God's First Truth: Tyndale/Rogers






THE FIFTH BOOK OF MOSES

The 1st Chapter

These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel, on the other side I Jordan in the wilderness and in the fields by the red sea, between Pharan and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Disahab eleven days journey from Horeb unto Cades barne, by the way that leadeth unto mount Seir. And it fortuned the first day of the eleventh month in the fortieth year, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them, after that he had smitten Sehon the king of the Amorites which dwelt in Hesbon, and Og king of Basan which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei.

On the other side Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law saying: the Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb saying: Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: depart therefore and take your journey and go unto the hills of the Amorites and unto all places nigh there unto: both fields, hills and dales: and unto the south and unto the seas side in the land of Canaan, and unto Libanon: even unto the great river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before you: go in therefore and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give unto them and their seed after them.

And I said unto you the same season: I am not able to bear you myself alone. For the Lord your God hath multiplied you: so that ye are this day as the stars of heaven in number (the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you as he hath promised you) how (said I) can I myself alone, bear the cumbrance, charge and strife that is among you: bring therefore men of wisdom and of understanding and expert, known among your tribes, that I may make them rulers over you. And ye answered me and said: that which thou hast spoken is good to be done. And then I took the heads of your tribes, men of wisdom and that were expert, and made them rulers over you: captains over thousands and over hundreds, over fifty and over ten, and officers among your tribes.

And I charged your Judges the same time saying: hear your brethren and judge righteously between every man and his brother and the stranger that is with him. See that ye know no man in Judgement: but hear the small as well as the great and be afraid of no man, for the law is Gods. And the cause that is too hard for you, bring unto me and I will hear it. And I commanded you the same season, all the things which ye should do. And then we departed from Horeb and walked through all that great and terrible wilderness as ye have seen along by the way that leadeth unto the hills of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us, and came to Cades barne. And there I said unto you: Ye are come unto the hills of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us. Behold the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee, go up and conquer it, as the Lord God of thy fathers saith unto thee: fear not, neither be discouraged. And then ye came unto me every one and said: Let us send men before us, to search us out the land and to bring us word again, both what way we shall go up by, and unto what cities we shall come. And the saying pleased me well, and I took twelve men of you, of every tribe one. And they departed and went up into the high country and came unto the river Escol, and searched it out, and took of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down unto us and brought us word again and said: it is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us.

Notwithstanding ye would not consent to go up, but were disobedient unto the mouth of the Lord your God, and murmured in your tents and said: because the Lord hateth us, therefore he hath brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites and to destroy us. How shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts saying: the people is greater and taller than we, and the cities are great and walled even up to heaven, and moreover we have seen the sons of the Enakims there.

And I said unto you: dread not nor be afraid of them: The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did unto you in Egypt before your eyes and in the wilderness: as thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee as a man should bear his son, throughout all the way which ye have gone, until ye came unto this place. And yet for all this saying ye did not believe the Lord your God which goeth the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, that ye might see what way to go and in a cloud by day.

And the Lord heard the voice of your words and was wroth and swore saying, there shall not one of these men of this froward generation see that good land which I sware to give unto your fathers, save Caleb the son of Jephune, he shall see it, and to him I will give the land which he hath walked in and to his children, because he hath continually followed the Lord. Likewise the Lord was angry with me for your sakes saying: thou also shalt not go in thither. But Josua the son of Nun which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither. Bold him therefore for he shall divide it unto Israel. Moreover your children which ye said should be a prey, and your sons which know neither good nor bad this day, they shall go in thither and unto them I will give it, and they shall enjoy it. But as for you, turn back and take your journey into the wilderness: even the way to the read sea. Then ye answered and said unto me: We have sinned against the Lord: we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war and were ready to go up into the hills, the Lord said unto me: say unto them, see that ye go not up and that ye fight not, for I am not among you: lest ye be plagued before your enemies. And when I told you ye would not hear: but disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and went presumptuously up into the hills.

Then the Amorites which dwelt in those hills, came out against you and chased you as bees do, and hewed you in Seir, even unto Horma. And ye came again and wept before the Lord: but the Lord would not hear your voice nor give you audience. And so ye abode in Cades a long season.

The 2nd Chapter

Then we turned and took our journey into the wilderness, even the way to the read sea as the Lord commanded me. And we compassed the mountains of Seir a long time. Then the Lord spake unto me saying: Ye have compassed these mountains long enough, turn you northward. And warn the people saying: Ye shall go through the coasts of your brethren the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and they shall be afraid of you: But take good heed unto yourselves that ye provoke them not, for I will not give you of their land, no not so much as a foot breadth: because I have given mount Seir unto Esau to possess. Ye shall buy meat of them for money to eat, and ye shall buy water of them for money to drink. For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thine hand, and knew thee as thou wentest through this great wilderness. Moreover the Lord thy God hath been with thee this forty years, so that thou hast lacked nothing.

And when we were departed from our brethren the children of Esau which dwelt in Seir by the field way from Elath and Ezion Gaber, we turned and went the way to the wilderness of Moab. Then the Lord said unto me: see that thou vex not the Moabites, neither provoke them to battle for I will not give thee of their land to possess: because I have given Ar unto the children of loth to possess. The Emims dwelt there in times past, a people great, many and tall, as the Enakims: which also were taken for giants as the Enakims: And the Moabites called them Emims. In like manner the Horims dwelt in Seir before time which the children of Esau cast out, and destroyed them before them and dwelt there in their stead: as Israel did in the land of his possession which the Lord gave them. Now rise up (said I) and get you over the river Zared: and we went over the river Zared. The space in which we came from Cades barne until we were come over the river Zared was thirty eight years: until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out of the host as the Lord sware unto them. For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them out of the host, till they were consumed.

And as soon as all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, then the Lord spake unto me saying: Thou shalt go through Ar the coast of Moab this day, and shalt come nigh unto the children of Ammon: see that thou vex them not, nor yet provoke them. For I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon to possess, because I have given it unto the children of Loth to possess. That also was taken for a land of giants and giants dwelt therein in old time, and the Ammonites called them Zamzumims. A people that was great, many and tall, as the Enakims. But the Lord destroyed them before the Ammonites, and they cast them out and they dwelt there in their stead: as he did for the children of Esau which dwell in Seir: even as he destroyed the Horims before them, and they cast them out and dwell in their stead unto this day. And the Avims which dwelt in Hazarim even unto Aza, the Caphthorims which came out of Caphthor destroyed them and dwelt in their rooms.

Rise up, take your journey and go over the river Arnon. Behold, I have given into thy hand Sehon the Amorite king of Hesbon, and his land. Go to and conquer and provoke him to battle. This day I will begin to send the fear and dread of thee upon all nations that are under all ports of heaven: so that when they hear speak of thee, they shall tremble and quake for fear of thee.

Then I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Hesbon, with words of peace saying: Let me go through thy land. I will go always along by the high way and will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left. Sell me meat for money for to eat, and give me drink for money for to drink: I will go through by foot only (as the children of Esau did unto me which dwell in Seir and the Moabites which dwell in Ar) until I be come over Jordan, into the land which the Lord our God giveth us.

But Sihon the king of Hesbon would not let us pass by him, for the Lord thy God had hardened his spirit and made his heart tough because he would deliver him into thy hands as it is come to pass this day.

And the Lord said unto me: behold, I have begun to set Sihon and his land before thee: go to and conquer, that thou mayst possess his land. Then both Sihon and all his people came out against us unto battle at Jahab. And the Lord set him before us, and we smote him and his sons and all his people.

And we took all his cities the same season, and destroyed all the cities with men, women, and children and let nothing remain, save the cattle only we caught unto ourselves and the spoil of the cities which we took, from Aroer upon the brink of the river of Arnon, and the city in the river, unto Galaad: there was not one city too strong for us. The Lord our God delivered all unto us: only unto the land of the children of Ammon ye came not, nor unto all the coast of the river Jabock nor unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the Lord our God forbade us.

The 3rd Chapter

Then we turned and went up the way to Basan. And Og the king of Basan came out against us: both he and all his people to battle at Edrei. And the Lord said unto me: fear him not, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into thy hand and thou shalt deal with him as thou dealest with Sihon king of the Amorites which dwelt at Hesbon. And so the Lord our God delivered into our hands, Og also the king of Basan and all his folk. And we smote him until nought was left him.

And we took all his cities the same season (for there was not a city which we took not from them) even three score cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Basan. All these cities were made strong with high walls, gates and bars, beside unwalled towns a great many. And we utterly destroyed them, as we played with Sihon king of Hesbon bringing to nought all the cities with men, women and children. But all the cattle and the spoil of the cities, we caught for ourselves.

And thus we took the same season, the land out of the hand of two kings of the Amorites on the other side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon (which Hermon the Sidons call Sirion, but the Amorites call it Senir) all the cities in the plain and all Galaad and all Basan unto Salcha and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Basan. For only Og king of Basan remained of the remnant of the giants: behold, his iron bed is yet at Rabath among the children of Ammon nine cubits long and, four cubits broad, of the cubits of a man. (cubit = about 18") And when we had conquered this land the same time, I gave from Aroer which is upon the river of Arnon, and half mount Galao and the cities thereof unto the Rubenites, and Gadites. And the rest of Galaad and all Basan the kingdom of Og, I gave unto the half tribe of Manasse: all the region of Argob with all, Basan was called the land of giants. Jair the son of Manasse took all the region of Argob unto the coasts of Gesuri and Maachati, and called them after his own name Basan Havoth Jair unto this day. And I gave half Galaad unto Machir. And unto Ruben and Gad, I gave from Galaad unto the river of Arnon and half the valley and the coast, even unto the river Jabock which is the border of the children of Ammon, and the fields and Jordan with the coast, from Cenereth even unto the sea in the field which is the salt sea under the springs of Phasgah eastward.

And I commanded you the same time (ye Ruben and Gad) saying: the Lord your God hath given you this land to enjoy it: see that ye go harnessed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are men of war among you. Your wives only, your children and your cattle (for I know that ye have much cattle) shall abide in your cities which I have given you, until the Lord have given rest unto your brethren as well as unto you, and until they also have conquered the land which the Lord your God hath given them beyond Jordan: and then return again every man unto his possession which I have given you.

And I warned Josua the same time saying: thine eyes have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto these two kings, even so the Lord will do unto all kingdoms whither thou goest. Fear them not, for the Lord your God he it is that fighteth for you.

And I besought the Lord the same time saying: O' Lord God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness and thy mighty hand, for there is no God in heaven nor in earth that can do after thy works and after thy power: let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly high country and Libanon. But the Lord was angry with me for your sakes and would not hear me, but said unto me, be content, and speak henceforth no more unto me of this matter, Get thee up into the top of Phasga and lift up thine eyes west, north, south and east, and behold it with thine eyes for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. Moreover, charge Josua and courage him and bold him. For he shall go over before his people, and he shall divide the land which thou shalt see unto them. And so we abode in the valley beside Bethpheor.

The 4th Chapter

And now hearken Israel unto the ordinances and laws which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live and go and conquer the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall put nothing unto the word which I command you neither do ought therefrom, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did unto Baal Peor: for all the men that followed Baal Peor, the Lord your God hath destroyed from among you. But ye that cleaved unto the Lord your God, are alive every one of you this day. Behold, I have taught you ordinances and laws, such as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do even so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

Keep them therefore and do them, for that is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the nations: which when they have heard all these ordinances, shall say: O' what a wise and understanding people is this great nation. For what nation is so great that hath gods so nigh unto him: as the Lord our God is nigh unto us, in all things, when we call unto him? Yea, and what nation is so great that hath ordinances and laws so righteous, as all this law which I set before you this day.

Take heed to thyself therefore only and keep thy soul diligently, that thou forget not the things which thine eyes have seen, and that they depart not out of thine heart, all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons sons. The day that I stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when he said unto me, gather me the people together, that I may make them hear my words that they may learn to fear me as long as they live upon the earth and that they may teach their children: ye came and stood also under the hill, and the hill burnt with fire: even unto the midst of heaven, and there was darkness, clouds and mist. And the Lord spake unto you out of the fire and ye heard the voice of the words: But saw no image, save heard a voice only.

And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, even ten verses and wrote them in two tables of stone. And the Lord commanded me the same season to teach you ordinances and laws, for to do them in the land whither ye go to possess it.

Take heed unto yourselves diligently as pertaining unto your souls, for ye saw no manner of image the day when the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the fire lest ye marre yourselves and make you graven images after whatsoever likeness it be: whether after the likeness of man or woman or any manner beast that is on the earth or of any manner feathered fowl that flyeth in the air, or of any manner worm that creepeth on the earth or of any manner fish that is in the water beneath the earth: Yea and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the *son and the moon and the stars and whatsoever is contained in heaven, shouldest be deceived and shouldest bow thyself unto them and serve the things which the Lord thy God hath distributed unto all nations that are under all quarters of heaven.

For the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron furnace of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as it is come to pass this day. Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me for your sakes and sware, that I should not go over Jordan and that I should not go unto that good land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inheritance. For I must die in this land, and shall not go over Jordan: But ye shall go over and conquer that good land.

Take heed unto yourselves therefore, that ye forget not the appointment of the Lord your God which he made with you, and that ye make you no graven image of whatsoever it be that the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, and a jealous God.

If after thou hast gotten children and childrens children and hast dwelt long in the land, ye shall marre yourselves and make graven images after the likeness of whatsoever it be, and shall work wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him. I call heaven and earth to record unto you this day, that ye shall shortly perish from off the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it: Ye shall not prolong your days therein, but shall shortly be destroyed. And the Lord shall scatter you among nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the people whither the Lord shall bring you: and there ye shall serve gods which are the works of mans hand, wood and stone which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. Neverthelater ye shall seek the Lord your God even there, and shalt find him if thou seek him with all thine heart and with all thy soul. In thy tribulation and when all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, thou shalt turn unto the Lord thy God, and shalt hearken unto his voice. For the Lord thy God is a pitiful God: he will not forsake thee neither destroy thee, nor forget the appointment made with thy fathers which he sware unto them.

For ask pray thee of the days that are past which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth and from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether anything hath been like unto this great thing or whether any such thing hath been heard as it is, that a nation hath heard the voice of God speaking out of fire as thou hast heard, and yet lived? either whether God assayed to go and take him a people from among nations, through temptations and signs and wonders and through war and with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm and with mighty terrible sights, according unto all that the Lord your God did unto you in Egypt before your eyes.

Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know, how that the Lord he is God and that there is none but he. Out of heaven he made thee hear his voice to nurture thee, and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire, and thou heardest his words out of the fire. And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them and brought thee out with his presence and with his mighty power of Egypt: to thrust out nations greater and mightier than thou before thee, to bring thee in and to give thee their land to inheritance: as it is come to pass this day.

Understand therefore this day and turn it to thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath there is no more: keep therefore his ordinances, and his commandments which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee and that thou mayst prolong thy days upon the earth which the Lord thy God giveth thee thy life long.

Then Moses severed three cities on the other side Jordan toward the *son rising, that he should flee thither which had killed his neighbor unwares and hated him not in time past, and therefore should flee unto one of the same cities and live: Bezer in the wilderness even in the plain country among the Rubenites: and Ramoth in Galaad among the Gadites and Solan in Basan among the Manassites. *exact spelling elsewhere in the text is sun spelled sunne, here is sonne as is son.

This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel, and these are the witnesses, ordinances and statutes which Moses told the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt, on the other side Jordan in the valley beside Beth Pheor in the land of Sehon king of the Amorites which dwelt at Hesbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote after they were come out of Egypt, and conquered his land and the land of Og king of Basan two kings of the Amorites on the other side Jordan toward the *son rising: from Aroer upon the bank of the river Arnon, unto Mount Sion which is called Hermon and all the fields on the other side Jordan eastward: even unto the sea in the field under the springs of Phasgah.*exact spelling elsewhere in the text is sun spelled sunne, here is sonne as is son.

The 5th Chapter

And Moses called unto all Israel and said unto them: Hear Israel the ordinances and laws which I speak in thine ears this day, and learn them and take heed that ye do them. The Lord our God made an appointment with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this bond with our fathers, but with us: we are they, which are all here alive this day. The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the fire. And I stood between the Lord and you the same time, to show you the saying of the Lord. For ye were afraid of the fire and therefore went not up into the mount and he said. I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have therefore none other gods in my presence.

Thou shalt make thee no graven Image of any manner likeness that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water beneath the earth. Thou shalt neither bow thyself unto them nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the wickedness of the fathers upon the children, even in the third and the fourth generation, among them that hate me: and show mercy upon thousands among them that love me and keep my commandments.

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his name in vain.

Keep the Sabbath day that thou sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour and do all that thou hast to do, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no manner work, neither thou nor thy son nor thy daughter nor thy servant nor thy maid nor thine ox nor thine ass nor any of thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy city, that thy servant and thy maid may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt and how that the Lord God, brought thee out thence with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm. For which cause the Lord thy God commandeth thee to keep the Sabbath day.

Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: that thou mayst prolong thy days, and that it may go well with thee on the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not slay.

Thou shalt not break wedlock.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Thou shalt not lust after thy neighbors wife: thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house, field, servant, maid, ox, ass nor ought that is thy neighbours.

These words the Lord spake unto all your multitude in the mount out of the fire, cloud and darkness, with a loud voice, and added no more thereto, and wrote them in two tables of stone and delivered them unto me.

But as soon as ye heard the voice out of the darkness and saw the hill burn with fire, ye came unto me all the heads of your tribes and your elders: and ye said: behold, the Lord our God hath showed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the fire, and we have seen this day that God may talk with a man and he yet live. And now wherefore should we die that this great fire should consume us: If we should hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we should die. For what is any flesh that he should hear the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire as we have done and should yet live: Go thou and hear all that the Lord our God sayeth, and tell thou unto us all that the Lord our God sayeth unto thee, and we will hear it and do it.

And the Lord heard the voice of your words when ye spake unto me, and he said unto me: I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken unto thee, they have well said all that they have said. Oh that they had such an heart with them to fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it might go well with them and with their children for ever. Go and say unto them: get you into your tents again, but stand thou here before me and I will tell thee all the commandments, ordinances and laws which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess.

Take heed therefore that ye do as the Lord your God hath commanded you, and turn not aside: either to the right hand or to the left: but walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live and that it may go well with you and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.

The 6th Chapter

These are the commandments, ordinances and laws which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his ordinances and his commandments which I command thee, both thou and thy son and thy sons son all days of thy life, that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore Israel and take heed that thou do thereafter, that it may go well with thee and that ye may increase mightily: even as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

Hear Israel, the Lord thy God is Lord only and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart and thou shalt *whet them on thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou art at home in thine house and as thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up: and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand. And they shall be papers of remembrance between thine eyes, and shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and upon thy gates. *whet this is to sharpen them with these words.

And when the Lord thy God hath brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give thee with great and goodly cities which thou buildest not, and houses full of all manner goods which thou filledst not, and wells digged which thou diggedst not, and vines and olive trees which thou planted not, and when thou hast eaten, and art full: Then beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee out of the land of Egypt the house of bondage. But fear the Lord thy God and serve him, and swear by his name, and see that ye walk not after strange gods of the Gods of the nations which are about you. For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you, lest the wrath of the Lord thy God wax hot upon thee and destroy thee from the earth.

Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God as ye did at Masa. But see that ye keep the commandments of the Lord your God, his witnesses and his ordinances which he hath commanded thee, and see thou do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord: that thou mayst prosper and that thou mayst go and conquer that good land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, and that the Lord may cast out all thine enemies before thee as he hath said.

When thy son asketh thee in time to come saying: What meaneth the witnesses, ordinances and laws which the Lord our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son: We were bondmen unto Pharao in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord shewed signs and wonders both great and evil upon Egypt, Pharao and upon all his household, before our eyes, and brought us from thence: to bring us in and to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. And therefore commanded us to do all these ordinances and for to fear the Lord our God, for our wealth always and that he might save us, as it is come to pass this day. Moreover it shall be righteousness unto us before the Lord our God, if we take heed to keep all these commandments as he hath commanded us.

The 7th Chapter

When the Lord thy God hath brought thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee: the Hethites, the Girgosites, the Amorites, the Cananites, the Pheresites, the Hevites and the Jebusites. Seven nations more in number and mightier than thou: and when the Lord thy God hath set them before thee that thou shouldest smite them, see that thou utterly destroy them and make no covenant with them nor have compassion on them. Also thou shalt make no marriages with them, neither give thy daughter unto his son nor take his daughter unto thy son. For they will make your sons depart from me and serve strange Gods, and then will the wrath of the Lord wax hot upon you and destroy you shortly.

But thus ye shall deal with them: overthrow their altars, break down their pillars, cut down their groves and burn their images with fire. For thou art an holy nation unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a several people unto himself of all nations that are upon the earth. It was not because of the multitude of you above all nations, that the Lord had lust unto you and chose you. For ye were fewest of all nations: But because the Lord loved you and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, therefore he brought you out of Egypt with a mighty hand and delivered you out of the house of bondage: even from the hand of Pharao king of Egypt.

Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God he is God and that a true God, which keepeth appointment and mercy unto them that love him and keep his commandments, even throughout a thousand generations and rewardeth them that hate him before his face so that he bringeth them to nought, and will not defer the time unto him that hateth him but will reward him before his face. Keep therefore the commandments, ordinances and laws which I command you this day, that ye do them.

If ye shall hearken unto these laws and shall observe and do them, then shall the Lord thy God keep appointment with thee and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers and will love thee, bless thee and multiply thee: he will bless the fruit of thy womb and the fruit of thy field, thy corn, thy wine and thy oil, the fruit of thine oxen and the flocks of thy sheep in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be blessed above all nations, there shall be neither man nor woman unfruitful among you, nor anything unfruitful among your cattle. Moreover the Lord will turn from thee all manner infirmities, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt (which thou knowest) upon thee, but will send them upon them that hate thee.

Thou shalt bring to nought all nations which the Lord thy God delivereth thee, thine eye shall have no pity upon them neither shalt thou serve their Gods, for that shall be thy decay. If thou shalt say in thine heart: these nations are more than I, how can I cast them out? Fear them not, but remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharao and unto all Egypt, and the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs and wonders and mighty hand and stretched out arm wherewith the Lord thy God brought thee out: even so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the nations of which thou art afraid.

Thereto, the Lord thy God will send hornets among them until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed. See thou fear them not for the Lord thy God is among you a mighty God and a terrible. The Lord thy God will put out these nations before thee a little and a little: thou mayst not consume them at once lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. And the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee and stir up a mighty tempest among them, until they be brought to nought. And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their names from under heaven. There shall no man stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. The images of their gods thou shalt burn with fire, and see that thou covet not the silver or gold that is on them nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therewith. For it is an abomination unto the Lord thy God. Bring not therefore the Abomination to thine house, lest thou be a damned thing as it is: but utterly defy it and abhor it, for it is a thing that must be destroyed.

The 8th Chapter

All the commandments which I command thee this day ye shall keep for to do them, that ye may live and multiply and go and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers. And think on all the way which the Lord thy God led thee this forty years in the wilderness, for to humble thee and to prove thee, to *wete what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. He humbled thee and made thee hunger and fed thee with manna which neither thou nor thy father knew of, to make thee know that a man must not live by bread only: but by all that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord must a man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy feet swell this forty years. *wete: to know, to sharpen. Understand therefore in thine heart, that as a man nurtureth his son, even so the Lord thy God nurtureth thee. Keep therefore the commandments of the Lord thy God that thou walk in his ways and that thou fear him. For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of rivers of water, of fountains and of springs that spring out both in valleys and hills: a land of wheat and of barley, of vines, fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees with oil and of honey: a land wherein thou shalt not eat bread in scarceness, and where thou shalt lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou shalt dig brass. When thou hast eaten therefore and filled thyself, then bless the Lord for the good land which he hath given thee.

But beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, that thou wouldest not keep his commandments, laws and ordinances which I command thee this day: yea and when thou hast eaten and filled thyself and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein, and when thy beasts and thy sheep are waxed many and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied and all that thou hast increased, then beware lest thine heart rise and thou forget the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt the house of bondage, and which led thee in the wilderness both great and terrible with fiery serpents and scorpions and drouth (drought) where was no water, which brought the water out of the rock of flint: which fed thee in the wilderness with *Man whereof thy fathers knew not, for to humble thee and to prove thee, that he might do thee good at thy latter end. *Man this is exactly as it appears in the text.

And beware that thou say not in thine heart, my power and the might of mine own hand hath done me all these acts: But remember the Lord thy God, how that it is he which gave thee power to do manfully, for to make good the promise which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is come to pass this day.

For if thou shalt forget the Lord thy God and shalt walk after strange gods and serve them and worship them, I testify unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before thee, even so ye shall perish, because ye would not hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God.

The 9th Chapter

Hear Israel, thou goest over Jordan this day, to go and conquer nations greater and mightier than thyself and cities great and walled up to heaven, and people great and tall, even the children of the Enakims, which thou knowest and of whom thou hast heard say who is able to stand before the children of Enack? But understand this day that the Lord thy God which goeth over before thee a consuming fire, he shall destroy them and he shall subdue them before thee. And thou shalt cast them out, and bring them to nought quickly as the Lord hath said unto thee.

Speak not in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out before thee saying: for my righteousness the Lord hath brought me into possess this land. Nay, but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth cast them out before thee. It is not for thy righteousness sake and right heart that thou goest to possess their land: But partly for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord thy God doth cast them out before thee, and partly to perform that which the Lord thy God sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Understand therefore that it is not for thy righteousness sake, that the Lord thy God doth give thee this good land to possess it, for thou art a stiffnecked people. Remember and forget not how thou provokedest the Lord thy God in the wilderness: for since the day that thou camest out of the land of Egypt until ye came unto this place, ye have rebelled against the Lord. Also in Horeb ye angered the Lord so that the Lord was wroth with you, even to have destroyed you, after that I was gone up into the mount, to fetch the tables of stone, the tables of appointment which the Lord made with you. And I abode in the hill forty days and forty nights and neither ate bread nor drank water. And the Lord delivered me two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and in them was according to all the words which the Lord said unto you in the mount out of the fire in the day when the people were gathered together.

And when the forty days and forty nights were ended, the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the testament, and said unto me: Up, and get thee down quickly from hence, for thy people which thou hast brought out of Egypt, have marred themselves. They are turned at once out of the way, which I commanded them, and have made them a God of metal. Furthermore the Lord spake unto me saying: I see this people how that it is a stiffnecked people, let me alone that I may destroy them and put out the name of them from under heaven, and I will make of thee a nation both greater and more than they.

And I turned away and came down from the hill (and the hill burnt with fire) and had the two tables of the appointment in my hands. And when I looked and saw that ye had sinned against the Lord your God and had made you a calf of metal and had turned at once out of the way which the Lord had commanded you. Then I took the two tables and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes. And I fell before the Lord: even as at the first time forty days and nights, and neither ate bread nor drank water, over all your sins which ye had sinned in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord and in provoking him. For I was afraid of the wrath and fierceness wherewith the Lord was angry with you, even for to have destroyed you. But the Lord heard my petition at that time also.

The Lord was very angry with Aaron also, even for to have destroyed him: But I made intercession for Aaron also the same time. And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made and burnt him with fire and stamped him and ground him a good, even unto small dust. And I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount. Also at Thabeera and at Masa and at the sepulchres of lust ye angered the Lord, yea and when the Lord sent you from Cades Barna saying: go up and conquer the land which I have given you, ye disobeyed the mouth of the Lord your God, and neither believed him nor hearkened unto his voice. Thus ye have been disobedient unto the Lord, since the day that I knew you.

And I fell before the Lord forty days and forty nights which I lay there, for the Lord was minded to have destroyed you. But I made intercession unto the Lord and said: O' Lord God, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance which thou hast delivered through thy greatness and which thou hast brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and look not unto the stubbornness of this people nor unto their wickedness and sin: lest the land whence thou broughtest them say: Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them and because he hated them, therefore he carried them out to destroy them in the wilderness. Moreover they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out with thy mighty power and with thy stretched out arm.

The 10th Chapter

In the same season the Lord said unto me: hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first and come up unto me into the mount and make thee an Ark of wood, and I will write in the tables, the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. And I made an ark of sethim wood and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mountain and the two tables in mine hand.

And he wrote in the tables, according to the first writing (the ten verses which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the fire in the day when the people were gathered together) and gave them unto me. And I departed and came down from the hill and put the tables in the ark which I had made: and there they remained, as the Lord commanded me.

And the children of Israel took their journey from Beroth of the children of Jakan to Mosera, where Aaron died and where he was buried, and Eleazer his son became priest in his stead. And from thence they departed unto Galaad: and from Galaad to Jathbath, a land of rivers of water. And the same season the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the appointment of the Lord and to stand before the Lord, and to minister unto him and to bless in his name unto this day. Wherefore the Levites have no part nor inheritance with their brethren. The Lord he is their inheritance, as the Lord thy God hath promised them.

And I tarried in the mount, even as at the first time forty days and forty nights, and the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also, so that the Lord would not destroy thee. And the Lord said unto me: up and go forth in the journey before the people and let them go in and conquer the land which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.

And now Israel what is it that the Lord thy God requireth of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God and to walk in all his ways and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul, that thou keep the commandments of the Lord and his ordinances which I command thee this day, for thy wealth. Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lords thy God, and the earth with all that therein is: only the Lord had a lust unto thy fathers to love them, and therefore chose you their seed after them of all nations, as it is come to pass this day.

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your hearts, and be no longer stiffnecked. For the Lord your God, he is God of gods and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible which regardeth no mans person nor taketh gifts: but doeth right unto the fatherless and widow and loveth the stranger, to give him food and raiment. Love therefore the stranger, for ye were strangers yourselves in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and cleave unto him and swear by his name, for he is thy praise and he is thy God that hath done these great and terrible things for thee, which thine eyes have seen. Thy fathers went down into Egypt with seventy souls, and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven in multitude.

The 11th Chapter

Love the Lord thy God and keep his observances, his ordinances, his laws and his commandments always. And call to mind this day that which your children have neither known nor seen: even the nurture of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand and his stretched out arm: his miracles and his acts which he did among the Egyptians, even unto Pharao the king of Egypt and unto all his land: and what he did unto the host of the Egyptians, unto their horses and chariots, how he brought the water of the red sea upon them as they chased you, and how the Lord hath brought them to nought unto this day: and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came unto this place: and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab the son of Ruben, how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them with their households and their tents, and all their substance that was in their possession, in the midst of Israel.

For your eyes have seen all the great deeds of the Lord which he did. Keep therefore all the commandments which I command thee this day that ye may be strong and go and conquer the land whither ye go to possess it, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey. For the land whither thou goest to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt whence thou camest out, where thou sowed thy seed and watered it with thy labour as a garden of herbs: but the land whither ye go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys and drinketh water of the rain of heaven, and a land which the Lord thy God careth for. The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year unto the latter end of the year.

If thou shalt hearken therefore unto my commandments which I command you this day, that ye love the Lord your God and serve him with all your hearts and with all your souls: then he will give rain unto your land in due season, both the first rain and the latter, and thou shalt gather in thy corn, thy wine and thine oil. And he will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle: and thou shalt eat and fill thyself. But beware that your hearts deceive you not that ye turn aside and serve strange gods and worship them, and then the wrath of the Lord wax hot upon you and shut up the heaven that there be no rain and that your land yield not her fruit, and that ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.

Put up therefore these my words in your hearts and in your souls, and bind them for a sign unto your hands, and let them be as papers of remembrance between your eyes, and teach them your children: so that thou talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up: yea and write them upon the doorposts of thine house and upon thy gates, that your days may be multiplied and the days of your children upon the earth which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as long as the days of heaven last upon the earth. For if ye shall keep all these commandments which I command you, so that ye do them and love the Lord your God and walk in all his ways and cleave unto him. Then will the Lord cast out all these nations and ye shall conquer them which are both greater and mightier than yourselves. All the places whereon the soles of your feet shall tread, shall be yours: even from the wilderness and from Libanon and from the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coasts be. There shall no man be able to stand before you: the Lord your God shall cast the fear and dread of you upon all lands whither ye shall come, as he hath said unto you.

Behold, I set before you this day, a blessing and a curse: a blessing: if ye hearken unto the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day: And a curse: if ye will not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord your God: but turn out of the way which I command you this day to go after strange gods which ye have not known.

When the Lord thy God hath brought thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, then put the blessing upon mount Garizim and the curse upon mount Ebal, which are on the other side Jordan on the back side of the way toward the going down of the *son in the land of the Cananites which dwell in the fields over against Galgal beside the grove of Moreh. For ye shall go over to go and possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you, and shall conquer it and dwell therein. Take heed therefore that ye do all the commandments and laws, which I set before you this day. *exact spelling elsewhere in the text is sun spelled sunne, here was spelled sonne as is son.

The 12th Chapter

These are the ordinances and laws which ye shall observe to do in the land which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, as long as ye live upon the earth. See that ye destroy all places where the nations which ye conquer serve their gods, upon high mountains and on high hills and under every green tree. Overthrow their altars and break their pillars and burn their groves with fire and hew down the images of their gods, and bring the names of them to nought out of that place. See ye do not so unto the Lord your God but ye shall enquire the place which the Lord your God shall have chosen out of all your tribes to put his name there and there to dwell. And thither thou shalt come, and thither ye shall bring your burnt sacrifices and your offerings, your tithes and heave offerings of your hands, your vows and free will offerings and thy first born of your oxen and of your sheep. And there ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye lay your hands on, both ye and your households, because the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.

Ye shall do after nothing that we do here this day, every man what seemeth him good in his own eyes. For ye are not yet come to rest nor unto the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you. But ye shall go over Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and he shall give you rest from all your enemies round about: and ye shall dwell in safety.

Therefore when the Lord your God hath chosen a place to make his name dwell there, thither ye shall bring all that I command you, your burntsacrifices and your offerings, your tithes and the heaveofferings of your hands and all your Godly vows which ye vow unto the Lord. And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God, both ye, your sons and your daughters, your servants and your maids and the Levite that is within your gates for he hath neither part nor inheritance with you.

Take heed that thou offer not thy burntofferings in whatsoever place thou seest: but in the place which the Lord shall have chosen among one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings and there thou shalt do all that I command thee. Notwithstanding thou mayst kill and eat flesh in all thy cities, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee both the unclean and the clean mayst thou eat, even as the roe and the hart: only eat not the blood, but pour it upon the earth as water. Thou mayst not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine and of thy oil, either the first born of thine oxen or of thy sheep, neither any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewillofferings or heave offerings of thine hands: but thou must eat them before the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen: both thou thy son and thy daughter, thy servant and thy maid and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, in all that thou puttest thine hand to. And beware that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth. If (when the Lord thy God hath enlarged thy coasts as he hath promised thee) thou say: I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh: then thou shalt eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth. If the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou mayst kill of thy oxen and of thy sheep which the Lord hath given thee as I have commanded thee, and thou mayst eat in thine own city whatsoever thy soul lusteth. Neverthelater, as the roe and the hart is eaten, even so thou shalt eat it: the unclean and the clean indifferently thou shalt eat. But be strong that thou eat not the blood. For the blood, that is the life and thou mayst not eat the life with the flesh: thou mayst not eat it: but must pour it upon the earth as water. See thou eat it not therefore that it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt have done that which is right in the sight of the Lord.

But thy holy things which thou hast and thy vows, thou shalt take and go unto the place which the Lord hath chosen, and thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, both flesh and blood upon the altar of the Lord thy God, and the blood of thine offerings thou shalt pour out upon the altar of the Lord thy God, and shalt eat the flesh. Take heed and hear all these words which I command thee that it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God.

When the Lord thy God hath destroyed the nations before thee, whither thou goest to conquer them, and when thou hast conquered them, and dwelt in their lands: Beware that thou be not taken in a snare after them, after that they be destroyed before thee, and that thou ask not after their gods saying: how did these nations serve their gods, that I may do so likewise? Nay, thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for all abominations which the Lord hated did they unto their gods. For they burnt both their sons and their daughters with fire unto their gods. But whatsoever I command you that take heed ye do: and put nought thereto, nor take ought therefrom.

The 13th Chapter

If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and give thee a sign or a wonder, and that sign or wonder which he hath said come to pass, and then say: let us go after strange Gods which thou hast not known, and let us serve them: hearken not unto the words of that prophet or dreamer of dreams. For the Lord thy God tempteth you to wete (know) whether ye love the Lord your God with all your hearts and with all your souls. For ye must walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and hearken unto his voice and serve him and cleave unto him. And that prophet or dreamer of dreams shall die for it, because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God which brought you out of the land of Egypt and delivered you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in: and so thou shalt put evil away from thee.

If thy brother the son of thy mother or thine own son or thy daughter or the wife that lieth in thy bosom or thy friend which is as thine own soul unto thee, entice thee secretly saying: let us go and serve strange Gods which thou hast not known nor yet thy fathers, of the Gods of the people which are round about thee, whether they be nigh unto thee or far off from thee, from the one end of the land unto the other. See thou consent not unto him nor hearken unto him: no, let not thine eye pity him nor have compassion on him, nor keep him secret, but cause him to be slain: Thine hand shall be first upon him to kill him: and then the hands of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones that he die, because he hath gone about to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God which brought thee out of Egypt the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear and fear and shall do no more and such wickedness as this is, among them.

If thou shalt hear say of one of thy cities which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell in, that certain being the children of Belial are gone out from among you and have moved the inhabiters of their city saying: let us go and serve strange Gods which ye have not known. Then seek and make search and enquire diligently. If it be true and the thing of a surety that such abomination is wrought among you: then thou shalt smite the dwellers of that city with the edge of the sword, and destroy it merciless and all that is therein, and even the very cattle thereof with the edge of the sword. And gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the streets thereof, and burn with fire both the city and all the spoil thereof every whit unto the Lord thy God. And it shall be an heap for ever and shall not be built again. And see that there cleave nought of the damned thing in thine hand, that the Lord may turn from his fierce wrath and shew thee mercy and have compassion on thee and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers: when thou hast hearkened unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day so that thou do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord thy God.

The 14th Chapter

Ye are the children of the Lord your God, cut not yourselves nor make you any baldness between the eyes for any mans death. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a several people unto himself, of all the nations that are upon the earth. Ye shall eat no manner of abomination. These are the beasts which ye shall eat of: oxen, sheep and goats, *hart, *roe and *bugle, wild goat, *unicorn, *origen and *Camelion. And all beasts that cleave the hoof, and slit it into two claws and chew the cud, them ye shall eat. Nevertheless, these ye shall not eat of them that chew cud and of them that divide and cleave the hoof: the camel, the hare and the coney. For they chew cud, but divide not the hoof: and therefore are unclean unto you: and also the swine, for though he divide the hoof, yet he cheweth not cud, and therefore is unclean unto you: Ye shall not eat of the flesh of them nor touch the dead carcasses of them. *hart: African antelopes deer *roe: roe buck, deer *bugle: steer ?/unknown *unicorn: apparently a very real animal mentioned else where in the text, though it has been mystified by the imaginations of men./unknown *origen: perhaps an oryx; African antelope/unknown *Camelion: perhaps a mountain goat /unknown.

These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: All that have fins and scales. And whatsoever hath not fins and scales, of that ye may not eat, for that is unclean unto you.

Of all clean birds ye shall eat, but these are they of which ye may not eat: the eagle, the goshawk, the cormorant, the *ixion, the vulture, the kite and her kind, and all kind of ravens, the Ostrich, the nightcrow, the cuckoo, the sparrowhawk and all her kind, the little owl, the great owl, the back, the bittern, the *pye, the stork, the heron, the Jay in his kind, the lapwing, the swallow. And all creeping fowls are unclean unto you and may not be eaten of: but of all clean fowls ye may well eat.

*pye: perhaps magpie

Ye shall eat of nothing that dieth alone. But thou mayest give it unto the stranger that is in thy city that he eat it, or mayst sell it unto an Alien. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mothers milk.

Thou shalt tithe all the increase of thy seed that cometh out of the field year by year. And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God in the place, which he hath chosen to make his name dwell there the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine and of thine oil, and the first born of thine oxen and of thy flock that thou mayst learn to fear the Lord thy God always.

If the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, because the place is too far from the which the Lord thy God hath chosen to set his name there (for the Lord thy God hath blessed thee) then make it in money and take the money in thine hand, and go unto the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen, and bestow that money on whatsoever thy soul lusteth after: on oxen, sheep, wine and good drink, and on whatsoever thy soul desireth, and eat there before the Lord thy God and be merry: both thou and thine household and the Levite that is in thy city. See thou forsake not the Levite, for he hath neither part nor inheritance with thee.

At the end of three years, thou shalt bring forth all the tithes of thine increase the same year and lay it up within thine own city, and the Levite shall come because he hath neither part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow which are within thy city and shall eat and fill themselves: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of thine hand which thou doest.

The 15th Chapter

At the end of seven years thou shalt make a free year. And this is the manner of the free year, whosoever lendeth ought with his hand unto his neighbor, may not ask again that which he hath lent, of his neighbor or of his brother: because it is called the Lords free year, yet of a stranger thou mayst call it home again. But that which thou hast with thy brother thine hand shall remit, and that in any wise, that there be no beggar among you. For the Lord shall bless the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, an inheritance to possess it: so that thou hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and do all these commandments which I command you this day: yea and then the Lord thy God shall bless thee as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and shalt borrow of no man, and shalt reign over many nations, but none shall reign over thee.

When one of thy brethren among you is waxed poor in any of thy cities within thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, see that thou harden not thine heart nor shut to thine hand from thy poor brother: But open thine hand unto him and lend him sufficient for his need which he hath. And beware that there be not a point of Belial in thine heart that thou wouldest say: The seventh year, the year of freedom is at hand, and therefore it grieve thee to look on thy poor brother and givest him nought and he then cry unto the Lord against thee and it be sin unto thee: But give him, and let it not grieve thine heart to give. Because that for that thing, the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thine hand to. For the land shall never be without poor. Wherefore I command thee saying: open thine hand unto thy brother that is needy and poor in thy land.

If thy brother an Hebrew sell himself to thee, or an Hebrewess, he shall serve thee six years and the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: but shalt give him of thy sheep and of thy corn and of thy wine, and give him of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God delivered thee thence: wherefore I command thee this thing today.

But and if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee, because he loveth thee and thine house and is well at ease with thee. Then take an awl and nail his ear to the door therewith and let him be thy servant forever, and unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise. And let it not grieve thine eyes to let him go out from thee, for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee in his service six years. And the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.

All the first born that come of thine oxen and of thy sheep that are males, thou shalt hallow unto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt do no service with the first born of thy sheep: but shalt eat them before the Lord thy God year by year in the place which the Lord hath chosen both thou and thine household. If there be any deformity therein, whether it be lame or blind or whatsoever evil favorness it hath, thou shalt not offer it unto the Lord thy God: But shalt eat it in thine own city, the unclean and the clean indifferently, as the roe and the hart. Only eat not the blood thereof, but pour it upon the ground as water.

The 16th Chapter

Observe the month of Abib, and offer passover unto the Lord thy God. For in the month of Abib, the Lord thy God brought thee out of Egypt by night: Thou shalt therefore offer passover unto the Lord thy God, and sheep and oxen in the place which the Lord shall choose to make his name dwell there. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread therewith: but shalt eat therewith the bread of tribulation seven days long. For thou camest out of the land of Egypt in haste, that thou mayst remember the day when thou camest out of the land of Egypt, all days of thy life. And see that there be no leavened bread seen in all thy coasts. Seven days long, and that there remain nothing of the flesh which thou hast offered the first day at evening, until the morning.

Thou mayst not offer passover in any of thy cities which the Lord thy God giveth thee: But in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to make his name dwell in, there thou shalt offer Passover at evening about the going down of the *son, even in the season that thou camest out of Egypt. And thou shalt seethe and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen, and depart on the morrow and get thee unto thy tent. Six days thou shalt eat sweet bread, and the seventh day is for the people to come together to the Lord thy God, that thou mayst do no work.

Then reckon the seven weeks, and begin to reckon the seven weeks when the sickle beginneth in the corn, and keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God, that thou give a freewilloffering of thine hand unto the Lord thy God according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. And rejoice before the Lord thy God both thou, thy son, thy daughter, thy servant and thy maid, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, the fatherless and the widow that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to make his name dwell there. And remember that thou was a servant in Egypt, that thou observe and do these ordinances.

Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days long, after that thou has gathered in thy corn and thy wine. And thou shalt rejoice in that thy feast, both thou and thy son, thy daughter, thy servant, thy maid, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow that are in thy cities. Seven days thou shalt keep holy day unto the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord shall choose: for the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy fruits and in all the works of thine hands, and therefore shalt thou be glad. Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose: In the feast of sweet bread, in the feast of weeks and in the feast of the tabernacles. And they shall not appear before the Lord empty: but every man with the gift of his hand, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.

Judges and officers thou shalt make thee in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy tribes: And let them judge the people righteously. Wrest not the law nor know any person neither take any reward: for gifts blind the wise and pervert the words of the righteous. But in all things follow righteousness, that thou mayst live and enjoy the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt plant no grove of whatsoever trees it be, nigh unto the altar of the Lord thy God which thou shalt make thee. Thou shalt set thee up no pillar, which the Lord thy God hateth.

The 17th Chapter

Thou shalt offer unto the Lord thy God no ox or sheep wherein is any deformity, whatsoever evil favouredness it be: for that is an abomination unto the Lord thy God.

If there be found among you in any of thy cities which the Lord thy God giveth thee man or woman that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, that they have gone beyond his appointment, so that they have gone and served strange gods and worshipped them, whether it be the son or moon or anything contained in heaven which I forbade, and it was told thee and thou hast heard of it: Then thou shalt enquire diligently. And if it be true and the thing of a surety that such abomination is wrought in Israel, then thou shalt bring forth that man or that woman which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates and shalt stone them with stones and they shall die. At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death, die: but at the mouth of one witness he shall not die. And the hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to kill him, and afterward the hands of all the people: so shalt thou put wickedness away from thee.

If a matter be too hard for thee in judgement between blood and blood, plea and plea, *plage and plage in matters of strife within thy cities. Then arise and get thee up unto the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen, and go unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and ask, and they shall shew thee how to judge. And see that thou do according to that which they of that place(which the Lord hath chosen) shew thee, and see that thou observe to do according to all that they inform thee. According to the law which they teach thee and manner of judgement which they tell thee, see that thou do and that thou bow not from that which they show thee, neither to the right hand nor to the left. *plage: that is to look at the matter from every angle.

And that man that will do presumptuously, so that he will not hearken unto the priest that standeth there to minister unto the Lord thy God or unto the judge, shall die: and so thou shalt put away evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear and shall fear, and shall do no more presumptuously.

When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee and enjoyest it and dwellest therein: If thou shalt say, I will set a king over me: like unto all the nations that are about me: Then thou shalt make him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose. One of thy brethren must thou make king over thee, and mayst not set a stranger over thee which is not of thy brethren. But in any wise let him not hold too many horses, that he bring not the people again to Egypt through the multitude of horses, forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you: ye shall henceforth go no more again that way. Also he shall not have too many wives, lest his heart turn away, neither shall he gather him silver and gold too much.

And when he is sitten upon the seat of his kingdom, he shall write him out this second law in a book taking a copy of the priests the Levites. And it shall be with him and he shall read there in all days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God for to keep all the words of this law and these ordinances for to do them: that his heart arise not above his brethren and that he turn not from the commandment: either to the right hand or to the left: that both he and his children may prolong their days in his kingdom in Israel.

The 18th Chapter

The priests the Levites, all the tribe of Levi shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel. The offerings of the Lord and his inheritance they shall eat, but shall have no inheritance among their brethren: the Lord he is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them. And this is the duty of the priests of the people and of them that offer, whether it be ox or sheep: They must give unto the priest, the shoulder and the two cheeks and the *mawe, the first fruits of thy corn, wine and oil, and the first of thy sheep shearing must thou give him. For the Lord thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes to stand and to minister in the name of the Lord: both him and his sons for ever. If a Levite come out of any of thy cities or any place of Israel, where he is a sojourner, and come with all the lust of his heart unto the place which the Lord hath chosen: he shall there minister in the name of the Lord his God as all his brethren the Levites do which stand there before the Lord. And they shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh to him of the patrimony of his elders. *mawe: The mouth, stomach, jaws, or gullet of a voracious animal, especially a carnivore. The opening into something insatiable:

When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, see that thou learn not to do after the abominations of these nations. Let there not be found among you that maketh his son or his daughter go through fire, or that useth *withcraft, or a chooser out of days or that regardeth the flyeng of souls, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or that counseleth with spirits, or a *propheciar or that asketh the advise of the dead. For all that do such things are abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth cast them out before thee, be pure therefore with the Lord thy God. For these nations which thou shalt conquer, hearken unto choosers out of days and prophecyars. But the Lord thy God permitteth not that to thee. *withcraft: with craft /witchcraft *propheciar: prophesiers, false prophets of nations, diviners.

The Lord thy God will stir up a Prophet among you: even of thy brethren like unto me: and unto him ye shall hearken according to all that thou desiredest of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day when the people were gathered saying: Let me hear the voice of my Lord God no more, nor see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the Lord said unto me: they have well spoken, I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words into his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And whosoever will not hearken unto the words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

But the prophet which shall presume to speak ought in my name which I commanded him not to speak, and he that speaketh in the name of strange Gods, the same prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, how shall I know that which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken. But the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: be not afeared therefore of him.

The 19th Chapter

When the Lord thy God hath destroyed the nations whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou hast conquered them and dwellest in their cities and in their houses: thou shalt appoint three cities in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it: thou shalt prepare the way and divide the coasts of thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it: thou shalt prepare the way and divide the coasts of thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts that whosoever committeth murder may flee there. And this is the cause of the slayer that shall flee there and be saved: If he smite his neighbor ignorantly and hated him not in time past: As when a man goeth unto the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and as his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe, the head slippeth from the helve and smiteth his neighbor that he die: the same shall flee unto one of the same cities and be saved. Lest the executer of blood follow after the slayer while his heart is hot and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him, and yet there is no cause worthy of death in him, inasmuch as he hated not his neighbor in time past. Wherefore I command thee saying: see that thou appoint out three cities.

And if the Lord thy God enlarge thy coasts as he hath sworn unto thy fathers and give thee all the land which he said he would give unto thy fathers (so that thou keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, that thou love the Lord thy God and walk in his ways ever) then thou shalt add three cities more unto those three, that innocent blood be not shed in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit, and so blood come upon thee. But and if there be any man that hateth his neighbor and layeth await for him and riseth against him and smiteth him that he die, and fleeth unto any of these cities. Then let the elders of his city send and fetch him thence and deliver him into the hands of the justice of blood, and he shall die. Let thine eye have no pity on him, and so thou shalt put away innocent blood from Israel, and happy art thou. Thou shalt not remove thy neighbors mark which they of old time have set in thine inheritance that thou inheritest in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to enjoy it.

One witness shall not rise against a man in any manner trespass or sin, whatsoever sin a man sinneth: But at the mouth of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall all matters be tried.

If an unrighteous witness rise up against a man to accuse him of trespass: then let both the men which strive together stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days, and let the judges enquire a good. And if the witness be found false and that he hath given false witness against his brother then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to do unto his brother, and so thou shalt put evil away from thee. And other shall hear and fear and shall henceforth commit no more any such wickedness among you. And let thine eye have no compassion, but life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

The 20th Chapter

When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots and people more than thou, be not afeared of them, for the Lord thy God is with thee which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. And when ye are come nigh unto battle, let the priest come forth and speak unto the people and say unto them: Hear Israel, ye are come unto battle against your enemies, let not your hearts faint, neither fear nor be amazed nor a dread of them. For the Lord thy God goeth with you to fight for you against your enemies and to save you.

And let the officers speak unto the people saying: If any man have built a new house and have not dedicate it, let him go and return to his house lest he die in the battle, and another dedicate it. And if any man have planted a vineyard and have not made it common, let him go and return again unto his house, lest he die in the battle and another make it common. And if any man be betrothed unto a wife and have not taken her, let him go and return again unto his house, lest he die in the battle and another take her.

And let the officers speak further unto the people and say. If any man fear and be fainthearted, let him go and return unto his house, lest his brothers heart be made faint as well as his. And when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, let them make captains of war over them.

When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, offer them peace. And if they answer thee again peaceably, and open unto thee, then let all the people that is found therein be tributaries unto thee and serve thee. But and if they will make no peace with thee, then make war against the city and besiege it. And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, smite all the males thereof with the edge of the sword, save the women and the children and the cattle and all that is in the city and all the spoil thereof take unto thyself and eat the spoil of thine enemies which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thus thou shalt do unto all the cities which are a great way off from thee and not of the cities of these nations.

But in the cities of these nations which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth. But shalt destroy them without redemption, both the Hethites, the Amorites, the Cananites, the Pherezites, the Hevites and the Jebusites, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that they teach you not to do after all their abominations which they do unto their gods, and so should sin against the Lord your God.

When thou hast besieged a city long time in making war against it to take it, destroy not the trees thereof, that thou wouldest thrust an axe unto them. For thou mayst eat of them, and therefore destroy them not. For the trees of the fields are no men that they might come against thee to besiege thee. Neverthelater those trees which thou knowest that men eat not of them, thou mayst destroy and cut them down and make bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be overthrown.

The 21st Chapter

If one be found slain in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it, and lieth in the fields, and not known who hath slain him: Then let thine elders and thy judges come forth and meet unto the cities that are round about the slain. And let the elders of that city which is next unto the slain man, take an heifer that is not labored with nor hath drawn in the yoke, and let them bring her unto a valley where is neither earing nor sowing, and strike off her head there in the valley.

Then let the priests the sons of Levi come forth, for the Lord thy God hath chosen them to minister and to bless in the name of the Lord and therefore at their mouth shall all strife and plague be tried. And all the elders of the city that is next to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the plain, and shall answer and say: our hands have not shed this blood neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful Lord unto thy people Israel which thou hast delivered and put not innocent blood unto thy people Israel: and the blood shall be forgiven them. And so shalt thou put innocent blood from thee, when thou shalt have done that which is right in the sight of the Lord.

When thou goest to war against thine enemies and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands and thou hast take them captive, and seest among the captives a beautiful woman and hast a fantasy unto her that thou wouldest have her to thy wife. Then bring her home to thine house and let her shave her head and pare her nails and put her raiment that she was taken in from her, and let her remain in thine house and beweep her father and her mother a month long and after that go in unto her and marry her and let her be thy wife. And if thou have no favour unto her, then let her go whither she lusteth: for thou mayst not sell her for money nor make *chevesaunce of her, because thou hast humbled her.

break in paragraph to keep alignment.

If a man have two wives, one loved and another hated, and they have borne him children, both the loved and also the hated. If the firstborn be the son of the hated: then when he dealeth his goods among his children, he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated which is indeed the firstborn: But he shall know the son of the hated for his firstborn, that he give him double of all that he hath. For he is the first of his strength, and to him belongeth the right of the firstbornship. *chevisance: may be from chivied, seek means to secure gradually, harass, vex with pettiness.

If any man have a son that is stubborn, and disobedient, that he will not hearken unto the voice of his father and voice of his mother, and they have taught him nurture, but he would not hearken unto them: Then let his father and his mother take him and bring him out unto the elders of that city and unto the gate of that same place, and say unto the elders of the city. This our son is stubborn and disobedient and will not hearken unto our voice, he is a rioter and a drunkard. Then let all the men of that city stone him with stones unto death. And so thou shalt put evil away from thee, and all Israel shall hear and fear. If a man have committed a trespass worthy of death and is put to death for it and hanged on tree: let not his body remain all night upon the tree, but bury him the same day. For the curse of God is on him that is hanged. Defile not thy land therefore, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit.

The 22nd Chapter

If thou see thy brothers ox or sheep go astray, thou shalt not withdraw thyself from them: But shalt bring them home again unto thy brother. If thy brother be not nigh unto thee or if thou know him not, then bring them unto thine own house and let them be with thee, until thy brother ask after them, and then deliver him them again. In like manner shalt thou do with his ass, with his raiment and with all lost things of thy brother which he hath lost and thou hast found, and thou mayst not withdraw thyself.

If thou see that thy brothers ass or ox is fallen down by the way, thou shalt not withdraw thyself from them: but shalt help him to heave them up again.

The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto the man, neither shall a man put on womans raiment. For all that do so, are abomination unto the Lord thy God.

If thou chance upon a birds nest by the way, in whatsoever tree it be or on the ground, whether they be young or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs: thou shalt not take the mother with the young. But shalt in any wise let the dam go and take the young, that thou mayst prosper and prolong thy days.

When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a battlement unto the roof, that thou lade not blood upon thine house, if any man fall thereof.

Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse seed: lest thou hallow the seed which thou hast sown with the fruit of thy vineyard.

Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment made of wool and flax together.

Thou shalt put ribbons upon the four quarters of thy vesture wherewith thou coverest thyself.

If a man take a wife and when he hath layen with her hate her and lay shameful things unto her charge and bring up an evil name upon her and say: I took this wife, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: Then let the father of the damsel and the mother bring forth the tokens of the damsels virginity, unto the elders of the city, even unto the gate. And let the damsels father say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife and he hateth her: and lo, he layeth shameful things unto her charge saying, I found not thy daughter a maid. And yet these are the tokens of my daughters virginity. And let them spread the vesture before the elders of the city. Then let the elders of that city take that man and chastise him and *mearce him in an hundred sickles of silver and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a maid in Israel. And she shall be his wife, and he may not put her away all his days. But and if the thing be of a surety that the damsel be not found a virgin, let them bring her unto the door of her fathers house, and let the men of that city stone her with stones to death, because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her fathers house. And so thou shalt put evil away from thee. *mearce: may be mercy him; that is to show a finish to the matter.

If a man be found lying with a woman, that hath a wedded husband, then let them die either other of them: both the man that lie with the wife and also the wife: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.

If a maid be handfasted unto an husband, and then a man find her in the town and lay with her, then ye shall bring them both out unto the gates of that same city and shall stone them with stones to death: The damsel because she cried not being in the city: And the man, because he hath humbled his neighbors wife, and thou shalt put away evil from thee.

But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field and force her and lie with her: Then the man that lay with her shall die alone, and unto the damsel thou shalt do no harm: because there is in the damsel no cause of death. For as when a man riseth against his neighbor and slayeth him, even so is this matter. For he found her in the fields and the betrothed damsel cried: but there was no man to succour her. If a man find a maid that is not betrothed and take her and lie with her and be found: Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsels father fifty sickles of silver. And she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her, and he may not put her away all his days.

No man shall take his fathers wife, nor unhele his fathers covering.

The 23rd Chapter

None that is gelded or hath his privy members cut off, shall come into the congregation of the Lord. And he that is born of a common woman shall not come in the congregation of the Lord, no in the tenth generation he shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. The Ammonites and the Moabites shall not come into the congregation of the Lord, no not in the tenth generation, no they shall never come in to the congregation of the Lord, because they met you not with bread and water in the way when ye came out of Egypt, and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor the interpreter of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. Nevertheless the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balam, but turned the curse to a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee. Thou shalt never therefore seek that which is prosperous or good for them all thy days for ever. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother: neither shalt thou abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land. The children that are begotten of them shall come into the congregation of the Lord in the third generation.

When thou goest out with the host against thine enemies, keep thee from all wickedness for the Lord is among you. If there be any man that is unclean by the reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night, let him go out of the host and not come in again until he have washed himself with water before the evening: and then when the *son is down, let him come into the host again. Thou shalt have a place without the host whither thou shalt resort to and thou shalt have a sharp point at the end of thy weapon: and when thou wilt ease thyself, dig therewith and turn and cover that which is departed from thee. For the Lord thy God walketh in thine host, to rid thee and to set thine enemies before thee. Let thine host be pure, that he see no unclean thing among you and turn from you.*son: this is exactly as it appears;

Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee. Let him dwell with thee, even among you in what place he himself liketh best, in one of thy cities where it is good for him, and vex him not. There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor whorekeeper of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt neither bring the hire of an whore nor the price of a dog into the house of the Lord thy God, in no manner of vow: for even both of them are abomination unto the Lord thy God.

Thou shalt be no usurer unto thy brother, neither in money nor in food, nor in any manner thing that is lent upon usury. Unto a stranger thou mayst lend upon usury, but not unto thy brother, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to conquer it.

When thou hast vowed a vow unto the Lord thy God, see thou be not slack to pay it. For he will surely require it of thee, and it shall be sin unto thee. If thou shalt leave vowing, it shall be no sin unto thee: but that which is once gone out of thy lips, thou must keep and do, according as thou hast vowed unto the Lord thy God a freewill offering which thou hast spoken with thy mouth.

When thou comest into thy neighbors vineyard, thou mayst eat grapes thy bellyful at thine own pleasure: but thou shalt put none in thy bag.

When thou goest into thy neighbors corn, thou mayst pluck the ears with thine hand, but thou mayst not move a sickle unto thy neighbors corn.

The 24th Chapter

When a man hath taken a wife and married her, if she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath spied some uncleanness in her: Then let him write her a bill of divorcement and put it in her hand and send her out of his house.

If when she is departed out of his house, she go and be another mans wife and the second husband hate her and write her a letter of divorcement and put it in her hand and send her out of his house: or if the second man die which took her to wife, her first man which sent her away may not take her again to be his wife, inasmuch as she is defiled. For that is abomination in the sight of the Lord: that thou defile not the land with sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit.

When a man taketh a new wife, he shall not go a warfare neither shall be charged with any business: but shall be free at home one year and rejoice with his wife which he hath taken. No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge, for then he taketh a mans life to pledge. If any man be found stealing any of his brethren the children of Israel, and maketh chevesaunce of him or selleth him, the thief shall die. And thou shalt put evil away from thee. Take heed to thyself as concerning the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently to do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach thee, as I commanded them so ye shall observe to do. Remember what the Lord thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come out of Egypt.

If thou lend thy brother any manner succour, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch a pledge: but shalt stand without and the man to whom thou lendest, shall bring thee the pledge out at the door. Furthermore if it be a poor body, go not to sleep with his pledge: but deliver him the pledge again by that the *son go down, and let him sleep in his own raiment and bless thee. *son: this is exactly as it appears; also next PP

And it shall be righteousness unto thee, before the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not defraud an hired servant that is needy and poor, whether he be of thy brethren or a stranger that is in thy land within thy cities. Give him his hire the same day, and let not the *son go down theron. For he is needy and therewith sustaineth his life, lest he cry against thee unto the Lord and it be sin unto thee. The fathers shall not die for the children nor the children for the fathers: but every man shall die for his own sin.

Hinder not the right of the stranger nor of the fatherless, nor take widows raiment to pledge. But remember that thou wast a servant in Egypt, and how the Lord thy God delivered thee thence. Wherefore I command thee to do this thing.

When thou cuttest down thine harvest in the field and hast forgotten a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again and fetch it: But it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand. When thou beatest down thine olive trees thou shalt not make clean riddance after thee: but it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. And when thou gatherest thy vineyard, thou shalt not gather clean after thee: but it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt: wherefore I command thee to do this thing.

The 25th Chapter

If there is strife between men, let them come unto the law, and let the judges justify the righteous and condemn the trespasser. And if the trespasser be worthy of stripes, then let the judge cause to take him down and to beat him before his face according to his trespass, unto a certain number. Forty stripes he shall give him and not pass: lest if he should exceed and beat him above that with many stripes, thy brother should appear ungoodly before thine eyes.

Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn.

When brethren dwell together and one of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not be given out unto a stranger: but her brother in law shall go in unto her and take her to wife and marry her. And the eldest son which she beareth, shall stand up in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out in Israel.

But and if the man will not take his sister in law, then let her go to the gate unto the elders and say: My brother in law refuseth to stir up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not marry me. Then let the elders of his city call unto him and commune with him. If he stand and say: I will not take her, then let his sister in law go unto him in the presence of the elders and loose his shoe off his foot and spit in his face and answer and say: So shall it be done unto that man that will not build his brothers house. And his name shall be called in Israel, the unshoed house.

If when men strive together, one with another, the wife of the one run to, for to rid her husband out of the hands of him that smiteth him and put forth her hand and take him by the secrets: cut off her hand, and let not thine eye pity her.

Thou shalt not have in thy bag two manner weights, a great and a small: neither shalt thou have in thine house diverse measures, a great and a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and a just measure: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. For all that do such things and all that do unright, are abomination unto the Lord thy God. Remember what Amalech did unto thee by the way after thou camest out of Egypt, he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of you, all that were over labored and dragged behind, when thou wast fainted and weary, and he feared not God. Therefore when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit and possess: see that thou put out the name of Amalech from under heaven, and forget not.

The 26th Chapter

When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit and hast enjoyed it and dwellest therein: take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou hast brought in out of the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee and put it in a *maund and go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to make his name dwell there. And thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days and say unto him: I knowledge this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers for to give us. *maund: vessel, used later in the washing of the feet of the poor.

And the priest shall take the maund out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God. And thou shalt answer and say before the Lord thy God: The Sirians would have destroyed my father, and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few folk and grew there unto a nation great, mighty and full of people. And the Egyptians vexed us and troubled us, and laded us with cruel bondage. And we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our adversity, labor and oppression. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm and with great terribleness and with signs and wonders. And he hath brought us into this place and hath given us this land that floweth with milk and honey. And now lo, I have brought the first fruits of the land which the Lord hath given me. And set it before the Lord thy God and worship before the Lord thy God and rejoice over all the good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee and unto thine house, both thou the Levite and the stranger that is among you.

When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, the year of tithing: and hast given to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, and they have eaten in thy gates and filled themselves. Then say before the Lord thy God: I have brought thee hallowed things out of mine house, and have given them unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow according to all the commandments which thou commandest me: I have not overskipped thy commandments, nor forgotten them. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning nor taken away thereof unto any uncleanness, nor spent thereof about any dead corpse: but have hearkened unto the voice of the Lord my God, and have done after all that he commanded me, look down from thy holy habitation heaven and bless thy people Israel and the land which thou hast given us (as thou swearest unto our fathers) a land that floweth with milk and honey.

This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these ordinances and laws. Keep them therefore and do them with all thine heart and all thy soul. Thou hast set up the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in his ways and to keep his ordinances, his commandments and his laws, and to hearken unto his voice. And the Lord hath set thee up this day, to be a several people unto him (as he hath promised thee) and that thou keep his commandments, and to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, in name and honor: that thou mayst be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath said.

The 27th Chapter

And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people saying: keep all the commandments which I command you this day. And when ye be come over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, set up great stones and plaster them with plaster, and write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art come over: that thou mayst come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee: a land that floweth with milk and honey, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. When ye be come over Jordan, see that ye set up these stones which I command you this day in mount Ebal, and plaster them with plaster. And there build unto the Lord thy God an altar of stones and see thou lift up no iron upon them: But thou shalt make the altar of the Lord thy God of rough stones and offer burntofferings theron unto the Lord thy God. And thou shalt offer peaceofferings and shalt eat there and rejoice before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law, manifestly and well.

And Moses with the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel saying: take heed and hear Israel, this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God. Hearken therefore unto the voice of the Lord thy God and do his commandments and his ordinances which I command you this day.

break in paragraph to keep alignment.

And Moses charged the people the same day saying. These shall stand upon mount Garizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Juda, Isachar, Joseph and BenJamin. And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse: Ruben, Gad, Asser, Zabulon, Dan and Nephthali. And the Levites shall begin and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice.

Cursed be he that maketh any carved image or image of metal (an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman) and putteth it in a secret place: And all the people shall answer and say Amen.

Cursed be he that curseth his father or his mother, and all the people shall say Amen.

Cursed be he that removeth his neighbors mark, and all the people shall say Amen.

Cursed be he that maketh the blind go out of his way, and all the people shall say Amen.

Cursed be he that hindreth the right of the stranger, fatherless and widow, and all the people shall say Amen.

Cursed be he that lieth with his fathers wife because he hath opened his fathers covering, and all the people shall say Amen.

Cursed be he that lieth with any manner beast, and all the people shall say Amen.

Cursed be he that lieth with his sister whether she be the daughter of his father or of his mother, and all the people shall say Amen.

Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law, and all the people shall say Amen.

Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbor secretly, and all the people shall say Amen.

Cursed be he that taketh a reward to slay innocent blood, and all the people shall say Amen.

Cursed be he that maintaineth not all the words of this law to do them, and all the people shall say Amen.

The 28th Chapter

If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day. The Lord will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee and over take thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the town and blessed in the fields, blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, the fruit of thy ground and the fruit of thy cattle, the fruit of thine oxen, and thy flocks of sheep, blessed shall thine *aulmery be and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be, both when thou goest out, and blessed when thou comest in. The Lord shall smite thine enemies that rise against thee before thy face. They shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing to be with thee in thy store houses and in all that thou settest thine hand to, and will bless the in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. *aulmery: from the root word aul comes awl, a tool used in leather work, aulmery may mean tool house.

The Lord shall make thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee: if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God and walk in his ways.

And all nations of the earth shall see that thou art called after the name of the Lord, and they shall be afeared of thee. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, in the fruit of thy cattle and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, even the heaven, to give rain unto thy land in due season and to bless all the labors of thine hand. And thou shalt lend unto many nations, but shalt not need to borrow thyself. And the Lord shall set thee before and not behind, and thou shalt be above only and not beneath: if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day to keep and to do them. And see that thou bow not from any of these words which I command thee this day either to the right hand or to the left, that thou wouldest go after strange gods to serve them.

But and if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to keep and to do all his commandments and ordinances which I command thee this day: then all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the town, and cursed in the field, cursed shall thine almery be and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land be and the fruit of thine oxen and the flocks of thy sheep. And cursed shalt thou be when thou goest in, and when thou goest out. And the Lord shall send upon thee cursing, going to nought and complaining in all that thou settest thine hand to, whatsoever thou doest: until thou be destroyed and brought to nought quickly, because of the wickedness of thine inventions in that thou hast forsaken the Lord. And the Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from the land whither thou goest to enjoy it. And the Lord shall smite thee with swelling, with fevers, heat, burning, weathering, with smiting and blasting. And they shall follow thee, until thou perish.

And the heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee iron. And the Lord shall turn the rain of the land unto powder and dust: even from heaven they shall come down upon thee, until thou be brought to nought. And the Lord shall plague thee before thine enemies: Thou shalt come out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them, and shalt be scattered among all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcass shall be meat unto all manner fowls of the air and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray (scare) them away.

And the Lord will smite thee with the botches of Egypt and the emerods (boils), scale and manginess, that thou shalt not be healed thereof. And the Lord shall smite thee with madness, blindness and dazing of heart. And thou shalt grope at noonday as the blind gropeth in darkness, and shalt not come to the right way. And thou shalt suffer wrong only and be *polled evermore, and no man shall succour (secure) thee: thou shalt be betrothed unto a wife, and another shall lie with her. Thou shalt build an house and another shall dwell therein. Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not make it common. Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof. Thine ass shall be violently taken away even before thy face, and shall not be restored thee again. Thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and no man shall help thee. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another nation, and thine eyes shall see and daze upon them all day long, but shalt have no might in thine hand. The fruit of thy land and all thy labors shall a nation which thou knowest not, eat, and thou shalt but suffer violence only and be oppressed always: that thou shalt be clean beside thyself for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. *polled: from the old tradition: the horns are removed meaning to: lose strength or of a modern definition: questioned continually.

The Lord shall smite thee with a mischievous botch in the knees and legs, so that thou canst not be healed: even from the sole of the foot unto the top of the head.

The Lord shall bring both thee and thy king which thou hast set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, and there thou shalt serve strange Gods: even wood and stone. And thou shalt go to waste and be made an example and a jesting stock unto all nations whither the Lord shall carry thee. Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in: for the grasshoppers shall destroy it. Thou shalt plant a vineyard and dress it, but shalt neither drink of the wine neither gather of the grapes, for the worms shall eat it. Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy coasts, but shalt not be anointed with the oil, for thine olive trees shall be rooted out. Thou shalt get sons and daughters, but shalt not have them: for they shall be carried away captive. All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall be marred with blasting.

The strangers that are among you shall climb above thee up on high, and thou shalt come down beneath alow. He shall lend thee and thou shalt not lend him, he shall be before and thou behind.

Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee and shall follow thee and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed: because thou hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and ordinances which he commanded thee, and they shall be upon thee as miracles and wonders and upon thy seed for ever. And because thou served not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with a good heart for the abundance of all things, therefore thou shalt serve thine enemy which the Lord shall send upon thee: in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in need of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thine neck, until he have brought thee to nought.

And the Lord shall bring a nation upon thee from afar, even from the end of the world, as swift as an eagle flieth: a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand: a hard favored nation which shall not regard the person of the old nor have compassion on the young. And he shall eat the fruit of thy land and the fruit of thy cattle until he have destroyed thee: so that he shall leave thee neither corn, wine, nor oil, neither the increase of thine oxen nor the flocks of thy sheep: until he have brought thee to nought. And he shall keep thee in all thy cities, until thy high and strong walls be come down wherein thou trusted, through all thy land. And he shall besiege thee in all thy cities throughout all thy land which the Lord thy God hath given thee.

And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body: the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in that straightness and siege wherewith thine enemy shall besiege thee: so that it shall grieve the man that is tender and exceeding delicate among you, to look on his brother and upon his wife that lieth in his bosom and on the remnant of his children, which he hath yet left, for fear of giving unto any of them of the flesh of his children, which he eateth, because he hath nought left him in that straightness and siege wherewith thine enemy shall besiege thee in all thy cities.

Yea and the woman that is so tender and delicate among you that she dare not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for softness and tenderness, shall be grieved to look on the husband that lieth in her bosom and on her son and on her daughter: even because of the afterbirth, that is come out from between her legs, and because of her children which she hath borne, because she would eat them for need of all things secretly, in the straightness and siege wherewith thine enemy shall besiege thee in thy cities.

If thou wilt not be diligent to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, for to fear this glorious and fearful name of the Lord thy God: the Lord will smite both thee and thy seed with wonderful plagues and with great plagues and of long continuance, and with evil sicknesses and of long durance. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt which thou wast afraid of, and they shall cleave unto thee. Thereto all manner sicknesses and all manner plagues which are not written in the book of this law, will the Lord bring upon thee until thou be come to nought. And ye shall be left few in number, wheretofore ye were as the stars of heaven in multitude: because thou wouldest not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.

And as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you: even so he will rejoice over you, to destroy you and to bring you to nought. And ye shall be wasted from off the land whither thou goest to enjoy it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all nations from the one end of the world unto the other, and there thou shalt serve strange gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known: even wood and stone.

And among these nations thou shalt be no small season, and yet shalt have no rest for the sole of thy foot. For the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart and dazing eyes and sorrow of mind. And thy life shall hang before thee, and thou shalt fear both day and night and shalt have no trust in thy life. In the morning thou shalt say, would God it were night. And at night thou shalt say, would God it were morning. For fear of thine heart which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way which I bade thee that thou shouldst see it no more. And there ye shall be sold unto your enemies, for bondmen and bondwomen: and yet no man shall buy you.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.*son: this is exactly as it appears;

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.

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 sepulchre 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.