YAHWEH'S Covenant Scroll
or the Temple Scroll
Although it was kept secret until the Six Day War in June 1967,
YAHWEH's Covenant, the
longest Qumran manuscript, was actually discovered in 1956. The original
document discovered in Cave 11 consisted of sixty seven columns and
measured over twenty eight feet. However, the beginning of the
manuscript is badly damaged, with Column 1 missing and Columns 3-12
fragmented. The majority of the scroll speaks of the Tabernacle and
worship of YAHWEH. In particular, offerings on
YAHWEH's Shabbat and many of
YAHWEH's Feast Days of the year. Although most of the legislation
depends on Devarim (Deuteronomy) there are references from Shemoth
(Exodus) and Vayiqra- (Leviticus). Occasionally a non-scriptural
regulation is also mentioned. Since much of Column 1 and Columns 3-12
were destroyed only a tentative assumption as to the original
manuscripts can be made using scriptural texts. The summary that follows
lists the contents of the scrolls of YAHWEH'S COVENANT.
1. YAHWEH's Covenant with Yisrael (2).
2. The building of the Tabernacle, and the measurements of
the Tabernacle, the SetApart of SetApart places, the chambers and
colonnades (3-7).
3. Descriptions of the contents of the Tabernacle (including the
mercy seat, the cherubim, the veil, the table, the golden lamp-stand and
other such objects). (7-11).
4. Descriptions of the altar and guidelines for the offerings
(11-12).
5. Offerings to be offered daily, weekly, monthly and festival
offerings. (13-29).
6. Tabernacle courtyard buildings: the slaughterhouse, the house
containing the laver (a large basin used for ceremonial ablutions), the
stair house, the house for YAHWEH's vessels and other such buildings.
(30-35).
7. The Tabernacle courtyards. (the three being one for the kohen
(priests), one for Jewish men over twenty, and one for women and
children.(36-45).
8. Regulations for the purity of the Tabernacle and the city
surrounding YAHWEH's house. (46-48).
9. Regulations for the purity of the cities of Yisrael. (48-51).
10. Judges and officers (51).
11. Laws pertaining to offered animals and idolatry. (51-53).
12. Regulations for vows and oaths (53-54).
13. Laws against apostasy (54-55).
14. Laws for the office of kohen (priest), for the Levites and
statutes pertaining to the Jewish king.(56-59).
15.Various laws concerning priestly dues, witnesses, war, idols,
crimes punishable by death (hanging), incestuous relations, and
rebellious sons. (60-66).
(Missing text will be noted by ....)
YAHWEH, will make a Covenant with HIS People
2 Behold, I, YAHWEH, will make a Covenant. For it is something
dreadful that I will do to you. I myself will expel from before you the
Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Perizzites, the
Hivites and the Jebusites. Take care not to make a Covenant with the inhabitants
of the country which you are to enter so that they may not prove a snare for
you. You must destroy their altars, smash their pillars and cut down their
sacred trees and burn their idols with fire. You must not desire silver and gold
so that you may not be ensnared by them; for that would be abominable to ME. You
must not bring any abominable idol into your house and come under the ban
together with it. You shall detest and abominate it, for it is under the ban.
You shall not worship another god, for YHWH, whose NAME is Jealous, is a jealous
ABBA. Take care not to make a Covenant with the inhabitants of the country so
that, when they whore after their gods and offer to them and invite you, you may
not eat of their offerings and take their daughters for your sons, and their
daughters may not whore after their gods and cause your sons to whore after
them. ..
13 This is what you shall offer on the altar: two yearling lambs
without blemish every day as a perpetual holocaust. You shall offer the first in
the morning; and you shall offer the other lamb in the evening; the
corresponding grain-offering will be a tenth of fine flour mixed with a quarter
of a hin of beaten oil; it shall be a perpetual holocaust of soothing odour, an
offering by fire to YHWH; and the corresponding drink offering shall be a
quarter of a hin of wine. The kohen (priest) who offers the holocaust shall
receive the skin of the burnt-offering which he has offered. You shall offer the
other lamb in the evening with the same grain-offering as in the morning and
with the corresponding drink-offering as an offering by fire, a soothing odour
to YHWH ...
On the Shabbat days you shall offer two yearling rams without blemish and
two
14 tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with oil, for a
grain-offering and the corresponding drink-offering. This is the holocaust of
every Shabbat in addition to the perpetual holocaust and the corresponding
drink-offering. On the first day of each month you shall offer a holocaust to
YHWH: two young bulls, one ram, seven yearling rams without blemish and a
grain-offering of fine flour, three tenths of an ephah mixed with half a hin of
oil, and a drink-offering, half a hin for each young bull and a grain-offering
of fine flour mixed with oil, two tenths of an ephah with a third of a hin, and
wine for a drink-offering, one third of a hin for each ram; ...one tenth of fine
flour for a grain-offering, mixed with a quarter of a hin, and wine, a quarter
of a hin for each lamb... a soothing odour to YHWH on the first day of each
month. This is the burnt-offering for each month for the months of the year.
..On the first day of the first month the months of the year shall start; it
shall be the first month of the year for you.
You shall do no work. You shall offer a he-goat for a sin-offering. It
shall be offered by itself to expiate for you. You shall offer a holocaust: a
bullock, a ram, seven yearling ram lambs without blemish......
additional to the burnt-offering for the new moon, and a grain offering of
three tenths of fine flour mixed with oil, half a hin for each bullock, and wine
for a drink-offering, half a hin, a soothing odour to YHWH, and two tenths of
fine flour mixed with oil, one third of a hin you shall offer wine for a
drink-offering, one third of a hin for the ram, an offering by fire, of soothing
odour to YHWH; and one tenth of fine flour, a grain-offering mixed with a
quarter of a hin of oil. You shall offer wine for a drink-offering, a quarter of
a hin for each ram ......lambs and for the he-goat '"
15 each day.... seven yearling lambs and a he-goat '"
according to this statute. For the ordination of the kohen (priests), one ram
for each day, and baskets of bread for all the rams of the ordination, one
basket for each ram. They shall divide all the rams and the baskets for the
seven days of the ordination for each day; according to their divisions, they
shall offer to YHWH the right thigh of the ram as a holocaust and the fat
covering the entrails and the two kidneys and the fat on them and on the loins
and the whole fat tail close to the backbone and the appendage of the liver and
the corresponding grain-offering and drink-offering according to the statute.
They shall take one unleavened cake from the basket and one cake of bread
with oil and one wafer, and they shall put it all on the fat together with the
offering of the right thigh. Those who offer shall wave the rams and the baskets
of bread as a wave-offering before YHWH. This is a holocaust, an offering by
fire, of soothing odour before YHWH. They shall burn everything on the altar
over the holocaust, to complete their ordination during the seven days of
ordination.
If the High Kohen is to minister to YHWH, whoever has been ordained
to put on the vestments in place of his father, shall offer a bull for all the
people and another for the kohen (priests). He shall offer the one for the kohen
first. The elders of the kohen shall lay their hands XVI
on its head and after them the High Kohen and all the kohen. They shall
slaughter the bull before YHWH. The elders of the kohen shall take from the
blood of the bull and place it with their finger on the horns of the altar and
they shall pour the blood around the four corners of the altar ledge....
and they shall take from its blood and place it on his right ear lobe and on the
thumb of his right hand and the big toe of his right foot. They shall sprinkle
on him and his vestments some of the blood which was on the altar.... he
shall be SetApart all his days. He shall not go near any dead body. He shall not
render himself unclean even for his father or mother, for he is SetApart
to YHWH, his ABBA .... He shall offer on the altar and burn the fat of
the first bull .... all the fat on the entrails and the appendage of the
liver and the two kidneys and the fat on them and the fat on the loins, and the
corresponding grain-offering and drink-offering according to their statute, he
shall burn them on the altar. It shall be a burnt-offering, an offering by
fire, of soothing odour before YHWH. The flesh of the bull, its skin and offal,
they shall burn outside the tabernacle city on a wood fire in a place reserved
for sin-offerings. There they shall burn it with its head and legs together with
all its entrails. They shall burn all of it there except the fat. It is a
sin-offering. He shall take the second bull, which is for the people, and by it
he shall expiate for all the people of the assembly, by its blood and fat. As he
did with the first bull, so he shall do with the bull of the assembly. He shall
place with his finger some of its blood on the horns of the altar, and the
remainder of its blood, he shall sprinkle on the four corners of the altar
ledge, and its fat and the corresponding grain-offering and drink-offering, he
shall burn on the altar. It is a sin-offering for the assembly.
17 .... They shall rejoice because expiation has been
made for them..... This day shall be a SetApart gathering for them, an
eternal rule for all their generations wherever they dwell. They shall rejoice
and.... Let them prepare on the fourteenth day of
the first month between dusk and dark the Passover of YHWH. They shall offer it
before the evening offering and shall offer.... men from twenty years of
age and over shall prepare it. They shall eat it at night in the SetApart
courts. They shall rise early and each shall go to his tent....
On the fifteenth day of this month there shall be a SetApart gathering.
You shall do no work of labour on it. It shall be a seven-day feast of
unleavened bread for YHWH. You shall offer on each of these seven days a
holocaust to YHWH: two young bulls, a ram, and seven ram lambs without blemish
and a he-goat for a sin-offering and the corresponding grain-offering and
drink-offering according to the statute for the young bulls, rams, lambs and the
he-goat. On the seventh day there shall be an assembly for YHWH. You shall do no
work on it.
18 ....he- goat for a sin-offering.... the corresponding
grain-offering and drink-offering according to the statute; one tenth of fine
flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil and a quarter of a hin of wine for a
drink-offering ....he shall expiate for all the guilt of the people
of the assembly.... This shall be an eternal rule for you for your
generations wherever you dwell. Then they shall offer the one ram, once, on the
day of the waving of the sheaf.
You shall count seven complete Shabbats from the day of your bringing the
sheaf of the wave-offering. You shall count until the morrow of the seventh
Shabbat. You shall count fifty days. You shall bring a new grain-offering to
YHWH from your homes, a loaf of fine flour, freshly baked with leaven. They are
first fruits to YHWH, wheat bread, twelve cakes, two tenths of fine flour in
each cake.... the tribes of Yisrael. They shall offer
19 .... their grain-offering and drink-offering according to
the statute. The kohen shall wave.... wave-offering with the bread of the
first fruits. They shall belong to the kohen (priests) and they shall eat
them in the inner courtyard, as a new grain-offering, the bread of the first
fruits. Then.... new bread from freshly ripened ears. On this day there
shall be a SetApart gathering, an eternal rule for their generations. They shall
do no work. It is the feast of Weeks and the feast of First Fruits, an eternal
memorial.
You shall count seven weeks from the day when you bring the new
grain-offering to YHWH, the bread of first fruits. Seven full Shabbats shall
elapse until you have counted fifty days to the morrow of the seventh Shabbat.
You shall bring new wine for a drink-offering, four hins from all the tribes of
Yisrael, one third of a hin for each tribe. They shall offer on this day with
the wine twelve rams to YHWH; all the chiefs of the clans of Yisrael
20 ....rams and the corresponding grain-offering according to the
statute: two tenths of fine flour mixed with oil, one third of a hin of oil for
a ram; with this drink-offering..... seven yearling ram lambs and a
he-goat ....assembly.....their grain-offering and drink-offering
shall be according to the statute concerning young bulls and the ram......to
YHWH. At the quarter of the day, they shall offer.....the rams and the
drink-offering. They shall offer.... fourteen yearling ram lambs. ....the
burnt-offering. They shall prepare them....and they shall burn their fat
on the altar, the fat covering the entrails and the fat that is on them, and the
appendage of the liver with the kidneys he shall remove and the fat on
them, and that which is on the loins and the fat tail close to the backbone.
They shall burn all on the altar together with the corresponding grain-offering
and drink-offering, an offering by fire, of soothing odour before YHWH.
They shall offer every grain-offering joined to a drink-offering according to
the statute. They shall take a handful from every grain-offering offered either
with frankincense or dry, this being its memorial portion, and burn it on the
altar. They shall eat the remainder in the inner courtyard. The kohen (priests)
shall eat it unleavened. It shall not be eaten with leaven. It shall be eaten on
that day before sunset. They shall salt all their offerings. You shall never
allow the Covenant of salt to fail.
They shall offer to YHWH an offering from the rams and the lambs, the
right thigh, the breast, the cheeks, the stomach and the foreleg as far as the
shoulder bone, and they shall wave them as a wave-offering. 21 The kohen
(priests') portions shall be the thigh of the offering and the breast. ..the
forelegs, the cheeks and the stomachs......as an eternal rule, from the
children of Yisrael and the shoulder remaining of the foreleg shall be for the
Levites ....an eternal rule for them and for their seed. .....the
princes of the Thousands.... from the rams and from the lambs, one ram
and one ram lamb shall belong to the kohen (priests); to the Levites, one ram,
one lamb; and to every tribe, one ram, one lamb for all the tribes, the twelve
tribes of Yisrael. They shall eat them on that day, in the outer courtyard
before YHWH.
...the kohen (priests) shall drink there first and the Levites second
.....the princes of the standards first. ..men of renown. After them the
whole people, from the great to the small, shall begin to drink the new wine.
They shall not eat any unripe grapes from the vines, for on this day they shall
expiate for the tirosh. The children of Yisrael shall rejoice before YHWH, an
eternal rule for their generations wherever they dwell. They shall rejoice on
this day for they have begun to pour out an intoxicating drink-offering, the new
wine, on the altar of YHWH, year by year.
You shall count from that day seven weeks, seven times seven days,
forty-nine days; there shall be seven full Shabbats; until the morrow of the
seventh Shabbat you shall count fifty days. You shall then offer new oil from
the homes of the tribes of the children of Yisrael, half a hin from a tribe, new
beaten oil. ..... oil on the altar of the holocaust, first fruits before
YHWH.
22 ..... shall expiate with it for all
the congregation before YHWH .....with this oil, half a hin
.....according to the statute, a holocaust, an offering by fire, of
soothing odour to YHWH .....With this oil they shall light the
lamps.
.....the princes of the Thousands with.... fourteen yearling
male lambs and the corresponding grain-offering and drink-offering.
.....for the lambs and the rams. The Levites shall slaughter.
.....and the kohen (priests), the sons of Aaron, shall sprinkle
their blood on the altar all around .....and they shall burn
their fat on the altar of the holocaust .....and the
corresponding grain-offering and drink-offering, they shall burn over
the fats..... an offering by fire, of soothing odour to YHWH.
They shall take away from .....the right thigh and the breast.
.....the cheeks and the stomach shall be the kohen (priests)'
portion according to the statute concerning them. They shall give to the
Levites the shoulder. Afterwards they shall bring them the offerings out
to the children of Yisrael, and the children of Yisrael shall give the
kohen (priests) one ram, one lamb, and to the Levites, one ram, one
lamb, and to each tribe, one ram, one lamb. They shall eat them on that
day in the outer courtyard before YHWH, an eternal rule for their
generations, year by year. Afterwards they shall eat from the olives and
I5 anoint themselves with the new oil, for on this day they shall
expiate for all the oil of the land before YHWH once yearly. They shall
rejoice
23 .....The High Kohen shall offer the holocaust of the
Levites first, and afterwards he shall send up in smoke the holocaust of
the tribe of Judah, and when he is sending it up in smoke, they shall
slaughter before him the he-goat first and he shall lift up its blood in
a bowl to the altar and with his finger he shall put some of the blood
to the four horns of the altar of the holocaust and to the four corners
of the altar ledge, and shall toss the blood towards the base of the
altar ledge all around. He shall burn its fat on the altar, the fat
covering the entrails and that over the entrails. The appendage of the
liver with the kidneys he shall remove as well as the fat over them and
on the loins. He shall send up in smoke all of them on the altar
together with the corresponding grain-offering and drink-offering, an
offering by fire of soothing odour to YHWH. And 24. ..the flesh,
of soothing odour; it shall be an offering by fire to YHWH. Thus they
must do to every young bull, and to every ram and to every lamb and its
limbs shall remain apart. The corresponding grain-offering and
drink-offering shall be on it, an eternal rule for your generations
before YHWH.
After this holocaust he shall offer the holocaust of the tribe of Judah
separately. As he has done with the holocaust of the Levites, so shall
he do with the holocaust of the children of Judah after the Levites. On
the second day he shall first offer the holocaust of Benjamin and after
it he shall offer the holocaust of the children of Joseph, Ephraim and
Manasseh together. On the third day, he shall offer the holocaust of
Reuben separately, and the holocaust of Simeon separately. On the fourth
day he shall offer the holocaust of Issachar separately and the
holocaust of Zebulun separately. On the fifth day he shall offer the
holocaust of Gad separately and the holocaust of Asher separately. On
the sixth day 25 he shall offer the holocaust of Dan separately
and the holocaust of Naphtali separately .....
In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a
SetApart rest, a remembrance announced by a trumpet blast, a SetApart
gathering. You shall offer a holocaust, an offering by fire, of soothing
odour before YHWH. You shall offer one young bull, one ram, seven
yearling lambs without blemish and one he-goat for a sin offering, and
the corresponding grain-offering and drink-offering according to the
statute concerning them, of soothing odour to YHWH, in addition to the
perpetual holocaust and the holocaust of the new moon. Afterwards you
shall offer this holocaust at the third part of the day, an eternal rule
for your generations wherever you dwell. You shall rejoice on this day.
On it you shall do no work. A SetApart rest shall this day be for you.
The tenth of this month is the Day of Atonement. You shall mortify
yourselves. For any person who does not mortify himself on this selfsame
day shall be cut off from his people. You shall offer on it a holocaust
to YHWH: one young bull, one ram, seven ram lambs, one he-goat for a
sin-offering, in addition to the sin-offering of the atonement and the
corresponding grain-offering and drink-offering according to the statute
concerning the young bull, the ram, the lambs and the he-goat. For the
sin-offering of the atonement you shall offer two rams for holocaust.
The High Kohen shall offer one for himself and his father's house
26..... The High Kohen shall cast lots on the two goats, one lot
for YHWH and one for Azazel. He shall slaughter the goat on which YHWH
's lot has fallen and shall lift up its blood in a golden bowls which is
in his hand, and do with its blood as he has done with the blood of his
young bull and shall expiate with it for all the people of the assembly.
He shall send up in smoke its fat and the corresponding grain and
drink-offering on the altar of the holocaust. Its flesh, skin and dung
they shall burn beside his young bull. It is a sin-offering for the
whole assembly. He shall expiate with it for all the people of the
assembly and it shall be forgiven to them. He shall wash his hands and
feet of the blood of the sin-offering and shall come to the living goat
and shall confess over its head the iniquities of the children of
Yisrael together with all their guilt, all their sins. He shall put them
on the head of the goat and dispatch it to Azazel in the desert by the
hand of the man who is waiting ready. The goat shall bear all the
iniquities of the children of Yisrael.
27..... and he shall expiate for all the children of Yisrael and it
shall be forgiven to them. ..Afterwards he shall offer the young bull,
the ram, and the lambs, according to the statute relating to them, on
the altar of the holocaust, and the holocaust will be accepted for the
children of Yisrael, an eternal rule for their generations. Once a year
this day shall be for them a memorial. They shall do no work on it, for
it shall be to them a Shabbat of SetApart rest. Whoever shall do work on
it or shall not mortify himself on it, shall be cut off from the midst
of his people. A Shabbat of SetApart rest, a SetApart gathering shall
this day be for you. You shall SetApart it as a memorial wherever you
dwell and you shall do no work. On the fifteenth day of this month
28.... the corresponding grain-offering and drink-offering, all on
the altar, an offering by fire, of soothing odour to YHWH. On the second
day: twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs and one he-goat for a
sin-offering and the corresponding grain-offering and drink-offering
according to the statute concerning the young bulls, the rams, the lambs
and the he goat; it is an offering by fire, of soothing odour to YHWH.
On the third day eleven young bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs and one
he-goat for a sin-offering and the corresponding grain-offering and
drink-offering according to the statute concerning the young bulls, the
rams, the lambs and the he-goat.
On the fourth day ten young bulls, two rams, fourteen yearling ram lambs
and one he-goat for a sin-offering and the corresponding grain-offering
and drink-offering for the young bulls,
29 the rams, the lambs and the he-goat..... On the fifth day.....and
the corresponding grain-offering and drink-offering
.....in the house on which I shall cause MY NAME to rest.
..holocausts, each on its day according to the Torah of this
statute, always from the children of Yisrael in addition to their
free-will offerings in regard to all that they offer, their
drink-offerings and all their gifts that they shall bring to ME in order
to be acceptable. I shall accept them and they shall be MY people and I
shall be for them for ever. I will dwell with them for ever and ever and
will SetApart MY tabernacle by MY WORD. I will cause MY WORD to
rest in it until the day of creation on which I shall create MY
tabernacle, establishing it for MYSELF for all time according to the
Covenant which I have made with Ya'aqob (Jacob) in Bethel.
30.....You shall make.....for stairs, a staircase .....in
the house which you shall build.....You shall make a
staircase north of the Tabernacle, a square house, twenty cubits from
one corner to the other alongside its four corners. Its distance from
the wall of the Tabernacle shall be seven cubits on the north-west. You
shall make the width of its wall four cubits .....like the
Tabernacle and its inside from corner to corner twelve cubits. There
shall be a square column in its middle, in the center; its width four
cubits on each side around which the stairs wind.....
31 In the upper chamber of this house you shall make a gate opening
to the roof of the Tabernacle and a way shall be made through this gate
towards the entrance. .....of the Tabernacle by which one can
reach the upper chamber of the Tabernacle. Overlay with gold all this
stair house, its walls, its gates and its roof, from inside and from
outside, its column and its stairs.
You shall do everything as I tell you. You shall make a square house for
the laver in the south-east, on all its sides, each twenty-one cubits;
fifty cubits distant from the altar. The width of the wall shall be four
cubits, and the height twenty cubits..... Make gates for it on
the east, on the north and on the west. The width of the gates shall be
four cubits and the height seven.....
32..... You shall make in the wall of this house, on the inside,
recesses, and in them. .....one cubit in width and their height
four cubits above the ground. They shall be overlaid with gold on which
they shall place their clothes which they have worn on arrival. Above
the house of the.....when they come to minister in the
Tabernacle. You shall make a trench around the laver beside its house
and the trench shall go from the house of the laver to a cavity. It
shall descend rapidly to the ground where the water shall flow and
disappear. It shall not be touched by any man for it is mingled with the
blood of the holocaust.
33 They shall SetApart MY people in the SetApart vestments
which.....
You shall make a house east of the house of the laver according to the
measurement of the house of the basin. Its wall shall be at a distance
of seven cubits from the wall of the house of the laver. Its whole
building and rafters shall be like those of the house of the laver. It
shall have two gates on the north and the south, one opposite the other,
according to the measurement of the gates of the house of the laver.
Inside all the walls of this house shall have apertures, their width and
depth two cubits each and their height four with which the entrails and
the feet are raised to the altar. When they have completed the sending
up in smoke
34..... They close the wheels and.....and tie the horns of
the young bulls to the rings and.....by the rings. Afterwards
they shall slaughter them and collect the blood in bowls and toss it
around the altar base. They shall open the wheels and strip the skin of
the young bulls from their flesh and cut them up into pieces, salt the
pieces, wash the entrails and the legs, salt them and send them up in
smoke on the fire which is on the altar, each young bull with its pieces
beside it and the corresponding grain-offering of fine flour on it, the
wine of the drink-offering beside it and some of it on it. The kohen
(priests), the sons of Aaron, shall send everything up in smoke on the
altar, an offering by fire, of soothing odour before YHWH. You shall
make chains hanging from the rafters of the twelve columns
35..... whoever is not a kohen shall die, and whoever.....a
kohen who shall come.....and he is not clothed in the SetApart
vestments in which he was ordained, they too shall be put to death and
shall not profane the Tabernacle of YHWH, thus incurring the
iniquity of mortal guilt. You shall SetApart the environs of the altar,
the Tabernacle, the laver and the colonnade and they shall be most
SetApart for ever and ever.
You shall make a place west of the Tabernacle, a colonnade
of pillars standing around for the sin-offerings and the guilt-offerings,
divided from one another, the sin-offerings of the kohen (priests), the
he-goats, and the sin-offerings of the people and their guilt-offerings. None of
these shall be mingled one with another, for their places shall be divided from
one another in order that the kohen may not err concerning all the sin-offerings
of the people, and all the rams of the guilt-offerings, incurring the sin of
guilt.
The birds for the altar: he shall prepare turtledoves.....
36.....from the corner of..... to the corner of the gate,
one hundred and twenty cubits. The gate shall be forty cubits wide. Each side
shall be according to this measurement. The width of its wall shall be seven
cubits, and its height forty-five cubits to the rafters of its roof. The width
of its chambers shall be twenty-six cubits from corner to corner. The gates of
entrance and exit: the gate shall be fourteen cubits wide and twenty-eight
cubits high from the threshold to the lintel. The height of the rafters above
the lintel shall be fourteen cubits. The gate shall be roofed with a paneling of
cedar wood overlaid with pure gold. Its doors shall be overlaid with fine gold.
From the corner of the gate to the second angle of the courtyard, there
shall be one hundred and twenty cubits. Thus shall be the measurement of all
these gates of the inner courtyard. The gates shall lead inside into the
courtyard.
37 You shall make inside the courtyard seats for the kohen
(priests), and tables in front of the seats, in the inner colonnade by the outer
wall of the courtyard, places made for the kohen (priests) and their offerings,
for the first fruits and the tithes, for their peace-offering offerings which
they shall offer. The offerings of the peace-offerings of the children of
Yisrael shall not be mingled with the offerings of the kohen (priests).
In the four corners of the courtyard you shall make for them a place for
cooking-stoves where they shall seethe their offerings and sin-offerings.
38..... There they shall eat.....the bird, the turtledove
and the young pigeons.....
You shall make a second courtyard around the inner courtyard, one
hundred cubits wide, and four hundred and eighty cubits long on the east side,
and thus shall be the width and length of all its sides: to the south, to the
west and to the north. Its wall shall be four cubits wide and twenty-eight
cubits high. Chambers shall be made in the wall outside and between each chamber
there shall be three and a half cubits 39.....that all the congregation
of the children of Yisrael may bow down before ME .....No woman shall
come there, nor a child until the day that he has fulfilled the rule.....and
has paid for himself a ransom to YHWH, half a shekel, an eternal rule, a
memorial wherever they dwell. The shekel consists of twenty gerahs.
When they shall collect from him the half-shekel.....
to ME. After wards they shall enter from the age of twenty..... The
names of the gates of this courtyard shall be according to the names of the
children of Yisrael: Simeon, Levi and Judah in the east; Reuben, Joseph and
Benjamin in the south; Issachar, Zebulun and Gad in the west; Dan, Naphtali and
Asher in the north. Between each gate the measurement shall be: from the
north-eastern corner to the gate of Simeon, ninety nine cubits, and the gate
twenty-eight cubits. From this gate of Simeon to the gate of Levi, ninety-nine
cubits, and the gate, twenty-eight cubits. From the gate of Levi to the gate of
Judah
40 .....You shall make a third courtyard .....to
their daughters and to the strangers who were born.....wide around the
middle courtyard..... in length about one thousand six hundred cubits
from one corner to the next. Each side shall be according to this measurement:
on the east, the south, the west and the north. The wall shall be seven cubits
wide and forty-nine cubits high. Chambers shall be made between its gates along
the foundation as far up as its 'crowns' There shall be three gates in the
east, three in the south, three in the west and three in the north. The gates
shall be fifty cubits wide and their height seventy cubits. Between one gate and
another there shall be three hundred and sixty cubits. From the corner to the
gate of Simeon, three hundred and sixty cubits. From the gate of Simeon to the
gate of Levi, likewise. From the gate of Levi to the gate of Judah, likewise
three hundred and sixty cubits.
41..... From the gate of Issachar to the gate of Zebulun, three
hundred and sixty cubits. From the gate of Zebulun to the gate of Gad, three
hundred and sixty cubits. From the gate of Gad to the northern corner,
three hundred and sixty cubits. From this corner to the gate of Dan: three
hundred and sixty cubits. Thus from the gate of Dan to the gate of Naphtali,
three hundred and sixty cubits. From the gate of Naphtali to the gate of Asher,
three hundred and sixty cubits. From the gate of Asher to the eastern corner,
three hundred and sixty cubits. The gates shall jut outwards from the wall of
the courtyard seven cubits, and extend inwards from the wall to the courtyard
thirty-six cubits. The entrance of the gate shall be fourteen cubits wide and
twenty-eight cubits high up to the lintel. The rafters at the doorways shall be
of cedar wood and overlaid with gold. The doors shall be overlaid with pure
gold.
Between each gate inwards you shall make storehouses, 42 rooms and
colonnades.
The room shall be ten cubits wide, twenty cubits long, and fourteen cubits
high.....with cedar wood. The wall shall be two cubits wide. On the
outside there shall be storehouses. The storehouse shall be ten cubits wide and
twenty cubits long. The wall shall be two cubits wide and fourteen cubits high
up to the lintel. Its entrance shall be three cubits wide. You shall make in
this way all the storehouses and the corresponding rooms. The colonnade .....shall
be ten cubits wide. Between each gate you shall make eighteen storehouses and
the corresponding eighteen rooms.....
You shall make a staircase next to the walls of the gates towards the
colonnade. Winding stairs shall go up to the second and third colonnades and to
the roof. You shall build storehouses and corresponding rooms and colonnades as
on the ground floor. The second and the third levels shall follow the
measurement of the lower one. On the roof of the third you shall make pillars
roofed with rafters from one pillar to the next providing a place for
tabernacles. The pillars shall be eight cubits high and the tabernacles shall be
made on their roof each year at the feast of the Tabernacles for the elders of
the congregation, for the princes, the heads of the fathers' houses of the
children of Yisrael, the captains of the thousands, the captains of the
hundreds, who will ascend and dwell there until the offering of the holocaust on
the festival which is the feast of the Tabernacles, each year. Between each gate
there shall be.....
43.....on the days of the first fruits of the corn, of the wine and
the oil, and at the festival of the offering of wood. On these days the tithe
shall be eaten. They shall not put aside anything from it from one year to
another. For they shall eat it in this manner. From the feast of the
First-fruits of the corn of wheat they shall eat the corn until the next year,
until the feast of the First-fruits, and they shall drink the wine from the day
of the festival of Wine until the next year, until the day of the festival of
the Wine, and they shall eat the oil from its festival, until the next year,
until the festival, the day of offering the new oil on the altar. Whatever is
left from their festivals shall be SetApart by being burnt with fire. It shall
no longer be eaten for it is SetApart. Those who live within a distance of three
days' walk from the tabernacle shall bring whatever they can bring. If they
cannot carry it, they shall sell it for money and buy with it corn, wine,
oil, cattle and sheep, and shall eat them on the days of the festivals. On
working days they shall not eat from this in their weariness for it is SetApart.
On the SetApart days it shall be eaten, but it shall not be eaten on working
days.
44..... You shall allot the rooms and the
corresponding chambers. From the gate of Simeon to the gate of Judah shall be
for the kohen (priests).....All that is to the right and to the left of
the gate of Levi, you shall allot to Aaron, your brother, one hundred and eight
rooms and corresponding chambers and two tabernacles which are on the roof. You
shall allot to the sons of Judah the area from the gate of Judah to the corner:
fifty four rooms and corresponding chambers and the tabernacle that is over
them. You shall allot to the sons of Simeon the area from the gate of Simeon to
the second corner: their rooms, the corresponding chambers and
tabernacles. You shall allot to the sons of Reuben the area from the corner
which is beside the sons of Judah to the gate of Reuben: fifty two rooms and the
corresponding chambers and tabernacles. The area from the gate of Reuben to the
gate of Joseph you shall allot to the sons of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh.
The area from the gate of Joseph to the gate of Benjamin you shall allot to the
sons of Kohath from the Levites. The area from the gate of Benjamin to the
western corner you shall allot to the sons of Benjamin. The area from this
corner to the gate of Issachar you shall allot to the sons of Issachar. The area
from the gate of Issachar
45..... the second priestly course shall enter on the left.....and
the first shall leave on the right. They shall not mingle with one another nor
their vessels. Each priestly course shall come to its place and they shall stay
there. One shall arrive and the other leave on the eighth day. They shall clean
the rooms, one after the other, when the first priestly course leaves. There
shall be no mingling there.
No man who has had a nocturnal emission shall enter the tabernacle at all
until three days have elapsed. He shall wash his garments and bathe on the first
day and on the third day he shall wash his garments and bathe, and after sunset
he shall enter the tabernacle. They shall not enter MY Tabernacle in their
impure uncleanness and render it unclean. No man who has had sexual intercourse
with his wife shall enter anywhere into the city of the Tabernacle where I cause
MY NAME to abide, for three days. No blind man shall enter it in all his days
and shall not profane the city where I abide, for I, YHWH, abide amongst the
children of Yisrael for ever and ever.
Whoever is to purify himself of his flux shall count seven days for his
purification. He shall wash his garments on the seventh day and bathe his whole
body in running water. Afterwards he shall enter the city of the Tabernacle. No
one unclean through contact with a corpse shall enter there until he has
purified himself. No leper nor any man smitten in his body shall enter there
until he has purified himself and has offered.....
46..... No unclean bird shall fly over MY Tabernacle .....the
roofs of the gates.....the outer courtyard.....be in MY Tabernacle
for ever and ever all the time that I abide among them.
You shall make a terrace round about, outside the outer courtyard,
fourteen cubits wide like the entrances of all the gates. You shall make twelve
steps leading to it by which the children of Yisrael shall ascend there to enter
MY Tabernacle.
You shall make a one-hundred-cubits-wide ditch around the tabernacle which
shall divide the SetApart Tabernacle from the city so that no one can rush into
MY Tabernacle and defile it. They shall SetApart MY Tabernacle and hold it in
awe because I abide among them.
You shall make for them latrines outside the city where they shall go out,
north-west of the city. These shall be roofed houses with holes in them into
which the filth shall go down. It shall be far enough not to be visible from the
city, three thousand cubits.
You shall make three areas to the east of the city, divided from one
another, where the lepers, those suffering from a flux and men who have had a
nocturnal emission
47..... Their cities shall be pure..... for ever. The
city which I will SetApart, causing MY NAME and MY Tabernacle to abide in it,
shall be SetApart and pure of all impurity with which they can become impure.
Whatever is in it shall be pure. Whatever enters it shall be pure: wine, oil,
all food and all moistened food shall be clean. No skin of clean animals
slaughtered in their cities shall be brought to the city of the tabernacle. But
in their cities they may use them for any work they need. But they shall not
bring them to the city of MY Tabernacle, for the purity of the skin corresponds
to that of the flesh. You shall not profane the city where I cause MY NAME and
MY Tabernacle to abide. For it is in the skins of animals slaughtered in the
tabernacle that they shall bring their wine and oil and all their food to the
city of MY Tabernacle. They shall not pollute MY Tabernacle with the skins of
animals slaughtered in their country which are tainted. You cannot render any
city among your cities as pure as MY city, for the purity of the skin of the
animal corresponds to the purity of its flesh. If you slaughter it in MY
Tabernacle, it shall be pure for MY Tabernacle, but if you slaughter it in your
cities, it shall be pure only for your cities. What ever is pure for the
tabernacle, shall be brought in skins fit for the tabernacle, and you shall not
profane MY tabernacle and MY city where I abide with tainted skins.
48..... the cormorant, the stork, every kind of heron, the hoopoe
and the bat ..... You may eat the following flying insects: every
kind of great locust, every kind of long-headed locust, every kind of green
locust, and every kind of desert locust. These are among the flying insects
which you may eat: those which walk on four legs and have legs jointed above
their feet to leap with them on the ground and wings to fly with. You shall not
eat the carcass of any bird or beast but may sell it to a foreigner. You shall
not eat any abominable thing, for you are a SetApart people to YHWH, your ABBA.
You are the sons of YHWH, your ABBA. You shall not gash yourselves
or shave your forelocks in mourning for the dead, nor shall you tattoo
yourselves, for you are a SetApart people to YHWH, your ABBA. You shall not
profane your land.
You shall not do as the nations do; they bury their dead everywhere, they
bury them even in their houses. Rather you shall set apart areas in the midst of
your land where you shall bury your dead. Between four cities you shall
designate an area for burial. In every city you shall set aside areas for those
stricken with leprosy, with plague and with scab, who shall not enter your
cities and profane them, and also for those who suffer from a flux; and for
menstruating women, and women after childbirth, so that they may not cause
defilement in their midst by their impure uncleanness. The leper suffering from
chronic leprosy or scab, who has been pronounced unclean by the kohen
49..... with cedar wood, hyssop and.....your cities with the
plague of leprosy and they shall be unclean.
If a man dies in your cities, the house in which the dead man has died
shall be unclean for seven days. Whatever is in the house and whoever enters the
house shall be unclean for seven days. Any food on which water has been poured
shall be unclean, anything moistened shall be unclean. Earthenware vessels shall
be unclean and whatever they contain shall be unclean for every clean man. The
open vessels shall be unclean for every Yisraelite with whatever is moistened in
them. On the day when the body is removed from there, they shall cleanse
the house of all pollution of oil, wine and water moisture. They shall rub its
the house's floor, walls and doors and shall wash with water the bolts,
doorposts, thresholds and lintels. On the day when the body is removed from
there, they shall purify the house and all its utensils, hand-mills and mortars,
all utensils of wood, iron and bronze and all utensils capable of purification.
Clothes, sacks and skins shall be washed.
As for the people, whoever has been in the house or has entered the house
shall bathe in water and shall wash his clothes on the first day. On the third
day they shall sprinkle purifying water on them and shall bathe.
They shall wash their garments and all the utensils in the house.
On the seventh day they shall sprinkle them a second time. They shall
bathe, wash their clothes and utensils and shall be clean by the evening of the
impurity contracted from the dead so as to be fit to touch their pure things. As
for a man who has not been rendered unclean on account of 50.....they
have been unclean. No longer..... until they have sprinkled them the
second time on the seventh day and shall be clean by the evening at sunset.
Whoever touches the bone of a dead person in the fields, or one slain by
the sword, or a dead body or the blood of a dead person, or a tomb, he shall
purify himself according to the rule of this statute. But if he does not purify
himself according to the statute of this Torah, he is unclean, his uncleanness
being still in him. Whoever touches him must wash his clothes, bathe and he
shall be clean by the evening.
If a woman is with child and it dies in her womb, as long as it is dead in
her, she shall be unclean like a tomb. Any house that she enters shall be
unclean with all its utensils for seven days. Whoever touches it shall be
unclean till the evening. If anyone enters the house with her, he shall be
unclean for seven days. He shall wash his clothes and bathe in water on the
first day. On the third day he shall sprinkle and wash his clothes and bathe. On
the seventh day he shall sprinkle a second time and wash his clothes and bathe.
At sunset he shall be clean.
As for all the utensils, clothes, skins and all the materials made of
goat's hair, you shall deal with them according to the statute of this Torah. All
earthenware vessels shall be broken for they are unclean and can no more be
purified ever.
All creatures that teem on the ground you shall proclaim unclean: the
weasel, the mouse, every kind of lizard, the wall gecko, the sand gecko, the
great lizard and the chameleon. Whoever touches them dead 51.....
and whatever comes out of them.....shall be unclean to you. You
shall not render yourselves unclean by them. Whoever touches them dead shall be
unclean until the evening. He shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and at
sunset he shall be clean. Whoever carries any of their bones, their carcass,
skin, flesh or claw shall wash his clothes and bathe in water. After sunset he
shall be clean. You shall forewarn the children of Yisrael about all the
impurities.
They shall not render themselves unclean by those of which I tell you on
this mountain and they shall not be unclean.
For I, YHWH, abide among the children of Yisrael. You shall SetApart them
and they shall be SetApart. They shall not render themselves abominable by
anything that I have separated for them as unclean and they shall be SetApart.
You shall establish judges and officers in all your towns and they shall
judge the people with just judgment. They shall not be partial in their
judgment. They shall not accept bribes, nor shall they twist judgment, for the
bribe twists judgment, overturns the works of justice, blinds the eyes of the
wise, produces great guilt, and profanes the house by the iniquity of sin.
Justice and justice alone shall you pursue that you may live and come to inherit
the land that I give you to inherit for all days.
The man who accepts bribes and twists just judgment shall be put to death.
You shall not be afraid to execute him.
You shall not do in your land as the nations do. Everywhere they offer,
plant sacred trees, erect sacred pillars and set up carved stones to bow down
before them and build for them
52..... You shall not plant any tree as a sacred tree beside MY
altar to be made by you. You shall not erect a sacred pillar that is hateful to
ME. You shall not make anywhere in your land a carved stone to bow down before
it. You shall not offer to ME any cattle or sheep with a grave blemish, for they
are abominable to ME. You shall not offer to ME any cattle or sheep or goat that
is pregnant, for this would be an abomination to ME. You shall not slaughter a
cow or a ewe and its young on the same day, neither shall you kill a mother with
her young.
Of all the firstlings born to your cattle or sheep, you shall SetApart for
ME the male animals. You shall not use the firstling of your cattle for work,
nor shall you shear the firstling of your small cattle. You shall eat it before
ME every year in the place that I shall choose. Should it be blemished, being
lame or blind or afflicted with any grave blemish, you shall not offer it to ME.
It is within your towns that you shall eat it. The unclean and the clean among
you together may eat it like a gazelle or a deer. It is the blood alone that you
shall not eat. You shall spill it on the ground like water and cover it with
dust. You shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing. You shall not plough
with an ox and an ass harnessed together. You shall not slaughter clean
cattle or sheep or goat in any of your towns, within a distance of three days'
journey from MY Tabernacle. It is rather in MY Tabernacle that you shall
slaughter it, making of it a holocaust or peace-offering. You shall eat and
rejoice before ME in the place on which I choose to set MY NAME. Every clean
animal with a blemish, you shall eat it within your towns, away from MY
Tabernacle at a distance of thirty stadia. You shall not slaughter it close to
MY Tabernacle for its flesh is tainted. You shall not eat in MY city, which I
SetApart by placing MY NAME in it, the flesh of cattle, sheep or goat which has
not entered MY Tabernacle. They shall offer it there, toss its blood to the base
of the altar of holocaust and shall burn its fat.
53 When I extend your frontiers as I have told you, and if the
place where I have chosen to set MY NAME is too distant, and you say, 'I
will eat meat', because you long for it, whatever you desire, you may eat, and
you may slaughter any of your small cattle or cattle which I give you according
to MY blessing. You may eat it within your towns, the clean and the unclean
together, like gazelle or deer. But you shall firmly abstain from eating the
blood. You shall spill it on the ground like water and cover it with dust. For
the blood is the life and you shall not eat the life with the flesh so that it
may be well with you and with your sons after you for ever. You shall do that
which is correct and good before ME, for I am YHWH, your ABBA.
But all your devoted gifts and votive donations you shall bring when you
come to the place where I cause MY NAME to abide, and you shall offer them there
before ME as you have devoted and vowed them with your mouth. When you make a
vow, you shall not tarry in fulfilling it, for surely I will require it of you
and you shall become guilty of a sin. You shall keep the word uttered by your
lips, for your mouth has vowed freely to perform your vow.
When a man makes a vow to ME or swears an oath to take upon himself a
binding obligation, he must not break his word. Whatever has been uttered by his
mouth, he shall do it.
When a woman makes a vow to ME, or takes upon herself a binding obligation
by means of an oath in her father's house, in her youth, if her father hears of
her vow or the binding obligation which she has taken upon herself and remains
silent, all her vows shall stand, and her binding obligation which she has taken
upon herself shall stand. If, however, her father definitely forbids her on the
day that he hears of it, none of her vows or binding obligations which she has
taken upon herself shall stand, and I will absolve her because her father has
forbidden her
56 when he heard of them. But if he annuls them after the day that
he has heard of them, he shall bear her guilt: her father has annulled them. Any
vow or binding oath made by a woman to mortify herself, her husband may confirm
it or annul it on the day that he hears of it, and I will absolve her.
But any vow of a widow or a divorced woman, whatever she has taken upon
herself shall stand in conformity with all that her mouth has uttered.
Everything that I command you today, see to it that it is kept. You shall
not add to it, nor detract from it.
If a prophet or a dreamer appears among you and presents you with a sign
or a portent, even if the sign or the portent comes true, when he says, 'Let us
go and worship other gods whom you have not known!', do not listen to the words
of that prophet or that dreamer, for I am testing you to discover whether you
love YHWH, YHWH of your fathers, with all your heart and soul. It is YHWH, your
ABBA, that you must follow and serve, and it is HIM that you must fear and HIS
voice that you must obey, and you must hold fast to HIM. That prophet or dreamer
shall be put to death for he has preached rebellion against YHWH, your ABBA, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage,
to lead you astray from the path that I have commanded you to follow. You shall
rid yourself of this evil.
If your brother, the son of your father or the son of your mother, or your
son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is like
your own self, seeks to entice you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and worship
other gods whom you have not known', neither you, 55 nor your fathers,
some of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, whether near you or
far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, you shall not
yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare
him, nor shall you conceal him; but you shall kill him; your hand shall be first
against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. You
shall stone him to death with stones because he sought to draw you away from ME
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And all
Yisrael shall hear, and fear, and never again do such an evil thing among you.
If in one of your cities in which I give you to dwell you hear this said: 'Men,
sons of Belial have arisen in your midst and have led astray all the inhabitants
of their city saying, "Let us go and worship gods whom you have not known!",'
you shall inquire, search and investigate carefully. If the matter is proven
true that such an abomination has been done in Yisrael, you shall surely put all
the inhabitants of that city to the sword. You shall place it and all who are in
it under the ban, and you shall put the beasts to the sword. You shall assemble
all the booty in the city square and shall burn it with fire, the city and all
the booty, as a whole-offering to YHWH, your ABBA. It shall be a ruin
for ever and shall never be rebuilt. Nothing from that which has been placed
under the ban shall cleave to your hand so that I may turn from my hot anger and
show you compassion. I will be compassionate to you and multiply you as I told
your fathers, provided that you obey MY voice, keeping all MY Commandments that
I command you today, to do that which is correct and good before YHWH, your
ABBA.
If among you, in one of your towns that I give you, there is found a man
or a woman who does that which is wrong in MY eyes by transgressing MY Covenant,
and goes and worships other gods, and bows down before them, or before the sun
or the moon, or all the host of heaven, if you are told about it, and you hear
about this matter, you shall search and investigate it carefully. If the matter
is proven true that such an abomination has been done in Yisrael, you shall lead
out that man or that woman and stone him to death with stones.
56..... You shall go to the Levitical kohen (priests) or to
the judges then in office; you shall seek their guidance and they shall
pronounce on the matter for which you have sought their guidance, and they shall
proclaim their judgment to you. You shall act in conformity with the Torah that
they proclaim to you and the saying that they declare to you from the
Book of the TORAH. They shall issue to you a proclamation in truth
from the place where I choose to cause MY NAME to abide. Be careful to do all
that they teach you and act in conformity with the decision that they
communicate to you. Do not stray from the Torah which they proclaim to you to the
right or to the left. The man who does not listen but acts arrogantly without
obeying the kohen who is posted there to minister before ME, or the judge, that
man shall die. You shall rid Yisrael of evil. All the people shall hear of it
and shall be awe-stricken, and none shall ever again be arrogant in Yisrael.......
When you enter the land which I give you, take possession of it, dwell in it and
say, 'I will appoint a king over me as do all the nations around me !', you may
surely appoint over you the king whom I will choose. It is from among your
brothers that you shall appoint a king over you. You shall not appoint over you
a foreigner who is not your brother. He shall definitely not acquire many
horses, neither shall he lead the people back to Egypt for war to acquire many
horses and much silver and gold, for I told you, 'You shall never again go back
that way'. He shall not acquire many wives that they may not turn his heart away
from ME. He shall not acquire very much silver and gold.
When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, they shall write for him this
Torah from the book which is before the priests. 57 This is the Torah that
they shall write for him .....They shall count, on the day that they
appoint him king, the sons of Yisrael from the age of twenty to sixty years
according to their standard units. He shall install at their head captains of
thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties and captains of tens in all
their cities. He shall select from among them one thousand by tribe to be with
him: twelve thousand warriors who shall not leave him alone to be captured by
the nations. All the selected men whom he has selected shall be men of truth,
fearers of YHWH, haters of unjust gain and mighty warriors. They shall be with
him always, day and night. They shall guard him from anything sinful, and from
any foreign nation in order not to be captured by them. The twelve princes of
his people shall be with him, and twelve from among the kohen, and from among
the Levites twelve. They shall sit together with him to proclaim judgment and
the Torah so that his heart shall not be lifted above them, and he shall do
nothing without them concerning any affair.
He shall not marry as wife any daughter of the nations, but shall take a
wife for himself from his father's house, from his father's family. He shall not
take another wife in addition to her, for she alone shall be with him all the
time of her life. But if she dies, he may marry another from his father's house,
from his family. He shall not twist judgment; he shall take no bribe to twist a
just judgement and shall not covet a field or a vineyard, any riches or house,
or anything desirable in Yisrael. He shall not rob 58.....When the king
hears of any nation or people intent on plundering whatever belongs to Yisrael,
he shall send for the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds posted
in the cities of Yisrael. They shall send with him the captain one tenth of the
people to go with him to war against their enemies, and they shall go with
him. But if a large force enters the land of Yisrael, they shall send with the
king one fifth of the warriors. If a king with chariots and horses and a large
force comes, they shall send with him one third of the warriors, and the two
remaining divisions shall guard their city and their boundaries so that no
marauders invade their land. If the war presses him hard, they shall send to him
half of the people, the men of the army, but the other half of the people shall
not be severed from their cities.
If they triumph over their enemies, smash them, put them to the sword and
carry away their booty, they shall give the king his tithe of this, the kohen
one thousandth and the Levites one hundredth from everything.
They shall halve the rest between the combatants and their brothers whom
they have left in their cities.
If the king goes to war against his enemies, one fifth of the people shall
go with him, the warriors, all the mighty men of valour. They shall avoid
everything unclean, everything shameful, every iniquity and guilt. He shall not
go until he has presented himself before the High Kohen who shall inquire on his
behalf for a decision by the Urim and Tummim. It is at his word that he shall go
and at his word that he shall come, he and all the children of Yisrael who are
with him. He shall not go following his heart's counsel until the High Kohen has
inquired for a decision by the Urim and Tummim. He shall then succeed in all his
ways on which he has set out according to the decision which
59..... and they shall disperse them in many lands and they shall
become a horror, a byword, a mockery. With a heavy yoke and in extreme want,
they shall there serve gods made by human hands, of wood and stone, silver and
gold. During this time their cities shall become a devastation, a laughing stock
and a wasteland, and their enemies shall devastate them. They shall sigh in the
lands of their enemies and scream because of the heavy yoke. They shall cry out
but I will not listen; they shall scream but I will not answer them because of
their evil doings. I will hide MY face from them and they shall become food,
plunder and prey. None shall save them because of their wickedness, because they
have broken MY Covenant and their soul has loathed MY Torah until they have
incurred every guilt. After wards they will return to ME with all their heart
and all their soul, in conformity with all the words of this Torah, and I will
save them from the hand of their enemies and redeem them from the hand of those
who hate them, and I will bring them to the land of their fathers. I will redeem
them, and increase them and exult over them. I will be their ABBA and they shall
be MY people.
The king whose heart and eyes have gone astray from MY Commandments shall
never have one to sit on the throne of his fathers, for I will cut off his
posterity for ever so that it shall no more rule over Yisrael. But if he walk
after MY rules and keep MY Commandments and do that which is correct and good
before ME, no heir to the throne of the kingdom of Yisrael shall be cut off from
among his sons for ever. I will be with him and will save him from the hand of
those who hate him and from the hand of those who seek his life. I will place
all his enemies before him and he shall rule over them according to his pleasure
and they shall not rule over him. I will set him on an upward, not on a
downward, course, to be the head and not the tail, that the days of his kingdom
may be lengthened greatly for him and his sons after him.
60.....and all their wave-offerings. All their firstling male beasts
and all.....of their beasts and all their SetApart gifts which they shall
SetApart to ME together with all their SetApart gifts of praise and a proportion
of their offering of birds, wild animals and fish, one thousandth of their
catch, and all that they shall devote, and the proportion of the booty and the
plunder.
To the Levites shall belong the tithe of the corn, the wine and the oil
that they have SetApart to ME first; the shoulder from those who slaughter an
offering and a proportion of the booty, the plunder and the catch of birds, wild
animals and fish, one hundredth; the tithe from the young pigeons and from the
honey one fiftieth. To the kohen (priests) shall belong one hundredth of the
young pigeons, for I have chosen them from all your tribes to attend on ME and
minister before ME and bless MY NAME, he and his sons always. If a Levite
come from any town anywhere in Yisrael where he sojourns to the place where I
will choose to cause MY NAME to abide, if he come with an eager soul, he may
minister like his brethren the Levites who attend on ME there. He shall have the
same share of food with them, besides the inheritance from his father's family.
When you enter the land which I give you, do not learn to practice the
abominations of those nations. There shall be found among you none who makes his
son or daughter pass through fire, nor an augur or a soothsayer, a diviner or a
sorcerer, one who casts spells or a medium, or wizards or necromancers. For they
are an abomination before ME, all who practice such things, and it is because of
these abominations that I drive them out before you. You shall be perfect
towards YHWH, your ABBA. For these nations that 61..... to utter
a word in MY NAME which I have not commanded him to utter, or who speaks in the
name of other gods, that prophet shall be put to death.
If you say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which YHWH has not
uttered?', when the word uttered by the prophet in the name of YHWH is not
fulfilled and does not come true, that is not a word that I have uttered. The
prophet has spoken arrogantly; do not fear him.
A single witness may not come forward against a man in the matter of any
iniquity or sin which he has committed. It is on the evidence of two witnesses
or three witnesses that a case can be established. If a malicious witness comes
forward against a man to testify against him in a case of a crime, both
disputants shall stand before me and before the kohen (priests) and the Levites
and before the judges then in office, and the judges shall inquire, and if the
witness is a false witness who has testified falsely against his brother, you
shall do to him as he proposed to do to his brother. You shall rid yourselves of
evil. The rest shall hear of it and shall be awe-stricken and never again shall
such a thing be done in your midst. You shall have no mercy on him: life for
life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
When you go to war against your enemies, and you see horses and chariots
and an army greater than yours, be not afraid of them, for I am with you
who brought you out of the land of Egypt. When you approach the battle, the
kohen shall come forward to speak to the army and say to them, 'Hear, Yisrael,
you approach..... ' 62.....and another man shall use its fruit. If
any man has betrothed a woman but has not yet married her, he shall return home.
Otherwise he may die in the war and another man may take her. The officers shall
continue to address the army and say, 'If any man is afraid and has lost heart,
he shall go and return. Otherwise he may render his kinsmen as faint-hearted as
himself.'
When the judges have finished addressing the army, they shall appoint army
captains at the head of the people.
When you approach a city to fight it, first offer it peace. If it seeks
peace and opens its gates to you, then all the people found in it shall become
your forced labourers and shall serve you. If it does not make peace with you,
but is ready to fight a war against you, you shall besiege it and I will deliver
it into your hands. You shall put all its males to the sword, but the women, the
children, the beasts and all that is in the city, all its booty, you may take as
spoil for yourselves. You may enjoy the use of the booty of your enemies which I
give you. Thus shall you treat the very distant cities, those which are not
among the cities of these nations. But in the cities of the peoples which I give
you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive any creature. Indeed you shall
utterly exterminate the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the
Jebusites, the Girgashites and the Perizzites as I have commanded you, that they
may not teach you to practice all the abominations that they have performed to
their gods.
63..... a heifer with which he has not worked, which has not drawn
the yoke. The elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a ravine with
an ever-flowing stream which has never been sown or cultivated, and there they
shall break its neck.
The kohen (priests), the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for I have
chosen them to minister before ME and bless MY NAME and every dispute and every
assault shall be decided by their word. All the elders of the city nearest to
the body of the murdered man shall wash their hands over the head of the heifer
whose neck has been broken in the ravine. They shall declare, 'Our hands did not
shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it happen. Accept expiation for your
people Yisrael whom you have redeemed, 0 YHWH, and do not permit the guilt of
innocent blood to rest among your people, Yisrael. Let this blood be expiated
for them.' You shall rid Yisrael of the guilt of innocent blood, and you shall
do that which is correct and good before YHWH, your ABBA. When you go to war
against your enemies, and I deliver them into your hands, and you capture some
of them, if you see among the captives a pretty woman and desire her, you may
take her to be your wife. You shall bring her to your house, you shall shave her
head, and cut her nails. You shall discard the clothes of her captivity and she
shall dwell in your house, and bewail her father and mother for a full month.
Afterwards you may go to her, consummate the marriage with her and she will be
your wife. But she shall not touch whatever is pure for you for seven years,
neither shall she eat of the offering of peace-offering until seven years have
elapsed. Afterwards she may eat.
64..... the first-fruits of his virility; he has the right of the
first-born. If a man has a disobedient and rebellious son who refuses to listen
to his father and mother, nor listens to them when they chastise him, his father
and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to
the gate of his place. They shall say to the elders of his town, 'This son of
ours is disobedient and rebellious; he does not listen to us; he is a glutton
and a drunkard.' All the men of his city shall stone him with stones and he
shall die, and you shall rid yourselves of evil. All the children of Yisrael
shall hear of it and be awe-stricken. If a man slanders his people and delivers
his people to a foreign nation and does evil to his people, you shall hang him
on a tree and he shall die. On the testimony of two witnesses and on the
testimony of three witnesses he shall be put to death and they shall hang him on
the tree. If a man is guilty of a capital crime and flees abroad to the nations,
and curses his people, the children of Yisrael, you shall hang him also on the
tree, and he shall die.
But his body shall not stay overnight on the tree. Indeed you shall bury
him on the same day. For he who is hanged on the tree is accursed of YHWH and
men. You shall not pollute the ground which I give you to inherit. If you see
your kinsman's ox or sheep or donkey straying, do not neglect them; you shall
indeed return them to your kinsman. If your kinsman does not live near you, and
you do not know who he is, you shall bring the animal to your house and it shall
be with you until he claims it.
65..... When a bird's nest happens to lie
before you by the roadside, on any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or
eggs, and the hen is sitting on the fledglings or the eggs, you shall not take
the hen with the young. You shall surely let the hen escape and take only the
young so that it may be well with you and your days shall be prolonged. When you
build a new house, you shall construct a parapet on the roof so that you do not
bring blood-guilt on your house if anyone should fall from it.
When a man takes a wife, has sexual intercourse with her and takes a
dislike to her, and brings a baseless charge against her, ruining her
reputation, and says, 'I have taken this woman, approached her, and did not find
the proof of virginity in her', the father or the mother of the girl shall take
the girl's proof of virginity and bring it to the elders at the gate. The girl's
father shall say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter to be this man's wife; he
has taken a dislike to her and has brought a baseless charge against her saying,
"I have not found the proof of virginity in your daughter." Here is the proof of
my daughter's virginity.' They shall spread out the garment before the elders of
that city. The elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him. They
shall fine the husband one hundred pieces of silver which they shall give to the
father of the girl, because he as tried to ruin the reputation of an Yisraelite
virgin. He shall not 66..... When a virgin betrothed to a man is found by
another man in the city and he lies with her, they shall bring both of them to
the gate of that city and stone them with stones and they shall be put to death:
the girl because she has not shouted for help, although she was in the city, and
the man because he has dishonoured his neighbour's wife. You shall rid
yourselves of evil. If the man has found the woman in the fields in a distant
place hidden from the city, and raped her, only he who has lain with her shall
be put to death. To the girl they shall do nothing since she has committed no
crime worthy of death. For this affair is like that of a man who attacks his
neighbour and murders him. For it was in the fields that he found her and the
betrothed girl shouted for help, but none came to her rescue. When
a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, but is suitable to him
according to the rule, and lies with her, and he is found out, he who has lain
with her shall give the girl's father fifty pieces of silver and she shall be
his wife. Because he has dishonoured her, he may not divorce her all his days. A
man shall not take his father's wife and shall not lift his father's skirt. A
man shall not take the wife of his brother and shall not lift the skirt of his
brother, the son of his father or the son of his mother, for this is unclean. A
man shall not take his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his
mother, for this is abominable. A man shall not take his father's sister or his
mother's sister, for this is immoral. A man shall not take the daughter of his
brother or the daughter of his sister for this is abominable. A man shall not
take 67.....
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