The Holy Bible

Part 12 out of 74

name: that is, The Lord thy God:

28:59. The Lord shall increase thy plagues, and the plagues of thy
seed, plagues great and lasting, infirmities grievous and perpetual.

28:60. And he shall bring back on thee all the afflictions of Egypt,
which thou wast afraid of, and they shall stick fast to thee.

28:61. Moreover the Lord will bring upon thee all the diseases, and
plagues, that are not written in the volume of this law till he consume
thee:

28:62. And you shall remain few in number, who before were as the stars
of heaven for multitude, because thou heardst not the voice of the Lord
thy God.

28:63. And as the Lord rejoiced upon you before doing good to you, and
multiplying you: so he shall rejoice destroying and bringing you to
nought, so that you shall be taken away from the land which thou shalt
go in to possess.

28:64. The Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the farthest
parts of the earth to the ends thereof: and there thou shalt serve
strange gods, which both thou art ignorant of and thy fathers, wood and
stone.

28:65. Neither shalt thou be quiet, even in those nations, nor shall
there be any rest for the sole of thy foot. For the Lord will give thee
a fearful heart, and languishing eyes, and a soul consumed with
pensiveness:

28:66. And thy life shall be as it were hanging before thee. Thou shalt
fear night and day, neither shalt thou trust thy life.

28:67. In the morning thou shalt say: Who will grant me evening? and at
evening: Who will grant me morning? for the fearfulness of thy heart,
wherewith thou shalt be terrified, and for those things which thou
shalt see with thy eyes.

28:68. The Lord shall bring thee again with ships into Egypt, by the
way whereof he said to thee that thou shouldst see it no more. There
shalt thou be set to sale to thy enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and
no man shall buy you.

Deuteronomy Chapter 29

The covenant is solemnly confirmed between God and his people. Threats
against those that shall break it.

29:1. These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded
Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab: beside
that covenant which he made with them in Horeb.

29:2. And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: You have seen all
the things that the Lord did before you in the land of Egypt to Pharao,
and to all his servants, and to his whole land.

29:3. The great temptations, which thy eyes have seen, those mighty
signs and wonders,

29:4. And the Lord hath not given you a heart to understand, and eyes
to see, and ears that may hear, unto this present day.

Hath not given you, etc. . .Through your own fault and because you
resisted his grace.

29:5. He hath brought you forty years through the desert: your garments
are not worn out, neither are the shoes of your feet consumed with age.

29:6. You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong
drink: that you might know that I am the Lord your God.

29:7. And you came to this place: and Sehon king of Hesebon, and Og
king of Basan, came out against us to fight. And we slew them.

29:8. And took their land, and delivered it for a possession to Ruben
and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses.

29:9. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and fulfil them: that
you may understand all that you do.

29:10. You all stand this day before the Lord your God, your princes,
and tribes, and ancients, and doctors, all the people of Israel,

29:11. Your children and your wives, and the stranger that abideth with
thee in the camp, besides the hewers of wood, and them that bring
water:

29:12. That thou mayst pass in the covenant of the Lord thy God, and in
the oath which this day the Lord thy God maketh with thee.

29:13. That he may raise thee up a people to himself, and he may be thy
God as he hath spoken to thee, and as he swore to thy fathers Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob.

29:14. Neither with you only do I make this covenant, and confirm these
oaths,

29:15. But with all that are present and that are absent.

29:16. For you know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we have
passed through the midst of nations, and passing through them,

29:17. You have seen their abominations and filth, that is to say,
their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which they worshipped.

29:18. Lest perhaps there should be among you a man or a woman, a
family or a tribe, whose heart is turned away this day from the Lord
our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations: and there should be
among you a root bringing forth gall and bitterness.

29:19. And when he shall hear the words of this oath, he should bless
himself in his heart saying: I shall have peace, and will walk on in
the naughtiness of my heart: and the drunken may consume the thirsty,

The drunken, etc., absumat ebria sitientem. . .It is a proverbial
expression, which may either be understood, as spoken by the sinner,
blessing, that is, flattering himself in his sins with the imagination
of peace, and so great an abundance as may satisfy, and as it were,
consume all thirst and want: or it may be referred to the root of
bitterness, spoken of before, which being drunken with sin may attract,
and by that means consume, such as thirst after the like evils.

29:20. And the Lord should not forgive him: but his wrath and jealousy
against that man should be exceedingly enkindled at that time, and all
the curses that are written in this volume should light upon him: and
the Lord should blot out his name from under heaven,

29:21. And utterly destroy him out of all the tribes of Israel,
according to the curses that are contained in the book of this law and
covenant:

29:22. And the following generation shall say, and the children that
shall be born hereafter, and the strangers that shall come from afar,
seeing the plagues of that land and the evils wherewith the Lord hath
afflicted it,

29:23. Burning it with brimstone, and the heat of salt, so that it
cannot be sown any more, nor any green thing grow therein, after the
example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, Adama and Seboim,
which the Lord destroyed in his wrath and indignation:

29:24. And all the nations shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus to
this land? what meaneth this exceeding great heat of his wrath?

29:25. And they shall answer: Because they forsook the covenant of the
Lord, which he made with their fathers, when he brought them out of the
land of Egypt:

29:26. And they have served strange gods, and adored them, whom they
knew not, and for whom they had not been assigned:

29:27. Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against this land,
to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this volume:

29:28. And he hath cast them out of their land, in anger and in wrath,
and in very great indignation, and hath thrown them into a strange
land, as it is seen this day.

29:29. Secret things to the Lord our God: things that are manifest, to
us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this
law.

Secret things, etc. . .As much as to say, secret things belong to, and
are known to, God alone; our business must be to observe what he has
revealed and manifested to us, and to direct our lives accordingly.

Deuteronomy Chapter 30

Great mercies are promised to the penitent: God's commandment is
feasible. Life and death are set before them.

30:1. Now when all these things shall be come upon thee, the blessing
or the curse, which I have set forth before thee, and thou shalt be
touched with repentance of thy heart among all the nations, into which
the Lord thy God shall have scattered thee,

30:2. And shalt return to him, and obey his commandments, as I command
thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul:

30:3. The Lord thy God will bring back again thy captivity, and will
have mercy on thee, and gather thee again out of all the nations, into
which he scattered thee before.

30:4. If thou be driven as far as the poles of heaven, the Lord thy God
will fetch thee back from hence,

30:5. And will take thee to himself, and bring thee into the land which
thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it: and blessing thee, he
will make thee more numerous than were thy fathers.

30:6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy
seed: that thou mayst love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with
all thy soul, that thou mayst live.

30:7. And he will turn all these curses upon thy enemies, and upon them
that hate and persecute thee.

30:8. But thou shalt return, and hear the voice of the Lord thy God,
and shalt do all the commandments which I command thee this day:

30:9. And the Lord thy God will make thee abound in all the works of
thy hands, in the fruit of thy womb, and in the fruit of thy cattle, in
the fruitfulness of thy land, and in the plenty of all things. For the
Lord will return to rejoice over thee in all good things, as he
rejoiced in thy fathers:

30:10. Yet so if thou hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and keep his
precepts and ceremonies, which are written in this law: and return to
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.

30:11. This commandment, that I command thee this day is not above
thee, nor far off from thee:

30:12. Nor is it in heaven, that thou shouldst say: Which of us can go
up to heaven to bring it unto us, and we may hear and fulfil it in
work?

30:13. Nor is it beyond the sea: that thou mayst excuse thyself, and
say: Which of us can cross the sea, and bring it unto us: that we may
hear, and do that which is commanded?

30:14. But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy
heart, that thou mayst do it.

30:15. Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good, and
on the other hand death and evil:

30:16. That thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and
keep his commandments and ceremonies and judgments, and bless thee in
the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.

30:17. But if thy heart be turned away, so that thou wilt not hear, and
being deceived with error thou adore strange gods, and serve them:

30:18. I foretell thee this day that thou shalt perish, and shalt
remain but a short time in the land, to which thou shalt pass over the
Jordan, and shalt go in to possess it.

30:19. I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set
before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life,
that both thou and thy seed may live:

30:20. And that thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and obey his voice,
and adhere to him (for he is thy life, and the length of thy days,)
that thou mayst dwell in the land, for which the Lord swore to thy
fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give it them.

Deuteronomy Chapter 31

Moses encourageth the people, and Josue, who is appointed to succeed
him. He delivereth the law to the priests. God foretelleth that the
people will often forsake him, and that he will punish them. He
commandeth Moses to write a canticle, as a constant remembrancer of the
law.

31:1. And Moses went, and spoke all these words to all Israel,

31:2. And he said to them: I am this day a hundred and twenty years
old, I can no longer go out and come in, especially as the Lord also
hath said to me: Thou shalt not pass over this Jordan.

31:3. The Lord thy God then will pass over before thee: he will destroy
all these nations in thy sight, and thou shalt possess them: and this
Josue shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath spoken.

31:4. And the Lord shall do to them as he did to Sehon and Og the kings
of the Amorrhites, and to their land, and shall destroy them.

31:5. Therefore when the Lord shall have delivered these also to you,
you shall do in like manner to them as I have commanded you.

31:6. Do manfully and be of good heart: fear not, nor be ye dismayed at
their sight: for the Lord thy God he himself is thy leader, and will
not leave thee nor forsake thee.

31:7. And Moses called Josue, and said to him before all Israel: Take
courage, and be valiant: for thou shalt bring this people into the land
which the Lord swore he would give to their fathers, and thou shalt
divide it by lot.

31:8. And the Lord who is your leader, he himself will be with thee: he
will not leave thee, nor forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

31:9. And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests the
sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to
all the ancients of Israel.

31:10. And he commanded them, saying: After seven years, in the year of
remission, in the feast of tabernacles,

31:11. When all Israel come together, to appear in the sight of the
Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose, thou shalt read
the words of this law before all Israel, in their hearing.

31:12. And the people being all assembled together, both men and women,
children and strangers, that are within thy gates: that hearing they
may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and keep, and fulfil all the
words of this law:

31:13. That their children also, who now are ignorant, may hear, and
fear the Lord their God, all the days that they live in the land
whither you are going over the Jordan to possess it.

31:14. And the Lord said to Moses: Behold the days of thy death are
nigh: call Josue, and stand ye in the tabernacle of the testimony, that
I may give him a charge. So Moses and Josue went and stood in the
tabernacle of the testimony:

31:15. And the Lord appeared there in the pillar of a cloud, which
stood in the entry of the tabernacle.

31:16. And the Lord said to Moses: Behold thou shalt sleep with thy
fathers, and this people rising up will go a fornicating after strange
gods in the land, to which it goeth in to dwell: there will they
forsake me, and will make void the covenant, which I have made with
them,

31:17. And my wrath shall be kindled against them in that day: and I
will forsake them, and will hide my face from them, and they shall be
devoured: all evils and afflictions shall find them, so that they shall
say in that day: In truth it is because God is not with me, that these
evils have found me.

31:18. But I will hide, and cover my face in that day, for all the
evils which they have done, because they have followed strange gods.

31:19. Now therefore write you this canticle, and teach the children of
Israel: that they may know it by heart, and sing it by mouth, and this
song may be unto me for a testimony among the children of Israel.

31:20. For I will bring them into the land, for which I swore to their
fathers, that floweth with milk and honey. And when they have eaten,
and are full and fat, they will turn away after strange gods, and will
serve them: and will despise me, and make void my covenant.

31:21. And after many evils and afflictions shall have come upon them,
this canticle shall answer them for a testimony, which no oblivion
shall take away out of the mouth of their seed. For I know their
thoughts, and what they are about to do this day, before that I bring
them into the land which I have promised them.

31:22. Moses therefore wrote the canticle, and taught it to the
children of Israel.

31:23. And the Lord commanded Josue the son of Nun, and said: Take
courage, and be valiant: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel
into the land which I have promised, and I will be with thee.

31:24. Therefore after Moses had wrote the words of this law in a
volume, and finished it:

31:25. He commanded the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of
the Lord, saying:

31:26. Take this book, and put it in the side of the ark of the
covenant of the Lord your God: that it may be there for a testimony
against thee.

31:27. For I know thy obstinacy, and thy most stiff neck. While I am
yet living, and going in with you, you have always been rebellious
against the Lord: how much more when I shall be dead?

31:28. Gather unto me all the ancients of your tribes, and your
doctors, and I will speak these words in their hearing, and will call
heaven and earth to witness against them.

31:29. For I know that, after my death, you will do wickedly, and will
quickly turn aside form the way that I have commanded you: and evils
shall come upon you in the latter times, when you shall do evil in the
sight of the Lord, to provoke him by the works of your hands.

31:30. Moses therefore spoke, in the hearing of the whole assembly of
Israel, the words of this canticle, and finished it even to the end.

Deuteronomy Chapter 32

A canticle for the remembrance of the law. Moses is commanded to go up
into a mountain, from whence he shall see the promised land but not
enter into it.

32:1. Hear, O ye heavens, the things I speak, let the earth give ear to
the words of my mouth.

32:2. Let my doctrine gather as the rain, let my speech distil as the
dew, as a shower upon the herb, and as drops upon the grass.

32:3. Because I will invoke the name of the Lord: give ye magnificence
to our God.

32:4. The works of God are perfect, and all his ways are judgments: God
is faithful and without any iniquity, he is just and right.

32:5. They have sinned against him, and are none of his children in
their filth: they are a wicked and perverse generation.

32:6. Is this the return thou makest to the Lord, O foolish and
senseless people? Is not he thy father, that hath possessed thee, and
made thee, and created thee?

32:7. Remember the days of old, think upon every generation: ask thy
father, and he will declare to thee: thy elders and they will tell
thee.

32:8. When the Most High divided the nations: when he separated the
sons of Adam, he appointed the bounds of people according to the number
of the children of Israel.

32:9. But the Lord's portion is his people: Jacob the lot of his
inheritance.

32:10. He found him in a desert land, in a place of horror, and of vast
wilderness: he led him about, and taught him: and he kept him as the
apple of his eye.

32:11. As the eagle enticing her young to fly, and hovering over them,
he spread his wings, and hath taken him and carried him on his
shoulders.

32:12. The Lord alone was his leader: and there was no strange god with
him.

32:13. He set him upon high land: that he might eat the fruits of the
fields, that he might suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the
hardest stone,

32:14. Butter of the herd, and milk of the sheep with the fat of lambs,
and of the rams of the breed of Basan: and goats with the marrow of
wheat, and might drink the purest blood of the grape.

32:15. The beloved grew fat, and kicked: he grew fat, and thick and
gross, he forsook God who made him, and departed from God his saviour.

32:16. They provoked him by strange gods, and stirred him up to anger,
with their abominations.

32:17. They sacrificed to devils and not to God: to gods whom they knew
not: that were newly come up, whom their fathers worshipped not.

32:18. Thou hast forsaken the God that begot thee, and hast forgotten
the Lord that created thee.

32:19. The Lord saw, and was moved to wrath: because his own sons and
daughters provoked him.

32:20. And he said: I will hide my face from them, and will consider
what their last end shall be: for it is a perverse generation, and
unfaithful children.

32:21. They have provoked me with that which was no god, and have
angered me with their vanities: and I will provoke them with that which
is no people, and will vex them with a foolish nation.

32:22. A fire is kindled in my wrath, and shall burn even to the lowest
hell: and shall devour the earth with her increase, and shall burn the
foundations of the mountains.

32:23. I will heap evils upon them, and will spend my arrows among
them.

32:24. They shall be consumed with famine, and birds shall devour them
with a most bitter bite: I will send the teeth of beasts upon them,
with the fury of creatures that trail upon the ground, and of serpents.

32:25. Without, the sword shall lay them waste, and terror within, both
the young man and the virgin, the sucking child with the man in years.

32:26. I said: Where are they? I will make the memory of them to cease
from among men.

32:27. But for the wrath of the enemies I have deferred it: lest
perhaps their enemies might be proud, and should say: Our mighty hand,
and not the Lord, hath done all these things.

32:28. They are a nation without counsel, and without wisdom.

32:29. O that they would be wise and would understand, and would
provide for their last end.

32:30. How should one pursue after a thousand, and two chase ten
thousand? Was it not, because their God had sold them, and the Lord had
shut them up?

32:31. For our God is not as their gods: our enemies themselves are
judges.

32:32. Their vines are of the vineyard of Sodom, and of the suburbs of
Gomorrha: their grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters most
bitter.

32:33. Their wine is the gall of dragons, and the venom of asps, which
is incurable.

32:34. Are not these things stored up with me, and sealed up in my
treasures?

32:35. Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time, that their
foot may slide: the day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes
haste to come.

32:36. The Lord will judge his people, and will have mercy on his
servants: he shall see that their hand is weakened, and that they who
were shut up have also failed, and they that remained are consumed.

32:37. And he shall say: Where are their gods, in whom they trusted?

32:38. Of whose victims they ate the fat, and drank the wine of their
drink offerings: let them arise and help you, and protect you in your
distress.

32:39. See ye that I alone am, and there is no other God besides me: I
will kill and I will make to live: I will strike, and I will heal, and
there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

32:40. I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will say: I live for
ever.

32:41. If I shall whet my sword as the lightning, and my hand take hold
on judgment: I will render vengeance to my enemies, and repay them that
hate me.

32:42. I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall
devour flesh, of the blood of the slain and of the captivity, of the
bare head of the enemies.

32:43. Praise his people, ye nations, for he will revenge the blood of
his servants: and will render vengeance to their enemies, and he will
be merciful to the land of his people.

32:44. So Moses came and spoke all the words of this canticle in the
ears of the people, and Josue the son of Nun.

32:45. And he ended all these words, speaking to all Israel.

32:46. And he said to them: Set your hearts on all the words, which I
testify to you this day: which you shall command your children to
observe and to do, and to fulfil all that is written in this law:

32:47. For they are not commanded you in vain, but that every one
should live in them, and that doing them you may continue a long time
in the land whither you are going over the Jordan to possess it.

32:48. And the Lord spoke to Moses the same day, saying:

32:49. Go up into this mountain Abarim, (that is to say, of passages,)
unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab over against Jericho: and
see the land of Chanaan, which I will deliver to the children of Israel
to possess, and die thou in the mountain.

32:50. When thou art gone up into it thou shalt be gathered to thy
people, as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered to his
people:

32:51. Because you trespassed against me in the midst of the children
of Israel, at the waters of contradiction, in Cades of the desert of
Sin: and you did not sanctify me among the children of Israel.

32:52. Thou shalt see the land before thee, which I will give to the
children of Israel, but thou shalt not enter into it.

Deuteronomy Chapter 33

Moses before his death blesseth the tribes of Israel.

33:1. This is the blessing, wherewith the man of God, Moses, blessed
the children of Israel, before his death.

33:2. And he said: The Lord came from Sinai, and from Seir he rose up
to us: he hath appeared from mount Pharan, and with him thousands of
saints. In his right hand a fiery law.

33:3. He hath loved the people, all the saints are in his hand: and
they that approach to his feet, shall receive of his doctrine.

33:4. Moses commanded us a law, the inheritance of the multitude of
Jacob.

33:5. He shall be king with the most right, the princes of the people,
being assembled with the tribes of Israel.

33:6. Let Ruben live, and not die, and be he small in number.

33:7. This is the blessing of Juda. Hear, O Lord, the voice of Juda,
and bring him in unto his people: his hands shall fight for him, and he
shall be his helper against his enemies.

33:8. To Levi also he said: Thy perfection, and thy doctrine be to thy
holy man, whom thou hast proved in the temptation, and judged at the
waters of contradiction:

Holy man. . .Aaron and his successors in the priesthood.

33:9. Who hath said to his father, and to his mother: I do not know
you; and to his brethren: I know you not: and their own children they
have not known. These have kept thy word, and observed thy covenant,

Who hath said, etc. . .It is the duty of the priestly tribe to prefer
God's honour and service before all considerations of flesh and blood:
in such manner as to behave as strangers to their nearest akin, when
these would withdraw them from the business of their calling.

33:10. Thy judgments, O Jacob, and thy law, O Israel: they shall put
incense in thy wrath and holocaust upon thy altar.

33:11. Bless, O Lord, his strength, and receive the works of his hands.
Strike the backs of his enemies, and let not them that hate him rise.

33:12. And to Benjamin he said: The best beloved of the Lord shall
dwell confidently in him: as in a bride chamber shall he abide all the
day long, and between his shoulders shall be rest.

Shall dwell, etc. . .This seems to allude to the temple being built in
the confines of the tribe of Benjamin.

33:13. To Joseph also he said: Of the blessing of the Lord be his land,
of the fruits of heaven, and of the dew, and of the deep that lieth
beneath.

33:14. Of the fruits brought forth by the sun and by the moon.

33:15. Of the tops of the ancient mountains, of the fruits of the
everlasting hills:

33:16. And of the fruits of the earth, and of the fulness thereof. The
blessing of him that appeared in the bush, come upon the head of
Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren.

The Nazarite. . .See the note on Gen. 49.26.

33:17. His beauty as of the firstling of a bullock, his horns as the
horns of a rhinoceros: with them shall he push the nations even to the
ends of the earth. These are the multitudes of Ephraim and these the
thousands of Manasses.

33:18. And to Zabulon he said: Rejoice, O Zabulon, in thy going out;
and Issachar in thy tabernacles.

33:19. They shall call the people to the mountain: there shall they
sacrifice the victims of justice. Who shall suck as milk the abundance
of the sea, and the hidden treasures of the sands.

33:20. And to Gad he said: Blessed be Gad in his breadth: he hath
rested as a lion, and hath seized upon the arm and the top of the head.

33:21. And he saw his pre-eminence, that in his portion the teacher was
laid up: who was with the princes of the people, and did the justices
of the Lord, and his judgment with Israel.

He saw, etc. . .The pre-eminence of the tribe of Gad, to which this
alludeth, was their having the lawgiver Moses buried in their borders;
though the particular place was not known.

33:22. To Dan also he said: Dan is a young lion, he shall flow
plentifully from Basan.

33:23. And To Nephtali he said: Nephtali shall enjoy abundance, and
shall be full of the blessings of the Lord: he shall possess the sea
and the south.

The sea. . .The lake of Genesareth.

33:24. To Aser also he said: Let Aser be blessed with children, let him
be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.

33:25. His shoe shall be iron and brass. As the days of thy youth, so
also shall thy old age be.

33:26. There is no other god like the God of the rightest: he that is
mounted upon the heaven is thy helper. By his magnificence the clouds
run hither and thither.

33:27. His dwelling is above, and underneath are the everlasting arms:
he shall cast out the enemy from before thee, and shall say: Be thou
brought to nought.

Underneath are the everlasting arms. . .Though the dwelling of God be
above in heaven, his arms are always stretched out to help us here
below.

33:28. Israel shall dwell in safety, and alone. The eye of Jacob in a
land of corn and wine, and the heavens shall be misty with dew.

33:29. Blessed art thou, Israel: who is like to thee, O people, that
art saved by the Lord? the shield of thy help, and the sword of thy
glory: thy enemies shall deny thee, and thou shalt tread upon their
necks.

Deuteronomy Chapter 34

Moses seeth the promised land, but is not suffered to go into it. He
dieth at the age of 120 years. God burieth his body secretly, and all
Israel mourn for him thirty days. Josue, replenished (by imposition of
Moses's hands) with the spirit of God, succeedeth. But Moses, for his
special familiarity with God, and for most wonderful miracles, is
commended above all other prophets.

34:1. Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab upon mount Nebo, to
the top of Phasga over against Jericho: and the Lord shewed him all the
land of Galaad as far as Dan.

34:2. And all Nephtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasses, and all
the land of Juda unto the furthermost sea,

34:3. And the south part, and the breadth of the plain of Jericho the
city of palm trees as far as Segor.

34:4. And the Lord said to him: This is the land, for which I swore to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: I will give it to thy seed. Thou
hast seen it with thy eyes, and shalt not pass over to it.

34:5. And Moses the servant of the Lord died there, in the land of
Moab, by the commandment of the Lord:

Died there. . .This last chapter of Deuteronomy, in which the death of
Moses is related, was written by Josue, or by some of the prophets.

34:6. And he buried him in the valley of the land of Moab over against
Phogor: and no man hath known of his sepulchre until this present day.

He buried him, viz. . .by the ministry of angels, and would have the
place of his burial to be unknown, lest the Israelites, who were so
prone to idolatry, might worship him with divine honours.

34:7. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye
was not dim, neither were his teeth moved.

34:8. And the children of Israel mourned for him in the plains of Moab
thirty days: and the days of their mourning in which they mourned Moses
were ended.

34:9. And Josue the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom,
because Moses had laid his hands upon him. And the children of Israel
obeyed him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses.

34:10. And there arose no more a prophet in Israel like unto Moses,
whom the Lord knew face to face,

34:11. In all the signs and wonders, which he sent by him, to do in the
land of Egypt to Pharao, and to all his servants, and to his whole
land,

34:12. And all the mighty hand, and great miracles, which Moses did
before all Israel.

THE BOOK OF JOSUE

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

Josue Chapter 1

Josue, encouraged by the Lord, admonisheth the people to prepare
themselves to pass over the Jordan.

1:1. Now it came to pass after the death of Moses, the servant of the
Lord, that the Lord spoke to Josue, the son of Nun, the minister of
Moses, and said to him:

1:2. Moses my servant is dead: arise, and pass over this Jordan, thou
and thy people with thee, into the land which I will give to the
children of Israel.

1:3. I will deliver to you every place that the sole of your foot shall
tread upon, as I have said to Moses.

1:4. From the desert, and from Libanus unto the great river Euphrates,
all the land of the Hethites, unto the great sea toward the going down
of the sun, shall be your border.

1:5. No man shall be able to resist you all the days of thy life: as I
have been with Moses, so will I be with thee: I will not leave thee,
nor forsake thee.

1:6. Take courage, and be strong: for thou shalt divide by lot to this
people the land for which I swore to their fathers, that I would
deliver it to them.

1:7. Take courage therefore, and be very valiant: that thou mayst
observe and do all the law, which Moses my servant hath commanded thee:
turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayst
understand all things which thou dost.

1:8. Let not the book of this law depart from thy mouth: but thou shalt
meditate on it day and night, that thou mayst observe and do all things
that are written in it: then shalt thou direct thy way, and understand
it.

1:9. Behold I command thee, take courage, and be strong. Fear not, and
be not dismayed: because the Lord thy God is with thee in all things
whatsoever thou shalt go to.

1:10. And Josue commanded the princes of the people, saying: Pass
through the midst of the camp, and command the people, and say:

1:11. Prepare your victuals: for after the third day you shall pass
over the Jordan, and shall go in to possess the land, which the Lord
your God will give you.

1:12. And he said to the Rubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe
of Manasses:

1:13. Remember the word, which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded
you, saying: The Lord your God hath given you rest, and all this land.

1:14. Your wives, and children; and cattle, shall remain in the land
which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan: but pass you over
armed before your brethren all of you that are strong of hand, and
fight for them,

1:15. Until the Lord give rest to your brethren, as he hath given you,
and they also possess the land which the Lord your God will give them:
and so you shall return into the land of your possession, and you shall
dwell in it, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the
Jordan, toward the rising of the sun.

1:16. And they made answer to Josue, and said: All that thou hast
commanded us, we will do: and whither soever thou shalt send us, we
will go.

1:17. As we obeyed Moses in all things, so will we obey thee also: only
be the Lord thy God with thee, as he was with Moses.

1:18. He that shall gainsay thy mouth, and not obey all thy words, that
thou shalt command him, let him die: only take thou courage, and do
manfully.

Josue Chapter 2

Two spies are sent to Jericho, who are received and concealed by Rahab.

2:1. And Josue, the son of Nun, sent from Setim two men, to spy
secretly: and said to them: Go, and view the land, and the city of
Jericho. They went, and entered into the house of a woman that was a
harlot, named Rahab, and lodged with her.

2:2. And it was told the king of Jericho, and was said: Behold there
are men come in hither, by night, of the children of Israel, to spy the
land.

2:3. And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying: Bring forth the men
that came to thee, and are entered into thy house: for they are spies,
and are come to view all the land.

2:4. And the woman taking the men, hid them, and said: I confess they
came to me, but I knew not whence they were:

2:5. And at the time of shutting the gate in the dark, they also went
out together. I know not whither they are gone: pursue after them
quickly, and you will overtake them.

2:6. But she made the men go up to the top of her house, and covered
them with the stalks of flax, which was there.

2:7. Now they that were sent, pursued after them, by the way that
leadeth to the fords of the Jordan: and as soon as they were gone out,
the gate was presently shut.

2:8. The men that were hid were not yet asleep, when behold the woman
went up to them, and said:

2:9. I know that the Lord hath given this land to you: for the dread of
you is fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land have lost
all strength.

2:10. We have heard that the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea, at
your going in, when you came out of Egypt: and what things you did to
the two kings of the Amorrhites, that were beyond the Jordan, Sehon and
Og whom you slew.

2:11. And at the hearing these things, we were affrighted, and our
heart fainted away, neither did there remain any spirit in us, at your
coming in: for the Lord your God he is God in heaven above, and in the
earth beneath.

2:12. Now, therefore, swear ye to me by the Lord, that as I have shewed
mercy to you, so you also will shew mercy to my father's house: and
give me a true token.

2:13. That you will save my father and mother, my brethren and sisters,
and all things that are theirs, and deliver our souls from death.

2:14. They answered her: Be our lives for you unto death, only if thou
betray us not. And when the Lord shall have delivered us the land, we
will shew thee mercy and truth.

2:15. Then she let them down with a cord out of a window: for her house
joined close to the wall.

2:16. And she said to them: Get ye up to the mountains, lest perhaps
they meet you as they return: and there lie ye hid three days, till
they come back, and so you shall go on your way.

2:17. And they said to her: We shall be blameless of this oath, which
thou hast made us swear,

2:18. If, when we come into the land, this scarlet cord be a sign, and
thou tie it in the window, by which thou hast let us down: and gather
together thy father and mother, and brethren, and all thy kindred into
thy house.

2:19. Whosoever shall go out of the door of thy house, his blood shall
be upon his own head, and we shall be quit. But the blood of all that
shall be with thee in the house, shall light upon our head, if any man
touch them.

2:20. But if thou wilt betray us, and utter this word abroad, we shall
be quit of this oath, which thou hast made us swear.

2:21. And she answered: As you have spoken, so be it done: and sending
them on their way, she hung the scarlet cord in the window.

2:22. But they went and came to the mountains, and stayed there three
days, till they that pursued them were returned. For having sought them
through all the way, they found them not.

2:23. And when they were gone back into the city, the spies returned,
and came down from the mountain: and passing over the Jordan, they came
to Josue, the son of Nun, and told him all that befel them,

2:24. And said: the Lord hath delivered all this land into our hands,
and all the inhabitants thereof are overthrown with fear.

Josue Chapter 3

The river Jordan is miraculously dried up for the passage of the
children of Israel.

3:1. And Josue rose before daylight, and removed the camp: and they
departed from Setim, and came to the Jordan: he, and all the children
of Israel, and they abode there for three days.

3:2. After which, the heralds went through the midst of the camp,

3:3. And began to proclaim: When you shall see the ark of the covenant
of the Lord your God, and the priests of the race of Levi carrying it,
rise you up also, and follow them as they go before:

3:4. And let there be between you and the ark the space of two thousand
cubits: that you may see it afar off, and know which way you must go:
for you have not gone this way before: and take care you come not near
the ark.

3:5. And Josue said to the people: Be ye sanctified: for tomorrow the
Lord will do wonders among you.

3:6. And he said to the priests: Take up the ark of the covenant, and
go before the people. And they obeyed his commands, and took it up, and
walked before them.

3:7. And the Lord said to Josue: This day will I begin to exalt thee
before Israel: that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I am
with thee also.

3:8. And do thou command the priests, that carry the ark of the
covenant, and say to them: When you shall have entered into part of the
water of the Jordan, stand in it.

3:9. And Josue said to the children of Israel: Come hither, and hear
the word of the Lord your God.

3:10. And again he said: By this you shall know, that the Lord, the
living God, is in the midst of you, and that he shall destroy, before
your sight, the Chanaanite and the Hethite, the Hevite and the
Pherezite, the Gergesite also, and the Jebusite, and the Amorrhite.

3:11. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth
shall go before you into the Jordan.

3:12. Prepare ye twelve men of the tribes of Israel, one of every
tribe.

3:13. And when the priests, that carry the ark of the Lord the God of
the whole earth, shall set the soles of their feet in the waters of the
Jordan, the waters that are beneath shall run down and go off: and
those that come from above, shall stand together upon a heap.

3:14. So the people went out of their tents, to pass over the Jordan:
and the priests that carried the ark of the covenant, went on before
them.

3:15. And as soon as they came into the Jordan, and their feet were
dipped in part of the water, (now the Jordan, it being harvest time,
had filled the banks of its channel,)

3:16. The waters that came down from above stood in one place, and
swelling up like a mountain, were seen afar off, from the city that is
called Adom, to the place of Sarthan: but those that were beneath, ran
down into the sea of the wilderness, (which now is called the Dead Sea)
until they wholly failed.

3:17. And the people marched over against Jericho: and the priests that
carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, stood girded upon the dry
ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all the people passed over,
through the channel that was dried up.

Josue Chapter 4

Twelve stones are taken out of the river to be set up for a monument of
the miracle; and other twelve are placed in the midst of the river.

4:1. And when they were passed over, the Lord said to Josue:

4:2. Choose twelve men, one of every tribe:

4:3. And command them to take out of the midst of the Jordan, where the
feet of the priests stood, twelve very hard stones, which you shall set
in the place of the camp, where you shall pitch your tents this night.

4:4. And Josue called twelve men, whom he had chosen out of the
children of Israel, one out of every tribe,

4:5. And he said to them: Go before the ark of the Lord your God to the
midst of the Jordan, and carry from thence every man a stone on your
shoulders, according to the number of the children of Israel,

4:6. That it may be a sign among you: and when your children shall ask
you tomorrow, saying: What means these stones?

4:7. You shall answer them: The waters of the Jordan ran off before the
ark of the covenant of the Lord when it passed over the same: therefore
were these stones set for a monument of the children of Israel forever.

4:8. The children of Israel therefore did as Josue commanded them,
carrying out of the channel of the Jordan twelve stones, as the Lord
had commanded him according to the number of the children of Israel
unto the place wherein they camped, and there they set them.

4:9. And Josue put other twelve stones in the midst of the channel of
the Jordan, where the priests stood that carried the ark of the
covenant: and they are there until this present day.

4:10. Now the priests that carried the ark, stood in the midst of the
Jordan, till all things were accomplished, which the Lord had commanded
Josue to speak to the people, and Moses had said to him. And the people
made haste, and passed over.

4:11. And when they had all passed over, the ark also of the Lord
passed over, and the priests went before the people.

4:12. The children of Ruben also, and Gad, and half the tribe of
Manasses, went armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had
commanded them.

4:13. And forty thousand fighting men by their troops and bands,
marched through the plains and fields of the city of Jericho.

4:14. In that day the Lord magnified Josue in the sight of all Israel,
that they should fear him, as they had feared Moses, while he lived.

4:15. And he said to him:

4:16. Command the priests, that carry the ark of the covenant, to come
up out of the Jordan.

4:17. And he commanded them, saying: Come ye up out of the Jordan.

4:18. And when they that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord,
were come up, and began to tread on the dry ground, the waters returned
into their channel, and ran as they were wont before.

4:19. And the people came up out of the Jordan, the tenth day of the
first month, and camped in Galgal, over against the east side of the
city of Jericho.

4:20. And the twelve stones, which they had taken out of the channel of
the Jordan, Josue pitched in Galgal,

4:21. And said to the children of Israel: When your children shall ask
their fathers tomorrow, and shall say to them: What mean these stones?

4:22. You shall teach them, and say: Israel passed over this Jordan
through the dry channel,

4:23. The Lord your God drying up the waters thereof in your sight,
until you passed over:

4:24. As he had done before in the Red Sea, which he dried up till we
passed through:

4:25. That all the people of the earth may learn the most mighty hand
of the Lord, that you also may fear the Lord your God for ever.

Josue Chapter 5

The people are circumcised: they keep the pasch. The manna ceaseth. An
angel appeareth to Josue.

5:1. Now when all the kings of the Amorrhites, who dwelt beyond the
Jordan, westward, and all the kings of Chanaan, who possessed the
places near the great sea, had heard that the Lord had dried up the
waters of the Jordan before the children of Israel, till they passed
over, their heart failed them, and there remained no spirit in them,
fearing the coming in of the children of Israel.

5:2. At that time the Lord said to Josue: Make thee knives of stone,
and circumcise the second time the children of Israel.

The second time. . .Not that such as had been circumcised before were to
be circumcised again; but that they were now to renew, and take up
again the practice of circumcision; which had been omitted during their
forty years' sojourning in the wilderness; by reason of their being
always uncertain when they should be obliged to march.

5:3. He did what the Lord had commanded, and he circumcised the
children of Israel in the hill of the foreskins.

5:4. Now this is the cause of the second circumcision: All the people
that came out of Egypt that were males, all the men fit for war, died
in the desert, during the time of the long going about in the way:

5:6. Now these were all circumcised. But the people that were born in
the desert,

5:6. During the forty years of the journey in the wide wilderness, were
uncircumcised: till all they were consumed that had not heard the voice
of the Lord, and to whom he had sworn before, that he would not shew
them the land flowing with milk and honey.

5:7. The children of these succeeded in the place of their fathers, and
were circumcised by Josue: for they were uncircumcised even as they
were born, and no one had circumcised them in the way.

5:8. Now after they were all circumcised, they remained in the same
place of the camp, until they were healed.

5:9. And the Lord said to Josue: This day have I taken away from you
the reproach of Egypt. And the name of that place was called Galgal,
until this present day.

5:10. And the children of Israel abode in Galgal, and they kept the
phase, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, in the plains of
Jericho:

5:11. And they ate on the next day unleavened bread of the corn of the
land, and frumenty of the same year.

5:12. And the manna ceased after they ate of the corn of the land,
neither did the children of Israel use that food any more, but they ate
of the corn of the present year of the land of Chanaan.

5:13. And when Josue was in the field of the city of Jericho, he lifted
up his eyes, and saw a man standing over against him, holding a drawn
sword, and he went to him, and said: Art thou one of ours, or of our
adversaries?

5:14. And he answered: No: but I am prince of the host of the Lord, and
now I am come.

Prince of the host of the Lord, etc. . .St. Michael, who is called
prince of the people of Israel, Dan. 10.21.

5:15. Josue fell on his face to the ground. And worshipping, said: What
saith my lord to his servant?

Worshipping. . .Not with divine honour, but with a religious veneration
of an inferior kind, suitable to the dignity of his person.

5:16. Loose, saith he, thy shoes from off thy feet: for the place
whereon thou standest is holy. And Josue did as was commanded him.

Josue Chapter 6

After seven days' processions, the priests sounding the trumpets, the
walls of Jericho fall down: and the city is taken and destroyed.

6:1. Now Jericho was close shut up and fenced, for fear of the children
of Israel, and no man durst go out or come in.

6:2. And the Lord said to Josue: Behold I have given into thy hands
Jericho, and the king thereof, and all the valiant men.

6:3. Go round about the city all ye fighting men once a day: so shall
ye do for six days.

6:4. And on the seventh day the priests shall take the seven trumpets,
which are used in the jubilee, and shall go before the ark of the
covenant: and you shall go about the city seven times, and the priests
shall sound the trumpets.

6:5. And when the voice of the trumpet shall give a longer and broken
tune, and shall sound in your ears, all the people shall shout together
with a very great shout, and the walls of the city shall fall to the
ground, and they shall enter in every one at the place against which
they shall stand.

6:6. Then Josue, the son of Nun, called the priests, and said to them:
Take the ark of the covenant: and let seven other priests take the
seven trumpets of the jubilee, and march before the ark of the Lord.

6:7. And he said to the people: Go, and compass the city, armed,
marching before the ark of the Lord.

6:8. And when Josue had ended his words, and the seven priests blew the
seven trumpets before the ark of the covenant of the Lord,

6:9. And all the armed men went before, the rest of the common people
followed the ark, and the sound of the trumpets was heard on all sides.

6:10. But Josue had commanded the people, saying: You shall not shout,
nor shall your voice be heard, nor any word go out of your mouth: until
the day come wherein I shall say to you: Cry, and shout.

6:11. So the ark of the Lord went about the city once a day, and
returning into the camp, abode there.

6:12. And Josue rising before day, the priests took the ark of the
Lord,

6:13. And seven of them seven trumpets, which are used in the jubilee:
and they went before the ark of the Lord, walking and sounding the
trumpets: and the armed men went before them, and the rest of the
common people followed the ark, and they blew the trumpets.

6:14. And they went round about the city the second day once, and
returned into the camp. So they did six days.

6:15. But the seventh day, rising up early, they went about the city,
as it was ordered, seven times.

6:16. And when in the seventh going about the priests sounded with the
trumpets, Josue said to all Israel: Shout: for the Lord hath delivered
the city to you:

6:17. And let this city be an anathema, and all things that are in it,
to the Lord. Let only Rahab, the harlot, live, with all that are with
her in the house: for she hid the messengers whom we sent.

6:18. But beware ye lest you touch ought of those things that are
forbidden, and you be guilty of transgression, and all the camp of
Israel be under sin, and be troubled.

6:19. But whatsoever gold or silver there shall be, or vessels of brass
and iron, let it be consecrated to the Lord, laid up in his treasures.

6:20. So all the people making a shout, and the trumpets sounding, when
the voice and the sound thundered in the ears of the multitude, the
walls forthwith fell down: and every man went up by the place that was
over against him: and they took the city,

6:21. And killed all that were in it, man and woman, young and old. The
oxen also, and the sheep, and the asses, they slew with the edge of the
sword.

6:22. But Josue said to the two men that had been sent for spies: Go
into the harlot's house, and bring her out, and all things that are
hers, as you assured her by oath.

6:23. And the young men went in, and brought out Rahab, and her
parents, her brethren also, and all her goods, and her kindred, and
made them to stay without the camp.

6:24. But they burned the city, and all things that were therein;
except the gold and silver, and vessels of brass and iron, which they
consecrated unto the treasury of the Lord. _

6:25. But Josue saved Rahab the harlot, and her father's house, and all
she had, and they dwelt in the midst of Israel until this present day:
because she hid the messengers whom he had sent to spy out Jericho. At
that time, Josue made an imprecation, saying:

6:26. Cursed be the man before the Lord, that shall raise up and build
the city of Jericho. In his firstborn may he lay the foundation
thereof, and in the last of his children set up its gates.

Cursed, etc. . .Jericho, in the mystical sense, signifies iniquity: the
sounding of the trumpets by the priests, the preaching of the word of
God; by which the walls of Jericho are thrown down, when sinners are
converted; and a dreadful curse will light on them who build them up
again.

6:27. And the Lord was with Josue, and his name was noised throughout
all the land

Josue Chapter 7

For the sins of Achan, the Israelites are defeated at Hai. The offender
is found out; and stoned to death, and God's wrath is turned from them.

7:1. But the children of Israel transgressed the commandment, and took
to their own use of that which was accursed. For Achan, the son of
Charmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zare, of the tribe of Juda, took
something of the anathema: and the Lord was angry against the children
of Israel.

7:2. And when Josue sent men from Jericho against Hai, which is beside
Bethaven, on the east side of the town of Bethel, he said to them: Go
up, and view the country: and they fulfilled his command, and viewed
Hai.

7:3. And returning, they said to him: Let not all the people go up, but
let two or three thousand men go, and destroy the city: why should all
the people be troubled in vain, against enemies that are very few?

7:4. There went up therefore three thousand fighting men: who
immediately turned their backs,

7:5. And were defeated by the men of the city of Hai, and there fell of
them six and thirty men: and the enemies pursued them from the gate as
far as Sabarim, and they slew them as they fled by the descent: and the
heart of the people was struck with fear, and melted like water.

7:6. But Josue rent his garments, and fell flat on the ground, before
the ark of the Lord, until the evening, both he and all the ancients of
Israel: and they put dust upon their heads.

7:7. And Josue said: Alas, O Lord God, why wouldst thou bring this
people over the river Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the
Amorrhite, and to destroy us? would God we had stayed beyond the
Jordan, as we began.

7:8. My Lord God, what shall I say, seeing Israel turning their backs
to their enemies?

7:9. The Chanaanites, and all the inhabitants of the land, will hear of
it, and being gathered together will surround us, and cut off our name
from the earth: and what wilt thou do to thy great name?

7:10. And the Lord said to Josue: Arise, why liest thou flat on the
ground?

7:11. Israel hath sinned, and transgressed my covenant: and they have
taken of the anathema, and have stolen and lied, and have hid it among
their goods.

7:12. Neither can Israel stand before his enemies, but he shall flee
from them: because he is defiled with the anathema. I will be no more
with you, till you destroy him that is guilty of this wickedness.

7:13. Arise, sanctify the people, and say to them: Be ye sanctified
against tomorrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel: The curse is
in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thy
enemies, till he be destroyed out of thee, that is defiled with this
wickedness.

7:14. And you shall come in the morning, every one by your tribes: and
what tribe soever the lot shall find, it shall come by its kindreds,
and the kindred by its houses and tho house by the men.

7:15. And whosoever he be that shall be found guilty of this fact, he
shall be burnt with fire, with all his substance, because he hath
transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and hath done wickedness in
Israel.

7:16. Josue, therefore, when he rose in the morning, made Israel to
come by their tribes, and the tribe of Juda was found.

7:17. Which being brought by in families, it was found to be the family
of Zare. Bringing that also by the houses, he found it to be Zabdi:

7:18. And bringing his house man by man, he found Achan, the son of
Charmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zare, of the tribe of Juda.

7:19. And Josue said to Achan: My son, give glory to the Lord God of
Israel, and confess, and tell me what thou hast done, hide it not.

7:20. And Achan answered Josue, and said to him: Indeed I have sinned
against the Lord, the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done.

7:21. For I saw among the spoils a scarlet garment, exceeding good, and
two hundred sicles of silver, and a golden rule of fifty sicles: and I
coveted them, and I took them away, and hid them in the ground in the
midst of my tent, and the silver I covered with the earth that I dug
up.

7:22. Josue therefore sent ministers: who running to his tent, found
all hid in the same place, together with the silver.

7:23. And taking them away out of the tent, they brought them to Josue,
and to all the children of Israel, and threw them down before the Lord.

7:24. Then Josue, and all Israel with him, took Achan, the son of Zare,
and the silver, and the garment, and the golden rule, his sons also,
and his daughters, his oxen, and asses, and sheep, the tent also, and
all the goods: and brought them to the valley of Achor:

His sons, etc. . .Probably conscious to, or accomplices of, the crime of
their father.

7:25. Where Josue said: Because thou hast troubled us, the Lord trouble
thee this day. And all Israel stoned him: and all things that were his,
were consumed with fire.

7:26. And they gathered together upon him a great heap of stones, which
remaineth until this present day And the wrath of the Lord was turned
away from them. And the name of that place was called the Valley of
Achor, until this day.

Achor. . .That is, trouble.

Josue Chapter 8

Hai is taken and burnt, and all the inhabitants slain. An altar is
built, and sacrifices offered. The law is written on stones, and the
blessings and cursings are read before all the people.

8:1. And the Lord said to Josue: Fear not, nor be thou dismayed: take
with thee all the multitude of fighting men, arise, and go up to the
town of Hai: Behold I have delivered into thy hand the king thereof,
and the people, and the city, and the land.

8:2. And thou shalt do to the city of Hai, and to the king thereof, as
thou hast done to Jericho, and to the king thereof: but the spoils, and
all the cattle, you shall take for a prey to yourselves: lay an ambush
for the city behind it.

8:3. And Josue arose, and all the army of the fighting men with him, to
go up against Hai: and he sent thirty thousand chosen valiant men in
the night,

8:4. And commanded them, saying: Lay an ambush behind the city: and go
not very far from it: and be ye all ready.

8:5. But I, and the rest of the multitude which is with me, will
approach on the contrary side against the city. And when they shall
come out against us, we will flee, and turn our backs, as we did
before:

8:6. Till they pursuing us be drawn farther from the city: for they
will think that we flee as before.

8:7. And whilst we are fleeing, and they pursuing, you shall rise out
of the ambush, and shall destroy the city: and the Lord your God will
deliver it into your hands.

8:8. And when you shall have taken it, set it on fire, and you shall do
all things so as I have commanded.

8:9. And he sent them away, and they went on to the place of the
ambush, and abode between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the city
of Hai. But Josue staid that night in the midst of the people,

8:10. And rising early in the morning, he mustered his soldiers, and
went up with the ancients in the front of the army, environed with the
aid of the fighting men.

8:11. And when they were come, and were gone up over against the city,
they stood on the north side of the city, between which and them there
was a valley in the midst.

8:12. And he had chosen five thousand men, and set them to lie in
ambush between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the same city:

Five thousand. . .These were part of the thirty thousand mentioned
above, ver. 3.

8:13. But all the rest of the army went in battle array on the north
side, so that the last of that multitude reached to the west side of
the city. So Josue went that night, and stood in the midst of the
valley.

8:14. And when the king of Hai saw this, he made haste in the morning,
and went out with all the army of the city, and set it in battle array,
toward the desert, not knowing that there lay an ambush behind his
back.

8:15. But Josue, and all Israel gave back, making as if they were
afraid, and fleeing by the way of the wilderness.

8:16. But they shouting together, and encouraging one another, pursued
them. And when they were come from the city,

8:17. And not one remained in the city of Hai and of Bethel, that did
not pursue after Israel, leaving the towns open as they had rushed out,

8:18. The Lord said to Josue: Lift up the shield that is in thy hand,
towards the city of Hai, for I will deliver it to thee.

8:19. And when he had lifted up his shield towards the city, the
ambush, that lay hid, rose up immediately: and going to the city, took
it, and set it on fire.

8:20. And the men of the city, that pursued after Josue, looking back,
and seeing the smoke of the city rise up to heaven, had no more power
to flee this way or that way: especially as they that had counterfeited
flight, and were going toward the wilderness, turned back most
valiantly against them that pursued.

8:21. So Josue, and all Israel, seeing that the city was taken, and
that the smoke of the city rose up, returned, and slew the men of Hai.

8:22. And they also that had taken and set the city on fire, issuing
out of the city to meet their own men, began to cut off the enemies who
were surrounded by them. So that the enemies being cut off on both
sides, not one of so great a multitude was saved.

8:23. And they took the king of the city of Hai alive and brought him
to Josue.

8:24. So all being slain that had pursued after Israel, in his flight
to the wilderness, and falling by the sword in the same place, the
children of Israel returned and laid waste the city.

8:25. And the number of them that fell that day, both of men and women,
was twelve thousand persons, all of the city of Hai.

8:26. But Josue drew not back his hand, which he had stretched out on
high, holding the shield, till all the inhabitants of Hai were slain.

8:27. And the children of Israel divided among them, the cattle and the
prey of the city, as the Lord had commanded Josue.

8:28. And he burnt the city, and made it a heap forever:

8:29. And he hung the king thereof on a gibbet, until the evening and
the going down of the sun. Then Josue commanded, and they took down his
carcass from the gibbet: and threw it in the very entrance of the city,
heaping upon it a great heap of stones, which remaineth until this
present day.

8:30. Then Josue built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, in
Mount Hebal,

8:31. As Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the children of
Israel, and it is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of
unhewn stones, which iron had not touched: and he offered upon it
holocausts to the Lord, and immolated victims of peace offerings.

8:32. And he wrote upon stones, the Deuteronomy of the law of Moses,
which he had ordered before the children of Israel.

8:33. And all the people, and the ancients, and the princes, and
judges, stood on both sides of the ark, before the priests that carried
the ark of the covenant of the Lord, both the stranger and he that was
born among them, half of them by Mount Garizim, and half by Mount
Hebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord, had commanded. And first he
blessed the people of Israel.

8:34. After this, he read all the words of the blessing and the
cursing, and all things that were written in the book of the law.

8:35. He left out nothing of those things which Moses had commanded,
but he repeated all before all the people of Israel, with the women and
children, and strangers, that dwelt among them.

Josue Chapter 9

Josue is deceived by the Gabaonites: who being detected are condemned
to be perpetual servants.

9:1. Now when these things were heard of, all the kings beyond the
Jordan, that dwelt in the mountains, and in the plains, in the places
near the sea, and on the coasts of the great sea, they also that dwell
by Libanus, the Hethite, and the Amorrhite, the Chanaanite, the
Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite,

9:2. Gathered themselves together, to fight against Josue and Israel
with one mind, and one resolution.

9:3. But they that dwelt in Gabaon, hearing all that Josue had done to
Jericho and Hai:

9:4. Cunningly devising took for themselves provisions, laying old
sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles rent and sewed up again,

9:5. And very old shoes, which for a show of age were clouted with
patches, and old garments upon them: the loaves also, which they
carried for provisions by the way, were hard, and broken into pieces:

9:6. And they went to Josue, who then abode in the camp at Galgal, and
said to him, and to all Israel with him: We are come from a far
country, desiring to make peace with you. And the children of Israel
answered them, and said:

9:7. Perhaps you dwell in the land which falls to our lot; if so, we
can make no league with you.

9:8. But they said to Josue: We are thy servants. Josue said to them:
Who are you? and whence came you?

9:9. They answered: From a very far country thy servants are come in
the name of the Lord thy God. For we have heard the fame of his power,
all the things that he did in Egypt.

9:10. And to the two kings of the Amorrhites, that were beyond the
Jordan, Sehon, king of Hesebon, and Og, king of Basan, that was in
Astaroth:

9:11. And our ancients, and all the inhabitants of our country, said to
us: Take with you victuals for a long way, and go meet them, and say:
We are your servants, make ye a league with us.

9:12. Behold, these loaves we took hot, when we set out from our houses
to come to you, now they are become dry, and broken in pieces by being
exceeding old.

9:13. These bottles of wine when we filled them were new, now they are
rent and burst. These garments we have on, and the shoes we have on our
feet, by reason of the very long journey, are worn out, and almost
consumed.

9:14. They took therefore of their victuals, and consulted not the
mouth of the Lord.

9:15. And Josue made peace with them, and entering into a league,
promised that they should not be slain: the princes also of the
multitude swore to them.

9:16. Now three days after the league was made, they heard that they
dwelt nigh, and they should be among them.

9:17. And the children of Israel removed the camp, and came into their
cities on the third day, the names of which are, Gabaon, and Caphira,
and Beroth, and Cariathiarim.

9:18. And they slew them not, because the princes of the multitude had
sworn in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the common
people murmured against the princes.

9:19. And they answered them: We have sworn to them in the name of the
Lord, the God of Israel, and therefore we may not touch them.

9:20. But this we will do to them: Let their lives be saved, lest the
wrath of the Lord be stirred up against us, if we should be forsworn:

9:21. But so let them live, as to serve the whole multitude in hewing
wood, and bringing in water. As they were speaking these things,

9;22. Josue called the Gabaonites, and said to them: Why would you
impose upon us, saying: We dwell very far off from you, whereas you are
in the midst of us?

9:23. Therefore you shall be under a curse, and your race shall always
be hewers of wood, and carriers of water, into the house of my God.

9:24. They answered: It was told us, thy servants, that the Lord thy
God had promised his servant Moses, to give you all the land, and to
destroy all the inhabitants thereof. Therefore we feared exceedingly
and provided for our lives, compelled by the dread we had of you, and
we took this counsel.

9:25. And now we are in thy hand: deal with us as it seemeth good and
right unto thee.

9:26. So Josue did as he had said, and delivered them from the hand of
the children of Israel, that they should not be slain.

9:27. And he gave orders in that day, that they should be in the
service of all the people, and of the altar of the Lord, hewing wood,
and carrying water, until this present time, in the place which the
Lord hath chosen.

Josue Chapter 10

Five kings war against Gabaon. Josue defeateth them: many are slain
with hailstones. At the prayer of Josue the sun and moon stand still
the space of one day. The five kings are hanged. Divers cities are
taken.

10:1. When Adonisedec, king of Jerusalem, had heard these things, to
wit, that Josue had taken Hai, and had destroyed it, (for as he had
done to Jericho and the king thereof, so did he to Hai and its king)
and that the Gabaonites were gone over to Israel, and were their
confederates,

10:2. He was exceedingly afraid. For Gabaon was a great city, and one
of the royal cities, and greater than the town of Hai, and all its
fighting men were most valiant.

10:3. Therefore Adonisedec, king of Jerusalem, sent to Oham, king of
Hebron, and to Pharam, king of Jerimoth, and to Japhia, king of Lachis,
and to Dabir, king of Eglon, saying:

10:4. Come up to me, and bring help, that we may take Gabaon, because
it hath gone over to Josue, and to the children of Israel.

10:5. So the five kings of the Amorrhites being assembled together,
went up: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of
Jerimoth, the king of Lachis, the king of Eglon, they and their armies,
and camped about Gabaon, laying siege to it.

10:6. But the inhabitants of the city of Gabaon, which was besieged,
sent to Josue, who then abode in the camp at Galgal, and said to him:
Withdraw not thy hands from helping thy servants: come up quickly, and
save us, and bring us succour: for all the kings of the Amorrhites, who
dwell in the mountains, are gathered together against us.

10:7. And Josue went up from Galgal, and all the army of the warriors
with him, most valiant men.

10:8. But the Lord said to Josue: Fear them not: for I have delivered
them into thy hands: none of them shall be able to stand against thee.

10:9. So Josue going up from Galgal all the night, came upon them
suddenly.

10:10. And the Lord troubled them, at the sight of Israel: and he slew
them with a great slaughter, in Gabaon, and pursued them by the way of
the ascent to Bethoron, and cut them off all the way to Azeca and
Maceda.

10:11. And when they were fleeing from the children of Israel, and were
in the descent of Bethoron, the Lord cast down upon them great stones
from heaven, as far as Azeca: and many more were killed with the
hailstones, than were slain by the swords of the children of Israel,

10:12. Then Josue spoke to the Lord, in the day that he delivered the
Amorrhite in the sight of the children of Israel, and he said before
them: Move not, O sun, toward Gabaon, nor thou, O moon, toward the
valley of Ajalon.

10:13. And the sun and the moon stood still, till the people revenged
themselves of their enemies. Is not this written in the book of the
just? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to
go down the space of one day.

The book of the just. . .In Hebrew Jasher: an ancient book long since
lost.

10:14. There was not before, nor after, so long a day, the Lord obeying
the voice of a man, and fighting for Israel.

10:15. And Josue returned, with all Israel, into the camp of Galgal.

10:16. For the five kings were fled, and had hid themselves in a cave
of the city of Maceda.

10:17. And it was told Josue, that the five kings were found hid in a
cave of the city of Maceda.

10:18. And he commanded them that were with him, saying: Roll great
stones to the mouth of the cave, and set careful men to keep them shut
up:

10:19. And stay you not, but pursue after the enemies, and kill all the
hindermost of them as they flee, and do not suffer them whom the Lord
God hath delivered into your hands, to shelter themselves in their
cities.

10:20. So the enemies being slain with a great slaughter, and almost
utterly consumed, they that were able to escape from Israel, entered
into fenced cities.

10:21. And all the army returned to Josue, in Maceda, where the camp
then was, in good health, and without the loss of any one: and no man
durst move his tongue against the children of Israel.

10:22. And Josue gave orders, saying: Open the mouth of the cave, and
bring forth to me the five kings that lie hid therein.

10:23. And the ministers did as they were commanded: and they brought
out to him the five kings out of the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the
king of Hebron, the king of Jerimoth, the king of Lachis, the king of
Eglon.

10:24. And when they were brought out to him, he called all the men of
Israel, and said to the chiefs of the army that were with him: Go, and
set your feet on the necks of these kings. And when they had gone, and
put their feet upon the necks of them lying under them,

10:25. He said again to them: Fear not, neither be ye dismayed, take
courage, and be strong: for so will the Lord do to all your enemies,
against whom you fight.

10:26. And Josue struck, and slew them, and hanged them upon five
gibbets; and they hung until the evening.

10:27. And when the sun was down, he commanded the soldiers to take
them down from the gibbets. And after they were taken down, they cast
them into the cave, where they had lain hid, and put great stones at
the mouth thereof, which remain until this day.

10:28. The same day Josue took Maceda, and destroyed it with the edge
of the sword, and killed the king and all the inhabitants thereof: he
left not in it the least remains. And he did to the king of Maceda, as
he had done to the king of Jericho.

10:29. And he passed from Maceda with all Israel to Lebna, and fought
against it:

10:30. And the Lord delivered it with the king thereof into the hands
of Israel: and they destroyed the city with the edge of the sword, and
all the inhabitants thereof. They left not in it any remains. And they
did to the king of Lebna, as they had done to the king of Jericho.

10:31. From Lebna he passed unto Lachis, with all Israel: and investing
it with his army, besieged it.

10:32. And the Lord delivered Lachis into the hands of Israel, and he
took it the following day, and put it to the sword, and every soul that
was in it, as he had done to Lebna.

10:33. At that time Horam, king of Gazer, came up to succour Lachis:
and Josue slew him with all his people so as to leave none alive.

10:34. And he passed from Lachis to Eglon, and surrounded it,

10:35. And took it the same day: and put to the sword all the souls
that were in it, according to all that he had done to Lachis.

10:36. He went up also with all Israel from Eglon to Hebron, and fought
against it:

10:37. Took it, and destroyed it with the edge of the sword: the king
also thereof, and all the towns of that country, and all the souls that
dwelt in it: he left not therein any remains: as he had done to Eglon,
so did he also to Hebron, putting to the sword all that he found in it.

The king. . .Viz., the new king, who succeeded him that was slain, ver.
26.

10:38. Returning from thence to Dabir,

10:39. He took it, and destroyed it: the king also thereof, and all the
towns round about, he destroyed with the edge of the sword: he left not
in it any remains: as he had done to Hebron and Lebna, and to their
kings, so did he to Dabir, and to the king thereof.

10:40. So Josue conquered all the country of the hills, and of the
south, and of the plain, and of Asedoth, with their kings: he left not
any remains therein, but slew all that breathed, as the Lord, the God
of Israel, had commanded him.

Any remains therein, but slew, etc. . .God ordered these people to be
utterly destroyed, in punishment of their manifold abomination; and
that they might not draw the Israelites into the like sins.

10:41. From Cadesbarne even to Gaza. All the land of Gosen even to
Gabaon,

10:42. And all their kings, and their lands he took and wasted at one
onset: for the Lord the God of Israel fought for him.

10:43. And he returned with all Israel to the place of the camp in
Galgal.

Josue Chapter 11

The kings of the north are overthrown: the whole country is taken.

11:1. And when Jabin king of Asor had heard these things, he sent to
Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Semeron, and to the king of
Achsaph:

11:2. And to the kings of the north, that dwelt in the mountains and in
the plains over against the south side of Ceneroth, and in the levels
and the countries of Dor by the sea side:

11:3. To the Chanaanites also on the east and on the west, and the
Amorrhite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Jebusite in the
mountains: to the Hevite also who dwelt at the foot of Hermon in the
land of Maspha.

11:4. And they all came out with their troops, a people exceeding
numerous as the sand that is on the sea shore, their horses also and
chariots a very great multitude,

11:5. And all these kings assembled together at the waters of Merom, to
fight against Israel.

11:6. And the Lord said to Josue: Fear them not: for to morrow at this
same hour I will deliver all these to be slain in the sight of Israel:
thou shalt hamstring their horses, and thou shalt burn their chariots
with fire.

Hamstring their horses, and burn their chariots with fire, etc. . .God
so ordained, that his people might not trust in chariots and horses,
but in him.

11:7. And Josue came, and all the army with him, against them to the
waters of Merom on a sudden, and fell upon them.

11:8. And the Lord delivered them into the hands of Israel. And they
defeated them, and chased them as far as the great Sidon and the waters
of Maserophot, and the field of Masphe, which is on the east thereof.
He slew them all, so as to leave no remains of them:

11:9. And he did as the Lord had commanded him, he hamstringed their
horses and burned their chariots.

11:10. And presently turning back he took Asor: and slew the king
thereof with the sword. Now Asor of old was the head of all these
kingdoms.

11:11. And he cut off all the souls that abode there: he left not in it
any remains, but utterly destroyed all, and burned the city itself with
fire.

11:12. And he took and put to the sword and destroyed all the cities
round about, and their kings, as Moses the servant of God had commanded
him.

11:13. Except the cities that were on hills and high places, the rest
Israel burned: only Asor that was very strong he consumed with fire.

11:14. And the children of Israel divided among themselves all the
spoil of these cities and the cattle, killing all the men.

11:15. As the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses
command Josue, and he accomplished all: he left not one thing undone of
all the commandments which the Lord had commanded Moses.

11:16. So Josue took all the country of the hills, and of the south,
and the land of Gosen, and the plains and the west country, and the
mountain of Israel, and the plains thereof:

11:17. And part of the mountain that goeth up to Seir as far as
Baalgad, by the plain of Libanus under mount Hermon: all their kings he
took, smote and slew.

11:18. Josue made war a long time against these kings.

A long time. . .Seven years, as appears from chap. 14.10.

11:19. There was not a city that delivered itself to the children of
Israel, except the Hevite, who dwelt in Gabaon: for he took all by
fight.

11:20. For it was the sentence of the Lord, that their hearts should be
hardened, and they should fight against Israel, and fall, and should
not deserve any clemency, and should be destroyed as the Lord had
commanded Moses.

Hardened. . .This hardening of their hearts, was their having no thought
of yielding or submitting: which was a sentence or judgment of God upon
them in punishment of their enormous crimes.

11:21. At that time Josue came and cut off the Enancims from the
mountains, from Hebron, and Dabir, and Anab, and from all the mountain
of Juda and Israel, and destroyed their cities.

11:22. He left not any of the stock of the Enacims, in the land of the
children of Israel: except the cities of Gaza, and Geth, and Azotus, in
which alone they were left.

11:23. So Josue took all the land, as the Lord spoke to Moses, and
delivered it in possession to the children of Israel, according to
their divisions and tribes. And the land rested from wars.

Josue Chapter 12

A list of the kings slain by Moses and Josue,

Back to Full Books