Chapter 35

When {If} there is strife between men, let them come unto the law, and let the judges justify the righteous and condemn the trespasser. And if the trespasser be worthy of stripes, then let the judge cause to take him down and to beat him before his face according to his trespass, unto a certain number. Forty stripes he shall give him and not pass: lest if he should exceed and beat him above that with many stripes, thy brother should appear ungodly before thine eyes. Thou shalt not muzzle {mosell} the ox that treadeth out the corn. When brethren dwell together and one of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not be given out unto a stranger: but her brotherinlaw shall go in unto her and take her to wife and marry her. And the eldest son which she beareth, shall stond up in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out in Israel. But and if the man will not take his sisterinlaw, then let her go to the gate unto the elders and say: My brotherinlaw refuseth to stir up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not marry me. Then let the elders of his city call unto him and commune with him. If he stond and say: I will not take her, then let his sister-in-law go unto him in the presence of the elders and loose his shoe off his foot and spit in his face and answer and say: So shall it be done unto that man that will not build his brother's house. And his name shall be called in Israel, the unshoed house. If when men strive together, one with another, the wife of the one run to, for to rid her husband out of the hands of him that smiteth him and put forth her hand and take him by the secrets: cut off her hand, and let not thine eye pity her. Thou shalt not have in thy bag two manner weights, a great and a small: neither shalt thou have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and a just measure: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. For all that do such things and all that do unright, are abomination unto the LORD thy God. Remember what Amalech did unto thee by the way after thou camest out of Egypt, he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of you, all that were over laboured and dragged behind, when thou wast fainted and weary, and he feared not God. Therefore when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit and possess: see that thou put out the name of Amalech from under heaven, and forget not.

Chapter .xxvi.

When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit and hast enjoyed it and dwellest therein: take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou hast brought in out of the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee and put it in a maund and go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to make his name dwell there. And thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days and say unto him: I knowledge this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the maund out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God. And thou shalt answer and say before the LORD thy God: The Sirians would have destroyed my father, and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few folk and grew there unto a nation great, mighty and full of people. And the Egyptians vexed us and troubled us, and laded us with cruel bondage. And we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and looked on our adversity, labour and oppression. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm and with great terribleness and with signs and wonders. And he hath brought us into this place and hath given us this land that floweth with milk and honey. And now lo, I have brought the first fruits of the land which the LORD hath given me. And set it before the LORD thy God and worship before the LORD thy God and rejoice over all the good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee and unto thine house, both thou the Levite and the stranger that is among you. When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, the year of tithing: and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, and they have eaten in thy gates and filled them selves. Then say before the LORD thy God: I have brought thee hallowed things out of mine house: and have given them unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow according to all the commandments which thou commandest me: I have not overskipped thy commandments, nor forgotten them. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning nor taken away thereof unto any uncleanness, nor spent thereof about any dead corpse: but have hearkened unto the voice of the LORD my God, and have done after all that he commanded me, look down from thy holy habitation heaven and bless thy people Israel and the land which thou hast given us (as thou swearest unto our fathers) a land that floweth with milk and honey. This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these ordinances and laws. Keep them therefore and do them with all thine heart and all thy soul. Thou hast set up the LORD this day to be thy God and to walk in his ways and to keep his ordinances, his commandments and his laws, and to hearken unto his voice. And the LORD hath set thee up this day, to be a several people unto him (as he hath promised thee) and that thou keep his commandments, and to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, in name and honour: that thou mayst be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath said.

Chapter .xxvij.

And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people saying: keep all the commandments which I command you this day. And when ye be come over Iordan unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, set up great stones and plaster them with plaster, and write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art come over: that thou mayst come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee: a land that floweth with milk and honey, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee. When ye be come over Iordan, see that ye set up these stones which I command you this day in mount Ebal, and plaster them with plaster. And there build unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones and see thou lift up no iron upon them: But thou shalt make the altar of the LORD thy God of rough stones and offer burntofferings thereon unto the LORD thy God. And thou shalt offer peaceofferings and shalt eat there and rejoice before the LORD thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law, manifestly and well. And Moses with the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel saying: take heed and hear Israel, this day thou art become the people of the LORD thy God. Hearken therefore unto the voice of the LORD thy God and do his commandments and his ordinances which I command you this day. And Moses charged the people the same day saying: These shall stond upon mount Grisim to bless the people, when ye are come over Iordan: Simeon, Levi, Iuda, Isachar, Ioseph and BenIamin. And these shall stond upon mount Ebal to curse: Ruben, Gad, Asser, Zabulon, Dan and Nephthali. And the Levites shall begin and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice: Cursed be he that maketh any carved image or image of metal (an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman) and putteth it in a secret place: And all the people shall answer and say Amen. Cursed be he that curseth his father or his mother, and all the people shall say Amen. Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's mark, and all the people shall say Amen. Cursed be he that maketh the blind go out of his way, and all the people shall say Amen. Cursed be he that hindreth the right of the stranger, fatherless and widow, and all the people shall say Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife because he hath opened his father's covering, and all the people shall say Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with any manner beast, and all the people shall say Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with his sister whether she be the daughter of his father or of his mother, and all the people shall say Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with his mother-in-law, and all the people shall say Amen. Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly, and all the people shall say Amen. Cursed be he that taketh a reward to slay innocent blood, and all the people shall say Amen. Cursed be he that maintaineth not all the words of this law to do them, and all the people shall say Amen.

Chapter .xxviij.

If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day. The LORD will set thee on high {an hye} above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee and over take thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the town and blessed in the fields, blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, the fruit of thy ground and the fruit of thy cattle, the fruit of thine oxen, and thy flocks of sheep, blessed shall thine almery be and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be, both when thou goest out, and blessed when thou comest in. The LORD shall smite thine enemies that rise against thee before thy face. They shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. The LORD shall command the blessing to be with thee in thy store houses and in all that thou settest thine hand to, and will bless the in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. The LORD shall make thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee: if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God and walk in his ways. And all nations of the earth shall see that thou art called after the name of the LORD, and they shall be afeared of thee. And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, in the fruit of thy cattle and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, even the heaven, to give rain unto thy land in due season and to bless all the labours of thine hand. And thou shalt lend unto many nations, but shalt not need to borrow thyself. And the LORD shall set thee before and not behind, and thou shalt be above only and not beneath: if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God which I command thee this day to keep and to do them. And see that thou bow not from any of these words which I command thee this day either to the right hand or to the left, that thou wouldest go after strange gods to serve them. But and if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God to keep and to do all his commandments and ordinances which I command thee this day: then all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the town, and cursed in the field, cursed shall thine almery be and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land be and the fruit of thine oxen and the flocks of thy sheep. And cursed shalt thou be when thou goest in, and when thou goest out. And the LORD shall send upon thee cursing, going to nought and complaining in all that thou settest thine hand to, whatsoever thou doest: until thou be destroyed and brought to nought quickly, because of the wickedness of thine inventions in that thou hast forsaken the LORD. And the LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from the land whither thou goest to enjoy it. And the LORD shall smite thee with swelling, with fevers, heat, burning, weathering, with smiting and blasting. And they shall follow thee, until thou perish. And the heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee, iron. And the LORD shall turn the rain of the land unto powder and dust: even from heaven they shall come down upon thee, until thou be brought to nought. And the LORD shall plague thee before thine enemies: Thou shalt come out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them, and shalt be scattered among all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcass shall be meat unto all manner fowls of the air and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away. And the LORD will smite thee with the botches of Egypt and the emerods, scall and manginess, that thou shalt not be healed thereof. And the LORD shall smite thee with madness, blindness and dazing of heart. And thou shalt grope at noonday as the blind gropeth in darkness, and shalt not come to the right way. And thou shalt suffer wrong only and be polled evermore, and no man shall succour thee: thou shalt be betrothed unto a wife, and another shall lie with her. Thou shalt build an house and another shall dwell therein. Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not make it common. Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof. Thine ass shall be violently taken away even before thy face, and shall not be restored thee again. Thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and no man shall help thee. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another nation, and thine eyes shall see and daze upon them all day long, but shalt have no might in thine hand. The fruit of thy land and all thy labours shall a nation which thou knowest not, eat, and thou shalt but suffer violence only and be oppressed alway: that thou shalt be clean beside thyself for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. The LORD shall smite thee with a mischievous botch in the knees and legs, so that thou canst not be healed: even from the sole of the foot unto the top of the head. The LORD shall bring both thee and thy king which thou hast set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, and there thou shalt serve strange gods: even wood and stone. And thou shalt go to waste and be made an example and a jesting stock unto all nations whither the LORD shall carry thee. Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in: for the locusts {grasshoppers} shall destroy it. Thou shalt plant a vineyard and dress it, but shalt neither drink of the wine neither gather of the grapes, for the worms shall eat it. Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy coasts, but shalt not be anointed with the oil, for thine olive trees shall be rooted out. Thou shalt get sons and daughters, but shalt not have them: for they shall be carried away captive. All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall be marred with blasting. The strangers that are among you shall climb above thee up on high, {an hye} and thou shalt come down beneath alow. He shall lend thee and thou shalt not lend him, he shall be before and thou behind. Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee and shall follow thee and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed: because thou hearkenedest not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and ordinances which he commanded thee, and they shall be upon thee as miracles and wonders and upon thy seed for ever. And because thou servedest not the LORD thy God with joyfulness and with a good heart for the abundance of all things, therefore thou shalt serve thine enemy which the LORD shall send upon thee: in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in need of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thine neck, until he have brought thee to nought. And the LORD shall bring a nation upon thee from afar, even from the end of the world, as swift as an eagle fleeth: {flyeth} a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand: a hard favoured nation which shall not regard the person of the old nor have compassion on the young. And he shall eat the fruit of thy land and the fruit of thy cattle until he have destroyed thee: so that he shall leave thee neither corn, wine, nor oil, neither the increase of thine oxen nor the flocks of thy sheep: until he have brought thee to nought. And he shall keep thee in all thy cities, until thy high and strong walls be come down wherein thou trustedest, thorow all thy land. And he shall besiege thee in all thy cities thorowout all thy land which the LORD thy God hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body: the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in that straitness and siege wherewith thine enemy shall besiege thee: so that it shall grieve the man that is tender and exceeding delicate among you, to look on his brother and upon his wife that lieth in his bosom and on the remnant of his children, which he hath yet left, for fear of giving unto any of them of the flesh of his children, which he eateth, because he hath nought left him in that straitness and siege wherewith thine enemy shall besiege thee in all thy cities. Yea and the woman that is so tender and delicate among you that she dare not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for softness and tenderness, shall be grieved to look on the husband that lieth in her bosom and on her son and on her daughter: even because of the afterbirth, that is come out from between her legs, and because of her children which she hath borne, because she would eat them for need of all things secretly, in the straitness and siege wherewith thine enemy shall besiege thee in thy cities. If thou wilt not be diligent to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, for to fear this glorious and fearful name of the LORD thy God: the LORD will smite both thee and thy seed with wonderful plagues and with great plagues and of long continuance, and with evil sicknesses and of long durance. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt which thou wast afraid of, and they shall cleave unto thee. Thereto all manner sicknesses and all manner plagues which are not written in the book of this law, will the LORD bring upon thee until thou be come to nought. And ye shall be left few in number, wheretofore ye were as the stars of heaven in multitude: because thou wouldest not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. And as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you: even so he will rejoice over you, to destroy you and to bring you to nought. And ye shall be wasted from off the land whither thou goest to enjoy it. And the LORD shall scatter thee among all nations from the one end of the world unto the other, and there thou shalt serve strange gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known: even wood and stone. And among these nations thou shalt be no small season, and yet shalt have no rest for the sole of thy foot. For the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart and dazing eyes and sorrow of mind. And thy life shall hang before thee, and thou shalt fear both day and night and shalt have no trust in thy life. In the morning thou shalt say, would God it were night. And at night thou shalt say, would God it were morning. For fear of thine heart which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way which I bade thee that thou shouldst see it no more. And there ye shall be sold unto your enemies, for bondmen and bondwomen: and yet no man shall buy you.

Chapter .xxix.

These are the words of the appointment which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the appointment which he made with them in Horeb. And Moses called unto all Israel and said unto them: Ye have seen all, that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, unto Pharao and unto all his servants, and unto all his land, and the great temptations which thine eyes have seen and those great miracles and wonders: And yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear unto this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: and your clothes are not waxed old upon you, nor are thy shoes waxed old upon thy feet. Ye have eaten no bread nor drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know, how that he is the LORD your God. And at the last ye came unto this place, and Sihon the king of Hesbon and Og king of Basan came out against you unto battle, and we smote them and took their land and gave it an heritance unto the Rubenites and Gadites and to the half tribe of Manasse. Keep therefore the word of this appointment and do them, that ye may understand all that ye ought to do. Ye stond here this day every one of you before the LORD your God: both the heads of your tribes, your elders, your officers and all the men of Israel: your children, your wives and the strangers that are in thine host, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water: that thou shouldst come under the appointment of the LORD thy God, and under his oath which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day. For to make thee a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac and Iacob. Also I make not this bond and this oath with you only: but both with him that stoodeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day. For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came thorow the midst of the nations which we passed by. And ye have seen their abominations and their idols: wood, stone, silver, gold, which they had. Lest there be among you man or woman kindred or tribe that turneth away in his heart this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations: and lest there be among you some root {|rote|} that beareth gall and wormwood, so that when he heareth the words of this curse, he bless himself in his heart saying: I fear it not, {shall have peace} I will therefore walk {work} after the lust of mine own heart, that the drunken destroy {may perish with} the thirsty. And so the LORD will not be merciful unto him, but then the wrath of the LORD and his jealousy, smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book light upon him, and the LORD do out his name from under heaven, and separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel according unto all the curses of the appointment that is written in the book of this law. So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you and the stranger that shall come from a far land, say when they see the plagues of that land, and the diseases wherewith the LORD hath smitten it, how all the land is burnt up with brimstone and salt, that it is neither sown nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, after the overthrowing of Sodom, Gomor, Adama and Zeboim: which the LORD overthrew in his wrath and anger. And then all nations also say: wherefore hath the LORD done of this fashion unto this land? O how fierce is this great wrath? And men shall say: because they left the testament of the LORD God of their fathers which he made with them, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. And they went and served strange gods and worshipped them: gods which they knew not and which had given them nought. And therefore the wrath of the LORD waxed hot upon that land to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book. And the LORD cast them out of their land in anger, wrath and great furiousness, and cast them into a strange land, as it is come to pass this day. The secrets pertain unto the LORD our God and the things that are opened pertain unto us and our children for ever, that we do all the words of this law.

Chapter .xxx.