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The 29th Chapter
These are the words of the
appointment which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children
of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the appointment which he made
with them in Horeb. And Moses called unto all Israel and said unto
them: Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the
land of Egypt, unto Pharao and unto all his servants, and unto all
his land, and the great temptations which thine eyes have seen and
those great miracles and wonders: And yet the Lord hath not given
you an heart to perceive, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear unto
this day.
And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: and your
clothes are not waxed old upon you, nor are thy shoes waxed old upon
thy feet. Ye have eaten no bread nor drunk wine or strong drink:
that ye might know, how that he is the Lord your God.
And at the last ye came unto this place, and Sihon the king of
Hesbon and Og king of Basan came out against you unto battle, and we
smote them and took their land and gave it an inheritance unto the
Rubenites and Gadites and to the half tribe of Manasse. Keep
therefore the word of this appointment and do them, that ye may
understand all that ye ought to do. Ye stand here this day every one
of you before the Lord your God: both the heads of your tribes, your
elders, your officers and all the men of Israel: your children, your
wives and the strangers that are in thine host, from the hewer of
thy wood unto the drawer of thy water: that thou shouldst come under
the appointment of the Lord thy God, and under his oath which the
Lord thy God maketh with thee this day. For to make thee a people
unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said
unto thee and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob.
Also I make not this bond and this oath with you only: but
both with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord
our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day. For ye
know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through
the midst of the nations which we passed by. And ye have seen their
abominations and their idols: wood, stone, silver, gold, which they
had.
Lest there be among you man or woman kindred or tribe that
turneth away in his heart this day from the Lord our God, to go and
serve the gods of these nations: and lest there be among you some
root that beareth gall and wormwood, so that when he heareth the
words of this curse, he bless himself in his heart saying: I shall
have peace, I will therefore work after the lust of mine own heart,
that the drunken may perish with the thirsty. And so the Lord will
not be merciful unto him, but then the wrath of the Lord and his
jealousy, smoke against that man, and all the curses that are
written in this book light upon him, and the Lord do out his name
from under heaven, and separate him unto evil out of all the tribes
of Israel according unto all the curses of the appointment that is
written in the book of this law.
So that the generation to come of your children that shall
rise up after you and the stranger that shall come from a far land,
say when they see the plagues of that land, and the diseases
wherewith the Lord hath smitten it how all the land is burnt up with
brimstone and salt, that it is neither sown nor beareth, nor any
grass groweth therein, after the overthrowing of Sodom, Gomor, Adama
and Zeboim: which the Lord overthrew in his wrath and anger.
And then all nations also say: wherefore hath the Lord done of
this fashion unto this land? O how fierce is this great wrath? And
men shall say: because they left the testament of the Lord God of
their fathers which he made with them, when he brought them out of
the land of Egypt. And they went and served strange gods and
worshipped them: gods which they knew not and which had given them
nought. And therefore the wrath of the Lord waxed hot upon that land
to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book. And
the Lord cast them out of their land in anger, wrath and great
furiousness, and cast them into a strange land, as it is come to
pass this day. The secrets of the Lord our God are opened unto us
and our children for ever, that we do all the words of this law.
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The 30th Chapter
When all these words are come
upon thee, whether it be the blessing or the curse which I have set
before thee, yet if thou turn unto thine heart among all the nations
whither the Lord thy God hath thrust thee, and come again unto the
Lord thy God and hearken unto his voice according to all that I
command thee this day: both thou and thy children with all thine
heart and all thy soul: Then the Lord thy God will turn thy
captivity and have compassion upon thee and go and fetch thee again
from all the nations, among which the Lord thy God shall have
scattered thee. Though thou wast cast unto the extreme parts of
heaven: even from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee and from
thence fetch thee and bring thee into the land which thy fathers
possessed, and thou shalt enjoy it. And he will shew thee kindness
and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will
circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed for to love the
Lord thy God with all thine heart and all thy soul, that thou mayst
live. And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine
enemies and on them that hate thee and persecute thee.
But thou shalt turn and hearken unto the voice of the Lord and
do all his commandments which I command thee this day. And the Lord
thy God will make thee plenteous in all the works of thine hand and
in the fruit of thy body, in the fruit of thy cattle and fruit of
thy land and in riches. For the Lord will turn again and rejoice
over thee to do thee good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: If thou
hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments
and ordinances which are written in the book of this law, if thou
turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart and all thy soul.
For the commandment which I command thee this day, is not
separated from thee neither far off. It is not in heaven that thou
needest to say: who shall go up for us into heaven, and fetch it us,
that we may hear it and do it: Neither is it beyond the sea, that
thou shouldest say: who shall go over sea for us and fetch it us
that we may hear it and do it. But the word is very nigh unto thee:
even in thy mouth and in thine heart, that thou do it.
Behold I have set before you this day life and good, death and
evil: in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God and
to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his ordinances and
his laws: that thou mayst live and multiply, and that the Lord thy
God may bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
But and if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear:
but shalt go astray and worship strange gods and serve them, I
pronounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish and that ye
shall not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passed over
Jordan to go and possess it.
I call to record this day unto you, heaven and earth, that I
have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: but choose
life, that thou and thy seed may live, in that thou lovest the Lord
thy God, hearken unto his voice and cleave unto him. For he is thy
life and the length of thy days, that thou mayst dwell upon the
earth which the Lord sware unto thy fathers: Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob to give them.
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The 31st Chapter
And Moses went and spake these
words unto all Israel and said unto them. I am an hundred and twenty
years this day, and can no more go out and in. Also the Lord hath
said unto me, thou shalt not go over this Jordan. The Lord your God
he will go over before thee and he will destroy these nations before
thee, and thou shalt conquer them. And Josua he shall go over before
thee, as the Lord hath said. And the Lord shall go unto them, as he
did to Sehon and Og kings of the Amorites and unto their lands which
kings he destroyed. And when the Lord hath delivered them to thee,
see that ye do unto them according unto all the commandments which I
have commanded you. Pluck up your hearts and be strong, dread not
nor be afeared of them: for the Lord thy God himself will go with
thee, and will neither let thee go nor forsake thee.
And Moses called unto Josua and said unto him in the sight of
all Israel. Be strong and bold, for thou must go with this people
unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give
them, and thou shalt give it them to inherit. And the Lord he shall
go before thee and he shall be with thee, and will not let thee go
nor forsake thee, fear not therefore nor be discomforted. And Moses
wrote this law and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi
which bare the ark of the testament of the Lord, and unto all the
elders of Israel, and commanded them saying. At the end of seven
years, in the time of the free year, in the feast of the
tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy
God, in the place which he hath chosen: see that thou read this law
before all Israel in their ears. Gather the people together: both
men, women and children and the strangers that are in thy cities
that they may hear, learn and fear the Lord your God, and be
diligent to keep all the words of this law, and that their children
which know nothing may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as
long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
And the Lord said unto Moses. Behold thy days are come, that
thou must die. Call Josua and come and stand in the tabernacle of
witness, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Josua went and
stood in the tabernacle of witness. And the Lord appeared in the
tabernacle: even in the pillar of the cloud. And the pillar of the
cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle. And the Lord said unto
Moses: behold, thou must sleep with thy fathers, and this people
will go a whoring after strange Gods of the land whither they go and
will forsake me and break the appointment which I have made with
them. And then my wrath will wax hot against them, and I will
forsake them and will hide my face from them, and they shall be
consumed. And when much adversity and tribulation is come upon them,
then they will say: because our God is not among us, these
tribulations are come upon us. But I will hide my face that same
time for all the evils sake which they shall have wrought, in that
they are turned unto strange Gods.
Now therefore write ye this song, and teach it the children of
Israel and put it in their mouths that this song may be my witness
unto the children of Israel. For when I have brought them into the
land which I sware unto their fathers that runneth with milk and
honey, then they will eat and fill themselves and wax fat and turn
unto strange Gods and serve them and rail on me and break my
testament. And then when much mischief and tribulation is come upon
them, this song shall answer before them, and be a witness. It shall
not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their
imagination which they go about even now before I have brought them
into the land which I sware. And Moses wrote this song the same
season, and taught it the children of Israel. And the Lord gave
Josua the son of Nun a charge and said: be bold and strong for thou
shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto
them, and I will be with thee.
When Moses had made an end of writing out the words of this
law in a book unto the end of them, he commanded the Levites which
bare the ark of the testament of the Lord saying: take the book of
this law and put it by the side of the ark of the testament of the
Lord your God, and let it be there for a witness unto thee. For I
know thy stubbornness and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet
alive with you this day, ye have been disobedient unto the Lord: and
how much more after my death.
Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your
officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven
and earth to record against them. For I am sure that after my death,
they will utterly marr themselves and turn from the way which I
commanded you, and tribulation will come upon you in the latter
days, when ye have wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord to
provoke him with the works of your hands. And Moses spake in the
ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, unto
the end of them.
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The 32nd Chapter
Hear O' heaven, what I shall
speak and hear O' earth the words of my mouth. My doctrine drop as
doth the rain, and my speech flow as doth the dew, as the mizzling
upon the herbs, and as the drops upon the grass. For I will call on
the name of the Lord: Magnify the might of our God.
He is a rock and perfect are his deeds, for all his ways are
with discretion. God is faithful and without wickedness, both
righteous and just is he.
The froward and overthwart generation hath marred themselves
to himward, and are not his sons for their deformities sake. Dost
thou so reward the Lord? O' foolish nation and unwise. Is not he thy
father and thine owner? hath he not made thee and ordained thee?
Remember the days that are past: consider the years from time to
time. Ask thy father and he will shew thee, thine elders and they
will tell thee. When the most highest gave the nations an
inheritance, and divided the sons of Adam, he put the borders of the
nations, fast by the multitude of the children of Israel.
For the Lords part is his folk, and Israel is the portion of
his inheritance.
He found him in a desert land, in a void ground and a roaring
wilderness. He led him about and gave him understanding, and kept
him as the apple of his eye.
As an eagle that stirreth up her nest and fluttereth over her
young, he stretched out his wings and took him up and bare him on
his shoulders. The Lord alone was his guide, and there was no
strange God with him.
He set him up upon an high land, and he ate the increase of
the fields. And he gave him honey to suck out of the rock, and oil
out of the hard stone. With butter of the kine and milk of the
sheep, with fat of the lambs and fat rams and he goats with fat
kidneys and with wheat. And of the blood of grapes thou drunkest
wine.
And Israel waxed fat and kicked. Thou wast fat, thick and
smooth. And he let God go that made him and despised the rock that
saved him. They angered him with strange Gods and with abominations
provoked him. They offered unto field devils and not to God, and to
Gods which they knew not and to new Gods that came newly up which
their fathers feared not. Of the rock that begat thee thou art
unmindful and hast forgot God that made thee. And when the Lord saw
it, he was angry because of the provoking of his sons and daughters.
And he said: I will hide my face from them and will see what
their end shall be. For they are a froward generation and children
in whom is no faith. They have angered me with that which is no God,
and provoked me with their vanities. And I again will anger them
with them which are no people, and will provoke them with a foolish
nation. For fire is kindled in my wrath, and shall burn unto the
bottom of hell. And shall consume the earth with her increase, and
set afire the bottoms of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon
thee and will spend all mine arrows at them.
Burnt with hunger and consumed with heat and with bitter
pestilence. I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them and
poison serpents. Without forth, the sword shall rob them of their
children: and within in the chamber, fear: both young men and young
women and the sucklings with the men of gray heads. I have
determined to scatter them throughout the world, and to make away
the remembrance of them from among men. Were it not that I feared
the railing of their enemies, lest their adversaries would be proud
and say: our high hand hath done all these works and not the Lord.
For it is a nation that hath an unhappy forecast, and hath no
understanding in them: I would they were wise and understood this
and would consider their latter end.
How it cometh that one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten
thousand of them to flight: except their rock had sold them, and
because the Lord had delivered them.
For our rock is not as their rock, no though our enemies be
judge. But their vines are of the vines of Sodom, and of the fields
of Gomorra. Their grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters be
bitter.
Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of
asps. Are not such things laid in store with me, and sealed up among
my treasures? Vengeance is mine and I will reward: their feet shall
slide, when the time cometh. For the time of their destruction is at
hand, and the time that shall come upon them maketh haste.
For the Lord will do justice unto his people, and have
compassion on his servants. For it shall be seen that their power
shall fail, and at the last they shall be prisoned and forsaken.
And it shall be said: where are their Gods and their rock
wherein they trusted?
The fat of whose sacrifices they ate, and drank the wine of
their drinkofferings, let them rise up and help you and be your
protection.
See now how that I, I am he, and that there is no God but I. I
can kill and make alive, and what I have smitten that I can heal:
neither is there that can deliver any man out of my hand.
For I will lift up my hand to heaven, and will say: I live
ever.
If I whet the lightning of my sword, and mine hand take in
hand to do justice, I will shew vengeance on mine enemies and will
reward them that hate me.
I will make mine arrows drunken with blood, and my sword shall
eat flesh of the blood of the slain and of the captive and of the
bare head of the enemy.
Praise ye heathen his people, for he will avenge the blood of
his servants, and will avenge him of his adversaries, and will be
merciful unto the land of his people.
And Moses went and spake all the words of this song in the
ears of the people, both he and Josua the son of Nun. And when Moses
had spoken all these words unto the end to all Israel, then he said
unto them. Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify unto
you this day: that ye command them unto your children, to observe
and do all the words of this law. For it is not a vain word unto
you: but it is your life, and through this word ye shall prolong
your days in the land whither ye go over Jordan to conquer it.
And the Lord spake unto Moses the self same day saying: get
thee up into this mountain Abarim unto mount Nebo, which is in the
land of Moab over against Jericho. And behold the land of Canaan
which I give unto the children of Israel to possess. And die in the
mount which thou goest upon, and be gathered unto thy people: As
Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor and was gathered unto his
people. For ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at
the waters of strife, at Cades in the wilderness of Zin: because ye
sanctified me not among the children of Israel. Thou shalt see the
land before thee, but shall not go thither unto the land which I
give the children of Israel.
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The 33rd Chapter
This is the blessing wherewith
Moses Gods man blessed the children of Israel before his death
saying: The Lord came from Sinai and showed his beams from Seir unto
them, and appeared gloriously from mount Pharan, and he came with
thousands of saints, and in his right hand a law of fire for them.
How loved he the people? All his saints are in his hand. They joined
themselves unto thy foot and received thy words. Moses gave us a law
which is the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. And he was in
Israel king when he gathered the heads of the people and the tribes
of Israel together.
Ruben shall live and shall not die: but his people shall be
few in number. This is the blessing of Juda. And he said: hear Lord
the voice of Juda and bring him unto his people: let his hands fight
for him: but be thou his help against his enemies.
And unto Levi he said: thy perfectness and thy light be after
thy merciful man whom thou tempted at Masa and with whom thou
strived at the waters of strife. He that saith unto his father and
mother: I saw him not, and unto his brethren I knew not, and to his
son I knew not: for they have observed thy words and kept thy
testament. They shall teach Jacob thy judgements and Israel thy
laws. They shall put cense before thy nose and whole sacrifices upon
thine altar. Bless Lord their power and accept the works of their
hands: smite the backs of them that rise against them and of them
that hate them: that they rise not again.
Unto BenJamin he said: The Lords darling shall dwell in safety
by him and keep himself in the haven by him continually, and shall
dwell between his shoulders.
And unto Joseph he said: blessed of the Lord is his land with
the goodly fruits of heaven, with dew and with springs that lie
beneath: and with fruits of the increase of the *son and with ripe
fruit of the months, and with the tops of mountains that were from
the beginning and with the dainties of hills that last ever, and
with goodly fruit of the earth and of the fullness thereof.
And the goodwill of him that dwelleth in the bush shall come
upon the head of Joseph and upon the top of the head of him that was
separated from among his brethren, his beauty is as a first born ox
and his horns as the horns of an unicorn. And with them he shall
push the nations together, even unto the ends of the world. These
are the many thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasse.
And unto Zabulon he said: Rejoice Zabulon in thy going out,
and thou Isachar in thy tents. They shall call the people unto the
hill, and there they shall offer offerings of righteousness. For
they shall suck of the abundance of the sea and of treasure hid in
the sand.
And unto Gad he said: blessed is the *roommaker Gad. He
dwelleth as a lion and caught the arm and also the top of the head.
He saw his beginning, that a part of the teacher was hid there and
come with the heads of the people, and executed the righteousness of
the Lord and his judgements with Israel.
And unto Dan he said: Dan is a lions whelp, he shall flow from
Basan.
And unto Naphthali, he said: Naphthali he shall have abundance
of pleasure and shall be filled with the blessing of the Lord and
shall have his possessions in the southwest.
And of Asser he said: Asser shall be blessed with children: he
shall be acceptable unto his brethren and shall dip his foot in oil:
Iron and brass shall hang on thy shoes and thine age shall be as thy
youth.
There is none like unto the God of Israel: he that sitteth
upon heaven shall be thine help, whose glory is in the clouds, that
is the dwelling place of God from the beginning and from under the
arms of the world: he hath cast out thine enemies before thee and
said: destroy. And Israel shall dwell in safety alone. And the eyes
of Jacob shall look upon a land of corn and wine, moreover his
heaven shall drop with dew. Happy art thou Israel, who is like unto
thee? A people that art saved by the Lord thy shield and helper and
sword of thy glory. And thine enemies shall hide themselves from
thee, and thou shalt walk upon their high hills.
*son: this is exactly as it appears; in the original text.
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The 34th Chapter
And Moses went from the fields
of Moab up into mount Nebo which is the top of Phasgah, that is over
against Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Galaad even
unto Dan, and all Naphthali and the land of Ephraim and Manasse, and
all the land of Juda: even unto the utmost sea, and the south and
the region of the plain of Jericho the city of palm trees even unto
Zoar. And the Lord said unto him. This is the land which I sware
unto Abraham, Isaac and Jacob saying: I will give it unto thy seed.
I have showed it thee before thine eyes: but thou shalt not go over
thither.
So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of
Moab at the commandment of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley
in the land of Moab beside Beth Pheor: but no man knew of his
sepulcher unto this day. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years
old when he died, and yet his eyes were not dim nor his cheeks
abated. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the fields of
Moab thirty days. And the days of weeping and mourning for Moses
were ended.
And Josua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom:
for Moses had put his hand upon him. And all the children of Israel
hearkened unto him and did as the Lord commanded Moses. But there
arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord
knew face to face, in all the miracles and wonders which the Lord
sent him to do in the land of Egypt, unto Pharao and all his
servants and unto all his land: and in all the mighty deeds and
great terrible things which Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
The end of the
fifth book of Moses
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Chapters 1-4
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5-10 |
11-16 |
17-23 |
24-28 |
29-34
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