endure to know a crime. ¹⁴Never suffer pride to reign in thy mind, or in thy words: for from it all perdition took its beginning. ¹⁵If any man hath done any work for thee, immediately pay him his hire, and let not the wages of thy hired servant stay with thee at all. ¹⁶See thou never do to another what thou wouldst hate to have done to thee by another. ¹⁷Eat thy bread with the hungry and the needy, and with thy garments cover the naked. ¹⁸Lay out thy bread, and thy wine upon the burial of a just man, and do not eat and drink thereof with the wicked. ¹⁹Seek counsel always of a wise man. ²⁰Bless God at all times: and desire of him to direct thy ways, and that all thy counsels may abide in him. ²¹I tell thee also, my son, that I lent ten talents of silver, while thou wast yet a child, to Gabelus, in Rages a city of the Medes, and I have a note of his hand with me: ²²Now therefore inquire how thou mayst go to him, and receive of him the foresaid sum of money, and restore to him the note of his hand. ²³Fear not, my son: we lead indeed a poor life, but we shall have many good things if we fear God, and depart from all sin, and do that which is good.

Chapter 5

¹Then Tobias answered his father, and said: I will do all things, father, which thou hast commanded me. ²But how I shall get this money, I cannot tell; he knoweth me not, and I know not him: what token shall I give him? nor did I ever know the way which leadeth thither. ³Then his father answered him, and said: I have a note of his hand with me, which when thou shalt shew him, he will presently pay it. ⁴But go now, and seek thee out some faithful man, to go with thee for his hire: that thou mayst receive it, while I yet live. ⁵Then Tobias going forth, found a beautiful young man, standing girded, and as it were ready to walk. ⁶And not knowing that he was an angel of God, he saluted him, and said: From whence art thou, good young man? ⁷But he answered: Of the children of Israel. And Tobias said to him: Knowest thou the way that leadeth to the country of the Medes? ⁸And he answered: I know it: and I have often walked through all the ways thereof, and I have abode with Gabelus our brother, who dwelleth at Rages a city of the Medes, which is situate in the mount of Ecbatana. ⁹And Tobias said to him: Stay for me, I beseech thee, till I tell these same things to my father. ¹⁰Then Tobias going in told all these things to his father. Upon which his father being in admiration, desired that he would come in unto him. ¹¹So going in he saluted him, and said: Joy be to thee always. ¹²And Tobias said: What manner of joy shall be to me, who sit in darkness, and see not the light of heaven? ¹³And the young man said to him: Be of good courage, thy cure from God is at hand. ¹⁴And Tobias said to him: Canst thou conduct my son to Gabelus at Rages, a city of the Medes? and when thou shalt return, I will pay thee thy hire. ¹⁵And the angel said to him: I will conduct him thither, and bring him back to thee. ¹⁶And Tobias said to him: I pray thee, tell me, of what family, or what tribe art thou? ¹⁷And Raphael the angel answered: Dost thou seek the family of him thou hirest, or the hired servant himself to go with thy son? ¹⁸But lest I should make thee uneasy, I am Azarias the son of the great Ananias. ¹⁹And Tobias answered: Thou art of a great family. But I pray thee be not angry that I desired to know thy family. ²⁰And the angel said to him: I will lead thy son safe, and bring him to thee again safe. ²¹And Tobias answering, said: May you have a good journey, and God be with you in your way, and his angel accompany you. ²²Then all things being ready, that were to be carried in their journey, Tobias bade his father and his mother farewell, and they set out both together. ²³And when they were departed, his mother began to weep, and to say: Thou hast taken the staff of our old age, and sent him away from us. ²⁴I wish the money for which thou hast sent him, had never been. ²⁵For poverty was sufficient for us, that we might account it as riches, that we saw our son. ²⁶And Tobias said to her: Weep not, our son will arrive thither safe, and will return safe to us, and thy eyes shall see him. ²⁷For I believe that the good angel of God doth accompany him, and doth order all things well that are done about him, so that he shall return to us with joy. ²⁸At these words his mother ceased weeping, and held her peace.

Chapter 6

¹And Tobias went forward, and the dog followed him, and he lodged the first night by the river of Tigris. ²And he went out to wash his feet, and behold a monstrous fish came up to devour him. ³And Tobias being afraid of him, cried out with a loud voice, saying: Sir, he cometh upon me. ⁴And the angel said to him: Take him by the gill, and draw him to thee. And when he had done so, he drew him out upon the land, and he began to pant before his feet. ⁵Then the angel said to him: Take out the entrails of the fish, and lay up his heart, and his gall, and his liver for thee: for these are necessary for useful medicines. ⁶And when he had done so, he roasted the flesh thereof, and they took it with them in the way: the rest they salted as much as might serve them, till they came to Rages the city of the Medes. ⁷Then Tobias asked the angel, and said to him: I beseech thee, brother Azarias, tell me what remedies are these things good for, which thou hast bid me keep of the fish? ⁸And the angel, answering, said to him: If thou put a little piece of its heart upon coals, the smoke thereof driveth away all kind of devils, either from man or from woman, so that they come no more to them. ⁹And the gall is good for anointing the eyes, in which there is a white speck, and they shall be cured. ¹⁰And Tobias said to him: Where wilt thou that we lodge? ¹¹And the angel answering, said: Here is one whose name is Raguel, a near kinsman of thy tribe, and he hath a daughter named Sara, but he hath no son nor any other daughter beside her. ¹²All his substance is due to thee, and thou must take her to wife. ¹³Ask her therefore of her father, and he will give her thee to wife. ¹⁴Then Tobias answered, and said: I hear that she hath been given to seven husbands, and they all died: moreover I have heard, that a devil killed them. ¹⁵Now I am afraid, lest the same thing should happen to me also: and whereas I am the only child of my parents, I should bring down their old age with sorrow to hell. ¹⁶Then the angel Raphael said to him: Hear me, and I will shew thee who they are, over whom the devil can prevail. ¹⁷For they who in such manner receive matrimony, as to shut out God from themselves, and from their mind, and to give themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding, over them the devil hath power. ¹⁸But thou when thou shalt take her, go into the chamber, and for three days keep thyself continent from her, and give thyself to nothing else but to prayers with her. ¹⁹And on that night lay the liver of the fish on the fire, and the devil shall be driven away. ²⁰But the second night thou shalt be admitted into the society of the holy Patriarchs. ²¹And the third night thou shalt obtain a blessing that sound children may be born of you. ²²And when the third night is past, thou shalt take the virgin with the fear of the Lord, moved rather for love of children than for lust, that in the seed of Abraham thou mayst obtain a blessing in children.

Chapter 7

¹And they went in to Raguel, and Raguel received them with joy. ²And Raguel looking upon Tobias, said to Anna his wife: How like is this young man to my cousin? ³And when he had spoken these words, he said: Whence are ye young men our brethren? ⁴But they said: We are of the tribe of Nephtali, of the captiveof Ninive. ⁵And Raguel said to them: Do you know Tobias my brother? And they said: We know him. ⁶And when he was speaking many good things of him, the angel said to Raguel: Tobias concerning whom thou inquirest is this young man's father. ⁷And Raguel went to him, and kissed him with tears, and weeping upon his neck, said: A blessing be upon thee, my son, because thou art the son of a good and most virtuous man. ⁸And Anna his wife, and Sara their daughter wept. ⁹And after they had spoken, Raguel commanded a sheep to be killed, and a feast to be prepared. And when he desired them to sit down to dinner, ¹⁰Tobias said: I will not eat nor drink here this day, unless thou first grant me my petition, and promise to give me Sara thy daughter. ¹¹Now when Raguel heard this he was afraid, knowing what had happened to those seven husbands, that went in unto her: and he began to fear lest it might happen to him also in like manner: and as he was in suspense, and gave no answer to his petition, ¹²The angel said to him: Be not afraid to give her to this man, for to him who feareth God is thy daughter due to be his wife: therefore another could not have her. ¹³Then Raguel said: I doubt not but God hath regarded my prayers and tears in his sight. ¹⁴And I believe he hath therefore made you come to me, that this maid might be married to one of her own kindred, according to the law of Moses: and now doubt not but I will give her to thee. ¹⁵And taking the right hand of his daughter, he gave it into the right hand of Tobias, saying: The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob be with you, and may he join you together, and fulfil his blessing in you. ¹⁶And taking paper they made a writing of the marriage. ¹⁷And afterwards they made merry, blessing God. ¹⁸And Raguel called to him Anna his wife, and bade her prepare another chamber. ¹⁹And she brought Sara her daughter in thither, and she wept. ²⁰And she said to her: Be of good cheer, my daughter: the Lord of heaven give thee joy for the trouble thou hast undergone.

Chapter 8

¹And after they had supped, they brought in the young man to her. ²And Tobias remembering the angel's word, took out of his bag part of the liver, and laid it upon burning coals. ³Then the angel Raphael took the devil, and bound him in the desert of upper Egypt. ⁴Then Tobias exhorted the virgin, and said to her: Sara, arise, and let us pray to God to day, and to morrow, and the next day: because for these three nights we are joined to God: and when the third night is over, we will be in our own wedlock. ⁵For we are the children of saints, and we must not be joined together like heathens that know not God. ⁶So they both arose, and prayed earnestly both together that health might be given them, ⁷And Tobias said: Lord God of our father, may the heavens and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains, and the rivers, and all thy creatures that are in them, bless thee. ⁸Thou madest Adam of the slime of the earth, and gavest him Eve for a helper. ⁹And now, Lord, thou knowest, that not for fleshly lust do I take my sister to wife, but only for the love of posterity, in which thy name may be blessed for ever and ever. ¹⁰Sara also said: Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, and let us grow old both together in health. ¹¹And it came to pass about the cockcrowing, Raguel ordered his servants to be called for, and they went with him together to dig a grave. ¹²For he said: Lest perhaps it may have happened to him, in like manner as it did to the other seven husbands, that went in unto her. ¹³And when they had prepared the pit, Raguel went back to his wife, and said to her: ¹⁴Send one of thy maids, and let her see if he be dead, that I may bury him before it be day. ¹⁵So she sent one of her maidservants, who went into the chamber, and found them safe and sound, sleeping both together. ¹⁶And returning she brought the good news: and Raguel and Anna his wife blessed the Lord, ¹⁷And said: We bless thee, O Lord God of Israel, because it hath not happened as we suspected. ¹⁸For thou hast shewn thy mercy to us, and hast shut out from us the enemy that persecuted us. ¹⁹And thou hast taken pity upon two only children. Make them, O Lord, bless thee more fully: and to offer up to thee a sacrifice of thy praise, and of their health, that all nations may know, that thou alone art God in all the earth. ²⁰And immediately Raguel commanded his servants, to fill up the pit they had made, before it was day. ²¹And he spoke to his wife to make ready a feast, and prepare all kind of provisions that are necessary for such as go a journey. ²²He caused also two fat kine, and four wethers to be killed, and a banquet to be prepared for all his neighbours, and all his friends. ²³And Raguel adjured Tobias, to abide with him two weeks. ²⁴And of all things which Raguel possessed, he gave one half to Tobias, and made him a writing, that the half that remained should after their decease come also to Tobias.

Chapter 9

¹Then Tobias called the angel to him, whom he took to be a man, and said to him: Brother Azarias, I pray thee hearken to my words: ²If I should give myself to be thy servant I should not make a worthy return for thy care. ³However, I beseech thee, to take with thee beasts and servants, and to go to Gabelus to Rages the city of the Medes: and to restore to him his note of hand, and receive of him the money, and desire him to come to my wedding. ⁴For thou knowest that my father numbereth the days: and if I stay one day more, his soul will be afflicted. ⁵And indeed thou seest how Raguel hath adjured me, whose adjuring I cannot despise. ⁶Then Raphael took four of Raguel's servants, and two camels, and went to Rages the city of the Medes: and finding Gabelus, gave him his note of hand, and received of him all the money. ⁷And he told him concerning Tobias the son of Tobias, all that had been done: and made him come with him to the wedding. ⁸And when he was come into Raguel's house he found Tobias sitting at the table: and he leaped up, and they kissed each other: and Gabelus wept, and blessed God, ⁹And said: The God of Israel bless thee, because thou art the son of a very good and just man, and that feareth God, and doth almsdeeds: ¹⁰And may a blessing come upon thy wife and upon your parents. ¹¹And may you see your children, and your children's children, unto the third and fourth generation: and may your seed be blessed by the God of Israel, who reigneth for ever and ever. ¹²And when all had said, Amen, they went to the feast: but the marriage feast they celebrated also with the fear of the Lord.

Chapter 10

¹But as Tobias made longer stay upon occasion of the marriage, Tobias his father was solicitous, saying: Why thinkest thou doth my son tarry, or why is he detained there? ²Is Gabelus dead, thinkest thou, and no man will pay him the money? ³And he began to be exceeding sad, both he and Anna his wife with him: and they began both to weep together: because their son did not return to them on the day appointed. ⁴But his mother wept and was quite disconsolate, and said: Woe, woe is me, my son; why did we send thee to go to a strange country, the light of our eyes, the staff of our old age, the comfort of our life, the hope of our posterity? ⁵We having all things together in thee alone, ought not to have let thee go from us. ⁶And Tobias said to her: Hold thy peace, and be not troubled, our son is safe: that man with whom we sent him is very trusty. ⁷But she could by no means be comforted, but daily running out looked round about, and went into all the ways by which there seemed any hope he might return, that she might if possible see him coming afar off. ⁸But Raguel said to his son in law: Stay here, and I will send a messenger to Tobias thy father, that thou art in health. ⁹And Tobias said to him: I know that my father and mother now count the days, and their spirit is grievously afflicted within them. ¹⁰And when Raguel had pressed Tobias with many words, and he by no means would hearken to him, he delivered Sara unto him, and half of all his substance in menservants, and womenservants, in cattle, in camels, and in kine, and in much money, and sent him away safe and joyful from him. ¹¹Saying: The holy angel of the Lord be with you in your journey, and bring you through safe, and that you may find all things well about your parents, and my eyes see your children before I die. ¹²And the parents taking their daughter kissed her, and let her go: ¹³Admonishing her to honour her father and mother in law, to love her husband, to take care of the family, to govern the house, and to behave herself irreprehensibly.

Chapter 11

¹And as they were returning they came to Charan, which is in the midway to Ninive, the eleventh day. ²And the angel said: Brother Tobias, thou knowest how thou didst leave thy father. ³If it please thee therefore, let us go before, and let the family follow softly after us, together with thy wife, and with the beasts. ⁴And as this their going pleased him, Raphael said to Tobias: Take with thee of the gall of the fish, for it will be necessary. So Tobias took some of that gall and departed. ⁵But Anna sat beside the way daily, on the top of a hill, from whence she might see afar off. ⁶And while she watched his coming from that place, she saw him afar off, and presently perceived it was her son coming: and returning she told her husband, saying: Behold thy son cometh. ⁷And Raphael said to Tobias: As soon as thou shalt come into thy house, forthwith adore the Lord thy God: and giving thanks to him, go to thy father, and kiss him. ⁸And immediately anoint his eyes with this gall of the fish, which thou carriest with thee. For be assured that his eyes shall be presently opened, and thy father shall see the light of heaven, and shall rejoice in the sight of thee. ⁹Then the dog, which had been with them in the way, ran before, and coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail. ¹⁰And his father that was blind, rising up, began to run stumbling with his feet: and giving a servant his hand, went to meet his son. ¹¹And receiving him kissed him, as did also his wife, and they began to weep for joy. ¹²And when they had adored God, and given him thanks, they sat down together. ¹³Then Tobias taking of the gall of the fish, anointed his father's eyes. ¹⁴And he stayed about half an hour: and a white skin began to come out of his eyes, like the skin of an egg. ¹⁵And Tobias took hold of it, and drew it from his eyes, and immediately he recovered his sight. ¹⁶And they glorified God, both he and his wife and all that knew them. ¹⁷And Tobias said: I bless thee, O Lord God of Israel, because thou hast chastised me, and thou hast saved me: and behold I see Tobias my son. ¹⁸And after seven days Sara his son's wife, and all the family arrived safe, and the cattle, and the camels, and an abundance of money of his wife's: and that money also which he had received of Gabelus: ¹⁹And he told his parents all the benefits of God, which he had done to him by the man that conducted him. ²⁰And Achior and Nabath the kinsmen of Tobias came, rejoicing for Tobias, and congratulating with him for all the good things that God had done for him. ²¹And for seven days they feasted and rejoiced all with great joy.

Chapter 12

¹Then Tobias called to him his son, and said to him: What can we give to this holy man, that is come with thee? ²Tobias answering, said to his father: Father, what wages shall we give him? or what can be worthy of his benefits? ³He conducted me and brought me safe again, he received the money of Gabelus, he caused me to have my wife, and he chased from her the evil spirit, he gave joy to her parents, myself he delivered from being devoured by the fish, thee also he hath made to see the light of heaven, and we are filled with all good things through him. What can we give him sufficient for these things? ⁴But I beseech thee, my father, to desire him, that he would vouchsafe to accept one half of all things that have been brought. ⁵So the father and the son, calling him, took him aside: and began to desire him that he would vouchsafe to accept of half of all things that they had brought. ⁶Then he said to them secretly: Bless ye the God of heaven, give glory to him in the sight of all that live, because he hath shewn his mercy to you. ⁷For it is good to hide the secret of a king: but honourable to reveal and confess the works of God. ⁸Prayer is good with fasting and alms more than to lay up treasures of gold: ⁹For alms delivereth from death, and the same is that which purgeth away sins, and maketh to find mercy and life everlasting. ¹⁰But they that commit sin and iniquity, are enemies to their own soul. ¹¹I discover then the truth unto you, and I will not hide the secret from you. ¹²When thou didst pray with tears, and didst bury the dead, and didst leave thy dinner, and hide the dead by day in thy house, and bury them by night, I offered thy prayer to the Lord. ¹³And because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary that temptation should prove thee. ¹⁴And now the Lord hath sent me to heal thee, and to deliver Sara thy son's wife from the devil. ¹⁵For I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord. ¹⁶And when they had heard these things, they were troubled, and being seized with fear they fell upon the ground on their face. ¹⁷And the angel said to them: Peace be to you, fear not. ¹⁸For when I was with you, I was there by the will of God: bless ye him, and sing praises to him. ¹⁹I seemed indeed to eat and to drink with you: but I use an invisible meat and drink, which cannot be seen by men. ²⁰It is time therefore that I return to him that sent me: but bless ye God, and publish all his wonderful works. ²¹And when he had said these things, he was taken from their sight, and they could see him no more. ²²Then they lying prostrate for three hours upon their face, blessed God: and rising up, they told all his wonderful works.

Chapter 13

¹And Tobias the elder opening his mouth, blessed the Lord, and said: Thou art great, O Lord, for ever, and thy kingdom is unto all ages: ²For thou scourgest, and thou savest: thou leadest down to hell, and bringest up again: and there is none that can escape thy hand. ³Give glory to the Lord, ye children of Israel, and praise him in the sight of the Gentiles: ⁴Because he hath therefore scattered you among the Gentiles, who know not him, that you may declare his wonderful works, and make them know that there is no other almighty God besides him. ⁵He hath chastised us for our iniquities: and he will save us for his own mercy. ⁶See then what he hath done with us, and with fear and trembling give ye glory to him: and extol the eternal King of worlds in your works. ⁷As for me, I will praise him in the land of my captivity: because he hath shewn his majesty toward a sinful nation. ⁸Be converted therefore, ye sinners, and do justice before God, believing that he will shew his mercy to you. ⁹And I and my soul will rejoice in him. ¹⁰Bless ye the Lord, all his elect, keep days of joy, and give glory to him. ¹¹Jerusalem, city of God, the Lord hath chastised thee for the works of thy hands. ¹²Give glory to the Lord for thy good things, and bless the God eternal, that he may rebuild his tabernacle in thee, and may call back all the captives to thee, and thou mayst rejoice for ever and ever. ¹³Thou shalt shine with a glorious light: and all the ends of the earth shall worship thee. ¹⁴Nations from afar shall come to thee: and shall bring gifts, and shall adore the Lord in thee, and shall esteem thy land as holy. ¹⁵For they shall call upon the great name in thee. ¹⁶They shall be cursed that shall despise thee: and they shall be condemned that shall blaspheme thee: and blessed shall they be that shall build thee up. ¹⁷But thou shalt rejoice in thy children, because they shall all be blessed, and shall be gathered together to the Lord. ¹⁸Blessed are all they that love thee, and that rejoice in thy peace. ¹⁹My soul, bless thou the Lord, because the Lord our God hath delivered Jerusalem his city from all her troubles. ²⁰Happy shall I be if there shall remain of my seed, to see the glory of Jerusalem. ²¹The gates of Jerusalem shall be built of sapphire, and of emerald, and all the walls thereof round about of precious stones. ²²All its streets shall be paved with white and clean stones: and Alleluia shall be sung in its streets. ²³Blessed be the Lord, who hath exalted it, and may he reign over it for ever and ever, Amen.

Chapter 14

¹And the words of Tobias were ended. And after Tobias was restored to his sight, he lived two and forty years, and saw the children of his grandchildren. ²And after he had lived a hundred and two years, he was buried honourably in Ninive. ³For he was six and fifty years old when he lost the sight of his eyes, and sixty when he recovered it again. ⁴And the rest of his life was in joy, and with great increase of the fear of God he departed in peace. ⁵And at the hour of his death he called unto him his son Tobias and his children, seven young men, his grandsons, and said to them: ⁶The destruction of Ninive is at hand: for the word of the Lord must be fulfilled: and our brethren, that are scattered abroad from the land of Israel, shall return to it. ⁷And all the land thereof that is desert shall be filled with people, and the house of God which is burnt in it, shall again be rebuilt: and all that fear God shall return thither. ⁸And the Gentiles shall leave their idols, and shall come into Jerusalem, and shall dwell in it. ⁹And all the kings of the earth shall rejoice in it, adoring the King of Israel. ¹⁰Hearken therefore, my children, to your father: serve the Lord in truth, and seek to do the things that please him: ¹¹And command your children that they do justice and almsdeeds, and that they be mindful of God, and bless him at all times in truth, and with all their power. ¹²And now, children, hear me, and do not stay here: but as soon as you shall bury your mother by me in one sepulchre, without delay direct your steps to depart hence: ¹³For I see that its iniquity will bring it to destruction. ¹⁴And it came to pass that after the death of his mother, Tobias departed out of Ninive with his wife, and children, and children's children, and returned to his father and mother in law. ¹⁵And he found them in health in a good old age: and he took care of them, and he closed their eyes: and all the inheritance of Raguel's house came to him: and he saw his children's children to the fifth generation. ¹⁶And after he had lived ninety-nine years in the fear of the Lord, with joy they buried him. ¹⁷And all his kindred, and all his generation continued in good life, and in holy conversation, so that they were acceptable both to God, and to men, and to all that dwelt in the land.

The Book of Wisdom

This Book is so called, because it treats of the excellence of WISDOM, the means to obtain it, and the happy fruits it produces. It is written in the person of Solomon, and contains his sentiments. But it is uncertain who was the writer. It abounds with instructiors and exhortations to kings and all magistrates to minister justice in the commonwealth, teaching all kinds of virtues under the general names of justice and wisdom. It contains also many prophecies of Christ's coming, passion, resurrection, and other Christian mysteries. The whole may be divided into three parts. In the first six chapters, the author admonishes all superiors to love and exercise justice and wisdom. In the next three, he teacheth that wisdom proceedeth only from God, and is procured by prayer and a good life. In the other ten chapters, he sheweth the excellent effects and utility of wisdom and justice.

Chapter 1

¹Love justice, you that are the judges of the earth. Think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in simplicity of heart. ²For he is found by them that tempt him not: and he sheweth himself to them that have faith in him. ³For perverse thoughts seperate from God: and his power, when it is tried, reproveth the unwise: ⁴For wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins. ⁵For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful, and will withdraw himself from thoughts that are without understanding, and he shall not abide when iniquity cometh in. ⁶For the spirit of wisdom is benevolent, and will not acquit the evil speaker from his lips: for God is witness of his reins, and he is a true searcher of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue. ⁷For the spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world: and that, which containeth all things, hath knowledge of the voice. ⁸Therefore he that speaketh unjust things cannot be hid, neither shall the chastising judgment pass him by. ⁹For inquisition shall be made into the thoughts of the ungodly: and the hearing of his words shall come to God, to the chastising of his iniquities. ¹⁰For the ear of jealousy heareth all things, and the tumult of murmuring shall not be hid. ¹¹Keep yourselves therefore from murmuring, which profiteth nothing, and refrain your tongue from detraction, for an obscure speech shall not go for nought: and the mouth that belieth, killeth the soul. ¹²Seek not death in the error of your life, neither procure ye destruction by the works of your hands. ¹³For God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. ¹⁴For he created all things that they might be: and he made the nations of the earth for health: and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor kingdom of hell upon the earth. ¹⁵For justice is perpetual and immortal. ¹⁶But the wicked with works and words have called it to them: and esteeming it a friend have fallen away, and have made a covenant with it: because they are worthy to be of the part thereof.

Chapter 2

¹For they have said, reasoning with themselves, but not right: The time of our life is short and tedious, and in the end of a man there is no remedy, and no man hath been known to have returned from hell: ²For we are born of nothing, and after this we shall be as if we had not been: for the breath in our nostrils is smoke: and speech a spark to move our heart, ³Which being put out, our body shall be ashes, and our spirit shall be poured abroad as soft air, and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, which is driven away by the beams of the sun, and overpowered with the heat thereof: ⁴And our name in time shall be forgotten, and no man shall have any remembrance of our works. ⁵For our time is as the passing of a shadow, and there is no going back of our end: for it is fast sealed, and no man returneth. ⁶Come therefore, and let us enjoy the good things that are present, and let us speedily use the creatures as in youth. ⁷Let us fill ourselves with costly wine, and ointments: and let not the flower of the time pass by us. ⁸Let us crown ourselves with roses, before they be withered: let no meadow escape our riot. ⁹Let none of us go without his part in luxury: let us everywhere leave tokens of joy: for this is our portion, and this our lot. ¹⁰Let us oppress the poor just man, and not spare the widow, nor honour the ancient grey hairs of the aged. ¹¹But let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is feeble, is found to be nothing worth. ¹²Let us therefore lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way of life. ¹³He boasteth that he hath the knowledge of God, and calleth himself the son of God. ¹⁴He is become a censurer of our thoughts. ¹⁵He is grievous unto us, even to behold: for his life is not like other men's, and his ways are very different. ¹⁶We are esteemed by him as triflers, and he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness, and he preferreth the latter end of the just, and glorieth that he hath God for his father. ¹⁷Let us see then if his words be true, and let us prove what shall happen to him, and we shall know what his end shall be. ¹⁸For if he be the true son of God, he will defend him, and will deliver him from the hands of his enemies. ¹⁹Let us examine him by outrages and tortures, that we may know his meekness and try his patience. ²⁰Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be respect had unto him by his words. ²¹These things they thought, and were deceived: for their own malice blinded them. ²²And they knew not the secrets of God, nor hoped for the wages of justice, nor esteemed the honour of holy souls. ²³For God created man incorruptible, and to the image of his own likeness he made him. ²⁴But by the envy of the devil, death came into the world: ²⁵And they follow him that are of his side.

Chapter 3

¹But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. ²In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery: ³And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace. ⁴And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. ⁵Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself. ⁶As gold in the furnace he hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust he hath received them, and in time there shall be respect had to them. ⁷The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds. ⁸They shall judge nations, and rule over people, and their Lord shall reign for ever. ⁹They that trust in him, shall understand the truth: and they that are faithful in love shall rest in him: for grace and peace is to his elect. ¹⁰But the wicked shall be punished according to their own devices: who have neglected the just, and have revolted from the Lord. ¹¹For he that rejecteth wisdom, and discipline, is unhappy: and their hope is vain, and their labours without fruit, and their works unprofitable. ¹²Their wives are foolish, and their children wicked. ¹³Their offspring is cursed: for happy is the barren: and the undefiled, that hath not known bed in sin: she shall have fruit in the visitation of holy souls. ¹⁴And the eunuch, that hath not wrought iniquity with his hands, nor thought wicked things against God: for the precious gift of faith shall be given to him, and a most acceptable lot in the temple of God. ¹⁵For the fruit of good labours is glorious, and the root of wisdom never faileth. ¹⁶But the children of adulterers shall not come to perfection, and the seed of the unlawful bed shall be rooted out. ¹⁷And if they live long, they shall be nothing regarded, and their last old age shall be without honour. ¹⁸And if they die quickly, they shall have no hope, nor speech of comfort in the day of trial. ¹⁹For dreadful are the ends of a wicked race.

Chapter 4

¹O how beautiful is the chaste generation with glory: for the memory thereof is immortal: because it is known both with God and with men. ²When it is present, they imitate it: and they desire it when it hath withdrawn itself, and it triumpheth crowned for ever, winning the reward of undefiled conflicts. ³But the multiplied brood of the wicked shall not thrive, and bastard slips shall not take deep root, nor any fast foundation. ⁴And if they flourish in branches for a time, yet standing not fast, they shall be shaken with the wind, and through the force of winds they shall be rooted out. ⁵For the branches not being perfect, shall be broken, and their fruits shall be unprofitable, and sour to eat, and fit for nothing. ⁶For the children that are born of unlawful beds, are witnesses of wickedness against their parents in their trial. ⁷But the just man, if he be prevented with death, shall be in rest. ⁸For venerable old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years: but the understanding of a man is grey hairs. ⁹And a spotless life is old age. ¹⁰He pleased God and was beloved, and living among sinners he was translated. ¹¹He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. ¹²For the bewitching of vanity obscureth good things, and the wandering of concupiscence overturneth the innocent mind. ¹³Being made perfect in a short space, he fulfilled a long time: ¹⁴For his soul pleased God: therefore he hastened to bring him out of the midst of iniquities: but the people see this, and understand not, nor lay up such things in their hearts: ¹⁵That the grace of God, and his mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect to his chosen. ¹⁶But the just that is dead, condemneth the wicked that are living, and youth soon ended, the long life of the unjust. ¹⁷For they shall see the end of the wise man, and shall not understand what God hath designed for him, and why the Lord hath set him in safety. ¹⁸They shall see him, and shall despise him: but the Lord shall laugh them to scorn. ¹⁹And they shall fall after this without honour, and be a reproach among the dead for ever: for he shall burst them puffed up and speechless, and shall shake them from the foundations, and they shall be utterly laid waste: they shall be in sorrow, and their memory shall perish. ²⁰They shall come with fear at the thought of their sins, and their iniquities shall stand against them to convict them.

Chapter 5

¹Then shall the just stand with great constancy against those that have afflicted them, and taken away their labours. ²These seeing it, shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the suddenness of their unexpected salvation. ³Saying within themselves, repenting, and groaning for anguish of spirit: These are they, whom we had some time in derision, and for a parable of reproach. ⁴We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. ⁵Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints. ⁶Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding hath not risen upon us. ⁷We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and have walked through hard ways, but the way of the Lord we have not known. ⁸What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? ⁹All those things are passed away like a shadow, and like a post that runneth on, ¹⁰And as a ship that passeth through the waves: whereof when it is gone by, the trace cannot be found, nor the path of its keel in the waters: ¹¹Or as when a bird flieth through the air, of the passage of which no mark can be found, but only the sound of the wings beating the light air, and parting it by the force of her flight; she moved her wings, and hath flown through, and there is no mark found afterwards of her way: ¹²Or as when an arrow is shot at a mark, the divided air presently cometh together again, so that the passage thereof is not known: ¹³So we also being born, forthwith ceased to be: and have been able to shew no mark of virtue: but are consumed in our wickedness. ¹⁴Such things as these the sinners said in hell: ¹⁵For the hope of the wicked is as dust, which is blown away with the wind, and as a thin froth which is dispersed by the storm: and a smoke that is scattered abroad by the wind: and as the remembrance of a guest of one day that passeth by. ¹⁶But the just shall live for evermore: and their reward is with the Lord, and the care of them with the most High. ¹⁷Therefore shall they receive a kingdom of glory, and a crown of beauty at the hand of the Lord: for with his right hand he will cover them, and with his holy arm he will defend them. ¹⁸And his zeal will take armour, and he will arm the creature for the revenge of his enemies. ¹⁹He will put on justice as a breastplate, and will take true judgment instead of a helmet. ²⁰He will take equity for an invincible shield: ²¹And he will sharpen his severe wrath for a spear, and the whole world shall fight with him against the unwise. ²²Then shafts of lightning shall go directly from the clouds, as from a bow well bent, they shall be shot out, and shall fly to the mark. ²³And thick hail shall be cast upon them from the stone casting wrath: the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the rivers shall run together in a terrible manner. ²⁴A mighty wind shall stand up against them, and as a whirlwind shall divide them: and their iniquity shall bring all the earth to a desert, and wickedness shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty.

Chapter 6

¹Wisdom is better than strength, and a wise man is better than a strong man. ²Hear therefore, ye kings, and understand: learn, ye that are judges of the ends of the earth. ³Give ear, you that rule the people, and that please yourselves in multitudes of nations: ⁴For power is given you by the Lord, and strength by the most High, who will examine your works, and search out your thoughts: ⁵Because being ministers of his kingdom, you have not judged rightly, nor kept the law of justice, nor walked according to the will of God. ⁶Horribly and speedily will he appear to you: for a most severe judgment shall be for them that bear rule. ⁷For to him that is little, mercy is granted: but the mighty shall be mightily tormented. ⁸For God will not except any man's person, neither will he stand in awe of any man's greatness: for he made the little and the great, and he hath equally care of all. ⁹But a greater punishment is ready for the more mighty. ¹⁰To you, therefore, O kings, are these my words, that you may learn wisdom, and not fall from it. ¹¹For they that have kept just things justly, shall be justified: and they that have learned these things, shall find what to answer. ¹²Covet ye therefore my words, and love them, and you shall have instruction. ¹³Wisdom is glorious, and never fadeth away, and is easily seen by them that love her, and is found by them that seek her. ¹⁴She preventeth them that covet her, so that she first sheweth herself unto them. ¹⁵He that awaketh early to seek her, shall not labour: for he shall find her sitting at his door. ¹⁶To think therefore upon her, is perfect understanding: and he that watcheth for her, shall quickly be secure. ¹⁷For she goeth about seeking such as are worthy of her, and she sheweth herself to them cheerfully in the ways, and meeteth them with all providence. ¹⁸For the beginning of her is the most true desire of discipline. ¹⁹And the care of discipline is love: and love is the keeping of her laws: and the keeping of her laws is the firm foundation of incorruption: ²⁰And incorruption bringeth near to God. ²¹Therefore the desire of wisdom bringeth to the everlasting kingdom. ²²If then your delight be in thrones, and sceptres, O ye kings of the people, love wisdom, that you may reign for ever. ²³Love the light of wisdom, all ye that bear rule over peoples. ²⁴Now what wisdom is, and what was her origin, I will declare: and I will not hide from you the mysteries of God, but will seek her out from the beginning of her birth, and bring the knowledge of her to light, and will not pass over the truth: ²⁵Neither will I go with consuming envy: for such a man shall not be partaker of wisdom. ²⁶Now the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the whole world: and a wise king is the upholding of the people. ²⁷Receive therefore instruction by my words, and it shall be profitable to you.

Chapter 7

¹I myself also am a mortal man, like all others, and of the race of him, that was first made of the earth, and in the womb of my mother I was fashioned to be flesh. ²In the time of ten months I was compacted in blood, of the seed of man, and the pleasure of sleep concurring. ³And being born I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, that is made alike, and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do. ⁴I was nursed in swaddling clothes, and with great cares. ⁵For none of the kings had any other beginning of birth. ⁶For all men have one entrance into life, and the like going out. ⁷Wherefore I wished, and understanding was given me: and I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me: ⁸And I preferred her before kingdoms and thrones, and esteemed riches nothing in comparison of her. ⁹Neither did I compare unto her any precious stone: for all gold in comparison of her, is as a little sand, and silver in respect to her shall be counted as clay. ¹⁰I loved her above health and beauty, and chose to have her instead of light: for her light cannot be put out. ¹¹Now all good things came to me together with her, and innumerable riches through her hands, ¹²And I rejoiced in all these: for this wisdom went before me, and I knew not that she was the mother of them all. ¹³Which I have learned without guile, and communicate without envy, and her riches I hide not. ¹⁴For she is an infinite treasure to men! which they that use, become the friends of God, being commended for the gift of discipline. ¹⁵And God hath given to me to speak as I would, and to conceive thoughts worthy of those things that are given me: because he is the guide of wisdom, and the director of the wise: ¹⁶For in his hand are both we, and our words, and all wisdom, and the knowledge and skill of works. ¹⁷For he hath given me the true knowledge of the things that are: to know the disposition of the whole world, and the virtues of the elements, ¹⁸The beginning, and ending, and midst of the times, the alterations of their courses, and the changes of seasons, ¹⁹The revolutions of the year, and the dispositions of the stars, ²⁰The natures of living creatures, and rage of wild beasts, the force of winds, and reasonings of men, the diversities of plants, and the virtues of roots, ²¹And all such things as are hid and not foreseen, I have learned: for wisdom, which is the worker of all things, taught me. ²²For in her is the spirit of understanding: holy, one, manifold, subtile, eloquent, active, undefiled, sure, sweet, loving that which is good, quick, which nothing hindereth, beneficent, ²³Gentle, kind, steadfast, assured, secure, having all power, overseeing all things, and containing all spirits, intelligible, pure, subtile. ²⁴For wisdom is more active than all active things: and reacheth everywhere by reason of her purity. ²⁵For she is a vapour of the power of God, and a certain pure emanation of the glory of the almighty God: and therefore no defiled thing cometh into her. ²⁶For she is the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of God's majesty, and the image of his goodness. ²⁷And being but one, she can do all things: and remaining in herself the same, she reneweth all things, and through nations conveyeth herself into holy souls, she maketh the friends of God and prophets. ²⁸For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with wisdom. ²⁹For she is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of the stars: being compared with the light, she is found before it. ³⁰For after this cometh night, but no evil can overcome wisdom.

Chapter 8

¹She reacheth therefore from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly. ²Her have I loved, and have sought her out from my youth, and have desired to take her for my spouse, and I became a lover of her beauty. ³She glorifieth her nobility by being conversant with God: yea and the Lord of all things hath loved her. ⁴For it is she that teacheth the knowledge of God, and is the chooser of his works. ⁵And if riches be desired in life, what is richer than wisdom, which maketh all things? ⁶And if sense do work: who is a more artful worker than she of those things that are? ⁷And if a man love justice: her labours have great virtues; for she teacheth temperance, and prudence, anad justice, and fortitude, which are such things as men can have nothing more profitable in life. ⁸And if a man desire much knowledge: she knoweth things past, and judgeth of things to come: she knoweth the subtilties of speeches, and the solutions of arguments: she knoweth signs and wonders before they be done, and the events of times and ages. ⁹I purposed therefore to take her to me to live with me: knowing that she will communicate to me of her good things, and will be a comfort in my cares and grief. ¹⁰For her sake I shall have glory among the multitude, and honour with the ancients, though I be young: ¹¹And I shall be found of a quick conceit in judgment, and shall be admired in the sight of the mighty, and the faces of princes shall wonder at me. ¹²They shall wait for me when I hold my peace, and they shall look upon me when I speak, and if I talk much they shall lay their hands on their mouths. ¹³Moreover by the means of her I shall have immortality: and shall leave behind me an everlasting memory to them that come after me. ¹⁴I shall set the people in order: and nations shall be subject to me. ¹⁵Terrible kings hearing shall be afraid of me: among the multitude I shall be found good, and valiant in war. ¹⁶When I go into my house, I shall repose myself with her: for her conversation hath no bitterness, nor her company any tediousness, but joy and gladness. ¹⁷Thinking these things with myself, and pondering them in my heart, that to be allied to wisdom is immortality, ¹⁸And that there is great delight in her friendship, and inexhaustible riches in the works of her hands, and in the exercise of conference with her, wisdom, and glory in the communication of her words: I went about seeking, that I might take her to myself. ¹⁹And I was a witty child and had received a good soul. ²⁰And whereas I was more good, I came to a body undefiled. ²¹And as I knew that I could not otherwise be continent, except God gave it, and this also was a point of wisdom, to know whose gift it was: I went to the Lord, and besought him, and said with my whole heart:

Chapter 9

¹God of my fathers, and Lord of mercy, who hast made all things with thy word, ²And by thy wisdom hast appointed man, that he should have dominion over the creature that was made by thee, ³That he should order the world according to equity and justice, and execute justice with an upright heart: ⁴Give me wisdom, that sitteth by thy throne, and cast me not off from among thy children: ⁵For I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid, a weak man, and of short time, and falling short of the understanding of judgment and laws. ⁶For if one be perfect among the children of men, yet if thy wisdom be not with him, he shall be nothing regarded. ⁷Thou hast chosen me to be king of thy people, and a judge of thy sons and daughters. ⁸And hast commanded me to build a temple on thy holy mount, and an altar in the city of thy dwelling place, a resemblance of thy holy tabernacle, which thou hast prepared from the beginning: ⁹And thy wisdom with thee, which knoweth thy works, which then also was present when thou madest the world, and knew what was agreeable to thy eyes, and what was right in thy commandments. ¹⁰Send her out of thy holy heaven, and from the throne of thy majesty, that she may be with me, and may labour with me, that I may know what is acceptable with thee: ¹¹For she knoweth and understandeth all things, and shall lead me soberly in my works, and shall preserve me by her power. ¹²So shall my works be acceptable, and I shall govern thy people justly, and shall be worthy of the throne of my father. ¹³For who among men is he that can know the counsel of God? or who can think what the will of God is? ¹⁴For the thoughts of mortal men are fearful, and our counsels uncertain. ¹⁵For the corruptible body is a load upon the soul, and the earthly habitation presseth down the mind that museth upon many things. ¹⁶And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth: and with labour do we find the things that are before us. But the things that are in heaven, who shall search out? ¹⁷And who shall know thy thought, except thou give wisdom, and send thy Holy Spirit from above: ¹⁸And so the ways of them that are upon earth may be corrected, and men may learn the things that please thee? ¹⁹For by wisdom they were healed, whosoever have pleased thee, O Lord, from the beginning.

Chapter 10

¹She preseved him, that was first formed by God the father of the world, when he was created alone, ²And she brought him out of his sin, and gave him power to govern all things. ³But when the unjust went away from her in his anger, he perished by the fury wherewith he murdered his brother. ⁴For whose cause, when water destroyed the earth, wisdom healed it again, directing the course of the just by contemptible wood. ⁵Moreover when the nations had conspired together to consent to wickedness, she knew the just, and preserved him without blame to God, and kept him strong against the compassion for his son. ⁶She delivered the just man who fled from the wicked that were perishing, when the fire came down upon Pentapolis: ⁷Whose land for a testimony of their wickedness is desolate, and smoketh to this day, and the trees bear fruits that ripen not, and a standing pillar of salt is a monument of an incredulous soul. ⁸For regarding not wisdom, they did not only slip in this, that they were ignorant of good things, but they left also unto men a memorial of their folly, so that in the things in which they sinned, they could not so much as lie hid. ⁹But wisdom hath delivered from sorrow them that attend upon her. ¹⁰She conducted the just, when he fled from his brother's wrath, through the right ways, and shewed him the kingdom of God, and gave him the knowledge of the holy things, made him honourable in his labours, and accomplished his labours. ¹¹In the deceit of them that overreached him, she stood by him, and made him honourable. ¹²She kept him safe from his enemies, and she defended him from seducers, and gave him a strong conflict, that he might overcome, and know that wisdom is mightier than all. ¹³She forsook not the just when he was sold, but delivered him from sinners: she went down with him into the pit. ¹⁴And in bands she left him not, till she brought him the sceptre of the kingdom, and power against those that oppressed him: and shewed them to be liars that had accused him, and gave him everlasting glory. ¹⁵She delivered the just people, and blameless seed from the nations that oppressed them. ¹⁶She entered into the soul of the servant of God, and stood against dreadful kings in wonders and signs. ¹⁷And she rendered to the just the wages of their labours, and conducted them in a wonderful way: and she was to them for a covert by day, and for the light of stars by night: ¹⁸And she brought them through the Red Sea, and carried them over through a great water. ¹⁹But their enemies she drowned in the sea, and from the depth of hell she brought them out. Therefore the just took the spoils of the wicked. ²⁰And they sung to thy holy name, O Lord, and they praised with one accord thy victorious hand. ²¹For wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the tongues of infants eloquent.

Chapter 11

¹She prospered their works in the hands of the holy prophet. ²They went through wildernesses that were not inhabited, and in desert places they pitched their tents. ³They stood against their enemies, and revenged themselves of their adversaries. ⁴They were thirsty, and they called upon thee, and water was given them out of the high rock, and a refreshment of their thirst out of the hard stone. ⁵For by what things their enemies were punished, when their drink failed them, while the children of Israel abounded therewith and rejoiced: ⁶By the same things they in their need were benefited. ⁷For instead of a fountain of an ever running river, thou gavest human blood to the unjust. ⁸And whilst they were diminished for a manifest reproof of their murdering the infants, thou gavest to thine abundant water unlooked for: ⁹Shewing by the thirst that was then, how thou didst exalt thine, and didst kill their adversaries. ¹⁰For when they were tried, and chastised with mercy, they knew how the wicked were judged with wrath and tormented. ¹¹For thou didst admonish and try them as a father: but the others, as a severe king, thou didst examine and condemn. ¹²For whether absent or present, they were tormented alike. ¹³For a double affliction came upon them, and a groaning for the remembrance of things past. ¹⁴For when they heard that by their punishments the others were benefited, they remembered the Lord, wondering at the end of what was come to pass. ¹⁵For whom they scorned before, when he was thrown out at the time of his being wickedly exposed to perish, him they admired in the end, when they saw the event: their thirsting being unlike to that of the just. ¹⁶But for the foolish devices of their iniquity, because some being deceived worshipped dumb serpents and worthless beasts, thou didst send upon them a multitude of dumb beasts for vengeance. ¹⁷That they might know that by what things a man sinneth, by the same also he is tormented. ¹⁸For thy almighty hand, which made the world of matter without form, was not unable to send upon them a multitude of bears, or fierce lions, ¹⁹Or unknown beasts of a new kind, full of rage: either breathing out a fiery vapour, or sending forth a stinking smoke, or shooting horrible sparks out of their eyes: ²⁰Whereof not only the hurt might be able to destroy them, but also the very sight might kill them through fear. ²¹Yea and without these, they might have been slain with one blast, persecuted by their own deeds, and scattered by the breath of thy power: but thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight. ²²For great power always belonged to thee alone: and who shall resist the strength of thy arm? ²³For the whole world before thee is as the least grain of the balance, and as a drop of the morning dew, that falleth down upon the earth: ²⁴But thou hast mercy upon all, because thou canst do all things, and overlookest the sins of men for the sake of repentance. ²⁵For thou lovest all things that are, and hatest none of the things which thou hast made: for thou didst not appoint, or make any thing hating it. ²⁶And how could any thing endure, if thou wouldst not? or be preserved, if not called by thee. ²⁷But thou sparest all: because they are thine, O Lord, who lovest souls.

Chapter 12

¹O how good and sweet is thy spirit, O Lord, in all things! ²And therefore thou chastisest them that err, by little and little: and admonishest them, and speakest to them, concerning the things wherein they offend: that leaving their wickedness, they may believe in thee, O Lord. ³For those ancient inhabitants of thy holy land, whom thou didst abhor, ⁴Because they did works hateful to thee by their sorceries, and wicked sacrifices, ⁵And those merciless murderers of their own children, and eaters of men's bowels, and devourers of blood from the midst of thy consecration, ⁶And those parents sacrificing with their own hands helpless souls, it was thy will to destroy by the hands of our parents, ⁷That the land which of all is most dear to thee might receive a worthy colony of the children of God. ⁸Yet even those thou sparedst as men, and didst send wasps, forerunners of thy host, to destroy them by little and little. ⁹Not that thou wast unable to bring the wicked under the just by war, or by cruel beasts, or with one rough word to destroy them at once: ¹⁰But executing thy judgments by degrees thou gavest them place of repentance, not being ignorant that they were a wicked generation, and their malice natural, and that their thought could never be changed. ¹¹For it was a cursed seed from the beginning: neither didst thou for fear of any one give pardon to their sins. ¹²For who shall say to thee: What hast thou done? or who shall withstand thy judgment? or who shall come before thee to be a revenger of wicked men? or who shall accuse thee, if the nations perish, which thou hast made? ¹³For there is no other God but thou, who hast care of all, that thou shouldst shew that thou dost not give judgment unjustly. ¹⁴Neither shall king, nor tyrant in thy sight inquire about them whom thou hast destroyed. ¹⁵For so much then as thou art just, thou orderest all things justly: thinking it not agreeable to thy power, to condemn him who deserveth not to be punished. ¹⁶For thy power is the beginning of justice: and because thou art Lord of all, thou makest thyself gracious to all. ¹⁷For thou shewest thy power, when men will not believe thee to be absolute in power, and thou convincest the boldness of them that know thee not. ¹⁸But thou being master of power, judgest with tranquillity; and with great favour disposest of us: for thy power is at hand when thou wilt. ¹⁹But thou hast taught thy people by such works, that they must be just and humane, and hast made thy children to be of a good hope: because in judging thou givest place for repentance for sins. ²⁰For if thou didst punish the enemies of thy servants, and that deserved to die, with so great deliberation, giving them time and place whereby they might be changed from their wickedness: ²¹With what circumspection hast thou judged thy own children, to whose parents thou hast sworn and made covenants of good promises? ²²Therefore whereas thou chastisest us, thou scourgest our enemies very many ways, to the end that when we judge we may think on thy goodness: and when we are judged, we may hope for thy mercy. ²³Wherefore thou hast also greatly tormented them who in their life have lived foolishly and unjustly, by the same things which they worshipped. ²⁴For they went astray for a long time in the ways of error, holding those things for gods which are the most worthless among beasts, living after the manner of children without understanding. ²⁵Therefore thou hast sent a judgment upon them as senseless children to mock them. ²⁶But they that were not amended by mockeries and reprehensions, experienced the worthy judgment of God. ²⁷For seeing with indignation that they suffered by those very things which they took for gods, when they were destroyed by the same, they acknowledged him the true God, whom in time past they denied that they knew: for which cause the end also of their condemnation came upon them.

Chapter 13

¹But all men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God: and who by these good things that are seen, could not understand him that is, neither by attending to the works have acknowledged who was the workman: ²But have imagined either the fire, or the wind, or the swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the great water, or the sun and moon, to be the gods that rule the world. ³With whose beauty, if they, being delighted, took them to be gods: let them know how much the Lord of them is more beautiful than they: for the first author of beauty made all those things. ⁴Or if they admired their power and their effects, let them understand by them, that he that made them, is mightier than they: ⁵For by the greatness of the beauty, and of the creature, the creator of them may be seen, so as to be known thereby. ⁶But yet as to these they are less to be blamed. For they perhaps err, seeking God, and desirous to find him. ⁷For being conversant among his works, they search: and they are persuaded that the things are good which are seen. ⁸But then again they are not to be pardoned. ⁹For if they were able to know so much as to make a judgment of the world: how did they not more easily find out the Lord thereof? ¹⁰But unhappy are they, and their hope is among the dead, who have called gods the works of the hands of men, gold and silver, the inventions of art, and the resemblances of beasts, or an unprofitable stone the work of an ancient hand. ¹¹Or if an artist, a carpenter, hath cut down a tree proper for his use in the wood, and skilfully taken off all the bark thereof, and with his art, diligently formeth a vessel profitable for the common uses of life, ¹²And useth the chips of his work to dress his meat: ¹³And taking what was left thereof, which is good for nothing, being a crooked piece of wood, and full of knots, carveth it diligently when he hath nothing else to do, and by the skill of his art fashioneth it and maketh it like the image of a man: ¹⁴Or the resemblance of some beast, laying it over with vermillion, and painting it red, and covering every spot that is in it: ¹⁵And maketh a convenient dwelling place for it, and setting it in a wall, and fastening it with iron, ¹⁶Providing for it, lest it should fall, knowing that it is unable to help itself: for it is an image, and hath need of help. ¹⁷And then maketh prayer to it, inquiring concerning his substance, and his children, or his marriage. And he is not ashamed to speak to that which hath no life: ¹⁸And for health he maketh suspplication to the weak, and for life prayeth to that which is dead, and for help calleth upon that which is unprofitable: ¹⁹And for a good journey he petitioneth him that cannot walk: and for getting, and for working, and for the event of all things he asketh him that is unable to do any thing.

Chapter 14

¹Again, another designing to sail, and beginning to make his voyage through the raging waves, calleth upon a piece of wood more frail than the wood that carrieth him. ²For this the desire of gain devised, and the workman built it by his skill. ³But thy providence, O Father, governeth it: for thou hast made a way even in the sea, and a most sure path among the waves, ⁴Shewing that thou art able to save out of all things, yea though a man went to sea without art. ⁵But that the works of thy wisdom might not be idle: therefore men also trust their lives even to a little wood, and passing over the sea by ship are saved. ⁶And from the beginning also when the proud giants perished, the hope of the world fleeing to a vessel, which was governed by thy hand, left to the world seed of generation. ⁷For blessed is the wood, by which justice cometh. ⁸But the idol that is made by hands, is cursed, as well it, as he that made it: he because he made it; and it because being frail it is called a god. ⁹But to God the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike. ¹⁰For that which is made, together with him that made it, shall suffer torments. ¹¹Therefore there shall be no respect had even to the idols of the Gentiles: because the creatures of God are turned to an abomination, and a temptation to the souls of men, and a snare to the feet of the unwise. ¹²For the beginning of fornication is the devising of idols: and the invention of them is the corruption of life. ¹³For neither were they from the beginning, neither shall they be for ever. ¹⁴For by the vanity of men they came into the world: and therefore they shall be found to come shortly to an end. ¹⁵For a father being afflicted with bitter grief, made to himself the image of his son who was quickly taken away: and him who then had died as a man, he began now to worship as a god, and appointed him rites and sacrifices among his servants. ¹⁶Then in process of time, wicked custom prevailing, this error was kept as a law, and statues were worshipped by the commandment of tyrants. ¹⁷And those whom men could not honour in presence, because they dwelt far off, they brought their resemblance from afar, and made an express image of the king whom they had a mind to honour: that by this their diligence, they might honour as present, him that was absent. ¹⁸And to worshipping of these, the singular diligence also of the artificer helped to set forward the ignorant. ¹⁹For he being willing to please him that employed him, laboured with all his art to make the resemblance in the best manner. ²⁰And the multitude of men, carried away by the beauty of the work, took him now for a god that a little before was but honoured as a man. ²¹And this was the occasion of deceiving human life: for men serving either their affection, or their kings, gave the incommunicable name to stones and wood. ²²And it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God, but whereas they lived in a great war of ignorance, they call so many and so great evils peace. ²³For either they sacrifice their own children, or use hidden sacrifices, or keep watches full of madness, ²⁴So that now they neither keep life, nor marriage undefiled, but one killeth another through envy, or grieveth him by adultery: ²⁵And all things are mingled together, blood, murder, theft and dissimulation, corruption and unfaithfulness, tumults and perjury, disquieting of the good, ²⁶Forgetfulness of God, defiling of souls, changing of nature, disorder in marriage, and the irregularity of adultery and uncleaness. ²⁷For the worship of abominable idols is the cause, and the beginning and end of all evil. ²⁸For either they are mad when they are merry: or they prophesy lies, or they live unjustly, or easily forswear themselves. ²⁹For whilst they trust in idols, which are without life, though they swear amiss, they look not to be hurt. ³⁰But for two things they shall be justly punished, because they have thought not well of God, giving heed to idols, and have sworn unjustly, in guile despising justice. ³¹For it is not the power of them, by whom they swear, but the just vengeance of sinners always punisheth the transgression of the unjust.

Chapter 15

¹But thou, our God, art gracious and true, patient, and ordering all things in mercy. ²For if we sin, we are thine, knowing thy greatness: and if we sin not, we know that we are counted with thee. ³For to know thee is perfect justice: and to know thy justice, and thy power, is the root of immortality. ⁴For the invention of mischievous men hath not deceived us, nor the shadow of a picture, a fruitless labour, a graven figure with divers colours, ⁵The sight whereof enticeth the fool to lust after it, and he loveth the lifeless figure of a dead image. ⁶The lovers of evil things deserve to have no better things to trust in, both they that make them, and they that love them, and they that worship them. ⁷The potter also tempering soft earth, with labour fashioneth every vessel for our service, and of the same clay he maketh both vessels that are for clean uses, and likewise such as serve to the contrary: but what is the use of these vessels, the potter is the judge. ⁸And of the same clay by a vain labour he maketh a god: he who a little before was made of earth himself, and a little after returneth to the same out of which he was taken, when his life which was lent him shall be called for again. ⁹But his care is, not that he shall labour, nor that his life is short, but he striveth with the goldsmiths and silversmiths: and he endeavoureth to do like the workers in brass, and counteth it a glory to make vain things. ¹⁰For his heart is ashes, and his hope vain earth, and his life more base than clay: ¹¹Forasmuch as he knew not his maker and him that inspired into him the soul that worketh, and that breathed into him a living spirit. ¹²Yea and they have counted our life a pastime, and the business of life to be gain, and that we must be getting every way, even out of evil. ¹³For that man knoweth that he offendeth above all others, who of earthly matter maketh brittle vessels, and graven gods. ¹⁴But all the enemies of thy people that hold them in subjection, are foolish, and unhappy, and proud beyond measure: ¹⁵For they have esteemed all the idols of the heathens for gods, which neither have the use of eyes to see, nor noses to draw breath, nor ears to hear, nor fingers of hands to handle, and as for their feet, they are slow to walk. ¹⁶For man made them: and he that borroweth his own breath, fashioned them. For no man can make a god like to himself. ¹⁷For being mortal himself, he formeth a dead thing with his wicked hands. For he is better than they whom he worshippeth, because he indeed hath lived, though he were mortal, but they never. ¹⁸Moreover they worship also the vilest creatures: but things without sense compared to these, are worse than they. ¹⁹Yea, neither by sight can any man see good of these beasts. But they have fled from the praise of God, and from his blessing.

Chapter 16

¹For these things, and by the like things to these, they were worthily punished, and were destroyed by a multitude of beasts. ²Instead of which punishment, dealing well with thy people, thou gavest them their desire of delicious food, of a new taste, preparing for them quails for their meat: ³To the end that they indeed desiring food, by means of those things that were shewn and sent among them, might loathe even that which was necessary to satisfy their desire. But these, after suffering want for a short time, tasted a new meat. ⁴For it was requisite that inevitable destruction should come upon them that exercised tyranny: but to these it should only be shewn how their enemies were destroyed. ⁵For when the fierce rage of beasts came upon these, they were destroyed with the bitings of crooked serpents. ⁶But thy wrath endured not for ever, but they were troubled for a short time for their correction, having a sign of salvation to put them in remembrance of the commandment of thy law. ⁷For he that turned to it, was not healed by that which he saw, but by thee the Saviour of all. ⁸And in this thou didst shew to our enemies, that thou art he who deliverest from all evil. ⁹For the bitings of locusts, and of flies killed them, and there was found no remedy for their life: because they were worthy to be destroyed by such things. ¹⁰But not even the teeth of venomous serpents overcame thy children: for thy mercy came and healed them. ¹¹For they were examined for the remembrance of thy words, and were quickly healed, lest falling into deep forgetfulness, they might not be able to use thy help. ¹²For it was neither herb, nor mollifying plaster that healed them, but thy word, O Lord, which healeth all things. ¹³For it is thou, O Lord, that hast power of life and death, and leadest down to the gates of death, and bringest back again: ¹⁴A man indeed killeth through malice, and when the spirit is gone forth, it shall not return, neither shall he call back the soul that is received: ¹⁵But it is impossible to escape thy hand. ¹⁶For the wicked that denied to know thee, were scourged by the strength of thy arm, being persecuted by strange waters, and hail, and rain, and consumed by fire. ¹⁷And which was wonderful, in water, which extinguisheth all things, the fire had more force: for the world fighteth for the just. ¹⁸For at one time, the fire was mitigated, that the beasts which were sent against the wicked might not be burned, but that they might see and perceive that they were persecuted by the judgment of God. ¹⁹And at another time the fire, above its own power, burned in the midst of water, to destroy the fruits of a wicked land. ²⁰Instead of which things thou didst feed thy people with the food of angels, and gavest them bread from heaven prepared without labour; having in it all that is delicious, and the sweetness of every taste. ²¹For thy sustenance shewed thy sweetness to thy children, and serving every man's will, it was turned to what every man liked. ²²But snow and ice endured the force of fire, and melted not: that they might know that fire burning in the hail and flashing in the rain destroyed the fruits of the enemies. ²³But this same again, that the just might be nourished, did even forget its own strength. ²⁴For the creature serving thee the Creator, is made fierce against the unjust for their punishment; and abateth its strength for the benefit of them that trust in thee. ²⁵Therefore even then it was transformed into all things, and was obedient to thy grace that nourisheth all, according to the will of them that desired it of thee. ²⁶That thy children, O Lord, whom thou lovedst, might know that it is not the growing of fruits that nourisheth men, but thy word preseveth them that believe in thee: ²⁷For that which could not be destroyed by fire, being warmed with a little sunbeam presently melted away: ²⁸That it might be known to all, that we ought to prevent the sun to bless thee, and adore thee at the dawning of the light. ²⁹For the hope of the unthankful shall melt away as the winter's ice, and shall run off as unprofitable water.

Chapter 17

¹For thy judgments, O Lord, are great, and thy words cannot be expressed: therefore undisciplined souls have erred. ²For while the wicked thought to be able to have dominion over the holy nation, they themselves being fettered with the bonds of darkness, and a long night, shut up in their houses, lay there exiled from the eternal providence. ³And while they thought to lie hid in their obscure sins, they were scattered under a dark veil of forgetfulness, being horribly afraid and troubled with exceeding great astonishment. ⁴For neither did the den that held them, keep them from fear: for noises coming down troubled them, and sad visions appearing to them, affrighted them. ⁵And no power of fire could give them light, neither could the bright flames of the stars enlighten that horrible night. ⁶But there appeared to them a sudden fire, very dreadful: and being struck with the fear of that face, which was not seen, they thought the things which they saw to be worse: ⁷And the delusions of their magic art were put down, and their boasting of wisdom was reproachfully rebuked. ⁸For they who promised to drive away fears and troubles from a sick soul, were sick themselves of a fear worthy to be laughed at. ⁹For though no terrible thing disturbed them: yet being scared with the passing by of beasts, and hissing of serpents, they died for fear: and denying that they saw the air, which could by no means be avoided. ¹⁰For whereas wickedness is fearful, it beareth witness of its condemnation: for a troubled conscience always forecasteth grievous things. ¹¹For fear is nothing else but a yielding up of the succours from thought. ¹²And while there is less expectation from within, the greater doth it count the ignorance of that cause which bringeth the torment. ¹³But they that during that night, in which nothing could be done, and which came upon them from the lowest and deepest hell, slept the same sleep. ¹⁴Were sometimes molested with the fear of monsters, sometimes fainted away, their soul failing them: for a sudden and unlooked for fear was come upon them. ¹⁵Moreover if any of them had fallen down, he was kept shut up in prison without irons. ¹⁶For if any one were a husbandman, or a shepherd, or a labourer in the field, and was suddenly overtaken, he endured a necessity from which he could not fly. ¹⁷For they were all bound together with one chain of darkness. Whether it were a whistling wind, or the melodious voice of birds, among the spreading branches of trees, or a fall of water running down with violence, ¹⁸Or the mighty noise of stones tumbling down, or the running that could not be seen of beasts playing together, or the roaring voice of wild beasts, or a rebounding echo from the highest mountains: these things made them to swoon for fear. ¹⁹For the whole world was enlightened with a clear light, and none were hindered in their labours. ²⁰But over them only was spread a heavy night, an image of that darkness which was to come upon them. But they were to themselves more grievous than the darkness.

Chapter 18

¹But thy saints had a very great light, and they heard their voice indeed, but did not see their shape. And because they also did not suffer the same things, they glorified thee: ²And they that before had been wronged, gave thanks, because they were not hurt now: and asked this gift, that there might be a difference. ³Therefore they received a burning pillar of fire for a guide of the way which they knew not, and thou gavest them a harmless sun of a good entertainment. ⁴The others indeed were worthy to be deprived of light, and imprisoned in darkness, who kept thy children shut up, by whom the pure light of the law was to be given to the world. ⁵And whereas they thought to kill the babes of the just, one child being cast forth, and saved, to reprove them, thou tookest away a multitude of their children, and destroyedst them all together in a mighty water. ⁶For that night was known before by our fathers, that assuredly knowing what oaths they had trusted to, they might be of better courage. ⁷So thy people received the salvation of the just, and destruction of the unjust. ⁸For as thou didst punish the adversaries: so thou didst also encourage and glorify us. ⁹For the just children of good men were offering sacrifice secretly, and they unanimously ordered a law of justice: that the just should receive both good and evil alike, singing now the praises of the fathers. ¹⁰But on the other side there sounded an ill according cry of the enemies, and a lamentable mourning was heard for the children that were bewailed. ¹¹And the servant suffered the same punishment as the master, and a common man suffered in like manner as the king. ¹²So all alike had innumerable dead, with one kind of death. Neither were the living sufficient to bury them; for in one moment the noblest offspring of them was destroyed. ¹³For whereas they would not believe any thing before by reason of the enchantments, then first upon the destruction of the firstborn, they acknowledged the people to be of God. ¹⁴For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course, ¹⁵Thy almighty word leapt down from heaven from thy royal throne, as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction. ¹⁶With a sharp sword carrying thy unfeigned commandment, and he stood and filled all things with death, and standing on the earth reached even to heaven. ¹⁷Then suddenly visions of evil dreams troubled them, and fears unlooked for came upon them. ¹⁸And one thrown here, another there, half dead, shewed the cause of his death. ¹⁹For the visions that troubled them foreshewed these things, lest they should perish and not know why they suffered these evils. ²⁰But the just also were afterwards touched by an assault of death, and there was a disturbance of the multitude in the wilderness: but thy wrath did not long continue. ²¹For a blameless man made haste to pray for the people, bringing forth the shield of his ministry, prayer, and by incense making supplication, withstood the wrath, and put an end to the calamity, shewing that he was thy servant. ²²And he overcame the disturbance, not by strength of body nor with force of arms, but with a word he subdued him that punished them, alleging the oaths and covenant made with the fathers. ²³For when they were now fallen down dead by heaps one upon another, he stood between and stayed the assault, and cut off the way to the living. ²⁴For in the priestly robe which he wore, was the whole world: and in the four rows of the stones the glory of the fathers was graven, and thy majesty was written upon the diadem of his head. ²⁵And to these the destroyer gave place, and was afraid of them: for the proof only of wrath was enough.

Chapter 19

¹But as to the wicked, even to the end there came upon them wrath without mercy. For he knew before also what they would do: ²For when they had given them leave to depart, and had sent them away with great care, they repented, and pursued after them. ³For whilst they were yet mourning, and lamenting at the graves of the dead, they took up another foolish device: and pursued them as fugitives whom they had pressed to be gone: ⁴For a necessity, of which they were worthy, brought them to this end: and they lost the remembrance of those things which had happened, that their punishment might fill up what was wanting to their torments: ⁵And that thy people might wonderfully pass through, but they might find a new death. ⁶For every creature according to its kind was fashioned again as from the beginning, obeying thy commandments, that thy children might be kept without hurt. ⁷For a cloud overshadowed their camp, and where water was before, dry land appeared, and in the Red Sea a way without hinderance, and out of the great deep a springing field: ⁸Through which all the nation passed which was protected with thy hand, seeing thy miracles and wonders. ⁹For they fed on their food like horses, and they skipped like lambs, praising thee, O Lord, who hadst delivered them. ¹⁰For they were yet mindful of those things which had been done in the time of their sojourning, how the ground brought forth flies instead of cattle, and how the river cast up a multitude of frogs instead of fishes. ¹¹And at length they saw a new generation of birds, when being led by their appetite they asked for delicate meats. ¹²For to satisfy their desire, the quail came up to them from the sea: and punishments came upon the sinners, not without foregoing signs by the force of thunders: for they suffered justly according to their own wickedness. ¹³For they exercised a more detestable inhospitality than any: others indeed received not strangers unknown to them, but these brought their guests into bondage that had deserved well of them. ¹⁴And not only so, but in another respect also they were worse: for the others against their will received the strangers. ¹⁵But these grievously afflicted them whom they had received with joy, and who lived under the same laws. ¹⁶But they were struck with blindness: as those others were at the doors of the just man, when they were covered with sudden darkness, and every one sought the passage of his own door. ¹⁷For while the elements are changed in themselves, as in an instrument the sound of the quality is changed, yet all keep their sound: which may clearly be perceived by the very sight. ¹⁸For the things of the land were turned into things of the water: and the things before swam in the water passed upon the land. ¹⁹The fire had power in water above its own virtue, and the water forgot its quenching nature. ²⁰On the other side, the flames wasted not the flesh of corruptible animals walking therein, neither did they melt that good food, which was apt to melt as ice. For in all things thou didst magnify thy people, O Lord, and didst honour them, and didst not despise them, but didst assist them at all times, and in every place.

Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three

Chapter 1

¹And they walked in the midst of the flame, praising God and blessing the Lord. ²Then Azarias standing up prayed in this manner, and opening his mouth in the midst of the fire, he said: ³Blessed art thou, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and thy name is worthy of praise, and glorious for ever: ⁴For thou art just in all that thou hast done to us, and all thy works are true, and thy ways right, and all thy judgments true. ⁵For thou hast executed true judgments in all the things that thou hast brought upon us, and upon Jerusalem the holy city of our fathers: for according to truth and judgment, thou hast brought all these things upon us for our sins. ⁶For we have sinned, and committed iniquity, departing from thee: and we have trespassed in all things: ⁷And we have not hearkened to thy commandments, nor have we observed nor done as thou hadst commanded us, that it might go well with us. ⁸Wherefore all that thou hast brought upon us, and every thing that thou hast done to us, thou hast done in true judgment: ⁹And thou hast delivered us into the hands of our enemies that are unjust, and most wicked, and prevaricators, and to a king unjust, and most wicked beyond all that axe upon the earth. ¹⁰And now we cannot open our mouths: we are become a shame and reproach to thy servants, and to them that worship thee. ¹¹Deliver us not up for ever, we beseech thee, for thy name's sake, and abolish not thy covenant. ¹²And take not away thy mercy from us for the sake of Abraham thy beloved, and Isaac thy servant, and Israel thy holy one: ¹³To whom thou hast spoken, promising that thou wouldst multiply their seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the sea shore. ¹⁴For we, O Lord, are diminished more than any nation, and are brought low in all the earth this day for our sins. ¹⁵Neither is there at this time prince, or leader, or prophet, or holocaust, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense, or place of firstfruits before thee, ¹⁶That we may find thy mercy: nevertheless in a contrite heart and humble spirit let us be accepted. ¹⁷As in holocausts of rams, and bullocks, and as in thousands of fat lambs: so let our sacrifice be made in thy sight this day, that it may please thee: for there is no confusion to them that trust in thee. ¹⁸And now we follow thee with all our heart, and we fear thee, and seek thy face. ¹⁹Put us not to confusion, but deal. with us according to thy meekness, and according to the multitude of thy mercies. ²⁰And deliver us according to thy wonderful works, and give glory to thy name, O Lord: ²¹And let all them be confounded that shew evils to thy servants, let them be confounded in all thy might, and let their strength be broken. ²²And let them know that thou art the Lord, the only God, and glorious over all the world. ²³Now the king's servants that had cast them in, ceased not to heat the furnace with brimstone, and tow, and pitch, and dry sticks, ²⁴And the flame mounted up above the furnace nine and forty cubits: ²⁵And it broke forth, and burnt such of the Chaldeans as it found near the furnace. ²⁶But the angel of the Lord went down with Azarias and his companions into the furnace: and he drove the flame of the fire out of the furnace, ²⁷And made the midst of the furnace like the blowing of a wind bringing dew, and the fire touched them not at all, nor troubled them, nor did them any harm. ²⁸Then these three as with one mouth praised, and glorified, and blessed God in the furnace, saying: ²⁹Blessed art thou, O Lord the God of our fathers: and worthy to be praised, and glorified, and exalted above all for ever: and blessed is the holy name of thy glory: and worthy to be praised, and exalted above all in all ages. ³⁰Blessed art thou in the holy temple of thy glory: and exceedingly to be praised, and exceeding glorious for ever. ³¹Blessed art thou on the throne of thy kingdom, and exceedingly to be praised, and exalted above all for ever. ³²Blessed art thou, that beholdest the depths, and sittest upon the cherubims: and worthy to be praised and exalted above all for ever. ³³Blessed art thou in the firmament of heaven: and worthy of praise, and glorious for ever. ³⁴All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ³⁵O ye angels of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ³⁶O ye heavens, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ³⁷O all ye waters that are above the heavens, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all for ever. ³⁸O all ye powers of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ³⁹O ye sun and moon, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁴⁰O ye stars of heaven, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁴¹O every shower and dew, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁴²O all ye spirits of God, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁴³O ye fire and heat, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁴⁴O ye cold and heat, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁴⁵O ye dews and hoar frosts, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁴⁶O ye frost and cold, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁴⁷O ye ice and snow, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁴⁸O ye nights and days, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁴⁹O ye light and darkness, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁵⁰O ye lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁵¹O let the earth bless the Lord: let it praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁵²O ye mountains and hills, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁵³O all ye things that spring up in the earth, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁵⁴O ye fountains, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁵⁵O ye seas and rivers, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁵⁶O ye whales, and all that move in the waters, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁵⁷O all ye fowls of the air, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁵⁸O all ye beasts and cattle, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁵⁹O ye sons of men, bless the Lord., praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁶⁰O let Israel bless the Lord: let them praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁶¹O ye priests of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁶²O ye servants of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁶³O ye spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁶⁴O ye holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. ⁶⁵O Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. For he hath delivered us from hell, and saved us out of the hand of death, and delivered us out of the midst of the burning flame, and saved us out of the midst of the fire. ⁶⁶O give thanks to the Lord, because he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever and ever. ⁶⁷O all ye religious, bless the Lord the God of gods: praise him and give him thanks, because his mercy endureth for ever and ever.

Additions to Esther

Chapter 10

⁴Then Mardochai said: God hath done these things. ⁵I remember a dream that I saw, which signified these same things: and nothing thereof hath failed. ⁶The little fountain which grew into a river, and was turned into a light, and into the sun, and abounded into many waters, is Esther, whom the king married, and made queen. ⁷But the two dragons are I and Aman. ⁸The nations that were assembled are they that endeavoured to destroy the name of the Jews. ⁹And my nation is Israel, who cried to the Lord, and the Lord saved his people: and he delivered us from all evils, and hath wrought great signs and wonders among the nations: ¹⁰And he commanded that there should be two lots, one of the people of God, and the other of all the nations. ¹¹And both lots came to the day appointed already from that time before God to all nations: ¹²And the Lord remembered his people, and had mercy on his inheritance. ¹³And these days shall be observed in the month of Adar on the fourteenth, and fifteenth day of the same month. with all diligence, and joy of the people gathered into one assembly, throughout all the generations hereafter of the people of Israel.

Chapter 11

¹In the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemy and Cleopatra, Dositheus, who said he was a priest, and of the Levitical race, and Ptolemy his son brought this epistle of Phurim, which they said Lysimachus the son of Ptolemy had interpreted in Jerusalem. ²In the second year of the reign of Artaxerxes the great, in the first day of the month Nisan, Mardochai the son of Jair, the son of Semei, the son of Cis, of the tribe of Benjamin: ³A Jew who dwelt in the city of Susan, a great man and among the first of the king's court, had it dream. ⁴Now he was of the number of the captives, whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had carried away from Jerusalem with Jechonias king of Juda: ⁵And this was his dream: Behold there were voices, and tumults, and thunders, and earthquakes, and a disturbance upon the earth. ⁶And behold two great dragons came forth ready to fight one against another. ⁷And at their cry all nations were stirred up to fight against the nation of the just. ⁸And that was a day of darkness and danger, of tribulation and distress, and great fear upon the earth. ⁹And the nation of the just was troubled fearing their own evils, and was prepared for death. ¹⁰And they cried to God: and as they were crying, a little fountain grew into a very great river, and abounded into many waters. ¹¹The light and the sun rose up, and the humble were exalted, and they devoured the glorious. ¹²And when Mardochai had seen this, and arose out of his bed, he was thinking what God would do: and he kept it fixed in his mind, desirous to know what the dream should signify.

Chapter 12

¹And he abode at that time in the king's court with Bagatha and Thara the king's eunuchs, who were porters of the palace. ²And when he understood their designs, and had diligently searched into their projects, he learned that they went about to lay violent hands on king Artaxerxes, and he told the king thereof. ³Then the king had them both examined, and after they had confessed, commanded them to be put to death. ⁴But the king made a record of what was done: and Mardochai also committed the memory of the thing to writing. ⁵And the king commanded him, to abide in the court of the palace, and gave him presents for the information. ⁶But Aman the son of Amadathi the Bugite was in great honour with the king, and sought to hurt Mardochai and his people, because of the two eunuchs of the king who were put to death.

Chapter 13

¹And this was the copy of the letter: Artaxerxes the great king who reigneth from India to Ethiopia, to the princes and governors of the hundred and twenty-seven provinces, that are subject to his empire, greeting. ²Whereas I reigned over many nations, and had brought all the world under my dominion, I was not willing to abuse the greatness of my power, but to govern my subjects with clemency and lenity, that they might live quietly without any terror. and might enjoy peace, which is desired by all men. ³But when I asked my counsellors how this might be accomplished, one that excelled the rest in wisdom and fidelity, and was second after the king, Aman by name, ⁴Told me that there was a people scattered through the whole world, which used new laws, and acted against the customs of all nations, despised the commandments of kings, and violated by their opposition the concord of all nations. ⁵Wherefore having learned this, and seeing one nation in opposition to all mankind using perverse laws, and going against our commandments, and disturbing the peace and concord of the provinces subject to us, ⁶We have commanded that all whom Aman shall mark out, who is chief over all the provinces, and second after the king, and whom we honour as a father, shall be utterly destroyed by their enemies, with their wives and children, and that none shall have pity on them. on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month Adar of this present year: ⁷That these wicked men going down to hell in one day, may restore to our empire the peace which they had disturbed. ⁸But Mardochai besought the Lord, remembering all his works, ⁹And said: O Lord, Lord, almighty king, for all things are in thy power, and there is none that can resist thy will, if thou determine to save Israel. ¹⁰Thou hast made heaven and earth, and all things that are under the cope of heaven. ¹¹Thou art Lord of all, and there is none that can resist thy majesty. ¹²Thou knowest all things, and thou knowest that it was not out of pride and contempt, or any desire of glory, that I refused to worship the proud Aman, ¹³(For I would willingly and readily for the salvation of Israel have kissed even the steps of his feet,) ¹⁴But I feared lest I should transfer the honour of my God to a man, and lest I should adore any one except my God. ¹⁵And now, O Lord, O king, O God of Abraham, have mercy on thy people, because our enemies resolve to destroy us, and extinguish thy inheritance. ¹⁶Despise not thy portion, which thou hast redeemed for thyself out of Egypt. ¹⁷Hear my supplication, and be merciful to thy lot and inheritance, and turn our mourning into joy, that we may live and praise thy name, Lord, and shut not the mouths of them that sing to thee. ¹⁸And all Israel with like mind and supplication cried to the Lord, because they saw certain death hanging over their heads.

Chapter 14

¹Queen Esther also, fearing the danger that was at hand, had recourse to the Lord. ²And when she had laid away her royal apparel, she put on garments suitable for weeping and mourning: instead of divers precious ointments, she covered her head with ashes and dung, and she humbled her body with fasts: and all the places in which before she was accustomed to rejoice, she filled with her torn hair. ³And she prayed to the Lord the God of Israel, saying: O my Lord, who alone art our king, help me a desolate woman, and who have no other helper but thee. ⁴My danger is in my hands. ⁵I have heard of my father that thou, O Lord, didst take Israel from among all nations, and our fathers from all their predecessors, to possess them as an everlasting inheritance, and thou hast done to them as thou hast promised. ⁶We have sinned in thy sight, and therefore thou hast delivered us into the hands of our enemies: ⁷For we have worshipped their gods. Thou art just, O Lord. ⁸And now they are not content to oppress us with most hard bondage, but attributing the strength of their hands to the power of their idols, ⁹They design to change thy promises, and destroy thy inheritance, and shut the mouths of them that praise thee, and extinguish the glory of thy temple and altar, ¹⁰That they may open the mouths of Gentiles, and praise the strength of idols, and magnify for ever a carnal king. ¹¹Give not, O Lord, thy sceptre to them that are not, lest they laugh at our ruin: but turn their counsel upon themselves, and destroy him that hath begun to rage against us. ¹²Remember, O Lord, and shew thyself to us in the time of our tribulation, and give me boldness, O Lord, king of gods, and of all power: ¹³Give me a well ordered speech in my mouth in the presence of the lion, and turn his heart to the hatred of our enemy, that both he himself may perish, and the rest that consent to him. ¹⁴But deliver us by thy hand, and help me, who have no other helper, but thee, O Lord, who hast the knowledge of all things. ¹⁵And thou knowest that I hate the glory of the wicked, and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised, and of every stranger. ¹⁶Thou knowest my necessity, that I abominate the sign of my pride and glory, which is upon my head in the days of my public appearance, and detest it as a menstruous rag, and wear it not in the days of my silence, ¹⁷And that I have not eaten at Aman's table, nor hath the king's banquet pleased me, and that I have not drunk the wine of the drink offerings: ¹⁸And that thy handmaid hath never rejoiced, since I was brought hither unto this day, but in thee, O Lord, the God of Abraham. ¹⁹O God, who art mighty above all, hear the voice of them, that have no other hope, and deliver us from the hand of the wicked, and deliver me from my fear.

Chapter 15

¹And he commanded her (no doubt but he was Mardochai) to go to the king, and petition for her people, and for her country. ²Remember, (said he,) the days of thy low estate, how thou wast brought up by my hand, because Aman the second after the king hath spoken against us unto death. ³And do thou call upon the Lord, and speak to the king for us, and deliver us from death. ⁴And on the third day she laid away the garments she wore, and put on her glorious apparel. ⁵And glittering in royal robes, after she had called upon God the ruler and Saviour of all, she took two maids with her, ⁶And upon one of them she leaned, as if for delicateness and overmuch tenderness she were not able to bear up her own body. ⁷And the other maid followed her lady, bearing up her train flowing on the ground. ⁸But she with a rosy colour in her face, and with gracious and bright eyes, hid a mind full of anguish, and exceeding great fear. ⁹So going in she passed through all the doors in order, and stood before the king, where he sat upon his royal throne, clothed with his royal robes, and glittering with gold, and precious stones, and he was terrible to behold. ¹⁰And when he had lifted up his countenance, and with burning eyes had shewn the wrath of his heart, the queen sunk down, and her colour turned pale, and she rested her weary head upon her handmaid. ¹¹And God changed the king's spirit into mildness, and all in haste and in fear he leaped from his throne, and holding her up in his arms, till she came to herself, caressed her with these words: ¹²What is the matter, Esther? I am thy brother, fear not. ¹³Thou shalt not die: for this law is not made for thee, but for all others. ¹⁴Come near then, and touch the sceptre. ¹⁵And as she held her peace, he took the golden sceptre, and laid it upon her neck, and kissed her, and said: Why dost thou not speak to me? ¹⁶She answered: I saw thee, my lord, as an angel of God, and my heart was troubled for fear of thy majesty. ¹⁷For thou, my lord, art very admirable, and thy. face is full of graces. ¹⁸And while she was speaking, she fell down again, and was almost in a swoon. ¹⁹But the king was troubled, and all his servants comforted her.

Chapter 16

¹The great king Artaxerxes, from India to Ethiopia, to the governors and princes of a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, which obey our command, sendeth greeting. ²Many have abused unto pride the goodness of princes, and the honour that hath been bestowed upon them: ³And not only endeavour to oppress the king's subjects, but not bearing the glory that is given them, take in hand to practise also against them that gave it. ⁴Neither are they content not to return thanks for benefits received, and to violate in themselves the laws of humanity, but they think they can also escape the justice of God who seeth all things. ⁵And they break out into so great madness, as to endeavour to undermine by lies such as observe diligently the offices committed to them, and do all things in such manner as to be worthy of all men's praise, ⁶While with crafty fraud they deceive the ears of princes that are well meaning, and judge of others by their own nature. ⁷Now this is proved both from ancient histories, and by the things which are done daily, how the good designs of kings are depraved by the evil suggestions of certain men. ⁸Wherefore we must provide for the peace of all provinces. ⁹Neither must you think, if we command different things, that it cometh of the levity of our mind, but that we give sentence according to the quality and necessity of times, as the profit of the commonwealth requireth. ¹⁰Now that you may more plainly understand what we say, I Aman the son of Amadathi, a Macedonian both in mind and country, and having nothing of the Persian blood, but with his cruelty staining our goodness, was received being a stranger by us: ¹¹And found our humanity so great towards him, that he was called our father, and was worshipped by all as the next man after the king: ¹²But he was so far puffed up with arrogancy, as to go about to deprive us of our kingdom and life. ¹³For with certain new and unheard of devices he hath sought the destruction of Mardochai, by whose fidelity and good services our life was saved, and of Esther the partner of our kingdom, with all their nation: ¹⁴Thinking that after they were slain, he might work treason against us left alone without friends, and might transfer the kingdom of the Persians to the Macedonians. ¹⁵But we have found that the Jews, who were by that most wicked man appointed to be slain, are in no fault at all, but contrariwise, use just laws, ¹⁶And are the children of the highest and the greatest, and the ever living God, by whose benefit the kingdom was given both to our fathers and to us, and is kept unto this day. ¹⁷Wherefore know ye that those letters which he sent in our name, are void and of no effect. ¹⁸For which crime both he himself that devised it, and all his kindred hang on gibbets, before the gates of this city Susan: not we, but God repaying him as he deserved. ¹⁹But this edict, which we now send, shall be published in all cities, that the Jews may freely follow their own laws. ²⁰And you shall aid them that they may kill those who had prepared themselves to kill them, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is called Adar. ²¹For the almighty God hath turned this day of sadness and mourning into joy to them. ²²Wherefore you shall also count this day among other festival days, and celebrate it with all joy, that it may be known also in times to come, ²³That all they who faithfully obey the Persians, receive a worthy reward for their fidelity : but they that are traitors to their kingdom, are destroyed for their wickedness. ²⁴And let every province and city, that will not be partaker of this solemnity, perish by the sword and by fire, and be destroyed in such manner as to be made unpassable, both to men and beasts, for an example of contempt, and disobedience