Chapter 31

34:23. Of the children of Joseph of the tribe of Manasses, Hanniel the son of Ephod.

34:24. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Camuel the son of Sephtan.

34:25. Of the tribe of Zabulon, Elisaphan the son of Pharnach.

34:26. Of the tribe of Issachar, Phaltiel the prince, the son of Ozan.

34:27. Of the tribe of Aser, Ahiud the son of Salomi.

34:28. Of the tribe of Nephtali: Phedael the son of Ammiud.

34:29. These are they Whom the Lord hath commanded to divide the land of Chanaan to the children of Israel.

Numbers Chapter 35

Cities are appointed for the Levites. Of which six are to be the cities of refuge.

35:1. And the Lord spoke these things also to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, over against Jericho:

35:2. Command the children of Israel that they give to the Levites out of their possessions,

35:3. Cities to dwell in, and their suburbs round about: that they may abide in the towns, and the suburbs may be for them cattle and beasts:

35:4. Which suburbs shall reach from the walls of the cities outward, a thousand paces on every side:

35:5. Toward the east shall be two thousand cubits: and toward the south in like manner shall be two thousand cubits: toward the sea also, which looketh to the west, shall be the same extent: and the north side shall be bounded with the like limits. And the cities shall be in the midst, and the suburbs without.

35:6. And among the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, six shall be separated for refuge to fugitives, that he who hath shed blood may flee to them: and besides these there shall be other forty-two cities,

35:7. That is, in all forty-eight with their suburbs.

35:8. And of these cities which shall be given out of the possessions of the children of Israel, from them that have more, more shall be taken: and from them that have less, fewer. Each shall give towns to the Levites according to the extent of their inheritance.

35:9. The Lord said to Moses:

35:10. Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When you shall have passed over the Jordan into the land of Chanaan,

35:11. Determine what cities shall be for the refuge of fugitives, who have shed blood against their will.

35:12. And when the fugitive shall be in them, the kinsman of him that is slain may not have power to kill him, until he stand before the multitude, and his cause be judged.

35:13. And of those cities, that are separated for the refuge of fugitives,

35:14. Three shall be beyond the Jordan, and three in the land of Chanaan,

35:15. As well for the children of Israel as for strangers and sojourners, that he may flee to them, who hath shed blood against his will.

35:16. If any man strike with iron, and he die that was struck: he shall be guilty of murder, and he himself shall die.

35:17. If he throw a stone, and he that is struck die: he shall be punished in the same manner.

35:18. If he that is struck with wood die: he shall be revenged by the blood of him that struck him.

35:19. The kinsman of him that was slain, shall kill the murderer: as soon as he apprehendeth him, he shall kill him.

35:20. If through hatred any one push a man, or fling any thing at him with ill design:

35:21. Or being his enemy, strike him with his hand, and he die: the striker shall be guilty of murder: the kinsman of him that was slain as soon as he findeth him, shall kill him.

35:22. But if by chance medley, and without hatred,

35:23. And enmity, he do any of these things,

35:24. And this be proved in the hearing of the people, and the cause be debated between him that struck, and the next of kin:

35:25. The innocent shall be delivered from the hand of the revenger, and shall be brought back by sentence into the city, to which he had fled, and he shall abide there until the death of the high priest, that is anointed with the holy oil.

Until the death, etc... This mystically signified that our deliverance was to be effected by the death of Christ, the high priest and the anointed of God.

35:26. If the murderer be found without the limits of the cities that are appointed for the banished,

35:27. And be struck by him that is the avenger of blood: he shall not be guilty that killed him.

35:28. For the fugitive ought to have stayed in the city until the death of the high priest: and after he is dead, then shall the manslayer return to his own country.

35:29. These things shall be perpetual, and for an ordinance in all your dwellings.

35:30. The murderer shall be punished by witnesses: none shall be condemned upon the evidence of one man.

35:31. You shall not take money of him that is guilty of blood, but he shall die forthwith.

35:32. The banished and fugitives before the death of the high priest may by no means return into their own cities.

35:33. Defile not the land of your habitation, which is stained with the blood of the innocent: neither can it otherwise be expiated, but by his blood that hath shed the blood of another.

35:34. And thus shall your possession be cleansed, myself abiding with you. For I am the Lord that dwell among the children of Israel.

Numbers Chapter 36

That the inheritances may not be alienated from one tribe to another, all are to marry within their own tribes.

36:1. And the princes of the families of Galaad, the son of Machir, the son of Manasses, of the stock of the children of Joseph, came and spoke to Moses before the princes of Israel, and said:

36:2. The Lord hath commanded thee, my lord, that thou shouldst divide the land by lot to the children of Israel, and that thou shouldst give to the daughters of Salphaad our brother the possession due to their father:

36:3. Now if men of another tribe take them to wives, their possession will follow them, and being transferred to another tribe, will be a diminishing of our inheritance.

36:4. And so it shall come to pass, that when the jubilee, the is, the fiftieth year of remission, is come, the distribution made by the lots shall be confounded, and the possession of the one shall pass to the others.

36:5. Moses answered the children of Israel, and said by the command of the Lord: The tribe of the children of Joseph hath spoken rightly.

36:6. And this is the law promulgated by the Lord touching the daughters of Salphaad: Let them marry to whom they will, only so that it be to men of their own tribe.

36:7. Lest the possession of the children of Israel be mingled from tribe to tribe. For all men shall marry wives of their own tribe and kindred:

36:8. And all women shall take husbands of the same tribe: that the inheritance may remain in the families.

36:9. And that the tribes be not mingled one with another, but remain so

36:10. As they were separated by the Lord. And the daughters of Salphaad did as was commanded:

36:11. And Maala, and Thersa, and Hegla, and Melcha, and Noa were married to the sons of their uncle by their father

36:12. Of the family of Manasses, who was the son of Joseph: and the possession that had been allotted to them, remained in the tribe and family of their father.

36:13. These are the commandments and judgment, which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to the children of Israel, in the plains of Moab upon the Jordan over against Jericho.

THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY

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

Deuteronomy Chapter 1

A repetition of what passed at Sinai and Cadesbarne: and of the people's murmuring and their punishment.

1:1. These are the words, which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan, in the plain wilderness, over against the Red Sea, between Pharan and Thophel and Laban and Haseroth, where there is very much gold.

1:2. Eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir to Cadesbarne.

1:3. In the fortieth year, the eleventh month, the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel all that the Lord had commanded him to say to them:

1:4. After that he had slain Sehon king of the Amorrhites, who dwelt in Hesebon: and Og king of Basan who abode in Astaroth, and in Edrai,

1:5. Beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab. And Moses began to expound the law, and to say:

1:6. The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: You have stayed long enough in this mountain:

1:7. Turn you, and come to the mountain of the Amorrhites, and to the other places that are next to it, the plains and the hills and the vales towards the south, and by the sea shore, the land of the Chanaanites, and of Libanus, as far as the great river Euphrates.

1:8. Behold, said he, I have delivered it to you: go in and possess it, concerning which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give it to them, and to their seed after them.

1:9. And I said to you at that time:

1:10. I alone am not able to bear you: for the Lord your God hath multiplied you, and you are this day as the stars of heaven, for multitude.

1:11. (The Lord God of your fathers add to this number many thousands, and bless you as he hath spoken.)

1:12. I alone am not able to bear your business, and the charge of you and your differences.

1:13. Let me have from among you wise and understanding men, and such whose conversation is approved among your tribes, that I may appoint them your rulers.

1:14. Then you answered me: The thing is good which thou meanest to do.

1:15. And I took out of your tribes men wise and honourable, and appointed them rulers, tribunes, and centurions, and officers over fifties, and over tens, who might teach you all things.

1:16. And I commanded them, saying: Hear them, and judge that which is just: whether he be one of your country, or a stranger.

1:17. There shall be no difference of persons, you shall hear the little as well as the great: neither shall you respect any man's person, because it is the judgment of God. And if any thing seem hard to you, refer it to me, and I will hear it.

1:18. And I commanded you all things that you were to do.

1:19. And departing from Horeb, we passed through the terrible and vast wilderness, which you saw, by the way of the mountain of the Amorrhite, as the Lord our God had commanded us. And when we were come into Cadesbarne,

1:20. I said to you: You are come to the mountain of the Amorrhite, which the Lord our God will give to us.

1:21. See the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord our God hath spoken to thy fathers: fear not, nor be any way discouraged.

1:22. And you came all to me, and said: Let us send men who may view the land, and bring us word what way we shall go up, and to what cities we shall go.

1:23. And because the saying pleased me, I sent of you twelve men, one of every tribe:

1:24. Who, when they had set forward and had gone up to the mountains, came as far as the valley of the cluster: and having viewed the land,

1:25. Taking of the fruits thereof, to shew its fertility, they brought them to us, and said: The land is good, which the Lord our God will give us.

1:26. And you would not go up, but being incredulous to the word of the Lord our God,

1:27. You murmured in your tents, and said: The Lord hateth us, and therefore he hath brought us out of the land of Egypt, that he might deliver us into the hand of the Amorrhite, and destroy us.

1:28. Whither shall we go up? the messengers have terrified our hearts, saying: The multitude is very great, and taller than we: the cities are great, and walled up to the sky, we have seen the sons of the Enacims there.

Walled up to the sky... A figurative expression, signifying the walls to be very high.

1:29. And I said to you: Fear not, neither be ye afraid of them:

1:30. The Lord God, who is your leader, himself will fight for you, as he did in Egypt in the sight of all.

1:31. And in the wilderness (as thou hast seen) the Lord thy God hath carried thee, as a man is wont to carry his little son, all the way that you have come, until you came to this place.

1:32. And yet for all this you did not believe the Lord your God,

1:33. Who went before you in the way, and marked out the place, wherein you should pitch your tents, in the night shewing you the way by fire, and in the day by the pillar of a cloud.

1:34. And when the Lord had heard the voice of your words, he was angry and swore, and said:

1:35. Not one of the men of this wicked generation shall see the good land, which I promised with an oath to your fathers:

1:36. Except Caleb the son of Jephone: for he shall see it, and to him I will give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath followed the Lord.

1:37. Neither is his indignation against the people to be wondered at, since the Lord was angry with me also on your account, and said: Neither shalt thou go in thither.

1:38. But Josue the son of Nun, thy minister, he shall go in for thee: exhort and encourage him, and he shall divide the land by lot to Israel.

1:39. Your children, of whom you said that they should be led away captives, and your sons who know not this day the difference of good and evil, they shall go in: and to them I will give the land, and they shall possess it.

1:40. But return you and go into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.

1:41. And you answered me: We have sinned against the Lord: we will go up and fight, as the Lord our God hath commanded. And when you went ready armed unto the mountain,

1:42. The Lord said to me: Say to them: Go not up, and fight not, for I am not with you: lest you fall before your enemies.

1:43. I spoke, and you hearkened not: but resisting the commandment of the Lord, and swelling with pride, you went up into the mountain.

1:44. And the Amorrhite that dwelt in the mountains coming out, and meeting you, chased you, as bees do: and made slaughter of you from Seir as far as Horma.

1:45. And when you returned and wept before the Lord, he heard you not, neither would he yield to your voice.

1:46. So you abode in Cadesbarne a long time.

Deuteronomy Chapter 2

They are forbid to fight against the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites. Their victory over Sehon king of Hesebon.

2:1. And departing from thence we came into the wilderness that leadeth to the Red Sea, as the Lord had spoken to me: and we compassed mount Seir a long time.

2:2. And the Lord said to me:

2:3. You have compassed this mountain long enough: go toward the north:

2:4. And command thou the people, saying: You shall pass by the borders of your brethren the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and they will be afraid of you.

2:5. Take ye then good heed that you stir not against them. For I will not give you of their land so much as the step of one foot can tread upon, because I have given mount Seir to Esau, for a possession.

2:6. You shall buy meats of them for money and shall eat: you shall draw waters for money, and shall drink.

2:7. The Lord thy God hath blessed thee in every work of thy hands: the Lord thy God dwelling with thee, knoweth thy journey, how thou hast passed through this great wilderness, for forty years, and thou hast wanted nothing.

2:8. And when we had passed by our brethren the children of Esau, that dwelt in Seir, by the way of the plain from Elath and from Asiongaber, we came to the way that leadeth to the desert of Moab.

2:9. And the Lord said to me: Fight not against the Moabites, neither go to battle against them: for I will not give thee any of their land, because I have given Ar to the children of Lot in possession.

2:10. The Emims first were the inhabitants thereof, a people great, and strong, and so tall, that like the race of the Enacims,

2:11. They were esteemed as giants, and were like the sons of the Enacims. But the Moabites call them Emims.

2:12. The Horrhites also formerly dwelt in Seir: who being driven out and destroyed, the children of Esau dwelt there, as Israel did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave him.

2:13. Then rising up to pass the torrent Zared, we came to it.

2:14. And the time that we journeyed from Cadesbarne till we passed over the torrent Zared, was thirty-eight years: until all the generation of the men that were fit for war was consumed out of the camp, as the Lord had sworn:

2:15. For his hand was against them, that they should perish from the midst of the camp.

2:16. And after all the fighting men were dead,

2:17. The Lord spoke to me, saying:

2:18. Thou shalt pass this day the borders of Moab, the city named Ar:

2:19. And when thou comest nigh the frontiers of the children of Ammon, take heed thou fight not against them, nor once move to battle: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon, because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.

2:20. It was accounted a land of giants: and giants formerly dwelt in it, whom the Ammonites call Zomzommims,

2:21. A people great and many, and of tall stature, like the Enacims whom the Lord destroyed before their face: and he made them to dwell in their stead,

2:22. As he had done in favour of the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir, destroying the Horrhites, and delivering their land to them, which they possess to this day.

2:23. The Hevites also, that dwelt in Haserim as far as Gaza, were expelled by the Cappadocians: who came out of Cappadocia, and destroyed them and dwelt in their stead.

2:24. Arise ye, and pass the torrent Arnon: Behold I have delivered into thy hand Sehon king of Hesebon the Amorrhite, and begin thou to possess his land and make war against him.

2:25. This day will I begin to send the dread and fear of thee upon the nations that dwell under the whole heaven: that when they hear thy name they may fear and tremble, and be in pain like women in travail.

2:26. So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Cademoth to Sehon the king of Hesebon with peaceable words, saying:

2:27. We will pass through thy land, we will go along by the highway: we will not turn aside neither to the right hand nor to the left.

2:28. Sell us meat for money, that we may eat: give us water for money and so we will drink. We only ask that thou wilt let us pass through,

2:29. As the children of Esau have done, that dwell in Seir, and the Moabites, that abide in Ar: until we come to the Jordan, and pass to the land which the Lord our God will give us.

2:30. And Sehon the king of Hesebon would not let us pass: because the Lord thy God had hardened his spirit, and fixed his heart, that he might be delivered into thy hands, as now thou seest.

Hardened, etc... That is, in punishment of his past sins he left him to his own stubborn and perverse disposition, which drew him to his ruin. See the note on Ex. 7.3.

2:31. And the Lord said to me: Behold I have begun to deliver unto thee Sehon and his land, begin to possess it.

2:32. And Sehon came out to meet us with all his people to fight at Jasa.

2:33. And the Lord our God delivered him to us: and we slew him with his sons and all his people.

2:34. And we took all his cities at that time, killing the inhabitants of them, men and women and children. We left nothing of them:

2:35. Except the cattle which came to the share of them that took them: and the spoils of the cities, which we took:

2:36. From Aroer, which is upon the bank of the torrent Arnon, a town that is situate in a valley, as far as Galaad. There was not a village or city, that escaped our hands: the Lord our God delivered all unto us:

2:37. Except the land of the children of Ammon, to which we approached not: and all that border upon the torrent Jeboc, and the cities in the mountains, and all the places which the Lord our God forbade us.

Deuteronomy Chapter 3

The victory over Og king of Basan. Ruben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasses receive their possession on the other side of Jordan.

3:1. Then we turned and went by the way of Basan: and Og the king of Basan came out to meet us with his people to fight in Edrai.

3:2. And the Lord said to me: Fear him not: because he is delivered into thy hand, with all his people and his land: and thou shalt do to him as thou hast done to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that dwelt in Hesebon.

3:3. So the Lord our God delivered into our hands, Og also, the king of Basan, and all his people: and we utterly destroyed them,

3:4. Wasting all his cities at one time, there was not a town that escaped us: sixty cities, all the country of Argob the kingdom of Og in Basan.

3:5. All the cities were fenced with very high walls, and with gates and bars, besides innumerable towns that had no walls.

3:6. And we utterly destroyed them, as we had done to Sehon the king of Hesebon, destroying every city, men and women and children:

3:7. But the cattle and the spoils of the cities we took for our prey.

3:8. And we took at that time the land out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorrhites, that were beyond the Jordan: from the torrent Arnon unto the mount Hermon,

3:9. Which the Sidonians call Sarion, and the Amorrhites Sanir:

3:10. All the cities that are situate in the plain, and all the land of Galaad and Basan as far as Selcha and Edrai, cities of the kingdom of Og in Basan.

3:11. For only Og king of Basan remained of the race of the giants. His bed of iron is shewn, which is in Rabbath of the children of Ammon, being nine cubits long, and four broad after the measure of the cubit of a man's hand.

3:12. And we possessed the land at that time from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the torrent Arnon, unto the half of mount Galaad: and I gave the cities thereof to Ruben and Gad.

3:13. And I delivered the other part of Galaad, and all Basan the kingdom of Og to the half tribe of Manasses, all the country of Argob: and all Basan is called the Land of giants.

3:14. Jair the son of Manasses possessed all the country of Argob unto the borders of Gessuri, and Machati. And he called Basan by his own name, Havoth Jair, that is to say, the towns of Jair, until this present day.

3:15. To Machir also I gave Galaad.

3:16. And to the tribes of Ruben and Gad I gave of the land of Galaad as far as the torrent Arnon, half the torrent, and the confines even unto the torrent Jeboc, which is the border of the children of Ammon:

3:17. And the plain of the wilderness, and the Jordan, and the borders of Cenereth unto the sea of the desert, which is the most salt sea, to the foot of mount Phasga eastward.

3:18. And I commanded you at that time, saying: The Lord your God giveth you this land for an inheritance, go ye well appointed before your brethren the children of Israel, all the strong men of you.

3:19. Leaving your wives and children and cattle. For I know you have much cattle, and they must remain in the cities, which I have delivered to you.

3:20. Until the Lord give rest to your brethren, as he hath given to you: and they also possess the land, which he will give them beyond the Jordan: then shall every man return to his possession, which I have given you.

3:21. I commanded Josue also at that time, saying: Thy eyes have seen what the Lord your God hath done to these two kings: so will he do to all the kingdoms to which thou shalt pass.

3:22. Fear them not: for the Lord your God will fight for you.

3:23. And I besought the Lord at that time, saying:

3:24. Lord God, thou hast begun to shew unto thy servant thy greatness, and most mighty hand, for there is no other God either in heaven or earth, that is able to do thy works, or to be compared to thy strength.

3:25. I will pass over therefore, and will see this excellent land beyond the Jordan, and this goodly mountain, and Libanus.

3:26. And the Lord was angry with me on your account and heard me not, but said to me: It is enough: speak no more to me of this matter.