Chapter 36

Not muzzle, etc. . .St. Paul understands this of the spiritual labourer in the church of God, who is not to be denied his maintenance. 1 Cor. 9.8, 9, 10.

25:5. When brethren dwell together, and one of them dieth without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another: but his brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother:

25:6. And the first son he shall have of her he shall call by his name, that his name be not abolished out of Israel.

25:7. But if he will not take his brother's wife, who by law belongeth to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and call upon the ancients, and say: My husband's brother refuseth to raise up his brother's name in Israel: and will not take me to wife.

25:8. And they shall cause him to be sent for forthwith, and shall ask him. If he answer: I will not take her to wife:

25:9. The woman shall come to him before the ancients, and shall take off his shoe from his foot, and spit in his face, and say: So shall it be done to the man that will not build up his brother's house:

25:10. And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of the unshod.

25:11. If two men have words together, and one begin to fight against the other, and the other's wife willing to deliver her husband out of the hand of the stronger, shall put forth her hand, and take him by the secrets,

25:12. Thou shalt cut off her hand, neither shalt thou be moved with any pity in her regard.

25:13. Thou shalt not have divers weights in thy bag, a greater and a less:

25:14. Neither shall there be in thy house a greater bushel and a less.

25:15. Thou shalt have a just and a true weight, and thy bushel shall be equal and true: that thou mayest live a long time upon the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee.

25:16. For the Lord thy God abhorreth him that doth these things, and he hateth all injustice.

25:17. Remember what Amalec did to thee in the way when thou camest out of Egypt:

Amalec. . .This order for destroying the Amalecites, in the mystical sense, sheweth how hateful they are to God, and what punishments they are to look for from his justice, who attack and discourage his servants when they are but just come out, as it were, of the Egypt of this wicked world and being yet weak and fainthearted, are but beginning their journey to the land of promise.

25:18. How he met thee: and slew the hindmost of the army, who sat down, being weary, when thou wast spent with hunger and labour, and he feared not God.

25:19. Therefore when the Lord thy God shall give thee rest, and shall have subdued all the nations round about in the land which he hath promised thee: thou shalt blot out his name from under heaven. See thou forget it not.

Deuteronomy Chapter 26

The form of words with which the firstfruits and tithes are to be offered. God's covenant.

26:1. And when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee to possess, and hast conquered it, and dwellest in it:

26:2. Thou shalt take the first of all thy fruits, and put them in a basket, and shalt go to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name may be invocated there:

26:3. And thou shalt go to the priest that shall be in those days, and say to him: I profess this day before the Lord thy God, that I am come into the land, for which he swore to our fathers, that he would give it us.

26:4. And the priest taking the basket at thy hand, shall set it before the altar of the Lord thy God:

26:5. And thou shalt speak thus in the sight of the Lord thy God: The Syrian pursued my father, who went down into Egypt, and sojourned there in a very small number, and grew into a nation great and strong and of an infinite multitude.

The Syrian. . .Laban. See Gen. 27.

26:6. And the Egyptians afflicted us, and persecuted us, laying on us most grievous burdens:

26:7. And we cried to the Lord God of our fathers: who heard us, and looked down upon our affliction, and labour, and distress:

26:8. And brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders:

26:9. And brought us into this place, and gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.

26:10. And therefore now I offer the firstfruits of the land which the Lord hath given me. And thou shalt leave them in the sight of the Lord thy God, adoring the Lord thy God.

26:11. And thou shalt feast in all the good things which the Lord thy God hath given thee, and thy house, thou and the Levite, and the stranger that is with thee.

26:12. When thou hast made an end of tithing all thy fruits, in the third year of tithes thou shalt give it to the Levite, and to the stranger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled:

26:13. And thou shalt speak thus in the sight of the Lord thy God: I have taken that which was sanctified out of my house, and I have given it to the Levite, and to the stranger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, as thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments nor forgotten thy precepts.

26:14. I have not eaten of them in my mourning, nor separated them for any uncleanness, nor spent any thing of them in funerals. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done all things as thou hast commanded me.

26:15. Look from thy sanctuary, and thy high habitation of heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou didst swear to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

26:16. This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these commandments and judgments: and to keep and fulfil them with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.

26:17. Thou hast chosen the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways and keep his ceremonies, and precepts, and judgments, and obey his command.

26:18. And the Lord hath chosen thee this day, to be his peculiar people, as he hath spoken to thee, and to keep all his commandments:

26:19. And to make thee higher than all nations which he hath created, to his own praise, and name, and glory: that thou mayst be a holy people of the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken.

Deuteronomy Chapter 27

The commandments must be written on stones: and an altar erected, and sacrifices offered. The observers of the commandments are to be blessed, and the transgressors cursed.

27:1. And Moses with the ancients of Israel commanded the people, saying: Keep every commandment that I command you this day.

27:2. And when you are passed over the Jordan into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, thou shalt set up great stones, and shalt plaster them over with plaster,

27:3. That thou mayst write on them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over the Jordan: that thou mayst enter into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, as he swore to thy fathers.

27:4. Therefore when you are passed over the Jordan, set up the stones which I command you this day, in mount Hebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster:

27:5. And thou shalt build there an altar to the Lord thy God, of stones which iron hath not touched,

27:6. And of stones not fashioned nor polished: and thou shalt offer upon it holocausts to the Lord thy God:

27:7. And shalt immolate peace victims, and eat there, and feast before the Lord thy God.

27:8. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law plainly and clearly.

27:9. And Moses and the priests of the race of Levi said to all Israel: Attend, and hear, O Israel: This day thou art made the people of the Lord thy God:

27:10. Thou shalt hear his voice, and do the commandments and justices which I command thee.

27:11. And Moses commanded the people in that day, saying:

27:12. These shall stand upon mount Garizim to bless the people, when you are passed the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

27:13. And over against them shall stand on mount Hebal to curse: Ruben, Gad, and Aser, and Zabulon, Dan, and Nephtali.

27:14. And the Levites shall pronounce, and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice:

27:15. Cursed be the man that maketh a graven and molten thing, the abomination of the Lord, the work of the hands of artificers, and shall put it in a secret place: and all the people shall answer and say: Amen.

27:16. Cursed be he that honoureth not his father and mother: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:17. Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmarks: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:18. Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of his way: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:19. Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, of the fatherless and the widow: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:20. Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife, and uncovereth his bed: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:21. Cursed be he that lieth with any beast: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:22. Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or of his mother: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:23. Cursed be he that lieth with his mother-in-law: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:24. Cursed be he that secretly killeth his neighbour: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:25. Cursed be he that taketh gifts, to slay an innocent person: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:26. Cursed be he that abideth not in the words of this law, and fulfilleth them not in work: and all the people shall say: Amen.

Deuteronomy Chapter 28

Many blessings are promised to observers of God's commandments: and curses threatened to transgressors.

28:1. Now if thou wilt hear the voice of all his commandments, which I command thee this day, the Lord thy God will make thee higher than all the nations that are on the earth.

28:2. And all these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee: yet so if thou hear his precepts.

All these blessings, etc. . .In the Old Testament, God promised temporal blessings to the keepers of his law, heaven not being opened as yet; and that gross and sensual people being more moved with present and sensible things. But in the New Testament the goods that are promised us are spiritual and eternal; and temporal evils are turned into blessings.

28:3. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed in the field.

28:4. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the droves of thy herds, and the folds of thy sheep.

28:5. Blessed shall be thy barns and blessed thy stores.

28:6. Blessed shalt thou be coming in and going out.

28:7. The Lord shall cause thy enemies, that rise up against thee, to fall down before thy face: one way shall they come out against thee, and seven ways shall they flee before thee.

28:8. The Lord will send forth a blessing upon thy storehouses, and upon all the works of thy hands: and will bless thee in the land that thou shalt receive.

28:9. The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to himself, as he swore to thee: if thou keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.

28:10. And all the people of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is invocated upon thee, and they shall fear thee.

28:11. The Lord will make thee abound with all goods, with the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy cattle, with the fruit of thy land, which the Lord swore to thy fathers that he would give thee.

28:12. The Lord will open his excellent treasure, the heaven, that it may give rain in due season: and he will bless all the works of thy hands. And thou shalt lend to many nations, and shalt not borrow of any one.

28:13. And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail: and thou shalt be always above, and not beneath: yet so if thou wilt hear the commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day, and keep and do them,

28:14. And turn not away from them neither to the right hand, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them.

28:15. But if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep and to do all his commandments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day, all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.

All these curses, etc. . .Thus God dealt with the transgressors of his law in the Old Testament: but now he often suffers sinners to prosper in this world, rewarding them for some little good they have done, and reserving their punishment for the other world.

28:16. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed in the field.

28:17. Cursed shall be thy barn, and cursed thy stores.

28:18. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep.

28:19. Cursed shalt thou be coming in, and cursed going out.

28:20. The Lord shall send upon thee famine and hunger, and a rebuke upon all the works which thou shalt do: until he consume and destroy thee quickly, for thy most wicked inventions, by which thou hast forsaken me.

28:21. May the Lord set the pestilence upon thee, until he consume thee out of the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.

28:22. May the Lord afflict thee with miserable want, with the fever and with cold, with burning and with heat, and with corrupted air and with blasting, and pursue thee till thou perish.

28:23. Be the heaven, that is over thee, of brass: and the ground thou treadest on, of iron.

28:24. The Lord give thee dust for rain upon thy land, and let ashes come down from heaven upon thee, till thou be consumed.

28:25. The Lord make thee to fall down before thy enemies, one way mayst thou go out against them, and flee seven ways, and be scattered throughout all the kingdoms of the earth.

28:26. And be thy carcass meat for all the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the earth, and be there none to drive them away.

28:27. The Lord strike thee with the ulcer of Egypt, and the part of thy body, by which the dung is cast out, with the scab and with the itch: so that thou canst not be healed.

28:28. The Lord strike thee with madness and blindness and fury of mind.

28:29. And mayst thou grope at midday as the blind is wont to grope in the dark, and not make straight thy ways. And mayst thou at all times suffer wrong, and be oppressed with violence, and mayst thou have no one to deliver thee.

28:30. Mayst thou take a wife, and another sleep with her. Mayst thou build a house, and not dwell therein. Mayest thou plant a vineyard and not gather the vintage thereof.

28:31. May thy ox be slain before thee, and thou not eat thereof. May thy ass be taken away in thy sight, and not restored to thee. May thy sheep be given to thy enemies, and may there be none to help thee.

28:32. May thy sons and thy daughters be given to another people, thy eyes looking on, and languishing at the sight of them all the day, and may there be no strength in thy hand.

28:33. May a people which thou knowest not, eat the fruits of thy land, and all thy labours: and mayst thou always suffer oppression, and be crushed at all times.

28:34. And be astonished at the terror of those things which thy eyes shall see:

28:35. May the Lord strike thee with a very sore ulcer in the knees and in the legs, and be thou incurable from the sole of the foot to the top of the head.

28:36. The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king, whom thou shalt have appointed over thee, into a nation which thou and thy fathers know not: and there thou shalt serve strange gods, wood and stone.

28:37. And thou shalt be lost, as a proverb and a byword to all people, among whom the Lord shall bring thee in.

28:38. Thou shalt cast much seed into the ground, and gather little: because the locusts shall consume all.

28:39. Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and dig it, and shalt not drink the wine, nor gather any thing thereof: because it shall be wasted with worms.

28:40. Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy borders, and shalt not be anointed with the oil: for the olives shall fall off and perish.

28:41. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, and shalt not enjoy them: because they shall be led into captivity.

28:42. The blast shall consume all the trees and the fruits of thy ground.

28:43. The stranger that liveth with thee in the land, shall rise up over thee, and shall be higher: and thou shalt go down, and be lower.

28:44. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be as the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

28:45. And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue and overtake thee, till thou perish: because thou heardst not the voice of the Lord thy God, and didst not keep his commandments and ceremonies which he commanded thee.

28:46. And they shall be as signs and wonders on thee, and on thy seed for ever.

28:47. Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things:

28:48. Thou shalt serve thy enemy, whom the Lord will send upon thee, in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put an iron yoke upon thy neck, till he consume thee.

28:49. The Lord will bring upon thee a nation from afar, and from the uttermost ends of the earth, like an eagle that flyeth swiftly, whose tongue thou canst not understand,

28:50. A most insolent nation, that will shew no regard to the ancients, nor have pity on the infant,

28:51. And will devour the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruits of thy land: until thou be destroyed, and will leave thee no wheat, nor wine, nor oil, nor herds of oxen, nor flocks of sheep: until he destroy thee.

28:52. And consume thee in all thy cities, and thy strong and high wall be brought down, wherein thou trustedst in all thy land. Thou shalt be besieged within thy gates in all thy land which the Lord thy God will give thee:

28:53. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thy womb, and the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God shall give thee, in the distress and extremity wherewith thy enemy shall oppress thee.

28:54. The man that is nice among you, and very delicate, shall envy his own brother, and his wife, that lieth in his bosom,

28:55. So that he will not give them of the flesh of his children, which he shall eat: because he hath nothing else in the siege and the want, wherewith thy enemies shall distress thee within all thy gates.

28:56. The tender and delicate woman, that could not go upon the ground, nor set down her foot for over much niceness and tenderness, will envy her husband who lieth in her bosom, the flesh of her son, and of her daughter,

28:57. And the filth of the afterbirths, that come forth from between her thighs, and the children that are born the same hour. For they shall eat them secretly for the want of all things, in the siege and distress, wherewith thy enemy shall oppress thee within thy gates.

28:58. If thou wilt not keep, and fulfil all the words of this law, that are written in this volume, and fear his glorious and terrible name: that is, The Lord thy God:

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,